No. 390
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
October 30, 2017

A Duel on Horseback.

Two rivals for the affections for an Arkansas belle fight a desperate battle with knives and are hor
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October 30, 2017
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WILLIAM BURKE
alias: BILLY THE kID, etc, MURPHY, PETRIE
BANK SNEAK

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!IS EVERYBODY HAPPY???What the hell was the Whitechapel Mount?Fair play for cannibals.The "wonderful year" 1759.The mysterious Great Serpent Mound.Why the number 17 was not popular in ancient Rome.BREAKING:  Scientists have just discovered dogs.  (Note: Cats can tell if you're sad, too.  They just usually don't care.)The lady who was eulogized
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Strange Company - 8/14/2026

Convicts to Maryland, 1773 by Peter Dickson

  [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
Amen.

Artifact #93: Soapy's son, hires attorney to stop the slurring of his father's name.

"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

Ida and Sophia.

 Ida Quinlan and Sophia Grant.Mrs. Ida Quinlan went out to buy a pair of stockings at around 9:00 on the night of February 1, 1896, leaving her baby in the care of her sister, Mrs. Sophia Grant. She took a streetcar to the store several miles away and returned to the house at around 11:00. Entering the sitting room, she was surprised to find the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled out and
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/15/2026
On the Russians.

1617: A miller of Manberna, the hangman’s last

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
Thrilling Railroad Accident. | A Train of Cars Rushing Through Fire.

A Duel on Horseback.

Duel on Horseback Two rivals for the affections for an Arkansas belle fight a desperate battle with knives and are horribly mangled, near Bear Creek.[more]

Two young men, cousins, named Austin Guthrie and Franklin Meyers, near Black Creek, Ark., rivals for affections of a young girl, quarreled and proceed to blows. Both were on horseback, and drawing their knives they commenced a contest which lasted several minutes, both receiving a contest which lasted several minutes, both receiving fatal wounds. Meyers’ arm was almost severed from the body and he was horribly cut about the face and breast. Guthrie was fearfully wounded in the head and body. Both fainted and fell from their horses. They were found unconscious in a pool of blood by the roadside.

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, October 27, 1883.

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