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Black powder dynamite is both efficient and hazardous. Its general commercial use is to clear land of large debris like boulders and tree stumps. Though it has only 20 to 30 percent of the explosive power of full nitro dynamite, if that power is multiplied and applied to a human body, the effect is devastating.
April 21, 1955, was the last day of Oliver Smith's life. Twelve sticks of black powder explosive had been bound with black tape and mounted to the underside of the driver's seat in Smith's 1952 Buick sedan. He'd been driving around Portland for two days, unaware of Death waiting beneath his seat cushion. Late that evening, Smith got into his car, turned the key, hit the starter switch, and died instantly in a blast that destroyed the vehicle and obliterated the 35-year-old attorney and new husband.
Episode Host: Josh McCullough
Left: Smith Home Swingset, photo from Oregonian
Middle: Detective Ed Fuller, photo from Oregonian
Right: Smith Home Garage, photo from Oregonian
Left: Chief Dick Inspects Smith Car Wreckage, photo from Oregonian
Right: Oliver "Kerm" Car Wreckage, photo from OHS Digital Collection
Row 1 Left: Victor Laurence Wolf, photo from The Oregonian, Middle: Marjorie Smith, photo from Press and Sun Bulletin, Right: Marjorie Smith's Jury, photo from Oregon Journal
Row 2 Left: Majorie Smith and Bruce Spaulding, photo from The Oregonian, Middle: Virgil Crum and Mrs. Ellen Hightower, photo from The Oregonian, Right: Pussywillow Limbs Fit, The Oregonian
Row 3 Left: Pussywillows Possible Link, photo from The Oregonian, Right: Victor Wolf in Judge Chambers, photo from The Oregonian
Row 4 Left: Artist sketch of courtroom, photo from Oregon Journal, Right: Marjorie Smith Acquitted, photo from The Oregonian
Row 5 Left: Moments after Majorie Acquittal, photo from Oregon Journal Right: Marjorie Smith at Custody Hearing, photo from The Coos Bay Times
Row 6 Right: Ellen Hightower, Susan Smith, Marjorie Smith, photo from The Oregonian
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Sources
Columbia Edgewater Country Club(Google Maps) | Columbia Country Club (Portland, Or.) - OHS Digital Collections | 6246 NE Alameda Portand, OR | Columbia Edgewater | OHS - Digital Collections - Columbia Country Club | Dr. George Franklin Grant (1846–1910) | When Dynamite Turned Terrorism Into an Everyday Threat - The New York Times | Oliver Kermit Smith - Ancestry | 94th Infantry Division - WWII | Marjorie Jean "Chris" Evans - Ancestry | Marjorie Jean Evans - Ancestry | Cris J Randolph - U.S. Social Security - Ancestry] | Marjorie Jean Evans Randolph - Find a Grave | Obituary - Lena Jesse Sherman | Bits & People | Victor Laurence Wolf - Ancestry | Leola Louise (Lola) Freeman Sweat Wolf | Virgil Andrew Crum - Ancestry | Behind the Mike(Virgil Crum feeding ducks) | Virgil Crum, Law Veteran, Succumbs to Weak Heart | The Bench and Bar(Virgil A. Crum) | The Meier & Frank Bombing, 1955 | Dynamite murder caused by a sordid love triangle | slabtown chronicle: Pussy Willows: The Murder of Kermit Smith | ‘Sex slave’ murder case rocked Portland 65 years ago: Car bombing led to ‘8 months of hell’ for suspect Marjorie Smith - oregonlive.com | One Stick of Dynamite Can Uproot a Stump | Explosive Powder Shipping Crate | Dynamite Explosions | Science. | Explosive - Dynamite, Nitroglycerin, Blasting | Britannica | NITRO-GLYCERINE - To The Editor(1867) | St. Helen’s Hall, circa 1892 | Vintage Portland | Dupont 30% stumping