No. 694
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 15, 2025

Pretty Female Billiardists

January 3, 2012
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Tag: Insanity

A Lunatics Ball.

Ball of lunatics at the Asylum, Blackwell's Island, East River, N. Y.

10/10/2023

Crazed by Politics.

Lendall Pratt, and aged Long Islander, kills himself while in a political frenzy.

11/7/2016

She Liked Her Lager Beer.

A Murray Hill belle, with a fondness for the Teutonic beverage, sets up a keg in her boudoir.

8/24/2015

A Terrible Scare.

7/8/2014

Undercover Lunatic.

5/26/2013

Insane Criminal Escapes.

1/27/2013

Cursing In Church

Westfield, Ohio, October 23, 1887 - The Sudden Insanity of Rev J. R. Young. He uses profane language in a Sunday school at Westfield, Ohio.

12/20/2011

Cursing In Church

12/20/2011
 Welcome to this week's Link Dump, where our staffers will premiere "Strange Company: The Musical."The Thames of Old London.The family that slays together...Yet another "insurance murder."Van Gogh in Paris.A very tragic family.Los Angeles' first policewoman.Britain's most ghostly places.A planet's gruesome death.So, let's talk Danish Protest Pigs.An English "major UFO scare."The case for
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Strange Company - 3/14/2025
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’m thrilled to let everyone know that Ephemeral New York’s Gilded Age Riverside Drive walking tours are back and officially on the schedule this spring—and ready for sign-ups! More tours are planned through the year, but these are the first three of the season. Click the link for more information and how to get tickets. […]
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Ephemeral New York - 3/12/2025
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
 Mary Barrows and Oscar Blaney.Illustrated Police News, May 9, 1885,In 1883, Mary Barrows of Kittery, Maine, persuaded her son-in-law, Oscar Blaney, to murder her husband, Thomas Barrows. Mary had been married before and had a daughter by her first husband. Thomas never got along with his stepdaughter, and he despised Oscar. He went into a rage whenever they visited because he believed Mary
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Murder By Gaslight - 3/15/2025
Soapy Smith STAR NotebookPage 18 - Original copy1884Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge) oapy Smith in Denver.Operating the prize package soap sell racket in 1884.This is page 18, the continuation of page 17, and dated March 28 - April 12, 1884, the continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 3/11/2025
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
The Sawdust Game | The Female Marine

Pretty Female Billiardists

Pretty Female Billiardists

Philadelphia, Oct. 1888 – Miss Disston and Miss Minnie Lippincott of Philadelphia, PA., do some marvelous manipulating of the cues. Last week the Philadelphia Times gave an account of Miss Disston’s marvelous shooting at a beach gallery. It will now record the names of a brilliant party at billiards a few nights ago at the Hotel Brighton, among whom were Miss Minnie Lippincott of Philadelphia. The young lady is probably nineteen years of age and is a demi blonde. She is tall and shapely and a quick and graceful player. She can make the balls fly about the table after the manner of Sexton, and much of her time is devoted to fancy shots of finger billiards. She would astonish Yank Adams if he could get a chance to see her play his favorite game. The largest three runs made by her were 110, 89 and 56. Edward Webster, who was playing with her, ran 81, 65 and 52.


Reprinted from The National Police Gazette, October 13, 1888