No. -1
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
November 26, 2024

Rum and Nitro-Glycerine.

A Drunken Man Slips Down Under a Load of the Explosive - Blown to Atoms.
November 26, 2024
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If you’re curious about New York’s Gilded Age, then you’re familiar with certain recurring family names—like Astor, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Rockefeller, and Roosevelt. But what made these elite families so influential? How did they reshape and rule the city’s business and social worlds while leaving a lasting impact on the city of today? Starting July 29 […]
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Ephemeral New York - 7/10/2026
"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
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025
 Welcome to this week's Link Dump, which is so action-packed, not one, but four hosts were required!Two ships from the "dawn of naval aviation."It turns out that wild chimpanzees are pretty good drummers.If you're planning to visit the Grand Canyon, maybe think twice about that.I was in a happier frame of mind before I learned that there is a spider that can outrun humans.A really confusing
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Strange Company - 7/10/2026
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
(New Haven Independent) Taylor Ward sings "Found Drifting with the Tide" (excerpt), the tragic ballad of Jennie Cramer's murder.“Found Drifting with the Tide” was a song written by A. C. Willis, "Dedicated to the memory of Jennie Cramer," who was murdered in 1881.When the body of beautiful young Jennie Cramer was found on a sandbar
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Murder By Gaslight - 7/4/2026
Join us on our Facebook page as we begin counting down the days to August 4th and all of the events leading up to the day. https://www.facebook.com/lizziebordenwarpsandwefts
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 7/7/2026
  [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
| Half-dime Novels and Story Papers.

Rum and Nitro-Glycerine.

Rum-and-Nitro

At Red Rock, Penn., Saturday afternoon, March 16, a man, intoxicated, staggered through the streets, carrying on his shoulders a bag containing nitro-glycerine. Fifteen minutes later, the town was shaken, and the inhabitants were frightened by a terrific explosion. Investigation showed that the man slipped down, causing the explosion. Fragments of the body were scattered in every direction.

The man's name was Henry Seeley. He was carrying two cans of nitro-glycerine, each containing eight quarts. After the explosion a human foot and a hole in the ground was all that could be found. Seeley had been drinking very heavily all day, and at the time was in an intoxicated state. A number of people had tried to get the compound away from him, but he guarded it with a drawn revolver. It is supposed that he slipped on the ice and the cans, coming in contact with the earth, caused the nitro-glycerine to explode. The trees and bushes for rods around were strewn with pieces of flesh and shreds of clothing, making one of the most shocking sights imaginable.


Illustrated Police News, March 29, 1879.