{"id":9160,"date":"2023-10-27T19:49:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T00:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=9160"},"modified":"2023-10-27T19:49:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T00:49:26","slug":"mfdj-10-27-23-clinton-hollingsworth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=9160","title":{"rendered":"MFDJ 10\/27\/23: Clinton Hollingsworth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s Moronic Yet Truly Morbid Fact!<\/h3>\n

With a name like Clinton Hollingsworth you would think that person would be an Oxford graduate of royal blood, who spends long weekends on the polo fields of Eton. The Clinton Hollingsworth in this story grew up middle-class in Springfield, Missouri, and was, as diagnosed by experts at the time, a moron.<\/p>\n

His parents, John and May, once said that Clinton Hollingsworth was never quite right, even as an infant. On November 19, 1923, 17-year-old Clinton shot himself in the chest with a .25 caliber handgun. The bullet went into his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. His father found a suicide note that rambled about a black-haired teenager that he had a crush on.<\/p>\n

It took a year before Clinton got out of the hospital. The doctors told John and May their son would never walk again, however Clinton managed to start walking on his own around the beginning of 1926. He also fell down a lot. Although it is not noted at the time, it is possible that Clinton was addicted to morphine and other opiates, and he may have relieved his anguish to the point where he did not feel any pain at all, allowing him to walk.<\/p>\n

Clinton filed an insurance claim for disability, but the insurance company fought the claim, stating that the policy did not include self-inflicted disability. Depositions were taken where Clinton told the assembled attorneys that he could not remember what happened. The case slowly churned through the legal system.<\/p>\n

On January 31, 1926, May and her ten-year-old daughter Dolly were spending the afternoon playing rolls on their recently purchased player piano. Clinton came into the living room and seemed to enjoy the tune. Allegedly, Clinton wanted to hear the song again, but was overruled by Dolly and May. Clinton retrieved a 35-30 Savage rifle that his father had recently purchased through a mail order company and walked into the living room. As fast as he walked in, Dolly and May walked out and hid out by their woodshed.<\/p>\n

After a half hour, John came home from his job, and May ran up to tell him that Clinton had a gun. As John walked up the driveway to speak to his son, Clinton opened fire on his father, hitting him in the palm of his left hand. A man driving by gave the wounded man a ride to the hospital.<\/p>\n

Neighbor Joseph Harjung heard the commotion and upon seeing the armed and crazed young man, the twenty-eight-year-old\u00a0married father of two, turned to run away. He took a 35-30 round in the back of his neck, killing him instantly. When the police and an ambulance showed up, the twenty-year old Hollingsworth opened fire on the vehicle, wounding the driver and attendant and scattering the bystanders.<\/p>\n

Springfield Police Detective Albert Franklin escaped the volley and took cover. When he motioned to the ambulance crew to run towards him, he unknowingly stepped into Holingsworth’s line of fire. The detective took a bullet in the chest fired from fifty yards away.<\/p>\n

Neighbors\u00a0grabbed their guns and joined the police who had surrounded the home and for the next three hours, hundreds of bullets were fired into the house by the police and private citizens. Hollingsworth, who was an expert shot, fired over a hundred rounds, going from window to window shooting accurately enough to make the assembled piecemeal posse keep their heads down.<\/p>\n

Finally, after three hours, the police had had enough of the lone-shooter. The electric company cut the power to the neighborhood, and the night was lit by flares.<\/p>\n

As a diversion, dynamite was thrown into an open crawl space blowing a hole in the home’s floor. At the same time, Constables Jim Cummings and Sam Herrick stormed the house, finding Hollingsworth standing next to the bullet-riddled player piano, holding his rifle. Constable Cummings shot Hollingsworth in the left thigh. He was taken into custody, driven to the hospital, where he was treated for his flesh wound, before police locked him up in the Greene County Jail.<\/p>\n

Hollingsworth relaxed in his jail cell and enjoyed the attention that he was receiving from law enforcement, the prosecutor and the media. The Sheriff of Greene County allowed groups of curiosity seekers to stare at the prisoner as he lay on a cot in the sparse cell. Strange as it sounds, it was not out of the ordinary in 1926. The sightseers were brought in, in groups of thirty to forty people. This human zoo only lasted a few days, as the non-stop traffic of gawkers disrupted the jailhouse routine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nHollingsworth relaxing on his jail cot.\u00a0 He was a cute moron, wasn’t he?<\/em><\/p>\n

