The Corpse in the Cellar: And Further Tales of Cleveland Woe

by John Stark Bellamy II

The third book in Bellamy's popular series delivers 25 more incredible but true stories of Cleveland crime and disaster. Includes crotchety old vigilante Jarvis Meach, who shot down robbers in cold blood with his beloved shotguns, "Old Bunty" and "Little Pet." Medina's Wickedest Stepmother, Mary Garrett, who locked her stepdaughters in their bedroom, set fire to the house, and did all she could to get the furniture out unharmed. And the great Ashtabula bridge disaster.

Genres: True Crime, History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

John Stark Bellamy II is the author of six books and two anthologies about Cleveland crime and disaster. The former history specialist for the Cuyahoga County Public Library, he comes by his taste for the sensational honestly, having grown up reading stories about Cleveland crime and disaster written by his grandfather, Paul, who was editor of the Plain Dealer, and his father, Peter, who wrote for the Cleveland News and the Plain Dealer."

Reviews

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote an Executed Today entry about the title case in this book, the 1889 murder of seven-year-old Maggie Thompson by a teenage neighbor. This book was almost my only source for the entry, and I quoted from it.

[Jwalth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never been to Cleveland and I'll probably never go. But this book and the rest of the series are excellent and gripping. It's so well written that even if you know nothing of the Forest City (and I only know that nickname from reading these books) you will be spellbound; so much of what's described could have happened in any big city but no - it happened in Cleveland!

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good one, like all the books in the series, with an emphasis on the early 1900s through roughly the 1920s. Lots of good woe in here.