No. 665
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
December 06, 2022

Her Last Quadrille.

The bursting of an artery due to tight lacing causes the death of Miss Mary Crawford of Detroit, Mic
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December 6, 2022
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Tag: Boston

Grand Panoramic View

Of The East Side of Washington Street, Boston.

4/4/2023

A Female Gambling House in Boston.

They call it the "retreat" because of its charming privacy and apparent obscurity.

5/31/2022

A Charming Female Vaccinator.

Young gentlemen of Boston submitting their arms to a charming female vaccinator.

8/30/2021

His Mouth Full of Ivory.

A billiard ball stuck in a man's mouth - the mishap of an idiot at the Adams House in Boston.

5/4/2021

The Merry Wives of Boston.

Such is Boston morality and such is woman's fidelity.

1/5/2021

Ringling Bros.' World's Greatest Shows!

First Time Here of the Amusement Colossus of the West.

10/29/2018

A Human Rat Eater.

An employee of the Boston Gas Works boasted his ability to kill a rat with his teeth.

8/14/2017

Wicked Victorian Boston.

Wicked Victorian Boston, a new book by Robert Wilhelm.

7/31/2017

Caught Helping Themselves.

Boston detectives arrest two stylishly-dressed women while in the act of the shoplifting game.

1/9/2017

A Winter Scene.

Winter Pastime – A Skating Scene.

1/25/2016

“For Members Only.”

11/10/2014

Society Unveiled.

2/3/2014

She Had a High Old Time.

8/13/2013

Baseball Animals.

Cigarette cards, 1880s, 1890s

5/14/2013

Philanthropist or “Moral Leper?”

4/30/2013

Burglary Tools.

2/11/2013

John L. Sullivan Saved by a Neck.

11/6/2012

Female Tobacco Chewers.

What a Correspondent Asserts Regarding a Boston Girl.

7/10/2012

The Female Marine

12/27/2011

The Swindling Beggar

7/11/2011
EMANUEL MARKS
alias: MINNIE MARKS, THE RED-HEADED JEW
BANK SNEAK, CONFIDENCE MAN, SKIN GAMBLER

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.comHere is yet another example of that popular supernatural staple, “a vision of murder.”  The “New Orleans States,” February 19, 1911:SYDNEY, Feb. 18. — A most mysterious story comes from Perth, West Australia. The mysterious disappearance of a girl named Ethel Harris led a representative of a Perth newspaper to make an investigation, which had sensational results.He
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Strange Company - 5/13/2026

Artifact #93: Soapy's son, hires attorney to stop the slurring of his father's name.

"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
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025
Amen.

Why John Sloan painted this lush scene of a woman in Union Square battling the rain

John Sloan was a Village resident and something of a voyeur in the early 1900s, discreetly watching from his window or walking nearby streets in search of scenes to commit to canvas. He never lacked material, finding inspiration in the ordinary: a woman hanging laundry, men drinking in McSorley’s saloon, the elevated train snaking through […]
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Ephemeral New York - 5/11/2026

1617: A miller of Manberna, the hangman’s last

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 →
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Executed Today - 11/13/2020

"Diamond Flossie" Murphy.

"Diamond Flossie" Murphy.(New York Journal, March 18, 1898.)Flossie Murphy was a flamboyant character, notorious in the demi-monde of New York City’s Tenderloin. She had a fondness for diamond jewelry, which she wore conspicuously, earning her the nickname, “Diamond Flossie.” But when she was found on the floor of her room on April 22, 1897, with a rope tied around her neck and all her jewelry
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Murder By Gaslight - 5/9/2026
On the Russians.

Remembering Sarah Morse Borden

Whatever you believe about the guilt or innocence of Lizzie Borden, I have always believed film makers do a great injustice to the story by not beginning at the beginning- the death on March 26, 1863 of the first Mrs. Borden. In the dying moments of Sarah Morse, Emma takes on the weight of the care of her little sister, not yet three years old. Emma herself was just 12 on March 1st. Emma has seen her mother suffer for a long time, seen her pain and loss of little Alice Esther. Emma is old enough
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 3/26/2026

Convicts to Maryland, 1773 by Peter Dickson

  [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 […]
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Early American Crime - 2/7/2019
"Bet Anything You've Got." | Unmindful of their Attire.

Her Last Quadrille.

Her Last Quadrille

The bursting of an artery due to tight lacing causes the death of Miss Mary Crawford of Detroit, Mich. 

The craze for slender waists found a victim Saturday night at Detroit, Mich., in Miss Mary Crawford, who was attending a dance. In the midst of the quadrille she suddenly cried and fell, but was caught by her partner, who carried her to a lounge, where she seemingly fainted. It was found impossible to resuscitate her, and a physician was summoned who pronounced the young lady dead. An examination revealed the fact that she had died from tight lacing, the stays in her corsets having been drawn so tightly that her flesh lay in folds beneath, so that the exertion of dancing caused the bursting of a blood vessel. Miss Crawford was to have been married today, and her betrothed is completely prostrated.

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, October 6, 1888.

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