Police questioned Hollingsworth about the gun, where he got it and why it was not registered. He calmly told authorities that his father had bought it through a mail order gun shop. He told police that he had ordered three more guns, but he did not have the money to pay the C.O.D. cost. Police went to the post office and located the packages that were being returned. They contained semi-automatic pistols.<\/p>\n

Because Hollingsworth was a known troubled soul, Dr. George A. Johns of Jefferson City and Dr. T. H. Romeiser of the state hospital at Saint Joseph were called in to examine the young killer. Both were considered expert Alienists, what is now the field of psychiatry or psychology.<\/p>\n

The doctors interviewed Hollingsworth’s parents, who told them that Clinton was nutty since he was a toddler. They listened to the murderer talk about his morphine use and how he could not remember anything when he was under the influence. He told the doctors that he had taken twenty-five grains of morphine that day and had no memory of the three-hour gun battle. After giving Hollingsworth a battery of tests, and observing him for hours, they concluded that Hollingsworth was insane.<\/p>\n

Dr. J.W. Williams, the Greene County health officer, told the media that he concluded that, “the defendant is mentally irresponsible, defective, and with the mind of a child of twelve or fourteen-year-old, or what is known as a moron. The prisoner cannot differentiate\u00a0between right and wrong.” When asked if a person in the condition of Hollingsworth shot a man would he know what he was doing Williams replied, “He would know what he was doing, but would have no conception of the results.”<\/p>\n

Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Harold Lincoln thought differently and made his opinion clear, “I do not accept the theory that he is crazy,” said Lincoln. “I believe he may have taken drugs and that his actions were due to the fact, but this does not relieve\u00a0him of responsibility for his killing two men and wounding three others.”<\/p>\n

On March 23, 1926, a jury acquitted Clinton Hollingsworth of first-degree murder on the grounds of insanity. He was ordered to a state mental hospital and ordered to never be at large again.<\/p>\n

Culled from: 1926: Homicide in America<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sexual Criminal Du Jour!<\/h3>\n

The Sexual Criminal<\/a>\u00a0is a 1949 criminology textbook written by infamous Los Angeles County criminal psychiatrist J. Paul De River that is jam-packed with all the sexism and homophobia common to its era.\u00a0 I thought I\u2019d share some of the case studies with you.<\/p>\n

(FYI:\u00a0 I tried to track down the murderer in this case, but I struck out.\u00a0 If anyone figures it out, please let me know.)<\/p>\n

