1929 Birmingham homicides

This is a List of Birmingham homicides in 1929. It includes homicide cases occurring within the city limits during the calendar year. Note that not all homicides are ultimately ruled to be murder in courts of law.

Birmingham had ___ homicides in 1929.

Listing

• February 24: James J. Walters, a towerman for the L & N Railroad, was beaten to death with an ax or hatchet while walking home. His wife and niece were charged with his murder.
• April 15: Beverly Wharton, 30, an employee of Southern Dairies, was killed, and his wife Margaret wounded by an attacker armed with an ax who entered the boarding house where they lived at 1917 11th Avenue North at 3:00 AM. The couples' two young daughters were in the room, but unharmed. The assailant, described as a Black man by Mrs Wharton, had first entered the house by a kitchen window but found the bedroom door locked. He re-entered through another window, by which he also escaped after Mrs Wharton screamed, rousing neighbors and drawing the attention of a messenger boy outside. On the wall beneath the bedroom windows were found "several peculiar black chalk marks". Bloodhounds lent by Charley Thomas of Warrior were unable to pick up a trail. "Fingerprints and marks" were found on the windows and bed.
• October 27: Rufus Kelly, 21, was shot to death at 5:00 PM on the street at 1058 Short 10th Street (now the site of Malfunction Junction).
• December 19: Betty Keith, 24, was shot to death by her husband, William Ross Keith Jr, in her hospital bed at the Woodlawn Infirmary. She was being treated for wounds she received when he stabbed her at their home in East Lake the night before, and then fired upon her while she was being treated at a neighbor's house. After killing her, Keith turned the gun on himself, but suffered only minor injuries to his left arm. He was convicted of murder on December 19, 1930 and sentenced to life in prison. He was freed on parole on October 31, 1938. (report)

See also

• Birmingham homicides by year