Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

482 results found

regicides

(Encyclopedia)regicides rĕjˈĭsīdz [key] [Lat., =king-killers], in English history, name given to those judges and court officers responsible for the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649. After the Restorati...

police court

(Encyclopedia)police court, court with jurisdiction limited to minor offenses, chiefly the least grave misdemeanors and breaches of municipal ordinances. In practice the trial is usually held before a judge sitting...

Leopold and Loeb

(Encyclopedia)Leopold and Loeb lōb [key], notorious American murderers defended by Clarence Darrow in 1924. The gregarious, dominating Richard A. Loeb (1905–1936) and the shy, submissive Nathan F. Leopold, Jr. (...

Lockerbie

(Encyclopedia)Lockerbie lŏkˈərbē [key], village (1991 pop. 3,892), Dumfries and Galloway, S Scotland, site of a 1988 airplane crash. On Dec. 21, 1988, a New York–bound Pan Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight as ...

Mooney, Thomas J.

(Encyclopedia)Mooney, Thomas J., 1883–1942, American labor agitator, b. Chicago. He was an active leader in several violent labor struggles in California before 1916 and was convicted as a participant in the bomb...

Séguier, Pierre, duc de Villemor

(Encyclopedia)Séguier, Pierre, duc de Villemor pyĕr sāgyāˈ dük də vēlmôrˈ [key], 1588–1672, chancellor of France. Beginning as counselor to the Parlement of Paris, he rose to become chancellor in 1635. ...

Hauptmann, Bruno Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hauptmann, Bruno Richard, 1899–1936, convicted kidnapper and murderer, b. Germany. The infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was abducted (Mar. 1, 1932) at Hopewell, N.J., and a ransom of ...

Chicago Seven

(Encyclopedia)Chicago Seven, group of political activists, originally eight in number, who led protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 and were charged with criminal conspiracy and incitem...

Haywood, William Dudley

(Encyclopedia)Haywood, William Dudley, 1869–1928, American labor leader, known as Big Bill Haywood, b. Salt Lake City, Utah. He began work as a miner at 15 years of age. In 1896 he joined the newly organized West...

Bridge of Sighs

(Encyclopedia)Bridge of Sighs, covered stone bridge in Venice, Italy, built in the 16th cent. to connect the ducal palace with the state prison. The prisoners were led over the bridge directly to prison after trial...

Browse by Subject