No. 351
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 13, 2017

Courtship from a Tree.

Young and Ardent Bob Toppin, a Newark, N. J., youth, does some tall climbing in order to meet his sw
March 13, 2017
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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
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Courtship from a Tree.

Courtship from a tree

Young and Ardent Bob Toppin, a Newark, N. J., youth, does some tall climbing in order to meet his sweetheart, pretty miss Hobbie, a parson’s daughter. [more]

Robert Toppin, a Newark, N. J., youth has been courting the daughter of the Rev. Reeve Hobbie, pastor of a local church. The minister did not approve of Topping calling on his daughter, and told him to keep away from the house.

Young Toppin resorted to a novel way of holding conversation with Miss Hobbie. One night recently he climbed a tree under her bedroom window so he could talk to her. The Rev. Mr. Hobbie caught the two lovers carrying on conversation in this manner and he abruptly called the young man down from the tree. When Topping reached the ground it is alleged that there was a lively struggle between the minister and the lover.

Mr. Hobbie consulted Judge Conlon, and Toppin was summoned to appear in court to answer the charge of disorderly conduct. The proceedings, which were conducted in a private room, resulted in young Toppin’s release on his agreement to keep away from Mr. Hobbie’s house.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, December 10, 1892.