No. 675
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
January 24, 2023

In a Deadly Folding-Bed.

January 24, 2023
...
...

 Welcome to the Link Dump, where our host for this week will be British composer Daphne Oram's cat!  She had four cats, Elect, Tronic, Sine and Square.  I don't know which one this is, but he is very welcome.When reference librarians were Google.Bigfoot?  Or fat guy skinny-dipping?  The world wonders!The patterns of near-death experiences.The (former) Versailles of
More...
Strange Company - 9/11/2026
  [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 […]
More...
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
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025
(Illustrated Police News, February 1, 1885)On Thursday, July 27, 1882, Sarah Proctor, of Salem, Massachusetts, heard groans coming from the cellar where her husband, George, was working.  Downstairs, she found him lying on the floor between two barrels. She rushed toward him exclaiming, “Good God, what is the matter, George?”There was no response, so she ran to a neighbor for help. He found
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 9/12/2026
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
More...
Executed Today - 11/13/2020
$20-Bills on a Cane. | Thrilling Railroad Accident.

In a Deadly Folding-Bed.

Deadly Folding-Bed Two sleeping girls are imprisoned and one of them is nearly killed at Louisville, KY. 

Miss Lena Summers and Miss Nellie Mitchell were caught in a folding-bed recently in the fashionable boarding-house of Mrs. H.L. Mitchell, in Broadway, at Louisville, Ky. Miss Mitchell was not much hurt, but Miss Summers was unconscious when rescued, and has not yet regained her senses. No bones were broken, but her face is swelled, and the doctors believe she has sustained internal injuries that may prove dangerous. The accident happened about 2 o’clock in the morning. The house was aroused by the smothered shrieks of the girls. The bed was let down with difficulty, but in time to save them from suffocation. The girls had been asleep at the time, and the cause of the bed’s queer action cannot bue surmised. It is the second time it has acted in this way. Si months ago it flew up while occupied by a Miss Johnson, who was, however, rescored unhurt but badly scared. The bed is of the ordinary pattern.


Reprinted from the National Police Gazette, December 8, 1894