This case will serve to illustrate rape and murder by strangulation committed by a raffin\u00e9<\/em> (genteel) type of sadist. This subject was arrested for the strangulation and raping of two girls, murdering one and leaving the other apparently for dead. The body of the murdered girl had been left in the nearby woods. The other girl, 22 years of age, told the story of how she had been attacked and described this subject in detail. Upon his arrest and the taking of his fingerprints, it was found that this subject’s prints matched those found on the purse of the dead girl.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nPosition of victim’s body when found
\n<\/em><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>
\nNote the marks the sadistic strangler left on the throat of his victim.
\n<\/em><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>
\nBody turned over, showing the condition in which the victim was left by the murderer. Note the bruises about the arms and face.<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Note: this subject was adamant in his denial of guilt, but after prolonged questioning and the bringing out of the fact that he had been well trained in judo and jujitsu, the case went to trial. Although he had pleaded “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of insanity,” the insanity defense was later dropped because it was proven that this subject was medically and legally sane.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Case J.\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
Case Study 106, J<\/strong>.,<\/strong> age 20, white male. Since his discharge from the service a short time ago, he has been working at a chemical company. He has completed common school including high school.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>
\nJ. – Sadistic Strangler and Murderer.<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Family History:<\/strong> J. States his mother is living and suffers from cardiac trouble. His father died 7 years ago, and Jay does not know the cause of death as his mother and father were divorced when Jay was 2 years old, and Jay was kept completely away from his father. Jay states he has a half brother living and in good health. There is a negative history of insanity, epilepsy and all constitutional diseases.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Past History:<\/strong> Jay practice masturbation when a child, but only occasionally. He had his first act of sexual intercourse at the age of 17. He states that he has never had any homosexual affairs. He has had the usual childhood diseases, otherwise he has been in good health. He has served three years in the armed forces and has an admirable record. He gives a history of having frequented cocktail bars, where he would pick up girls and take them dancing. He was married but separated from his wife. There is a negative history for venereal infection<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Somatic Examination:<\/strong> This subject is a well-developed and well-nourished male, height 5’8 1\/2″; weight 158 lbs., blue eyes, blonde hair, and fair complexion. He has a powerful muscular development. The skin, muscular, glandular, and vascular, and bony systems are negative. The heart and lungs are negative. His pupils are unequal, the left people being slightly larger than the right. They react to light and accommodation. There is no ocular muscle paralysis. His eyes are dreamy (neuropathic). His suave and genteel manner is apparent. He is very neat.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Psychic Examination:<\/strong> He is well-oriented as to time, dates, places, and persons. There are no delusions, illusions, or hallucinations. His reaction time is prompt. He performs the test for opposites correctly. He performs the backward and forward test correctly. His general knowledge is good. His judgment is good.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Statements Relative to His Present Offense.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>(I edited out a lot of less important details. – DeSpair<\/em>)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Q: Did you kill this girl?<\/div>\n
A: If I actually did these crimes that they say I did, I should go to the gas chamber.<\/div>\n
Q: Is it wrong to kill?<\/div>\n
A: Certainly I think it is wrong to kill.<\/div>\n
Q: Well, how do you account for your having your fingerprints on the girl’s purse?<\/div>\n
A: I don’t know but they say that I was in the bar the same day she was and it is possible that I touched her purse.<\/div>\n
Q: How could that happen?<\/div>\n
A: Well, if I was sitting next to her in the bar or it might have been on the seat or on the stool and I might have touched it when I moved it to sit down, or pushed it away, or could have even dropped it on the floor and picked it up for her.<\/div>\n
Q: But do you remember doing such a thing?<\/div>\n
A: No, I don’t.<\/div>\n
Q: What about your automobile? What about the tire tracks corresponding with your tires?<\/div>\n
A: My people told me that my tire tracks were there.<\/div>\n
Q: Who told you that?<\/div>\n
A: Do I have to mention the name? I would rather not.<\/div>\n
Q: No. But it was some of your people?<\/div>\n
A: Yes.<\/div>\n
Q: If you didn’t kill the girl, who do you think did?<\/div>\n
A: I know damn well I don’t go out killing people all the time.<\/div>\n
Q: What do you mean by that?<\/div>\n
Note<\/em>: He becomes agitated and doesn’t answer.<\/div>\n
Q: Don’t you think you could have done this, and not remember about it?<\/div>\n
A: I don’t know anything about that. I can’t remember where I was at this particular time but that doesn’t say that I did it. I am naturally in doubt because all the evidence points to me.<\/div>\n
Q: Do you think you might have been intoxicated and not remember it?<\/div>\n
A: No. But I’ll have to say that I don’t remember some of the things I did some of the time.<\/div>\n
…
\nQ: Where were you the day this girl was murdered?<\/div>\n
A: I don’t know; that what I don’t remember.<\/div>\n
Q: Well, just what do you remember?<\/div>\n
A: Well, I can remember the 4th of July.<\/div>\n
Q: Do you remember when the murder was supposed to have taken place?<\/div>\n
A: The murder took place on the 1st of July, I believe. I can remember the 4th of July because I went on a picnic with my girl friend and two other couples.<\/div>\n
Q: How did you feel on July 4th?<\/div>\n
A: I felt all right, I was having a lot of fun.<\/div>\n
Q: Do you remember anything about the little dark-haired girl that was killed?<\/div>\n
A: I don’t ever remember meeting the girl before. I can’t recognize her from the picture. They showed me pictures before and I was hoping that they had other pictures that I could actually see what she looked like; as I always remember faces.<\/div>\n
Q: Then you would have remembered if you had met her?<\/div>\n
A: If I had met her, I am almost certain I would remember her. For, if I ever seen anybody I remember if I have seen them before. That makes me almost positive that I have never seen the girl.<\/div>\n
Note:\u00a0<\/em>He is quite contradictory; one moment he says he has lapse of memory and can’t remember, and from the above statement he would have remembered if he had ever seen the girl before.<\/div>\n
Q: Now do you think you might have done this thing and forgotten about it?<\/div>\n
A: If I had done this I’d feel worse than I do now. I admit I can’t remember where I was on the day this thing happened; I can remember on the 3rd of July, I was with my girl and I can also remember the 4th.<\/div>\n
…
\nQ: Can you offer any explanation as to why this Brighton girl made this charge against you and said you did these things?<\/div>\n
A: I don’t believe it was me.\u00a0 I don’t recall doing it.<\/div>\n
Q: And you can’t explain how your fingerprints were found on the purse of the other girl that was found dead. What have you got to say to that?<\/div>\n
A: I don’t know how my prints got on the purse.<\/div>\n
Q: Do you remember having anything to eat or a chicken dinner with this girl?<\/div>\n
A: No. But I don’t like chicken dinners, I go for Spanish food.<\/div>\n
Q: Did you ever check as to where you were the day this girl was killed and if you worked?<\/div>\n
A: I know I asked my girl to check and find out.<\/div>\n
Q: Did she ever tell you?<\/div>\n
A: Well, I don’t believe I ever asked her.<\/div>\n
Q: I should think it would be very important to know.<\/div>\n
A: Possibly so, but I didn’t ask her. I possibly went fishing or was having beer somewhere.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Analysis and Conclusion:<\/strong> This subject has a hair fetish which is brought out by his statements pertaining to his mother.\u00a0 J. states he likes dark haired girls like his mother, when in reality he hates his mother (a failure of the Oedipus complex to find its logical adjustment). J.’s wife, who is now divorcing him, and his girlfriend, both have red hair, and he has never molested them. He supplements his dark-haired victims for his mother, and the combing of hair stimulates him sexually (hair fetish). (It was brought out during the examination of J. that he was a student of jujitsu and judo, and it is interesting to note the fact that he killed his victim by strangulation.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Note: It was proven to the court that his amnesia was feigned, and his statements relative to his inability to remember were untrue, but were conscious acts of a malingerer made with a full realization and understanding of the wrongful acts with an attempt to defend himself.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(This subject was tried and convicted of first-degree murder.)<\/div>\n

