VICE PRESENTS THE PEOPLE'S LISTS - PART 113 Strange Deaths
From The Book of Lists #3 by Amy Wallace and David Wallechinsky.
Illustrations by Laura Park.
The People’s Almanacs and the Books of Lists were two series of amazing books that were started by a father, son, and daughter in the 1970s. For us, they are a great feat of alternative reference material—kind of like Wikipedia before there was an internet. We recently called up David Wallechinksy, the son part of the team, and asked him if we could maybe, you know, start a new feature in Vice based on his and his family’s work because, um, you know, he kind of, like, changed our life and got us into wanting to research and write about arcane trivia and current events.
To our teenage-Beatles-fan-in-1964 levels of excitement, he said, “Sure, that sounds good.” So here we have the first installment of The People’s Lists, in which we choose some of the best bits of these essential (but hard to find now) books and have them illustrated by a girl named Laura Park, who just so happens to be one of our favorite new artists.
A DAREDEVIL’S FINAL FALL
Bobby Leach was a colorful character who first became famous in 1911 when he went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. He continued to perform dangerous exploits, including parachuting over the falls from an airplane. In April 1926, Leach was walking down a street in Christchurch, New Zealand, when he slipped on a piece of orange peel and broke his leg so badly that it had to be amputated. Complications developed and he died.
THE BURDEN OF MATRIMONY
 William Shortis, a rent collector in Liverpool, England, and his wife, Emily Ann, had not been seen for several days. Worried friends and a policeman entered the house on August 13, 1903, and were horrified to discover William, dazed and dying, at the foot of the staircase pinned to the floor underneath the body of his 224-pound wife. A coroner’s jury concluded that the elderly couple had been walking up the stairs when Emily Ann fell backward, carrying her husband with her. Mrs. Shortis died immediately from a concussion, but William remained in his unfortunate position for three days, too seriously injured to extricate himself.
THE WORST NIGHTMARE OF ALL
In 1924, British newspapers reported the bizarre case of a man who apparently committed suicide while asleep. Thornton Jones, a  lawyer, woke up to discover that he had slit his throat. Motioning to his wife for a paper and pencil, Jones wrote, “I dreamt that I had done it. I awoke to find it true.” He died 80 minutes later.
THE PERFECT LAWYER
Clement L. Vallandigham was a highly controversial Ohio politician who engendered much hostility by supporting the South during the Civil War. Convicted of treason, he was banished to the Confederacy. Back in Ohio after the war, Vallandigham became an extremely successful lawyer who rarely lost a case. In 1871 he took on the defense of Thomas McGehan, a local troublemaker who was accused of shooting Tom Myers to death during a barroom brawl. Vallandigham contended that Myers had actually shot himself, attempting to draw his pistol from his pocket while trying to rise from a kneeling position. On the evening of June 16, Vallandigham was conferring in his hotel room with fellow defense lawyers when he decided to show them how he would demonstrate his theory to the jury the next day. Earlier in the day, he had placed two pistols on the bureau, one empty and one loaded. Grabbing the loaded one by mistake, Vallandigham put it in his trouser pocket. Then he slowly pulled the pistol back out and cocked it. “There, that’s the way Myers held it,” he said, and pulled the trigger. A shot rang out and Vallandigham explained, “My God, I’ve shot myself!” Thomas McGehan was subsequently acquitted and released from custody.
 A FATAL TEMPER
On April 15, 1982, 26-year-old Michael Scaglione was playing golf with friends at the City Park West Municipal Golf Course in New Orleans. After making a bad shot on the 13th hole, Scaglione became angry with himself and threw his club against a golf cart. When the club broke, the clubhead rebounded and stabbed Scaglione in the throat, severing his jugular vein. Scaglione staggered back and pulled the metal piece from his neck. Had he not done that, he might have lived, since the clubhead could have reduced the rapid flow of blood.
TO BE CONTINUED:
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