No. 272
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
September 15, 2015

Collecting Beer Money.

A gang of female rogues, of the East Side, New York, work a little racket of their own.
September 15, 2015
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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
"Dayton Daily News," October 6, 1966, via Newspapers.comInvestigating a violent death can be difficult enough if it is uncertain whether it is a case of suicide, or murder.  When even trying to establish the identity of the victim leads everyone down various rabbit holes, and the unfortunate corpse gets permanently misplaced…well, have some pity for the police detectives involved.32-year-old
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Strange Company - 8/10/2026
  [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
Daniel Sickles, Teresa Bagioli, Phillip KeyIn 1859, Dan Sickles, a congressman from New York (and future Union General), was married to the most beautiful woman in Washington, but his other interests, including his mistresses, often kept him away from home. His lonely young wife, Teresa, found comfort in the arms of Philip Barton Key, D.C. District Attorney and son of poet Francis Scott
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/8/2026
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
Raiding the Joints. | Life on a Mississippi Steamboat.

Collecting Beer Money.

Collecting Beer Money

A gang of female rogues, of the East Side, New York, work a little racket of their own.

A New York reporter, while at Seventy-first street, between First and Second avenues, almost lost his eye-glasses and his composure when a girl accosted him and said: “Hey, there cully, chip in wunst for the beer.” She was backed up by half a dozen other amazons, all of whom wore their hair in straight bangs. “Hurry up, now. Chuck in your dust.” The girl took an affectionate grasp on the reporter’s coat-collar and the others closed around. Then the scribe went hurridly into his pocket, flashed up his second last quarter and gave it the female rough. Then they all scattered suddenly in answer to a signal, and a moment later the graceful outlines of Detective Salmon, of the Twenty-eighth precinct, loomed up. He laughed hastily. “You’ve been caught by “Lena’s gang,” he said, “and I suppose they saw the color of your coin. It’s just as well you did give them something, because they use their hands vigorously. Their leader in their neighborhood is a rather pretty Polish Jewess named Lena Meyerheimer, who works when she is not idle at one of the cigar factories up on First avenue. She and her younger sisters are about as tough as young girls can be. The congregate with and emulate the boys of the Sylvan Star gang. Most all her followers are cigar makers, too. That trade seems to have especial attraction for bad girls.”


Reprinted from the National Police Gazette, October 18, 1884.