Episode 158 The Louisville Torture House

One of the strangest cases in all their years of police work. Those were the words of seasoned detectives in Louisville, Kentucky, who worked on the Torture House case. A century ago, this case made national headlines when Richard Heaton was murdered by William Gates, who had been kidnapped and held in a home on 34th Street in Louisville.
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Episode Sources
New York Times: Shackled to Bed, Man Gets Free Kills Captor, March 9, 1924
New York Times: Slayer of Heaton Cleare; Coroner's Jury Finds Killing Justifiable to Escape Mutilation, March 15,1924
Paducah News-Democrat: Gates freed of murder charge, March 16, 1924
Florence Morning News: Gates admit visit with Heaton to Lake City, March 16,1924
The Winchester Sun: Gates arrested after freedom on new warrant, March 17, 1924
The Owensboro Messenger: Gates is held on fugitive charge, March 18, 1924
The Frankfort State Journal: Gates Tells of Trips to Texas and South, April 9, 1924
The Louisiana Herald: Lake City Expecting William Gates, April 24, 1924
The Lousiville Courier-Journal: Gates Bares Torture Plot Details; Hidden Pistol Saved Victim From Heaton;, March 10, 1924
The Louisville Courier-Journal: Frank Cordell on Trial, April 9, 1924
Historical Crime Detective: The Torture House 1924
FindAGrave.com: Richard Hartwell Heaton
FindAGrave.com: Mary Leahy Wiesen Heaton
Episode Music Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.