Via Newspapers.comWhile I can’t say I’d like to have a ghost move into my residence, I’d make an exception for one that’s willing to take over the housekeeping. The “Cincinnati Enquirer,” March 21, 1891:Mechanicsburg, Ohio. March 20. Of late years this section of territory has been fortunate in escaping the visitations of ghosts, but it appears that one has recently been stalking about.Mr.
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
Through most of the 20th century, they could be found all over the city: on street corners, in hotels, drugstores, and restaurants, inside schools, libraries, train stations, and other public buildings. But it’s been at least a few decades since cell phones arrived and the lowly coin-operated pay phone was relegated to history’s dustbin. So […]
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: […]
The morning of February 5, 1895, Dr. John E Rader was found murdered in the house of Mrs. Catherine McQuinn in Jackson, Kentucky. Catherine told police they were drinking whiskey with her paramour Tom Smith and when Tom passed out, Dr. Rader assaulted her. She shot him in self-defense. Catherine could have committed the murder; she was a rough, course woman with a bad reputation. But the
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
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 […]
A couple of residents of Georgetown, Colorado, started out on a hunting expedition about twenty miles east of town. On arriving at the scene of operations, its being late, they concluded to camp for the night. Early next morning one of the party decides to go to some convenient spot and prepare what the hunters call a "dear lick." He started out with a yeast powder can filled with salt, and sugar. While pushing his way through the bushes he suddenly came face to face with a huge black hear.
Not liking the intrusion, the bear reared up, prepared to fight. The hunter and the bear were so close to each other that neither could very well back out. The only weapons the hunter had were the salt and sugar. Believing that the salt was the best weapon at hand, he dashed the can full of salt directly in the bear's eyes, and while bruin was scratching the salt out of his peepers the hunter pegged away on his head with the sugar until his bearship gave up the contest and fled. The hunter, not caring to follow up his advantage, returned to camp to relate his adventure.
"We follow vice and folly where a police officer dare not show his head, as the small, but intrepid weasel pursues vermin in paths which the licensed cat or dog cannot enter."
The Sunday Flash 1841