Bullets for Ruth: The Wanderers & The Ragged Stranger

Chicago crime reporters descended upon Ruth and Carl Wanderer’s Chicago home after the war hero’s wife was shot dead in a holdup at their front door. Who was the Ragged Stranger who assaulted them? And why did he have Carl Wanderer’s service weapon?

Sources:

Bigge, Lauren. “‘Shell Shock Treatments During World War I: A First Step Towards Modern Military Psychiatry.” National Museum of Health and Medicine. https://medicalmuseum.health.mil/index.cfm?p=media.news.article.2018.shell_shock_treatment

Eghigian, Greg. “ The First World War and the Legacy of Shellshock.” Vol. 31, No. 4. Psychiatric Times. 28 February, 2018.

Hecht, Ben. Charlie: The improbable Life & Times of Charles MacArthur (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957).

Lesy, Michael. Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007)

Murray, George in The Chicago Crime Book Ed. Albert Halper. (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1967).

Nash, Jay Robert. Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals from the Pilgrims to the Present (New York: M. Evans & Company, 1973).

Schechter, Harold. Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects (New York: Workman Publishing Co., 2023).

As well as articles from the Washington Times, The Manning Times, Richmond TImes-dispatch, Chicago Tribune.

And the Chicago Homicide database entry https://homicide.northwestern.edu/database/5270/

Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston. Also featuring “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” by Jack Judge and “Old Pal” by Henry Burr.

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