No. 557
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
January 05, 2021

The Merry Wives of Boston.

Such is Boston morality and such is woman's fidelity.
January 5, 2021
...
...

 Welcome to the Link Dump, where this week, our Strange Company HQ staffers give a shout-out to Clarence, Iowa!Well, why not.  I'm sure it's a charming place.Where the hell is the Pedro Mountain Mummy?The tomb of King Midas' father.Graham Greene in Mexico.A look at supernatural smells.A German liner goes to war.A woman accused of murdering her sister.A mysterious object named Phoebe is
More...
Strange Company - 8/21/2026
  [Editor’s note: Guest writer, Peter Dickson, lives in West Sussex, England and has been working with microfilm copies of The Duncan Campbell Papers from the State Library of NSW, Sydney, Australia. The following are some of his analyses of what he has discovered from reading these papers. Dickson has contributed many transcriptions to the Jamaica […]
More...
Early American Crime - 2/7/2019
"As his son I am proud of hisefforts to succeed in life"Jefferson Randolph Smith IIIArtifact #93-2Jeff Smith collection(Click image to enlarge) oapy's son hires a legal firm to stop the defamation of his father's name. At age 30, Jefferson Randolph Smith III, Soapy and Mary's oldest son, was protecting his father's legacy and his mother's reputation from "libel" and scandal. He was also
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025
 Ida Quinlan and Sophia Grant.Mrs. Ida Quinlan went out to buy a pair of stockings at around 9:00 on the night of February 1, 1896, leaving her baby in the care of her sister, Mrs. Sophia Grant. She took a streetcar to the store several miles away and returned to the house at around 11:00. Entering the sitting room, she was surprised to find the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled out and
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 8/15/2026
Youth With Executioner by Nuremberg native Albrecht Dürer … although it’s dated to 1493, which was during a period of several years when Dürer worked abroad. November 13 [1617]. Burnt alive here a miller of Manberna, who however was lately … Continue reading
More...
Executed Today - 11/13/2020
The Girls Biffed Each Other | New Years in the Wings.

The Merry Wives of Boston.

Harry-Lee

One night the whole party were assembled in the room of Mrs. H. Sparkling champagne was before them, of which they partook freely. Mrs. H. proposed to decide by lot whose bed Harry should share, while Harry insisted that Mrs. H's bed was large enough for four and promised to do equal justice to all.

The mirth grew fast and furious, and each one was trying by the liberal display of her to personal charms to win the lucky Harry for herself alone, when the door opened and the landlady entered in nightcap and gown, horrified at their untimely revelry, and aghast at the sight which met her eyes.

Harry was cheated out of his night's enjoyment, for he was compelled to leave the house instantly, and the recreant wives packed up their trunks and left the next morning, like Alexander, to seek new worlds to conquer.—Such is Boston morality and such is woman's fidelity.


New England Police Gazette, October 5, 1861.