No. 373
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
July 24, 2017

A Skeleton King with a Silver Crown.

The strange relic of departed greatness found in a Livingston (Ala.) cave by a youthful explorer.
July 24, 2017
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Tag: Boxing

A Newly Acquired Tintype.

I'm hoping one of these guys is Billy the Kid.

8/13/2018

Pugilistic Females.

Two Lebanon, Pa., girls live the same young man and biff each other on the street.

1/4/2016

Belle Gordon.

9/29/2014

Dan Creedon in Training.

6/4/2013

George Dixon’s Victory over Australian Billy.

2/26/2013

John L. Sullivan Saved by a Neck.

11/6/2012

The Girls Biffed Each Other

4/16/2011
Via Newspapers.comOne is continually reminded that Life likes to play little pranks on us.  The “Idaho Statesman,” November 12, 1947:BOSTON (UP)-Being alive on his 65th birthday Tuesday meant that Allan Sharpe of Boston had lost a $10 bet--a wager he was very pleased to have lost. Ten years ago he learned he was suffering from heart disease. The doctor told Sharpe he needed rest--a lot
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Strange Company - 4/29/2026
"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
There’s a curious pair of limestone row houses on the lower end of peaceful, park-facing Riverside Drive. Each looks similar from afar. They share the same color of stone, and both facades have bow fronts. But on closer look, you’ll notice that each sports different ornamental bells and whistles. One has a conical roof and […]
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Ephemeral New York - 4/27/2026
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
(New York Journal, August 5, 1896)Annie Bock and her husband, Jacob, were spending the summer at Rockaway Beach. On Sunday, August 1, 1896, Annie went back to their flat at 207 E. 21st Street in New York City’s Tenderloin district to pay their monthly rent. She had $300 in the Dry Dock Savings Bank, and on Monday morning, she withdrew $50 and paid $20 rent. The plan was to return to Rockaway that
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Murder By Gaslight - 4/25/2026
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
  [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
Wicked Victorian Boston. | Midsummer Madness.

A Skeleton King with a Silver Crown.

Strange Relic

The strange relic of departed greatness found in a Livingston (Ala.) cave by a youthful explorer. [more]

Mr. Morgan Lynn, of Livingston, Ala., has in his possession some Indian relics of peculiar interest. They were found by Master Willie Powe, near Horn’s Bridge, over the Sucarnatchie, and consisted of a silver crown about six and a half inches in diameter and two inches wide at the widest part; two silver ornaments, circular in form, and two inches in diameter, and a number of beads. These ornaments were found with—we might say on the person of—a well preserved skeleton. The crown still encircled the skull, and the other ornaments residue upon the chest, having evidently been work about the neck. On the front of the crown is etched the figure of a moose, and on each side of it the figure of a wolf. They are evidently the product of skilled workmen, and from certain letters and figures inscribed on the inner surfaces of the crown we infer that it was of English manufacture. The place on which these relics were found has been settled not less than half a century.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 20, 1888.