14 December

Hauser returns from the Court Garden with a deep chest wound, saying a stranger stabbed him.

Kaspar Hauser Unsolved

A foundling who claimed a childhood in a dark cell, rumours of a stolen prince, and a stab wound in an Ansbach park in 1833. Murder or self-inflicted?

William Mosher and Joseph Douglas are shot while burgling Judge Van Brunt's house in Bay Ridge; Douglas admits taking part in the kidnapping before he dies.

Charley Ross Unsolved

In 1874 two men lured a four-year-old into a buggy in Germantown and demanded $20,000. Charley Ross was never found, and America learned to fear strangers.

Frédéric Humbert dies in Paris, still married to Thérèse.

Thérèse Humbert Convicted

For twenty years Paris lent fortunes against an American millionaire's legacy locked in Thérèse Humbert's safe. In May 1902 they opened it.