Murder Most Foul – Issue 111 – January 2019

When the police took her away,

Southard asked, “What’ll I do about

that insurance, Lyda?’’

He had just taken out $10,000 on

himself, with his bride as beneficiary.

Ormsby had found out about Lyda’s

fifth marriage just in time – for

Southard would have been the next

man in Lyda’s life to try on a wooden

overcoat for size.

Throughout her trial, which began

on September 26th, 1921, Lyda sat

seemingly unconcerned as details of

the deaths of her husbands were put

before the court. Her only defence was

a sweeping denial.

Judge William Babcock summed-up

for the jury on November 3rd, and

the next afternoon they brought in

a verdict of guilty of murder in the

second-degree.

A faint smile curved Lyda’s mouth.

She had escaped the gallows.

Lyda Southard was sentenced to life

imprisonment and sent to the Idaho

State Penitentiary at Boise. She lost no

time in turning on the old charm. Soon

she was in charge of the rose garden.

Keeping an eye on the future, she

turned an inquiring gaze on a none-

too-bright trusty named Dave Bryant.

Dave had the use of a prison car and

used to run errands outside the gates,

so Lyda propositioned him.

Bryant was to get a saw to cut

through the cell bars and a rope so she

could climb over the wall after dark

• and he was to be waiting outside for
  her in the car.
  “We’ll go away together, Dave,’’
  she promised, “to the South Seas or
  somewhere. Now won’t it be nice for
  you after all these years to live happily
  with a lady like me?’’
  Dave said it sure would, and he got
  busy.
  The escape, which took place in May,
  1931 – 10 years after Lyda checked into

the big cage to serve life – went off like

clockwork.

It wasn’t until more than a year had

passed that the law caught up with

Bryant. Picked up on a Denver street,

he was angrier than a boil. Lyda, once

out of prison, had ditched him and

vanished.

“Do you know where she is?’’ the

police asked him.

“Sure,’’ said Dave. “Right here in

Denver. She’s the housekeeper for a

man named Harry Whitlock.’’

Lyda, nailed again, had been

propositioning Whitlock, her latest

potential victim, to take out life

insurance! But Whitlock had never

got around to it. Which would seem

to be something to be said in favour of

procrastination.

In 1941, after she had served 20

years, Lyda Trueblood at 48 was,

for some inexplicable reason,

pardoned. She died of a heart

attack, aged 65, in 1958 in Salt lake

City, Utah.

The Idaho

State

Penitentiary

at Boise where

Lyda was

sent to serve

her sentence.

Once there she

lost no time

turning on the

charm...

On April 12th, 1919, acting on a lead from a housemaid, the

Paris police arrested a short, bald, 50-year-old swindler at

his apartment near the Gare du Nord. A century later that

man, Henri Désiré Landru, remains the most notorious and

enigmatic serial killer in French criminal history.

The official version of Landru’s murderous rampage was

so shocking that it almost defied belief. According to the

authorities, Landru had made “romantic contact” with 283

women during the First World War, luring 10 of them to his

country houses outside Paris where he killed them for their

money.

Yet no bodies were ever found, while Landru obdurately

protested his innocence.

The true story of l’affaire Landru, buried in the Paris police archives for

the past century, was more disturbing. In Landru’s Secret, Richard Tomlinson

draws on more than 5,000 pages of original case documents, including

witness statements, police reports and private correspondence, to reveal the

fascinating details of the case...

For a chance to win a hardback copy of Landru’s Secret – The

Deadly Seductions Of France’s Lonely Hearts Serial Killer by Richard

Tomlinson (Pen & Sword History, £25.00; ISBN: 978-1-52671-529-

6), just answer this question:

The first correct answer out of the hat after the closing date

of March 26th will win. Send your answer, with your name

and address, to MMF 111 Competition, PO Box 735,

London SE26 5NQ, or email murdermostfoul@

truecrimelibrary.com with “MMF 111 Competition” in the

subject line, and including your full postal address. The answer

and winner will be announced in MMF 112. Good luck!

The winner of the competition in MMF 110, with the answer

Mrs. Hudson, is Mrs. Marie Neale of Stapleford.

Congratulations! Your prize – a paperback copy of The Murder

That Defeated Whitechapel’s Sherlock Holmes – will be with you soon!

MMF 110 COMPETITION

LANDRU’S SECRET
WINWIN

In which year did Landru go to the guillotine?

n 1920 n 1921 n 1922 n 1923