No. 712
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
August 18, 2025

A Wine-Inspired Wager.

A Female Who Was Not Allowed to Exhibit Her Terpsichorean Abilities.
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May 28, 2018
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Tag: African Americans

They Are a Bad Lot.

The frightful picture of crime and debauchery which has given notoriety to Mary Jane Cawley’s backwoods dive at Cookstown, N. J.

7/27/2015

The “Prisoners’ March.”

Pennsylvania - Scene in the Schuylkill County Prison at Pottsville - The "Prisoners' March" for exercise in the corridor.

9/17/2013

George Dixon’s Victory over Australian Billy.

2/26/2013
WILLIAM BEATTY
alias: BAKER, BILLY BURKE
SNEAK, BURGLAR

In Which Ennio La Sarza Has A Very Bad Day At Work

The Garson Nickel Mine, circa 1920Accounts of UFO encounters can be--considering the subject matter--surprisingly dull.  However, the following tale, recorded in the famed pages of “U.S. Project Blue Book” was colorful enough to catch my attention.  It was recorded by a Buffalo, New York minister named Charles Beck who had a side career as a UFO researcher.The story was related to Beck
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Strange Company - 8/18/2025

Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1884, Denver: Page #20

Soapy Smith STAR NotebookPage 20 - Original copy1884Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge) oapy Smith's early empire growth in Denver.Operating the prize package soap sell racket in 1884. This is page 20, the continuation of page 19, and dated May 6 - May 29, 1884, as well as the continuation of pages 18-19, the beginning of Soapy Smith's criminal empire building in Denver, Colorado.&
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 6/1/2025
Amen.

Meet the miniaturist who painted exquisite portraits of the Gilded Age’s best-known faces

New York’s Gilded Age was an era defined by bigness. Townhouses were replaced by mansions. Dry goods emporiums dominated Broadway. Comically proportioned bustles exaggerated a woman’s silhouette. One exception, however, was the miniature. Popular throughout history, these tiny painted portraits experienced a resurgence in the late 19th century among elites, particularly women. They would display […]
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Ephemeral New York - 8/18/2025

1617: A miller of Manberna, the hangman’s last

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

Portraits of Helen Jewett.

Helen (Ellen) Jewett was an upscale New York City prostitute. In 1836, her clients included politicians, lawyers, and wealthy merchants. One of them, a young clerk named Richard Robinson, wanted Helen all to himself. When she refused, he killed her with an axe and set fire to her bed. 
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/16/2025
On the Russians.

It’s Almost August

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/ !
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 7/26/2025

Convicts to Maryland, 1773 by Peter Dickson

  [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
June. | Too Fond of Kissing.

A Wine-Inspired Wager.

Wine Inspired Wager

A Female Who Was Not Allowed to Exhibit Her Terpsichorean Abilities.

A lively scene was acted in a private box of one of the leading variety theatres of this society one night during the past week. A convivial party—made so by too much tippling—were present to witness the performance. It was a little too tame to suit them, so the males wager that his female companion dare not execute the “Highland Fling” across the stage to the box opposite. She accepted and stood up to give her companions a specimen of her style. Attention of the audience was attracted. So was that of a policeman, and he nipped the proposed feat by bouncing the lot from the place. 

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, October 2, 1880.

 

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