This time the amazing story will be short and scary. Because there is no time for a long one, and there were no funny ones. This is the story of an Irish bum named Michael Malloy, whose death has been featured on a number of lists of "amazing and entertaining deaths." True, she does not pull the Darwin Prize, because Malloy himself is not to blame for her.
Malloy was a first generation immigrant. He came to the United States from County Donegal (Ireland) at the end of the 19th century and hoped to find his happiness in the New World. Young and strong, Malloy got a job as a firefighter. But the fire department did not bring him happiness. At some point, he was fired for drunkenness, slipping lower and lower until he became homeless.
And in 1933, a company of his acquaintances drove up to Malloy with an offer to insure their lives. The drunkard at that time was 60 years old.
The four were named Tony Marino, Joseph Murphy, Francis Pasca and Daniel Krisberg. The last three loved to kiss the bottle, worked in low-paid positions and often visited the same bar where he drank the money Malloy had earned, and the bar itself belonged to Marino. Some of them came up with an entertaining plan. It was necessary to persuade the drunkard to insure his life for a large sum under their guarantee. They would give him money for insurance, plus they would bet a couple of bottles for signing several pieces of paper. And then Malloy had to sleep and die, and the four would receive insurance (as sureties). At that time, Malloy already looked like he was standing with one foot in the grave. They planned to kill him by simply singing non-stop for one to two weeks. Nobody will dig in.
The first part of the plan was successful in early January 1933. True, the insurance agent had to be bribed, because decent agencies did not want to insure the homeless alcoholic. The amount of insurance was $ 3,500, which, taking into account inflation, is currently equal to about $ 60,000. The main thing is that Malloy dies of an accident. Malloy was told he was signing a petition to nominate Marino for the county governor.
Prohibition in the United States was canceled shortly before that - booze stores opened their doors on April 5, 1932 after 13 years of ban. But already during Prohibition, Tony Marino kept a small underground bar (the so-called "speakeasy"); and since in New York "dry law" was held until December 1933, at the time of the story with Malloy, the bar remained underground.
Promotional video:
In general, Marino gave (supposedly out of friendship) unlimited credit to Malloy. Over the next week, Malloy did not just drink, he did a lot. Caring Marino and the company poured him constantly, and the heavier the drink, the better. But the drunkard was clearly not going to die, and the company was forced to take tough measures.
First of all, he was offered liqueur with antifreeze added there. Liquor - to muffle the antifreeze stench. Anyway, Malloy spent the whole day in this wild mixture, and the next day he came for more. Antifreeze was replaced with turpentine. But the turpentine also went to Malloy like orange juice. Therefore, by the end of the second day, more horse ointment was added to the terrible mixture. Reminds the cocktail "Bitches offal" from the novel "Moscow - Petushki" (Zhigulevskoe beer - 100 g, shampoo "Sadko-rich guest" - 30 g, resole for cleaning hair from dandruff - 70 g, brake fluid - 35 g, BF glue - 12 g, pest control for the destruction of small insects - 20 g).
As Malloy continued to drink calmly, rat poison was added to the alcohol. But that did not affect the old drunkard in any way.
Then the company decided to switch to a snack, which was used on the third day of undercooked oysters soaked in methanol. The idea came from Pasca, who knew a man who had died of eating oysters as a whiskey snack. Malloy got a bite to eat with poisoned sardine sandwiches. But the next day Malloy showed up at the bar again.
Malloy's tinned stomach clearly did not allow him to be killed by poisoning. Therefore, the company decided to freeze the old man. It was cold at night; a special oak night with a temperature of -26 ° C was chosen. They took a drunken Malloy to a deserted park, laid him in the snow, opened his jacket on his chest and covered him with ice water. Then they retreated, because it was impossible to survive in such conditions. Imagine the surprise of the villains when the next day Malloy showed up at the bar again, demanding a drink. Caricature of Malloy (1933):
A certain Hershey Green, who traded as a private driver, entered the business. Green was not part of the original assassin squad. Marino paid for his services and the services of his friend, the bouncer Tony Bastone. Marino and Bestone held the old man by the arms, and Green in his taxi, accelerating to 72 km / h, knocked him down (by the way, you may wonder where all this information comes from, and even with such accuracy; I will answer: from the court records) …
The taxi was a good idea. At least Malloy was hospitalized for three weeks with several fractures. But after leaving the hospital on crutches, the first thing Malloy went to the bar to his friends and unlimited credit.
On February 22, 1933, they decided that it would be enough to stand on ceremony. Malloy annoyed them just by itself - by his monstrous immortality. So they dragged the drunk Malloy into the room that Murphy was renting, put a gas heater hose in his mouth and killed the old man.
A selection of materials on the case:
Since the murder, contrary to the original plans for an accident, did not seem in the least, they had to bribe the coroner who wrote the death certificate. It was announced that Michael Malloy had died of croupous pneumonia. Then he was quickly buried, after which he successfully received insurance.
Here in this cemetery they buried (Ferncliffe):
It was then that there was a hole worse than the murder of Malloy. They could not agree on how to divide the booty. In addition, they began to spend it quite actively. Rumors spread throughout the bars and in this environment in general. And while the company was killing Malloy, other bar patrons and county goners had questions that the four of them were so kind to the old bum. The popular story was called "Mike the Durable", it was told in underground bars all over the city, and at some point it reached the ears of a cunning cop. He felt that he could profit from the solved case, and achieved the exhumation of Malloy. Naturally, death from pneumonia was immediately ruled out, and four murderers were taken lukewarm.
The scoundrels were put on trial. Hershey Greene went to jail (because he only had a one-off and unsuccessful murder attempt), and the other four were electrocuted in Sing Sing in July 1934. What happened to bouncer Bastone, I don't know.
Malloy's story has become legendary. There is, for example, the instrumental piece You Can't Kill Michael Malloy, written and played by The Spent Poets. By the way, it's quite good:
… and also its version from the Frizzle Fry disc by Primus, and a number of songs from other groups.
There is also a theatrical production by Eric Jendresen called The Murder of Michael Malloy (1993). In one of the seasons of the TV series Gang Busters (1952) there is an episode "The Case of the Steadfast Mike Malloy." In 1949, Timothy Trent's tabloid detective All Ladies Are Explosive was released, based on the story of Malloy (the title of the novel is strange, yes). Finally, in 2011, the script for "The Man Who Can't Die" by Nolan Thomas appeared - there is an option that the film will be released soon.
On the one hand, horror, of course. But on the other hand, you begin to believe in the story of Grigory Rasputin, who, too, was not hounded in any way.