No. -1
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
November 26, 2024

Rum and Nitro-Glycerine.

A Drunken Man Slips Down Under a Load of the Explosive - Blown to Atoms.
November 26, 2024
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Tag: Fire

Burning of Steamers at Cincinnati.

Burning of Steamers on the Ohio River at Cincinnati May 17, 1869.

9/17/2018

A Train of Cars Rushing Through Fire.

Traveling through fire—Fearful peril of a railway train, at Cedar Swamp, on the Eastern Railroad, Maine, Sunday, Sept. 17

10/23/2017

What a New York Girl Did.

A vain girl makes a fireman wait until she fixes her hair preferring to risk her life rather than appear in public not “made up’; New York.

5/22/2017

Unmindful of their Attire.

A Fire in the Chicago Opera House creates a stampede among pretty actresses who rush to the street dishabille.

3/11/2014
 Welcome to the Link Dump, where our host for this week will be British composer Daphne Oram's cat!  She had four cats, Elect, Tronic, Sine and Square.  I don't know which one this is, but he is very welcome.When reference librarians were Google.Bigfoot?  Or fat guy skinny-dipping?  The world wonders!The patterns of near-death experiences.The (former) Versailles of
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Strange Company - 9/11/2026
  [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
"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
(Illustrated Police News, February 1, 1885)On Thursday, July 27, 1882, Sarah Proctor, of Salem, Massachusetts, heard groans coming from the cellar where her husband, George, was working.  Downstairs, she found him lying on the floor between two barrels. She rushed toward him exclaiming, “Good God, what is the matter, George?”There was no response, so she ran to a neighbor for help. He found
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Murder By Gaslight - 9/12/2026
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
| Pretty Mary Nelson’s Downfall.

Rum and Nitro-Glycerine.

Rum-and-Nitro

At Red Rock, Penn., Saturday afternoon, March 16, a man, intoxicated, staggered through the streets, carrying on his shoulders a bag containing nitro-glycerine. Fifteen minutes later, the town was shaken, and the inhabitants were frightened by a terrific explosion. Investigation showed that the man slipped down, causing the explosion. Fragments of the body were scattered in every direction.

The man's name was Henry Seeley. He was carrying two cans of nitro-glycerine, each containing eight quarts. After the explosion a human foot and a hole in the ground was all that could be found. Seeley had been drinking very heavily all day, and at the time was in an intoxicated state. A number of people had tried to get the compound away from him, but he guarded it with a drawn revolver. It is supposed that he slipped on the ice and the cans, coming in contact with the earth, caused the nitro-glycerine to explode. The trees and bushes for rods around were strewn with pieces of flesh and shreds of clothing, making one of the most shocking sights imaginable.


Illustrated Police News, March 29, 1879.