THEIR DAYS WERE NUMBERED: Infamous Deaths

The 1930 Census captured the living circumstances of many of the rich and famous. Some of the 20th Centuries well-known celebrities were recorded before fame and fortune. And for others they were recorded before they met their untimely ends. Of course for some of the more infamous Americans, whether their death was "untimely" is a matter of public opinion. As in no time before, the public has had unprecedented media access to fuel rumor and speculation of conspiracies.

The Black Dahlia. Shortly after World War II (1947) Elizabeth Short was found murdered in Los Angeles and would become best known in death as "The Black Dahlia." Theories of who committed the heinous crime seem to outnumber the population of L. A. County. Stories have been spun around noted doctors, the LAPD, drifters, Jack-the-Ripper imitators, and the sleazy post-war nightclub scene. In 1930 Elizabeth Short was a small child living with her siblings in a two parent household. The family as recorded on the 1930 Census contradicts reports that her father left the family in 1929.

John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. The Kennedy brothers are the only famous murdered siblings to be noted on the 1930 Census. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as his motorcade drove through Dallas in November 1963. Senator Robert Kennedy followed in his brother's footsteps with a bid for the Presidency in 1968. He was murdered in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles shortly after giving a speech. In both cases there is an abundance of conspiracy theories that include multiple gun men and complex webs of political intrigue. In both cases the official conclusion is that each man was killed by a lone gunman.

Malcolm X. The black activist was counted as Nebraska born Malcolm Little on the 1930 Census. He was a follower and a dissenter of the Nation of Islam. He was shot at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem in 1965. His killing was attributed to his fallout with the leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad. There are no shortage of conspiracy theories on the death of Malcolm X; the plots range from a government involvement to political factions and white supremacists.