No. 681
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
December 14, 2024

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: San Francisco

Thrown from a Balcony.

An Old Man in San Francisco Becomes Enraged at a Young Lady who Teased Him and Flings Her from a Fourth story Balcony.

1/23/2017

Society Unveiled.

2/3/2014

Comstockery.

Anthony Comstock was on a personal mission to protect America from vice.

5/1/2012

Anxious For a Funeral

10/23/2011
 "The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan MandijnThis week's Link Dump is so big, it had to be hosted by a septet!Yet another case of a spouse deciding to say it with arsenic.Mr. Morgan's magnificent library.The collapse of one of the world's first known governments.The Ghoul of Gettysburg.The healing power of music.What we are learning about Neolithic architecture.The pyramids at Giza are
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Strange Company - 12/13/2024
Included in yesterday’s trip to Fall River was a stop at Miss Lizzie’s Coffee shop and a visit to the cellar to see the scene of the tragic demise of the second Mrs. Lawdwick Borden and two of the three little children in 1848. I have been writing about this sad tale since 2010 and had made a previous trip to the cellar some years ago but was unable to get to the spot where the incident occured to get a clear photograph.  The tale of Eliza Borden is a very sad, but not uncommon story of post partum depression with a heartrending end. You feel this as you stand in the dark space behind the chimney where Eliza ended her life with a straight razor after dropping 6 month old Holder and his 3 year old sister Eliza Ann into the cellar cistern. Over the years I have found other similar cases, often involving wells and cisterns, and drownings of children followed by suicides of the mothers. These photos show the chimney, cistern pipe, back wall, dirt and brick floor, original floorboards forming the cellar ceiling and what appears to be an original door. To be in the place where this happened is a sobering experience. My thanks to Joe Pereira for allowing us to see and record the place where this sad occurrence unfolded in 1848. R.I.P. Holder, Eliza and Eliza Ann Borden. Visit our Articles section above for more on this story. The coffee shop has won its suit to retain its name and has plans to expand into the shop next door and extend its menu in the near future.
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 2/12/2024
I was born too late to experience a Horn & Hardart Automat firsthand. But if I was around during the automat era—which peaked Midcentury and ended with the closure of the last Manhattan automat in 1991—I think I could get the hang of how to purchase food. Still, maybe the Automat concept was a little […]
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Ephemeral New York - 12/9/2024
An article I recently wrote for the British online magazine, New Politic, is now available online. The article, “The Criminal Origins of the United States of America,” is about British convict transportation to America, which took place between the years 1718 and 1775, and is the subject of my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: […]
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Early American Crime - 12/17/2021
In 1898, Mrs. Ida Deane, of Dover, Delaware received a box of chocolates by mail from an anonymous sender. When she served them at a dinner party four people died of arsenic poisoning. Was it sent by Cordelia Botkin, the mistress of Ida’s husband?Read the full story here: Murder by Mail.
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Murder By Gaslight - 12/14/2024
Soapy STAR notebookPage 14 - Original copy1882Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge) OAPY SMITH IN CALIFORNIA♫ California's the place you outta to beSo he loaded up his grip and moved to Grass Valley ♪ This is page 14, dated 1882, the continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook can be seen on
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 11/26/2024
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
He Liked Little Boys. | The Craze of the Day.

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.