The Murder of Actress Annie Von Behren
It’s Thanksgiving Day, 1882, and for many of the residents in Cincinnati, there’s one thing that is going to make that day extra special – the famous Broadway actress Annie Von Behren is in town with her fiancé Frank I Frayne. The show had been a bit hit.
Part of the show was something of a tribute to William Tell where Fayne would shoot an apple off his girlfriend’s head, something he did playing Si Slocum many times. But, sadly, this Thanksgiving, this would take a deadly turn. The bullet hit several inches below the apple, entering Annie’s forehead. Annie fell on the stage and the curtain immediately came down.
At first, theatergoers believed that Annie was going to be okay, but when the curtain came down, they started to panic. Fifteen minutes later, it was announced that Annie Von Behren had died.
At the inquest, the coroner testified that the gun’s spring had unknowingly started to weaken – causing a situation where any bullet fired would hit several inches below the intended target (depending on how far away it was). Nobody believed that Frayne wanted to or meant to kill his soon-to-be bride – it was an unfortunate accident.
The prosecutor, however, had other ideas. He wanted Frayne arrested on manslaughter charges. And when that didn’t pan out the way he wanted it to, he tried to convince a judge that the man should be arrested for violating a law that said it was illegal to point a gun at another person, regardless of whether or not you fire it. However, by the end of the proceedings, Frayne was sent home without facing any criminal charges.
The following day, “a large number of curious people” according to the Cincinnati Post applied at Habib’s, the funeral home, to be allowed to see the body. Their plans were thwarted, however, by an order from the owner stating that nobody was allowed to enter except with his direct permission.
One member of the penny press was allowed in and was able to view the body, reporting that everything had been done to the best standards of the time.
The following day, Annie’s remains were carefully placed on a train to New York set for burial.
Dr. Richard Zeller’s Resignation
The year is 1998 and Dr. Richard Zeller is one of Bowling Green State University’s more notable professors. In fact, the local newspapers have featured him in a few stories, calling him a leader in his field and using words like “innovative”.
He was also a man who seemed to like observing the world around him, at over time he had started to notice the trend of “political correctness” going about campus and he got an idea.
He wanted to teach a class that examined the roots of “political correctness” and how it was being used, for good or bad. If campus students were using this term more and more frequently, he reasoned, why not take an academic look at it?
Several departments at the University turned him down before he began to focus on the Women’s Studies Department, specifically citing them for their “feminist” views that he felt were being thrust upon the University in general.
The reason that the Women’s Studies Department finally laid out – they didn’t want to be associated with a class that “stifled free speech”.
Unfortunately, Dr. Zeller decided that he was not going to accept this as a final answer, setting in motion a series of discussions that ultimately led to his resignation.