No. 745
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
April 16, 2024

Wrestling Match on a Canadian Steamer.

On the St. Lawrence River.
April 16, 2024
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Tag: New Year

Seeing in the New Year.

Jolly sport among the giddy Vassar girls, fun in the forecastle, and a lonely New Year’s Eve on the desolate prarie.

12/26/2016

Heroism of a Society Belle.

The Bravery of charming Miss Jaffray, the daughter of a New York millionaire, saves many lives at Irvington, N. Y.

12/28/2015

New Years in the Wings.

The fairy of the enchanted realm entertains her subjects in an earthly way.

12/29/2014
The 1883 book “Shropshire Folk-lore: A Sheaf of Gleanings” included a story about what we today would call a “poltergeist” which appeared to center around an enigmatic farm servant.  While the tale purports to be true, at this distance of time it is impossible to say how much of it is fact, and how much is legend.  Still, it’s such a quaintly charming little curiosity that I wanted to
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Strange Company - 8/24/2026
  [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, April 3, 1886.)Agnes Anastasia Long moved out of her parents’ home in East Attleboro, Massachusetts, in April 1882. With her many male suiters, she was considered the black sheep of the family. Her father had enough of her bad behavior and, according to the Boston Herald, “refused to permit her to darken the threshold of his humble home.”She took a job at Streeter
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/22/2026
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
A New Gag. | "He Loves Me; He Loves Me Not."

Wrestling Match on a Canadian Steamer.

Wrestling

On the steamboat trip from Montreal to Quebec the voyager meets with many French Canadians going to or returning from market as deck passengers. Being of a lively and social disposition, they while away the time in rude but innocent amusements, to the great entertainment of the other passengers. Sedate priests are often seen among the spectators, evidently thoroughly enjoying the sport. Wrestling matches frequently occur, and our artist furnished a sketch of one of the contests of strength witnessed by him in which a spunky little French Canadian contended against many more formidable opponents, and, although invariably thrown, returned smilingly to the encounter as long as his strength held out.


Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, January 23, 1875.