Episode 83: Tales from the Archives #5 — Murder, Kidnapping & Forgotten Italian Immigrants

In this episode of Tales from the Archives, we uncover three haunting, unfinished stories pulled from early 20th-century newspapers—stories where Italian immigrants made headlines, only to be forgotten by history.

We begin in 1911 Southern Colorado, where a young Italian rancher is found murdered on a lonely road near Aguilar. A former business partner is arrested, witnesses come forward, and a search posse forms—but the case quietly fades from the press, leaving unanswered questions behind.

Next, we examine a shocking automobile accident involving the son of William Howard Taft. After an Italian laborer is struck and left with a fractured skull, newspaper coverage centers almost entirely on the president’s distress and his son’s remorse—while the injured immigrant’s identity is misspelled, obscured, and ultimately lost.

Finally, we travel to Pueblo’s Italian community in 1925, where a groom disappears just days before his long-awaited church wedding. Headlines scream kidnapping, jealousy, and scandal, but conflicting reports and misspelled names make it impossible to determine what really happened—or where the groom went.

These stories explore not only crime and mystery, but who history chooses to remember—and who it leaves behind.

If you enjoy historical true crime, forgotten headlines, Italian American history, and archival mysteries, this episode is for you.

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