No. 55
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
November 20, 2011

He Hit the Pipe

A Minneapolis millionaire, visits an opium joint and is carried out feet first.
November 20, 2011
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Tag: 1860s

A Lunatics Ball.

Ball of lunatics at the Asylum, Blackwell's Island, East River, N. Y.

10/10/2023

The Merry Wives of Boston.

Such is Boston morality and such is woman's fidelity.

1/5/2021

Burning of Steamers at Cincinnati.

Burning of Steamers on the Ohio River at Cincinnati May 17, 1869.

9/17/2018

A Velocipede Riding-School.

Scene in a velocipede riding-school, New York City.

9/10/2018

On The Beach at Newport, Rhode Island.

On the Beach at Newport, Rhode Island.

9/3/2018

Great Base Ball Match.

Great baseball match between the Atlantic and Boxford Clubs of Brooklyn.

4/23/2018

In Consequence of the New Liquor Law.

In consequence of the new liquor law, this is the ingenious manner in which a worthy teuton friend of ours takes his family out for their Sunday rambles.

4/9/2018

An Adventure with a Sea-Lion.

With open mouths and protruding tusks, they warn the intruder agents too near an approach.

3/26/2018

Foundering of the Titania.

One of the most thrilling disasters at sea that has happened for many years.

2/26/2018

A Magical Duet on the Guitar.

An extraordinary account of a mathematician, mechanician, and musician named Alix.

1/8/2018

Thrilling Railroad Accident.

Startling accident at the draw bridge of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad, Federal Street, Troy, N. Y., Saturday, Sept 23.

11/6/2017

A Train of Cars Rushing Through Fire.

Traveling through fire—Fearful peril of a railway train, at Cedar Swamp, on the Eastern Railroad, Maine, Sunday, Sept. 17

10/23/2017

A Human Rat Eater.

An employee of the Boston Gas Works boasted his ability to kill a rat with his teeth.

8/14/2017

December 1860.

Styles for the Month.

12/5/2016

The Terrific Leap at Niblo’s Garden, From an Aerial Apparatus.

The original and daring aerial representation by Thomas Hanlon, now performed by him every evening at Niblo's Garden.

1/11/2016

Mdlle. Carlotta de Berg.

Mdlle. Carlotta de Berg, at the New York Circus, Fourteenth Street.

5/5/2015

Surf Swimming at Hawaii, Sandwich Islands.

Faahee, or surf-swimming, is a favorite pastime with the natives of the Sandwich Islands.

4/21/2015

The White Porpoise.

We give in our present number a correct sketch of one of the largest specimens of the Porpoise that has ever been seen.

3/16/2015

Murderous Assault by a Wife on Her Husband.

10/6/2014

An Undertaker’s Assistant’s Mistake.

8/26/2014

Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner.

11/26/2013

Burglary Tools.

2/11/2013

The Advent of Spiritualism.

A simple schoolgirl prank spawned a new belief with millions of followers.

9/4/2012

Copper.

8/20/2012

A Slippery and Subtle Knave – The Bank Sneak.

7/31/2012

Kate Warne.

Kate Warne, America’s first female detective.

5/30/2012

Melancholy Boat Accident.

4/24/2012

Allan Pinkerton.

The Eye that Never Sleeps.

3/27/2012

The Cardiff Giant

Cardiff, New York, October 16, 1869.

4/10/2011
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New York Society Classified. | Driven by Delusion

He Hit the Pipe

Opium Den

Butte, Montana, October 1889 - P. M. Mathews, A Minneapolis millionaire, visits an opium joint and is carried out feet first. 

P. W. Matthews, a millionaire contractor of Minneapolis. Minn., went to Butte. Mont., last June to direct the building of a railroad. Since he has lived there he has spent lots of money and lived a high life. One day recently he and his chief bookkeeper, L. C. Kreck, went to an opium joint kept by a Chinaman named Ah Chung, to "hit the pipe." It was their first venture of this kind, and twelve pipes were prepared for them, but at this point Kreck weakened, and concluded not to indulge his curiosity. Matthews, who had been drinking, swore he would smoke the twelve pipes himself. This he did, and then sank into a stupor, from which he never recovered, having died from opium poisoning. Ah Chung and his wife have been arrested for murder.


Reprinted from The Natoinal Police Gazette, October 12, 1889