powder | Methane-Air Detonation Experiments at NIOSH Lake Lynn Laboratory | NPS Park History - Chapter 2 EXPLOSIVES | Explosions, Deflagrations, and Detonations | Blast Overpressure - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics | Subsonic Speed - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics | The Debaucherous History of Bachelor Parties | HowStuffWorks | A Brief History Of Bachelor Parties - TIME | Cardboard America - Stag Party 1950s | Complete Deck Of Vintage Stag Party Pack1954 Playing Cards Made By Frederic USA | 1950s Bachelor Stag Party | Bettie Page and Tempest Storm - Youtube | Beauty in Brief (1955) | BFI National Archive | Bomb Demolishes Car at Columbia-Edgewater | Auto-Bomb Kills Portland Attorney | Fake Bomb Threat Jolts Vancouver School Pupils | Portland Police Harried by New Bombing Threats | Portland Woman Gets Extortion Telephone Call | Portlander Cleared of Threatened Bombing | Youth Admits Bomb 'Joke' | Extortion--Vicious Crime | Murder Case Explosion Probed | Friend Recalls Mrs. Smith As Both 'Liar and Dreamer' | Lie Test Spurned By Blast Widow | Officers Confirm Details Of Slayer's Confession | Marjorie Sobs, Collapses At 'Mugging" and Printing | Pussywillows Possible Link in Murder | Pussywillow Limbs Fit | Man Confesses Bomb Slaying | Victim's wife held in bomb slaying | Grandmother, Bewildered, Dismayed at Plight of Woman Accused of Murder Conspiracy | Wife Charged With Murder of Attorney | Accused Wife At Husband's Funeral | Jury Indicts 'Love Slave', Lawyer's Wife | Marjorie Smith Trial Moved To McMinnville | 'Walnut City' Excited By Widow Smith Trial | Marjorie Smith's Murder Trial Opens Thursday | Jury chosen | Prosecution Alleges Marjorie and Wolf Plotted Slaying of Smith Over Game of Scrabble | Smith-Case Defense Flaunts Prison Record of Sherwood Packer… | Witness Lauds WIdow | Marjorie Smith Tells of Calling Wolf to Home on Day Fatal Bomb Was Installed in Auto | Artist Depicts Principals in Murder Trial | Death Asked For Mother Of Two | Brunette Still On Stand In Husband Murder Trial | Smith Jury Still Out On Second Day | Jury Acquits Mrs. Smith In Murder Case | Widow Sobs In Relief | Widow Wins Acquittal | Marjorie Sheds Happy Tears, Thanks Jury Members | Marjorie Smith Relaxing At Beach Cottage Near Tillamook | Wolf To Undergo Psychiatric Exam | Confessed Slayer's Fate Nears | Wolf Trial For Life Underway | Wolf's Confession at Mrs. Smith's Trial Read Into Record at Court Hearing | Wolf 'Like Fly in Web' Detective Tells Hearing | Slayer Gets Life Sentence | Marjorie Wins Custody Of Girl During Contest | Mrs. Smith Is Questioned About Her Lovers | Marjorie Tells of Shame For Parentage Deception | Marjorie Pledges All Inheritance to Child | Court Okehs Settlement | Mrs. Smith Loses Fight For Daughter | Bombing Widow Loses Custody of Daughter, 4 | Marjorie Smith Loses Fight For Child | Sherry 'Young and Happy Again' Over Reversal of Conviction | High State Court Reverses Conviction of Sherry Fong | Who Blew Up Mr. Smith? | Obituary: Attorney Crum Dies | Car-Bomb Slayer Granted Parole | Whatever Happened To The Widow? | Acclaimed Portland Trial Lawyer Bruce Spaulding Dies | Remarriage And Murder | Victor Wolf, 90| Long-lost memoir examines ‘diabolical’ 1950s Portland sex-and-murder scandal, inspires art exhibit - oregonlive.com | THE MUSEUM OF BAD JUDGEMENT | A SERIES BY JULIA W. WHITE - Salem Art Association | Oliver K. Smith vehicle after car bombing - OHS Digital Collections | CRIME: Bomb Plot II - TIME