HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

86 years ago today, on February 2, 1934, the first murders were committed in Massachusetts using a fully automatic weapon. Sadly, the victims were the first police officers to be killed in the line of duty in the sleepy Boston suburb of Needham. At the center of the case were a stolen Tommy gun, a pair of brothers, and a ragtag assortment of followers. Before it was all over, the Millen-Faber gang would be tied to at least five murders, a long string of robberies, and an attempted jailbreak. Three of the crew would be sentenced to death, and the shocking spectacle of military grade weapons being used on the streets of a quiet Boston suburb would stoke the already raging debate about gun control and the 1934 federal firearms act.

Please check out the transcript and full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/170/

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• Boston Globe stories
  • January 27: Police weapons stolen
  • February 3: Stolen Tommy gun used in deadly robbery
  • February 26: Murtons arrested in NYC
  • February 26: Abe Faber arrested in Boston
  • February 27: Abe Faber confesses
  • March 2: Irving Millen confesses to save Norma
  • April 18, 1935: moved from Dedham to death row in Charlestown
  • June 7, 1935: Irving Millen, Murton Millen, and Abraham Faber are executed
  • June 10, 1934: fights at the burials
• Washington, DC Evening Star stories
  • February 27: stolen guns found in Washington DC
  • February 28: searching DC safe deposit box
  • March 1: arguments for and against stronger state gun control
  • March 2: Irv confesses to save Norma
  • March 11: the brothers plead insanity
  • May 1: Abe’s fiancee testifies against him
  • June 9: death sentences handed down
  • June 28: Norma convicted
  • August 31: How will the firearms act of 1934 affect local machine gun owners
  • September 25: Last day to register your legal machine gun before the 1934 firearms act goes into effect
  • Jan 11, 1935: Attempt to break the Millens out of Dedham jail
  • Jan 12, 1935: Millens as an reason stronger gun control is needed
  • Apr 26, 1935: more Millen siblings implicated in jailbreak attempt
  • June 5, 1935: Millens refuse to ask for clemency
  • June 7, 1935: Millens and Faber are executed
• A post from the Needham History Center gives background on the fallen officers and explains how the suspects were identified.
• Murder and the Death Penalty in Massachusetts, by Alan Rogers
• Dedham: Heroic and Historic Tales from Shiretown, by James Parr
• March 2 Brisbane (Australia) Courier-Mail: Faber’s confession makes headlines down under
• A case overview by Judge R Marc Kantrowitz
• Murder on Trial 1620-2002, by Lawrence B. Goodheart and Alan Rogers
• August 21, 1935 Urbana (IL) Daily Courier: Norma released from jail

Britney Jasnoff, executive editor of Boston Magazine, joins us for a brief interview about a piece in the January/February 2020 issue called “Return to our Roots.” It discusses the recent trend of using DNA testing to uncover family history and genealogy, and it explores travel destinations that Bostonians can trace their genetic heritage back to. From Puerto Rico to Vietnam to Ireland, the package includes travel itineraries, personal narratives of Bostonians who have traveled to get in touch with their roots, and the 10 commandments of heritage travel. Read the piece online, or look for it on newsstands now.

As part of the Boston Public Library’s Black History Month seminar series, Katie Woods will be presenting about the Women’s Era Club at the Mattapan branch library at 3:30pm on February 12. The Women’s Era started out as the first newspaper published for African American women, founded in Boston by activist Josephine St Pierre Ruffin in 1890. A few years later, she started the club as an offshoot, where African American women could work together toward the lofty goal of making the world a better place. Here’s how the BPL website describes the talk:

In 1893, a group of Boston women founded the Women’s Era Club, one of the first woman’s clubs in the country led by African American women. With its journal, The Woman’s Era, this club’s mission of social activism reached national audiences. What causes were these women fighting for, and how were they treated by majority-white organizations? Join SCA Public History Intern Katie Woods as we explore the little-known yet influential club and publication, as well as the women behind these instruments of social change.

The event is free, but advanced registration is required.