No. 715
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
September 2, 2025
alias: BROOKS
HOTEL THIEF, SLEEPING-CAR WORKER
"Philadelphia Inquirer," March 13, 1932, via Newspapers.comThis blog has featured several stories involving mysterious fires. However, the most famous, and probably the most well-investigated, case of this sort took place in the town of Bladenboro, North Carolina, in 1932.One afternoon in February the family of Charles H. Williamson was sitting quietly in their parlor, the picture of Norman
More...
Strange Company - 9/1/2025
Stop by this week as we explore what happened the week before the murders, Emma and Lizzie’s getaway to Fairhaven and New Bedford, and new imagery which will help to tell the story. The pears are almost ripe, August 4th is coming fast, and thoughts begin to turn to that house on Second Street once again. Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/lizziebordenwarpsandwefts/ !
More...
Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 7/26/2025
The East Midtown blocks in the shadow of Grand Central Terminal hold some fascinating relics of old New York City. Case in point is the phone number on this street-facing sign for an elevator emergency alarm at 7 East 43rd Street. “Call ST 6-4300” it reads. “ST” is another long-obsolete phone exchange, dating back to […]
More...
Ephemeral New York - 9/1/2025
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
More...
Executed Today - 11/13/2020
Daniel Van
Fossen and his wife hosted a dinner party for their extended family on January
8, 1885, at their home in East Liverpool, Ohio. Fourteen people were in
attendance, including members of the Van Fossen, McBane, and Collins families.
Coffee and Tea were served after the meal, and almost immediately, the coffee
drinkers complained of a burning, bitter sensation in their throats. Soon, they
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 8/30/2025
Soapy Smith STAR NotebookPage 22 - Original copy
1884Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge)
oapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1883-84, St. Louis, San Francisco, Soapy arrested: Pages #22-23
This post is on page 22 and 23 of the "STAR" notebook. I am combining these two pages as they only account for a total of seven lines. They are not appearing to be a continuation of
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 8/27/2025
[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
The Bloody Century 2
Takes the reader back to 19th-century America in all its gory glory.
