Author to Share More Tales of Cleveland Woe

Author John Stark Bellamy II will share more tales of Cleveland woe at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cuyahoga County Public Library Mayfield Branch.

Bellamy, who now lives in Vermont, had worked for the county library system as a historian and has been appearing at area libraries to promote his latest book, The Last Days of Cleveland and More True Tales of Crime and Disaster from Cleveland's Past.

He appeared last week at the Gates Mills Branch to give some insights into the book, including a story that he said may be the saddest he's encountered over eight books and 140 stories of what he refers to as Cleveland woe.

Previously, he had thought the most tragic story he discovered involved a couple who committed suicide shortly after World War II when their knitting factory was in financial trouble. Their dog licked their lips and wound up ingesting the poison and also died.

Bellamy said an even more gut-wrenching tale is that of the Curtis sisters. Helen, 11, and Marguerite Curtis, 10, lived in the Village of West Park and committed suicide in 1907. Bellamy noted that times were different and what would be considered child abuse now was viewed as just "good old-fashioned discipline."

The sisters had moved here from Kansas after their mother committed suicide and lived with their grandmother and uncles. There's a lot more to the family's history of tragedy, but Bellamy referred the audience to the book for the rest of the story.

Bellamy also talked about Josiah White, who ran an inn in Shaker Heights and would frequently steal from guests. He then moved on to killing guests and "secretly burning their corpses off the premises."

"He was one of the more satanic fathers I've written about," Bellamy said.

The new book also covers Jeanette McAdams, whose mother and siblings all died within a three-year period from 1848-1850. Before she died, one sister, Abigail, said, "I wish I had not eaten that piece of candy Jeanette gave me."

Although he's always been attracted to sad stories, Bellamy said, there's often considerable humor to be found in the annals of Cleveland crime.

One such story is that of Jim "Specs" Russell, given his nickname because of his snazzy pair of smoked glasses, Bellamy said. Specs, a stick-up man, explained to a Cleveland cop why he robbed the wealthy: "They got diamonds. They got rings. They make me sick."

In the summer of 1927, Specs committed more than 50 stick-ups, often two, three or four a day. He was captured on July 9, but complained his handcuffs were too tight and convinced a police officer to free one of his hands, which he then used to pull out a pistol he had hidden by his crotch and escaped.

He was finally caught and sent to prison, but that was "only the beginning of his story," according to Bellamy, who said much more can be found in the book.

"The Last Days of Cleveland" refers to end-of-the-world prophecies of William Miller, credited with starting the Adventism movement, that were circulating in the 1840s.

The world was supposed to end on March 21, 1843. When that didn't occur, the date was changed to April 21, 1843.

"William Miller had a rain date for the end," Bellamy said.

Margaret Rowan came around later, claiming to have a direct line to heaven and predicting the world would end in 1925. There were followers in Cleveland, including a church on Fulton Road, and the fervor built over a two-month period until the end was near.

"Dozens of the really faithful went to Garfield Heights to go up on a rooftop to await Armageddon.

Bellamy also wrote for the first time about a family tragedy.

"I have found a way to merchandise even the insanely stupid moments of my life," he said.

To register for the program, click here.