No. 330
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
October 17, 2016
A Scene not on the Bills.
Actor Ricardo’s bluff jump from the stage to the audience at the Grand Opera House, Columbus, Ohio.
October 17, 2016
alias: GILMORE
BANK BURGLAR
Welcome to this week's Link Dump, where our host is this very personable cat from around 1900. Alas, I have no other information about this photo.A handy reminder that the 19th century seaborne trade wasn't always much fun.10th century priests go to court.The mysterious death of George Proctor.In which an Australian tree just wants to be left alone.The sad life of Marilyn Monroe's
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Strange Company - 9/18/2026
[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
A Song Written in Memory ofThe St. George Murder.(excerpt)
In St. George, Me., as you shall hear,It proves to be the fatal year -That Mrs. Meservey, in the prime of life.By a murderer's hand has lost her life....Nathan Hart is the murderer's name,Father and husband think of the shame,Did he forget all woman kind,Seek like a beast some prey to find?...God in His written book doth say,
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Murder By Gaslight - 9/19/2026
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
A scene not down on the bills took place recently at the Grand Opera House, Columbus, O., during the performance of Hanlon’s “New Fantasma.” In the last act Mr. Roccardi, one of the performers makes an attempt to jump from the stage into the audience. By means of a wire attached to his body he is raised by a pulley and jerked back by men behind the scenes. While attempting the act this night the wire broke while Roccardi was in the air, and, clearing the heads of members of the orchestra, he landed among the occupants of the first two rows in the parquet chairs, causing a shout of horror to go up from the audience. No one was seriously hurt, Roccardi escaping with a sprained ankle.The Bloody Century 2
Takes the reader back to 19th-century America in all its gory glory.
