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Truth Deferred: The National Guard Massacre

Truth Deferred: The National Guard Massacre

By: Truth Deferred: The National Guard Massacre
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About this listen

Truth Deferred is a historic true crime podcast by Mike and Amy Morgan, who share the story of a series of grisly murders and public hysteria leading up to the largest massacre of unarmed civilians by National Guard troops in U.S. history.

Accepted history says that the National Guard Massacre, usually referred to as the Cincinnati Courthouse Riot, was caused by a corrupt lawyer getting a cold-blooded murdered off on a ridiculously light sentence – probably by bribing the jury. This caused the public to riot, and the National Guard had to step in and heroically restore order. But what if most of this story is a lie?

Join us as we peel back the layers of murder, media bias, Gilded Age corruption, the rivalry between attorney T.C. Campbell and a rising young legal star named William Howard Taft, and how it all led to the slaughter of dozens of innocent people and a whitewash that covered up the truth for over 140 years

This isn’t just history – it’s a mirror reflecting today’s dangerous political divisions paired with an unsettling question: could something similar happen in the streets of a modern American city?
Episodes
  • 1: Love Lost & Justice Unraveling

    1: Love Lost & Justice Unraveling
    Mar 27 2026
    Our story starts on Monday, March 31, 1884. The streets are covered in blood. Over 50 people are dead and some are dying in the hallways of the hospital. Every window has been smashed out of the jail, and the county courthouse is a smoldering ruin. To find out how we got here, we travel back to an imperfect love story ending in a public murder, and how the case of William McHugh illustrates a growing distrust of the criminal justice system.
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    57 mins
  • 2: “Crazy Joe” Pleads Insanity

    2: “Crazy Joe” Pleads Insanity
    Apr 1 2026
    The heartless crime and multiple murder trials of “Crazy Joe” Payton introduce us to the morally pliable brilliance of attorney T.C. Campbell, his odd political alliance with The Cincinnati Enquirer, and his blood feud with the Commercial Gazette and a young, idealistic lawyer named William Howard Taft – personal animosities that will help re-write history.
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    55 mins
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