A Prelude to Murder- Episode #1

The Mystery of the Ragged Stranger Podcast

This podcast aims to take a deep look, at what was one of Chicago’s most famous crimes. In 1920, on a quiet North Side street, three people entered a tiny vestibule of a two-flat. Ten gunshots later, only one person emerged. World War I, mental illness, love affairs, Chicago Police shenanigans, the first John Doe murder trial in Chicago history, Illinois politics, and the writings of one of the period’s most illustrious writers, are but a few of the topics we will touch on. How did it come to this? The Mystery of the Ragged Stranger story starts with episode #1, A Prelude to Murder. This is the true story. Episode #2 of the podcast coming Monday, July 9- Murder in the Vestibule This project aims to fill in the gaps where there is unknown, correct false narratives that have branched away from the truth, and most importantly, to entertain and enlighten. The Mystery of the Ragged Stranger is written by Michael Hendrychs and produced in partnership with ChicagoNow. It has been sourced from research for my upcoming book Kisses for Julia, Bullets for Ruth: The Mystery of Carl Wanderer & the Ragged Stranger. More information on The Mystery of the Ragged Stranger can be found on our blog at http://www.chicagonow.com/the-ragged-stranger/ And on our website at http://theraggedstranger.com/ On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/raggedstranger/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ragged.stranger.54 Twitter https://twitter.com/Ragged_Stranger Our intro theme music for the podcast is The Crocodile by the Wiedoft-Wadsworth Quartet. Written by Otto Motzan and Harry Akst and recorded March 1, 1920 in New York City. The performers credited were- Harry Askt on piano, Carl Fenton also on piano, George Hamilton Green on the xylophone, J. Russel Robinson again on piano, F. Wheeler Wadsworth on alto saxophone, and Rudy Wiedoeft also on alto saxophone. Usage via Public Domain. Our outro theme song is The Butcher's Boy (The Railroad Boy) by Buell Kazee and is used courtesy of June Appal Recordings in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Kazee, a Baptist minister, recorded this haunting song, compiled from a collection of British ballads, in New York City on January 16, 1928. The recordings for Buell Kazee (catalog no. JA009) were made by Mark Wilson, Buell Kazee, and Kentucky Educational Television, and were compiled and produced by Jonathan Greene, Loyal Jones and John McCutcheon for June Appal Recordings. The album was preserved and re-released by Appalshop Archive in 2007 and can be purchased here- https://www.appalshop.org/store/june-appal-recordings/buell-kazee-self-titled-album/.