No. 858
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 24, 2026

Sketches on the Rail.

Characters Found on a Passenger Train.
March 24, 2026
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Tag: Holiday

St. Valentine's Day.

St Valentine's Day.

2/12/2018

Turkey Shooting.

About the beginning of October, turkeys, young and old, move from their breeding districts towards the rich bottom lands near the Ohio and the Mississippi.

11/20/2017

July 4.

So this is your birthday again. Well, bless my soul! Columbia, you will be as tall as your father soon.

7/3/2017

The Valentine.

The subjoined engraving, the design of which is from the graceful pencil of Rowse, is more eloquent than words.

2/12/2017

New Years in the Wings.

The fairy of the enchanted realm entertains her subjects in an earthly way.

12/29/2014

Merry Christmas!

12/22/2014

Independence Day in the Country.

6/28/2014

Decoration Day and its Memories.

5/19/2014

Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner.

11/26/2013

The St. Patrick's Day Parade.

3/5/2013

Happy New Year!

1/1/2013
When reading about UFO sightings, one gets a bit bored of encounters with the usual saucer-eyed little green men, so it’s always welcome when extraterrestrials think outside of the box and offer us humans a more novel spectacle.  In the November/December 1968 issue of “Flying Saucer Review,” a French UFO researcher named Lyonel Trigano presented a striking case which had been brought to his
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Strange Company - 3/30/2026
"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
New York didn’t invent April Fools Day; this holiday might date back all the way to ancient Rome. But starting in the 19th century, April 1 in Gotham has been a day to celebrate with stupid pranks, outrageous hoaxes, the mocking of politicians and business leaders, and since 1986, a parade down Fifth Avenue. This […]
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Ephemeral New York - 3/30/2026
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
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Executed Today - 11/13/2020
National Police Gazette, January 28, 1882Mrs. J.W. Gibbons was away from her home in Ashland, Kentucky, on December 23, 1881. She left behind her 18-year-old son Robert, her 14-year-old daughter Fannie, and 17-year-old Emma Thomas (aka Carico), who was staying with them. Mrs. Gibbons returned the following day to find her home burned to the ground and all three inhabitants dead.Read the full
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Murder By Gaslight - 3/28/2026
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
  [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
| An Irishman and a Yankee Settle a Dispute.

Sketches on the Rail.

Railroad-Characters

Sketches on the Rail - Characters Found on a Passenger Train - Beats and their Games - Trying to Change a Shirt in a Tunnel -"Funny Business" in the Back Seats and The Palace Car State Rooms.


Illustrated Police News, February 22, 1879.