The long death of the drunkard Michael Malloy, who became an urban legend

This is the story of an Irish homeless man named Michael Malloy, whose death was included in a number of lists of "amazing and entertaining deaths". However, it does not look like a Darwin prize, because Malloy himself is not to blame for it. 

Malloy was a first-generation immigrant. He came to the United States from County Donegal (Ireland) at the end of the XIX century and hoped to find his happiness in the New World. Young and strong, Malloy got a job as a firefighter. But the fire business did not bring him happiness. At one point, he was fired for drunkenness, slid lower and lower until he became homeless. And in 1933, a group of his friends approached Malloy with an offer to insure their lives. The drunk was 60 years old at the time.

The four were Tony Marino, Joseph Murphy, Francis Pasca, and Daniel Krisberg. The last three of them liked to drink, worked in low-paid positions, and often went to the same bar where Malloy drank his money, and the bar itself was owned by Marino. One of them came up with an interesting plan. It was necessary to persuade the drunkard to insure his life for a large sum under their guarantee. They would have given him money for insurance, plus they would have put a couple of bottles for signing a few pieces of paper. And then Malloy would get drunk and die, and the four would get insurance (as sureties). By then, Malloy looked as if he had one foot in the grave. They planned to kill him by simply singing nonstop for one to two weeks. No one will dig in.

The first part of the plan was successful in early January 1933. However, the insurance agent had to be bribed, because decent agencies did not want to insure a homeless alcoholic. The amount of insurance was $ 3,500, which, taking into account inflation, is currently somewhere around$60,000. The main thing is that Malloy died of an accident. Malloy was told that he was signing a petition to nominate Marino for county governor. 

Prohibition in the United States was abolished shortly before that-booze stores opened their doors on April 5, 1932 after 13 years of prohibition. But already during prohibition, Tony Marino kept a small underground bar (the so-called "speakeasy"); and since in New York "prohibition" was held until December 1933, at the time of the story with Malloy, the bar remained underground. 

In general, Marino gave (ostensibly out of friendship) unlimited credit to Malloy. Over the next week, Malloy didn't just drink, he drank a lot. The caring Marino and company kept pouring him more, and the heavier the drink, the better. But the drunk was clearly not going to die, and the company was forced to take tough measures. 

The first thing he was offered was a liqueur with added antifreeze. Liqueur – to muffle the antifreeze stench. In any case, Malloy spent the whole day pouring this wild mixture, and the next day he came for more. Antifreeze was replaced with turpentine. But the turpentine also went to Malloy like orange juice. Therefore, by the end of the second day, more horse ointment was added to the terrible mixture. It resembles the cocktail "Bitch's giblet" from the novel "Moscow-Petushki" (Zhigulevskoe beer-100 g, shampoo "Sadko-rich guest" - 30 g, resolver for cleaning hair from dandruff-70 g, brake fluid-35 g, glue BF-12 g, pest control for the destruction of small insects-20 g). 

As Malloy calmly continued to drink, rat poison was added to the alcohol. But even this did not affect the old drunkard in any way. Then the company decided to switch to snacks, which were used on the third day of undercooked oysters soaked in methanol. The idea came from Paschi, who was familiar with a man who died from eating oysters as a snack for whiskey. Next to him, Malloy was served sandwiches of poisoned sardines. But the next day Malloy showed up at the bar again. 

Malloy's tinned stomach clearly didn't allow him to be killed by poisoning. So the company decided to freeze the old man. It was cold at night; a particularly Dubak night with a temperature of -26 °C was chosen. In the middle of the night, a drunken Malloy was taken to a deserted park, laid in the snow, opened his jacket on his chest, and poured icy water. After that, they retreated, because it was impossible to survive in such conditions. What was the surprise of the scoundrels when Malloy showed up at the bar again the next day, demanding a drink. 

A man named Hershey Green, who ran a private cab company, stepped in. Green wasn't part of the original murderers ' group. Marino paid for his services and those of his bouncer friend Tony Baston. Marino and Baston held the old man by the arms, and Green in his taxi, speeding up to 72 km/h, hit him (by the way, you may have a question where all this information came from, and even with such accuracy; I will answer: from the court records). 

A taxi was a good idea. At least Malloy was hospitalized for three weeks with multiple fractures. But when Malloy got out of the hospital on crutches, the first thing he did was go to a bar with his friends and unlimited credit. On February 22, 1933, they decided that they would stop standing on ceremony. Malloy irritated them simply by himself – by his monstrous immortality. So they dragged a drunken Malloy into Murphy's rented room, put a gas pump hose in his mouth, and killed the old man. 

Since the murder, contrary to the original plans for an accident, did not look at all like an accident, it was necessary to bribe the coroner who wrote the death certificate. It was announced that Michael Malloy had died of croup pneumonia. Then he was quickly buried, after which he successfully received insurance. That's where the whole thing got worse than Malloy's murder. 

They couldn't agree on how to divide the loot. In addition, they began to spend it quite actively. In bars and in general in this environment, rumors began to spread. And while the company was killing Malloy, other patrons of the bar and the county bums were wondering why the four of them were so kind to the old bum. The popular story was called "Mike the Durable," and it was told in underground bars all over the city, and at some point it reached the ears of a smart cop. He felt that there was a chance to profit from the solved case, and he got Malloy exhumed. 

Naturally, death from pneumonia was immediately ruled out, and the four murderers were taken lukewarm. The scoundrels were put on trial. Hershey Green went to prison (because he had only attempted murder on him, once and unsuccessfully), and the other four were electrocuted in Sing Sing in July 1934. What happened to Bouncer Baston, I don't know. 

Malloy's story became legendary. There is, for example, the instrumental piece" You Can't Kill Michael Malloy " (You Can't Kill Michael Malloy), written and played by the band The Spent Poets. Quite a good one, by the way.

There is also a theatrical production by Erik Jendresen called The Murder of Michael Malloy (1993). In one of the seasons of the TV series Gang Busters (1952), there is an episode "The Case of the persistent Mike Malloy". In 1949, Timothy Trent's tabloid detective story "All Ladies are Explosive" was published, the plot of which was based on the story of Malloy (the title of the novel is strange, yes). Finally, in 2011, the script "The Man Who Can't Die" by Nolan Thomas appeared – there is an option that the film will be released soon.

On the one hand, horror, of course. But on the other hand, you begin to believe in the story of Grigory Rasputin, who was also poisoned with everything.