No. 635
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
November 30, 2023

Hard Knocks and Horsewhips.

Miss Mamie Gannon, of Jersey City, attacks reporter Lenhart with a horsewhip for traducing her chara
August 10, 2015
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Tag: Petrified man

A Ghastly Table.

6/5/2012

McGinty Survives!

10/30/2011

The Cardiff Giant

Cardiff, New York, October 16, 1869.

4/10/2011
Via Newspapers.comThis tale of a haunted British pub (there are a remarkable number of them) appeared in the “Regina Leader-Post,” July 26, 1930:GLOSSOP--A ghost that rings a bell on the tap-room table and hammers on the tap-room door, and other strange happenings, are mystifying the landlord of the Bull's Head, a 800-year-old public horse near Charlesworth. Mr. S. Onslow, the landlord, said that
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Strange Company - 11/29/2023
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Soapy Smith in Leadville, ColoradoJuly 21, 1880Soapy and partner, rear, between carriagesCourtesy Kyle Rosene collection(Click image to enlarge) Soapy Smith's stereo-view photographLeadville, Colorado, July 21, 1880Where was it taken?WHERE IN LEADVILLE WAS THIS TAKEN?(Click image to enlarge)     Those who have read Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel may recall seeing the
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 9/14/2023
On a busy day in 1951, a hot dog vendor found himself captive to a hawker of cheap jewelry who set up shop across from his rickety food cart decorated with American flags. Horses still worked the side streets of the city. Stray dogs waited for food scraps to fall to the pavement. TV antennas […]
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Ephemeral New York - 11/27/2023
An article I recently wrote for the British online magazine, New Politic, is now available online. The article, “The Criminal Origins of the United States of America,” is about British convict transportation to America, which took place between the years 1718 and 1775, and is the subject of my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: […]
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Early American Crime - 12/17/2021
James L. Daniels returned to Hillman, Alabama, from a trip to Birmingham, the night of December 26, 1890. While he was there, he purchased a hideous mask and thought it would be a good joke to put on the mask and frighten the family of his brother-in-law, Joe Tarpley. He knocked on their door and Tarpley answered. Not knowing it was Daniels, Tarpley told the masked man to go away. Instead,
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Murder By Gaslight - 11/25/2023
On October 16, 1900, the Fall River Daily Herald reported an incident at Maplecroft. Lizzie took a tumble from a step ladder while adjusting a picture on the wall. Dr. Stephen Masury Gordon set the broken wrist. Dr. Gordon lived at 165 Rock St. and was a Harvard graduate. One has to wonder why Lizzie did not have one of the servants or her handy man doing the chore. Dr. Gordon
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 10/12/2023
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 engaged as a carrier of wine, because he and his brother, with the help of […]
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Executed Today - 11/13/2020
New Jersey’s Great Wash Day. | Yachting.

Hard Knocks and Horsewhips.

She Vindicated Herself

She Vindicated Herself.

Miss Mamie Gannon, of Jersey City, attacks reporter Lenhart with a horsewhip for traducing her character in his newspaper. [more]

The session of the Jersey City Board of Public Works had just opened the other night when a tall, fashionably attired young woman advance to the railing. Her pretty face wore a scowl and her dark eyes fairly snapped. She stepped close to the desk occupied by George Lenhart, a local reporter. Her voice trembled with excitement and rage as she addressed him, He had scarcely time to reply when from the recesses of a light wrap she drew a cattle whip and struck him twice. Several men crowded forward and restrained her. An instant later she darted forward and exclaimed, “Explain yourself. How dare you publish anything about me?” He was silent, and again her whip fell in his head. Janitor Conway seized her and led her down stairs. Lenhart demanded protection, and informed the President of the Board that he would hold him responsible for any injury he (Lenhart) received. The young lady was only partially pacified. When she reached the foot of the stairs she wept with anger as she cried, “Through the scurrilous article my friends have cut me, and I’ll cut him.” With this she turned before she could be intercepted and returned to the meeting room, where she plied her whip again. This time Lenhart caught hold of the whip, and in the struggle for its possession he dragged his assailant violently against the rail. Her cry of pain incensed a number of men in the lobby, and they, with expressions that boded ill for the reporter, crushed against the rail dislodging it. Lenhart retreated to the rear of the chair occupied by Commissioner Carr, who protected him from further violence. Lenhart made an effort to draw a revolver, which exasperated some of the men.

The young woman is Miss Mamie Gannon, just out of her teens. She is the daughter of a well to-do coppersmith. Several months ago Miss Mamie and her sister were arranging a party on an elaborate scale. Their father was in the habit of giving them their allowance of packet money in checks. It was on the eve of the party, and the checks were only for the usual amount. They corrected his oversight by altering the amounts of the checks to a larger sum. The story was heard a few days ago for the first time by Lenhart, and he publish a sensational story in the extent of a column, suppressing the names, but so minutely describing the young women that their identity was clear to everyone acquainted with them. Last Saturday night week Lenhart was decoyed into a saloon and he as pummeled by a champion of the young ladies, Raymond Gilchrist, son of ex-Attorney General Gilchrist and Hickey, the saloon keeper, for conspiracy. The accused furnished bail. Lenhart was recently assaulted by Thomas Jacobs, clerk of the Board of Works, for sever criticisms.


Reprinted from The National Police Gazette, October 16, 1886.