Ohio & Washington: Justice Buried for a Century

Ohio & Washington: Justice Buried for a Century

Author: Shane L. Waters, Wendy Cee, Gemma Hoskins April 21, 2026 Duration: 28:43

Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of gun violence, intimate partner violence, poisoning, and discussions of coercive control in same-sex and heterosexual relationships. Crisis resources are listed at the end of these notes.

of Foul Play, Shane and Wendy examine two cases from the American Gilded Age connected by the same institutional failure: not a lack of evidence, but a refusal to act on it. The Ashtabula bridge disaster killed 92 people and led to the silencing of the one man who told the truth. The Hells Canyon massacre left as many as 34 Chinese miners dead, and an all-white jury acquitted the confessed killers.

Season 40: Twin Portraits, two states, two stories. Ohio, 1877. Washington and Oregon, 1887. A murdered railroad engineer whose autopsy was hidden for 123 years, and Chinese gold miners massacred in the deepest gorge in North America while federal law declared them less than citizens. Two historical murder cases where the evidence existed and the institutions responsible chose silence.



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Step back into an era of flickering gaslight and whispered secrets, where justice was often as murky as the London fog or as stark as a frontier town’s saloon. Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast exhumes long-forgotten criminal cases from the 1800s and early 1900s, meticulously piecing together stories that newspapers sensationalized and time nearly erased. Hosts Shane Waters, a veteran whose work helped shape the genre, and Wendy Cee, alongside researcher Gemma Hoskins, guide you through each meticulously researched season. They focus on a single, complete narrative, building the tension from the crime itself through the investigation and into the courtroom’s hushed drama. You’ll hear more than just the facts; you’ll get a sense of the societal pressures, the legal limitations, and the human lives entangled in each historical moment. This isn't about quick summaries-it's a deep, immersive audio experience that treats the past with the gravity it deserves. The podcast connects the dots using original documents, period accounts, and a clear-eyed analysis that separates legend from truth. It’s for anyone who wonders about the real stories lurking in the shadows of history, told with a journalist’s precision and a storyteller’s care for the victims and the complexities of their times. Listen to Foul Play for a compelling journey where every clue matters and history itself is the most important character.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast
Podcast Episodes
California & Alabama: When the Mob Decided to Be the Law [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:37
This episode contains descriptions of murder, mob violence, historical racial violence, and the execution of a convicted killer. If you need to skip this content, advance past the 18:00 mark. Support resources are listed…
New Hampshire & Colorado: Two Forgotten Murders, 1886-1897 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:29
This episode contains discussions of murder, execution, racial violence, and a botched public hanging. If you need to skip any section, the chapter markers below will help you find your way around. Support resources are…
Who Killed Sister Cathy, The Mary Statue and Unanswered Questions [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:22:03
Shane Waters and Gemma Hoskins sit down together for the first time in over a year for a wide-ranging conversation about the unsolved 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik in Baltimore, Maryland. Known to millions t…
Massachusetts & Tennessee: Two Axe Murders, 1893 & 1897 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:48
This episode contains detailed descriptions of violent death, including axe murders and decapitation. If you need to skip this content, advance to the chapter markers below. Support resources are listed at the end of the…
Texas & Philadelphia: When Justice Wore a Price Tag [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:40
This episode contains discussions of murder, arsenic poisoning, the deaths of children, and historical criminal trials. Ifyou need to skip any portion, advance past that segment using your chapter markers. This EpisodeSe…
Nevada & Georgia: Women on the Gallows, 1873-1890 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:47
Historical SignificanceIn Georgia, a Webster County posse pursued Susan and Enoch one hundred twenty-five miles to Coffee County, Alabama. The grand jury indicted both on May 27, 1872, twenty-three days after the murder.…
Missouri & North Carolina: Love Songs and Death [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:22
July 1877. A dirt road in rural Missouri. A fifty-eight-year-old woman named Martha Parrish is shot dead by her own son-in-law while trying to rescue her daughter from an abusive marriage. Fifteen years later and five hu…
Idaho & Alaska: Gold Fever and the Men Who Killed for It [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:00
Billy Wimbish - was born around 1859. A Black man who made his life in the Alaska Interior, Wimbish earned respect among the miners of the Fairbanks district. In 1906, he served as lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against min…
Maryland & Indiana: Forbidden Desires, 1878-1889 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:57
Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of gun violence, intimate partner violence, poisoning, and discussions of coercive control in same-sex and heterosexual relationships. Crisis resources are listed at th…
Four Suspects, No Justice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:11
Content WarningThis episode contains discussions of murder, suicide, and Victorian scandal. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.This EpisodeSeason 39 Finale: The Balham Mystery. The jury deliberated fo…