No. 419
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
April 16, 2018

Mabel Punched the Swell.

How Miss Livingston, the well-known singer, resented an insult at Macon, Ga.
April 16, 2018
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Tag: Con Game

Miss Eva G. Vallee

The Pretty Female Prisoner, Simulates a Fit and Attempts Suicide in the Central Police Station.

10/14/2025

Snares for the Unwary.

The "Sawed-Door Game" on a Gudgeon.

5/17/2022

A Memphis Badger Game.

1/27/2014

Hungry Joe.

The conmen of New York City were noted for their colorful nicknames: "Paper Collar Joe", "Grand Central Pete" Jimmy "the Kid" and the greatest of all "Hungry Joe".

10/20/2013

The Pawn-Ticket Game.

Pawn tickets make bad collateral.

3/5/2013

Rogues & Brawlers.

11/13/2012

A Slippery and Subtle Knave – The Bank Sneak.

7/31/2012

The Sawdust Game

The "sawdust game," was a confidence scam that only swindled those who deserved to be swindled.

1/10/2012

New York Society Classified.

11/27/2011

McGinty Survives!

10/30/2011

The Old Shell Game

7/18/2011

The Bunco Game

The term “bunco” has come to mean to any type of swindle, but in the 19th century it usually referred to a confidence game involving crooked gambling.

5/17/2011
If you’re curious about New York’s Gilded Age, then you’re familiar with certain recurring family names—like Astor, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Rockefeller, and Roosevelt. But what made these elite families so influential? How did they reshape and rule the city’s business and social worlds while leaving a lasting impact on the city of today? Starting July 29 […]
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"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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Strange Company - 7/10/2026
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
The Confession of Mary Cole, 1813.Cornelius and Mary Cole lived in a farmhouse in Sussex County, New Jersey, with their two children and Mary’s widowed mother, Agnes Teaurs. Cornelius bought the property from Agnes in exchange for an annuity of $50 per year for the rest of her life. Mary and her husband did not live happily with Agnes. According to Mary, her mother was always very hard on her,
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Murder By Gaslight - 7/11/2026
Join us on our Facebook page as we begin counting down the days to August 4th and all of the events leading up to the day. https://www.facebook.com/lizziebordenwarpsandwefts
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  [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
Great Base Ball Match. | In Consequence of the New Liquor Law.

Mabel Punched the Swell.

Mabel Punches the Swell

How Miss Livingston, the well-known singer, resented an insult at Macon, Ga. 

Miss Mabel Livingston, the well-known female baritone singer, who is at present filling an engagement at Macon, Ga., had a little experience the other night with three heavy swells, which ended in her punching the face off one of them. The men bought front seats at the theatre. They smiled at the little beauty and applauded her freely. After she had finished her songs, they sent in their cards and asked if they could see her in the green room. She said yes. So they went in and ordered half a dozen bottles of wine, after which one of them told Miss Livingston he would like to kiss her. Then she left them. They sent for her again, and she, thinking they intended to apologize, returned. As soon as she entered the room, the offending man caught hold of her hands. She pulled away from him and landed a right-hand swing on his jaw, sending him over a table.


National Police Gazette, November 14, 1896.