No. 614
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
February 08, 2022

Tar and Feathers.

Lawyer Iken of Rushville, West Nebraska, enjoys a treat at the hands of his neighbors.
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February 8, 2022
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Tag: Brothel

Spoiled the Chappies’ Fun.

Policemen of Aurora Ill. Break into a famous resort during an orgy and capture some well-known young men of the town.

6/18/2018

Shocking Youthful Depravity.

The discovery that public school children frequent immoral places creates a startling sensation in Columbus, O.

2/22/2016

Clubbed by a Wronged Wife.

4/22/2014

Philanthropist or “Moral Leper?”

4/30/2013

Breaking Up a Bagnio.

11/18/2012

Copper.

8/20/2012

Steam Powered Reformation.

8/14/2012

Steam Powered Reformation.

8/14/2012

Saloons and Houses of Ill-Fame.

Buffalo, New York, May 1893.

5/8/2012

The Female Marine

12/27/2011

“I’ve Taken Poison, Maudie!”

7/25/2011
JOHN TRACY
alias: BIG TRACY, REILLY
PICKPOCKET, BURGLAR, SECOND-STORY MAN

The Bird-Beasts of Var

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

Artifact #93: Soapy's son, hires attorney to stop the slurring of his father's name.

"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
Amen.

This 1901 tobacco trading card captures the spirit of April Fools Day in New York City

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

1617: A miller of Manberna, the hangman’s last

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

Butchered and Burned.

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
On the Russians.

Remembering Sarah Morse Borden

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

Convicts to Maryland, 1773 by Peter Dickson

  [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
A Bevy of Stage Beauties. | They Were "Soaked" in Every Sense.

Tar and Feathers.

Tar-and-feathers2

An exciting tar and feather affair occurred at Rushville, West Nebraska, recently, a man named Iken, lawyer and land agent, being the victim. Iken had made himself disliked by a large number of settlers by getting In their confidence and then contesting their claims by means of information thus surreptitiously obtained. A number of the victims took him from his office, stripped him and applied a coat of tar and feathers. forcing him at the point of revolvers to assist to decorating himself. Iken was then marched through the streets to drums, which headed the procession. Finally, he was ordered to leave the country and proceeded to do so as soon as be he got the tar and leathers off.

National Police Gazette, July 3, 1886.

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