What is a black act slang for?
A black act is slang for picking a lock in the dark.
While hanging may have occurred earlier in U.S. history, the practice of lynching was probably started by Colonel William Lynch of Virginia in the 1780s. Lynch organized a vigilante band aimed at ridding Pittsylvania County of its bad element. An 1836 editorial by Edgar Allan Poe discusses Lynch’s career.
Aces and eights was the hand held by Deputy U.S. Marshal James Butler (“Wild Bill”) Hickok when he was killed. On August 2, 1876, in a saloon in Deadwood Gulch, Dakota Territory, Hickok was shot in the cheek by fellow poker player Jack McCall. McCall later said he had killed Hickok for shooting his brother.
On March 12, 1969, James Earl Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison for killing Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre lasted eight minutes. Several members of the George (“Bugs”) Moran gang were killed that day, February 14, 1929, along with a man in the garage who looked like Moran. Moran himself escaped the massacre to die a natural death of lung cancer on February 25, 1957.
No. Kate “Ma” Barker was never arrested. Although Mrs. Barker (the former Arizona Donnie Clark) saw three of her four sons serve in Alcatraz, Kansas State Penitentiary at Lansing, and Leavenworth, she stayed behind the scenes of the crimes. Ma Barker and her son Freddie were killed on January 16, 1935, in a 45-minute gunfight…
John T. Scopes was a young biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, who broke a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution. His 11-day trial in 1925 ended with his conviction and a fine of $100. Authorities later reversed the decision on a legal technicality. Prosecuting attorney William Jennings Bryan died five days after the trial…