Icepicks are deadly weapons and were rather popular in the early half of the 1900s. In fact, many assaults were committed by people who would tuck an icepick in a coat pocket. It was easy to conceal, easy to handle, and did the job of murder rather efficiently.
Stabbed in the Neck
It was reported in 1947 that a Robert Jackson of Annapolis, Maryland was awaiting his preliminary hearing for murder. He had been accused of stabbing another man in the neck with an icepick. [1]
Fatal Argument
Perhaps 1947 was a great year for icepick stabbings because there was another report of a murder in Washington, D.C.. This time it was a 24-year-old woman who was accused of stabbing a man with the pointy object during an argument. [2]
Saloon Fight
Of course, there were plenty of icepick stabbings before the 1940s. For example, a bar fight in 1901 resulted in the bartender striking an assailant with an icepick and fracturing the aggressor’s skull. The bartender was brought up on manslaughter charges, but the jury recommended the “greatest possible leniency of the court” because it was deemed an accidental death. [3]
Met with the Electric Chair
A Texan automobile salesman murdered his wife with an icepick in 1934. The jury was far from lenient with the man. He was sentenced to death and met with the electric chair in 1935. [4]
Found on the Bed
Idelle of Detroit frantically searched for her mother for two days in 1951 before she found her body lying on a bed inside the mother’s boyfriend’s apartment. The mother had two icepick wounds in her chest and contusions on the left side of her face. The police were called to the scene and a few hours later the mother’s boyfriend was arrested. [5]
Just Cold
A Baptist minister plead guilty to murder in Washington, D.C., 1950. Witness testimony claimed that the minister was scuffling with a young woman on the streets, demanding that she give him some cigarettes. Another man stepped in to protect the young woman when the minister stabbed him with an icepick.
After the stabbing, the police were called to the scene. The minister was reported as saying, “Don’t call an ambulance. Just let him sit there and die.” [6]
Set on Fire
The firemen were called to the scene of a Philadelphia home in 1945. Upon entering the blazing kitchen, the firemen discovered the naked body of a 50-year-old man with an icepick driven through his heart. The house had apparently been lit on fire to conceal the crime. [7]
