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by Michael Delaware (Author)
In the nineteenth century, heinous, bloody crimes shocked Michigan's emerging western frontier.
A farmer, intent on marriage, disappeared after leaving a Leonidas tavern in 1853, culminating in the conviction of three men even though the body was undiscovered. A shooter fatally wounded a beloved sheriff during an 1867 Kalamazoo midnight jailbreak attempt, sparking a nationwide manhunt. The 1897 shooting of a couple in their Van Buren County home famously remains unsolved today. A brutal murder opposite the iconic train depot mortified Niles in 1892, and in 1894, an Okemos woman went mad after losing her husband, poisoned her son and tossed his body down a well.
Author Michael Delaware unfolds these and other true crime stories and mysteries from Victorian western Michigan.
Author Biography
Michael Delaware is an Arizona native who left home at age eighteen. He lived for fifteen years in Georgia, where he worked as a craftsman, artist, salesperson, manager and owner of a stained- and decorative glass door and window business. He moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1999 and to Battle Creek in 2001. He still lives there today. In 2022, he launched his podcast, Tales of Southwest Michigan's Past. He is passionate about researching forgotten stories from the Victorian era and is known for his video programs on local cemetery, landmark and biographical history.