<\/h3>\n

Andersonville Prisoner Diary Entry Du Jour!<\/h3>\n

This is the continuation of the 1864 diary of Andersonville prisoner Private George A. Hitchcock (see the\u00a0archived version<\/a>\u00a0for all entries up until now).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s today\u2019s entry:<\/p>\n

July 11th. <\/strong>Another day of excitement. Seven hundred prisoners from Grant’s army came in. After noon a scaffold was brought into camp, and erected near the south gate. At three the rebel camps were in commotion: the entire guard came out under arms, and were placed in line of battle at different points around camp, and the batteries were all manned. At four o’clock six of the condemned raiders were brought in under a strong guard of Union prisoners. After they had ascended the scaffold, a Catholic priest attended to their spiritual wants individually: meal-bags were tied over their heads and the ropes adjusted, while very living soul inside and outside the stockade was looking on in silence. At a given signal the six dropped off: five went struggling into eternity, while the rope of the sixth broke, and falling to the earth he gave a bound and was away like a frightened deer, over tens, and smashing in shanties; in his race of despair he reached the swamp, and after floundering about a few moments was re-taken. After begging most piteously for his life, he was taken up to the scaffold, and the second time launched off, this time into eternity. One man was from New York, one from New Jersey, one from Pennsylvania, and two were sailors. There is now a feeling of greater security than there has been for a long time, but may I never witness another scene like that!<\/p>\n

Culled from:\u00a0Andersonville: Giving Up the Ghost<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s Moronic Yet Truly Morbid Fact! With a name like Clinton Hollingsworth you would think that person would be an Oxford graduate of royal blood, who spends long weekends on the polo fields of Eton. The Clinton Hollingsworth in this story grew up middle-class in Springfield, Missouri, and was, as diagnosed by experts at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts","category-ghastly"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9168,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160\/revisions\/9168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}