No. 253
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
May 05, 2015

Mdlle. Carlotta de Berg.

Mdlle. Carlotta de Berg, at the New York Circus, Fourteenth Street.
May 5, 2015
...
...

When reading about UFO sightings, one gets a bit bored of encounters with the usual saucer-eyed little green men, so it’s always welcome when extraterrestrials think outside of the box and offer us humans a more novel spectacle.  In the November/December 1968 issue of “Flying Saucer Review,” a French UFO researcher named Lyonel Trigano presented a striking case which had been brought to his
More...
Strange Company - 3/30/2026
"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
New York didn’t invent April Fools Day; this holiday might date back all the way to ancient Rome. But starting in the 19th century, April 1 in Gotham has been a day to celebrate with stupid pranks, outrageous hoaxes, the mocking of politicians and business leaders, and since 1986, a parade down Fifth Avenue. This […]
More...
Ephemeral New York - 3/30/2026
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
National Police Gazette, January 28, 1882Mrs. J.W. Gibbons was away from her home in Ashland, Kentucky, on December 23, 1881. She left behind her 18-year-old son Robert, her 14-year-old daughter Fannie, and 17-year-old Emma Thomas (aka Carico), who was staying with them. Mrs. Gibbons returned the following day to find her home burned to the ground and all three inhabitants dead.Read the full
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 3/28/2026
Whatever you believe about the guilt or innocence of Lizzie Borden, I have always believed film makers do a great injustice to the story by not beginning at the beginning- the death on March 26, 1863 of the first Mrs. Borden. In the dying moments of Sarah Morse, Emma takes on the weight of the care of her little sister, not yet three years old. Emma herself was just 12 on March 1st. Emma has seen her mother suffer for a long time, seen her pain and loss of little Alice Esther. Emma is old enough
More...
Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 3/26/2026
  [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
Willie Craig Was a Girl. | Said She Would and Did.

Mdlle. Carlotta de Berg.

Mdlle. Carlotta de Berg.

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

 

Mdlle. Carlotta de Berg.

The Celebrated Equestrienne.

The charming and wonderful artiste, whose performances are now delighting crowded and fashionable audiences at the New York Circus, was born some 22 years ago in the gay capital of France—Paris. So early did she develop her marvelous aptitude for horsemanship, that she made her first appearance at the Paris Circus when only four years old, and ever since she has been, as a child, girl and woman, the bright particular equestrienne star of Paris. With the exception of the time taken up to her professional tours, she has been engaged since 1851 at the Cirque Imperial, and occasionally the Cirque Napoleon. During the vacations in Paris, she has visited all the principal European capitals, where she was received with the greatest enthusiasm. She has been introduced to most of the crowned heads of Europe, who testified their admiration of her admirable and dashing feats, so far superior to anything they had ever seen, by handsome compliments, and still more handsome gifts.

Having entered into an engagement with L. B. Lent, she arrived in New York a short time ago, and mad her first appearance at the New York Circus, Fourteenth street, on the 23d of April, when she created a perfect furor of applause. Our engraving represents one of the daring and yet graceful feats to which no description can do justice—they must be seen to be understood and appreciated.


Reprinted from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 6, 1866.