No. 377
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
August 14, 2017

A Human Rat Eater.

An employee of the Boston Gas Works boasted his ability to kill a rat with his teeth.
August 14, 2017
...
...

Tag: Puck

Puck's Dude Champions.

12/17/2013
"Kitsap Sun," February 18, 1997, via Newspapers.comEvery suicide is a tragedy, of course.  However, among the most poignant ones are where the person remains unidentified.  Did they leave behind loved ones who suffered the agony of never knowing what happened to them?  Or--possibly even sadder--did this person have no one in the world who cared if they lived or died?  The
More...
Strange Company - 8/17/2026
  [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 Lady Flashes Dance. | The Country Cureall.

A Human Rat Eater.

Human Rat Eater

[more] One of the employees in the Boston Gas Works boasted his ability to kill a rat with his teeth. For a bet of five dollars the experiment was tried. A room was procured and a table, in the centre of which a hole was bored, and through this a string extended, one end being fastened below and the other end was tied to the legs of a large rat. The chewer’s hands were tied behind him, He quietly applied his mouth to the orifice in the table; with the aid of his tongue he picked up the string and held it in his dentals. The ne quietly and slowly slid his face along in the direction of the rat, until within “distance,” and then, eying his victim a moment, he made a sudden snap. There was a crunch, a sharp squeak, and the bet was won.


Reprinted from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, January 25, 1868.