Bøger af Margaret Laplante

Take a step back in time and read about the history of the Oregon State Police while enjoying over 200 historic photographs.

Take a walk through the pioneer cemteries of Jackson County.

On October 11, 1923 the DeAutremont brothers, twins Ray and Roy, age 23, and their brother Hugh, age 19, held up the Gold Special, also known as Train 13, of the Southern Pacific Railroad just outside of Ashland, Oregon. With the help of a forensic scientist from the University of California at Berkeley, the authorities knew within nine days who the suspects were. With wanted posters plastered the world over one would expect the authorities to make a quick arrest. Why then did it take almost four years and a half-a-million dollars to locate the DeAutremont brothers in what was called at the time, "The world's greatest manhunt?" This book is based on the DeAutremont brothers' own words along with numerous other sources.

It was as if the word GOLD echoed around the world as people came to the Pacific Northwest in droves in search of sudden wealth in the 1850s. Most of the newcomers were white men from every corner of the globe but there was another group of immigrants who traveled just as far seeking their fortune. They were called Celestials or Sojourners, but neither term was spoken in a positive manner. They were the Chinese. They traveled far in search of Gum Shan, also known as Gold Mountain. Lured to America dreaming of the wealth that had eluded them in their native land, they came by the thousands. They arrived on American soil, not with the intent of beginning a new life here, but instead to work the gold fields then return home with enough money to be able to provide for their families.

For those who made their home in Medford, Oregon in the early 1930s, he was known simply as, "The Dictator." His real name was Llewellyn A. Banks and he set in motion one of the most bizarre criminal cases in the history of the state of Oregon. Banks publically stated, "We have come to that great showdown where blood is liable to be spilled." He had threatened, "To take the field in revolution." Upon learning there was a warrant for his arrest, Banks threatened to kill any law enforcement officer who tried to arrest him. He declared, "I will go out feet first over their dead bodies." Tragically that is exactly what happened. Constable George J. Prescott of the Medford Police Department paid the ultimate price when he was gunned down by Banks while attempting to serve him with an arrest warrant. The sensational court trial brought out details of Bank's establishment of an organization he created known as The Good Government Congress. Testimony revealed the purpose of the organization was to overthrow the local government. Details emerged about a rigged election, the theft of thousands of election ballots stolen the night before a recount was to take place, a plot to kidnap all city police officers and to hang a Judge and a District Attorney. By the end of the most tumultuous time in Medford, thirty-two of Bank's followers found themselves behind bars including a county sheriff, a mayor and a county judge who was led from the bench in handcuffs. This shocking true story is told in its entirety for the first time.

Whether they came by land or by sea, it was a long, difficult journey to reach Oregon. Some came for the gold, some for the land, but they all came in search of a better life. This book tells the stories of seventy pioneer families who made their home in the Rogue Valley.

"Washington may be known as the Evergreen State but hidden amongst the evergreen trees are true crime stories spanning the past century. Come and explore the Ghoul of Gray's Harbor and discover the Floater's Fleet. Read about the Fly-In-Killer and the Longview Mystery. Learn about the 'architect of crime' and the 'phantom of Palouse.' Find out how a chemist was able to lift a fingerprint from a shred of paper wrapped around a pipe bomb that killed a judge. Discover why foreign dignitaries traveled half way around the globe to assist with a murder trial in 1950. Join author Margaret LaPlante and explore many long-forgotten murders, mysteries, and misdemeanors that shook the otherwise idyllic state of Washington"--

"California is known as the "Golden State." However, it is has been said that "all that glitters is not gold." Within the pages of this book are true stories including the murder of a family for a 7.5-million-dollar inheritance, and a landlady accused of murdering seven tenants and burying them in her yard. Read about the murders of twenty-five farm workers buried in peach orchards, and a child who was murdered and buried in a pet cemetery. There is the case of the man wanted in forty-three states for passing half-a-million dollars in fraudulent checks using 350 aliases. Also, within the book are the true stories of how twenty-six children and their school bus driver were buried alive, and how a simple shoplifting incident led to a bunker hidden in the woods where forty-five pounds of charred human remains were found. California mafia figures, "The Mick" and the "Capone of Los Angeles," are featured in this book, along with an espionage case that resulted in more than a million top military secrets sold to the Soviet Union."--Publisher marketing.

Murder for hire plots, conspiracy to commit murder, and contract killings may seem like something that only happens in the Mafia, but Oregon has had more than its fair share of these cases. Within the pages of this book are some of the most egregious murder for hire plots that have occurred in Oregon in the past fifty years, including: a woman who killed the hitman her husband hired to kill her; the execution-style murder of two adults and two young children; a family who was placed in protective custody due to a contract on their lives; a woman who hired two hitmen to wire her husband's car with dynamite; the contract killings for two police detectives; the murder for hire of a young mother; and the conspiracy to kill the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

It was the winter of 1851-1852 when the word "gold" echoed throughout the valley. Soon hundreds of gold miners flocked to Table Rock City, later renamed Jacksonville. In short order, families arrived and took out donation land claims and began farming, raising stock, and opening businesses. Many had already emmigrated from Europe, Canada, Ireland, and England. Jacksonville had its own Chinatown that was home to the many Chinese who had traveled far seeking their fortune through gold mining. When the railroad bypassed Jacksonville in 1883 in favor of the new town of Middleford, later renamed Medford, Jacksonville's fortunes reversed. During the ensuing decades, the town's buildings fell into disrepair. The threat of bulldozers leveling the downtown core in the late 1960s brought out a renewed interest in preservation. Today Jacksonville is a National Historic Landmark District and looks much as it did 150 years ago.