1900s

1900–1924

• William Goebel, American politician who was shot and mortally wounded on the morning of 30 January 1900 by an unknown assailant in Frankfort, Kentucky one day before being sworn in as Governor of Kentucky. The next day the dying Goebel was sworn in and despite 18 physicians attending him, died the afternoon of 3 February 1900. Goebel remains the only state governor in the United States to be assassinated while in office.^[6]
• Rose Harsent, a 6 month pregnant maid who was stabbed to death on 1 June 1902 in Suffolk, England by an unknown assailant. At the time it was alleged that the murderer was a preacher of the Primitive Methodist Chapel named William Gardiner who was having an affair with the victim: Gardiner was tried twice for the murder but each time the jury failed to reach a verdict.^[7][8] The case has been investigated in BBC One's Julian Fellowes Investigates.^[9]
• Joseph Wilson, the sixty year old stationmaster, shot dead at Lintz Green railway station, in the North East of England, on 7 October 1911. His murder sparked one of the largest murder investigations in the North East.^{[citation needed]}
• The Villisca Murders – J.B. Moore, his wife, four children and two guests were killed by an unknown axe-murderer in Villisca, Iowa on June 10, 1912.
• William Desmond Taylor, popular American actor and director of silent movies from Los Angeles, United States. Killed by a shot in the back on 1 February 1922 inside his bungalow. His murder, along with other Hollywood scandals such as the Roscoe Arbuckle trial, led to a frenzy of sensational and often fabricated newspaper reports.
• The Hinterkaifeck murders. Hinterkaifeck, a small farmstead between the Bavarian towns of Ingolstadt and Schrobenhausen (approximately 70 km north of Munich), was the scene of one of the most puzzling crimes in German history. On the evening of 31 March 1922, the six inhabitants of the farm were killed with a pickaxe, and the murder is still unsolved.
• The Janet Smith case. A 22-year-old Scottish nursemaid was found dead with a gunshot wound to the temple in a home in an exclusive neighborhood of Vancouver, Canada. Initially labeled a suicide (despite much evidence to the contrary), her friends were able to get the case reopened and deemed a murder. The initial suspect, Chinese houseboy Wong Foon Sing, was kidnapped and tortured for weeks in an unsuccessful attempt to extract a confession, causing a major scandal when it was discovered that various police officials and respected members of society were directly involved. Wong was eventually tried and acquitted for lack of evidence. A bill was proposed, banning the employment of Orientals and white women in the same household, but failed to pass.