Mostrando resultados por autor "David Rountree" en Todas las categorías

Dennis Bangs Chapin was a successful, well-known lawyer, a Texas state representative, a former Hidalgo County judge, and a wealthy man in the year 1910. On Thursday evening, August 17, in a San Antonio bar, he shot my cousin, Oscar J. Rountree, in the head with his 44-caliber revolver. Oscar, a former Texas Ranger, died at 5:00 the following morning in a San Antonio hospital. Chapin was tried for murder and acquitted, claiming self-defense. He later brought a case to have the Texas Rangers disbanded. The South Texas city of Edinburg was originally named Chapin in his honor as one of the ...

Naughty Victorians lifts the starched petticoats of 19th-century propriety to reveal the delightfully messy truths hidden beneath. With wit as sharp as a corset stay, author David Rountree unpacks the double standards, sexual taboos, and delicious hypocrisies of the Victorian era, focusing on America’s primly scandalized society. From the perfumed parlors of upper-class women to the grim tenements of immigrant families, this book explores the lives of real people—particularly women—navigating a world obsessed with virtue while frequently indulging in vice. Based on true newspaper ...

As they say, truth is stranger than fiction. This collection of quick-read short stories is about real people in extraordinary circumstances. Each story in this collection can be read during a short sitting, wherever that might be. They were found during hundreds of hours perusing newspaper articles from the past which reported on the developing stories as they were happening. These unusual selections are about murders, suicides, love affairs, robberies, monsters, and more

A gang of train-robbing brothers. A vigilante army with hemp ropes. And a second act of violence that shocked the nation. In Civil War–era Indiana, the infamous Reno brothers turned rebellion into an art form. From petty cons to the nation’s first moving train robbery, they built a criminal empire fueled by bounty-jumping scams, counterfeit money, and fear. But when the justice system failed, a group of masked vigilantes took matters into their own hands, executing ten members of the gang in three midnight lynchings that blurred the line between justice and murder, and creating an ...

Perceived Unfair Advantage is a sharply witty and suspenseful tale about Charlie Blondell, a seemingly ordinary young man with an extraordinary, unexplainable gift: when he concentrates deeply—really deeply—he can influence the outcome of video poker machines. Is it luck? Psychic power? Cheating? Even Charlie isn’t sure. What begins as a quirky, low-stakes parlor trick in his father’s man cave quickly escalates to real money, real casinos, and very real consequences. As Charlie, his childhood sweetheart Karen, and his gambling-savvy dad tiptoe into this morally gray jackpot, the ...

When a team of paleontologists headed by a museum director, Dr. John Scannel, uncovers a humanoid fossil buried beside a Tyrannosaurus rex, the discovery threatens to rewrite everything we thought we knew about evolution, human origins—and extraterrestrial life. But before he can share the find with the world, the U.S. government swoops in, confiscates the evidence, and launches a cover-up worthy of a Cold War spy novel. What they don’t know is that Scannel also found a strange black box near the skeleton—something not of this Earth. And he’s not about to give it up. As media ...

In the idyllic town of Oakwood Hills, Texas, Doug Larson seems to have it all: a promising engineering career, a loving wife, and a young son with a bright future. But when a senseless act of drunk driving shatters his world, Doug is left clinging to memories and a promise—to raise his son with strength and purpose, despite the weight of grief. As Doug wrestles with unbearable loss, a darker force begins to stir within. A mysterious vigilante, armed with high-tech drones and a vendetta for justice, begins taking vengeance on those who have eluded traditional punishment. The killings are ...

A policeman kills a young unarmed black burglary suspect and thinking there were no witnesses, places a gun next to the dead body, and claims self-defense. A homeless schizophrenic saw what happened, was terrified, and leaves the scene. A female accomplice to the burglary escapes the scene and becomes known as Madame X when she informs the public during a disguised television interview that the dead youth had no weapon. The black community is outraged, as police search for the homeless man and Madame X in their investigation of the shooting.