"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan MandijnWelcome to the first Link Dump of December!The Strange Company HQ staffers are already starting on the Christmas parties.The "Shankhill Butchers."The history of Christmas puddings.In which we learn that Napoleon had planned to spend his retirement in New Orleans. Oops.Vintage Christmas gift ideas.The adventures of a Victorian sailor boy.A
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
On a busy day in 1951, a hot dog vendor found himself captive to a hawker of cheap jewelry who set up shop across from his rickety food cart decorated with American flags. Horses still worked the side streets of the city. Stray dogs waited for food scraps to fall to the pavement. TV antennas […]
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 […]
Charles Emmons takes possessions of a Springfield, Mass., church and turns it into a fort. [more]
When the Rev. Mr. Dorchester entered the Olivet Congregational Church in Springfield, Mass., the other morning he found that the pulpit was already occupied by Charles M. Emmons, a member of the church and an employee of the government at the United States Armory. Emmons gained admittance at an early hour, and had hits position well fortified before anyone else arrived. Around his body he had wrapped a sofa cover and thrown a black veil over his head and face. The janitor tried to eject him, but as he approached the pulpit the madman fired three shots in rapid succession. All of them lodged in the ceiling.
In the meantime the congregation had begun to arrive, and the news spread throughout the city. In less than fifteen minutes the church had a larger congregation than ever before in this history, but all kept a respectable distance from the lunatic’s gun. Then the janitor, reinforced by Deacon Adams, other church members and four policemen, re-entered the church, but they were unable to capture the pulpit. Emmons, with a revolver in each hand warned them not to advance.
Several persons who knew him tried to persuade him to leave the pulpit, but he answered their entreaties by pointing his revolver at their heads and warning them to retire. The police attempted in various ways to direct the attention of the crazed man, when it was planned to rush upon and over power him. But this was only the signal for more shooting, two bullets grazing the helmet of the officer who made the attempt. The officers then held a council, and it was decided that as Emmons was so well armed it would be more prudent to await events.
Emmons held the fort unit after 2 o’clock, when he fell asleep in his chair. Then Detective Atkins and patrolman Hanes crept carefully up to the platform and pounded upon him. Emmons struggled desperately, but was soon overpowered, disarmed and handcuffed. As they started for the police station Emmons begged to be allowed to put on his overcoat. The handcuffs were taken off for this purpose, and before he could he prevented the madman brought out another small revolver and fired again but hit no one.
Search showed that Emmons had converted the pulpit into a veritable fortress. He had poured a pound of powder into the marble urn to make, as he afterward said, the smoke of incense. He had enough canned meat, crackers and water to supply him for several days; in fact he has since admitted that he thought it might be a week before he got an audience adding that he would have remained there till he starved.
Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 12, 1892.
"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