No. 696
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
May 23, 2023

A Square Meal.

A wolf in search of a square meal helps himself to a baby; Clintonville, PA.
May 23, 2023
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Bond Street today is a pricey place to live. And so it was in the 1830s, when it became one of New York’s most exclusive enclaves. Wealthy residents fleeing the crowded and increasingly commercial neighborhoods below Houston Street sought refuge on this short little street, which only runs two blocks from Broadway to the Bowery. […]
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Ephemeral New York - 3/16/2026
About half past three, the morning of July 2, 1863, a young man on his way to work in Medina, Ohio, saw the home of Shubal Coy in flames. He alerted the neighbors, who came out to douse the flames with water. When the fire was under control, they went inside to look for the Coy family. They found Shubal lying in bed with nine stab wounds in his throat and breast, any one of them capable of
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Murder By Gaslight - 3/14/2026
The good-looking thirty-seven year old gentleman handling the reins behind the glossy matched pair pulling the spanking-new carriage drew the attention of more than one feminine eye.  Pacing down French St. at a sharp clip, the lady next to him, dressed neatly in a tailor-made suit with the latest in millinery fashion, smiled up at her coachman. Behind the lace curtains on the Hill section of Fall River, tongues were wagging about the unseemly pair. Lizzie Borden, acquitted of double homici
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 10/16/2025
The good-looking thirty-seven year old gentleman handling the reins behind the glossy matched pair pulling the spanking-new carriage drew the attention of more than one feminine eye.  Pacing down French St. at a sharp clip, the lady next to him, dressed neatly in a tailor-made suit with the latest in millinery fashion, smiled up at her coachman. Behind the lace curtains on the Hill section of Fall River, tongues were wagging about the unseemly pair. Lizzie Borden, acquitted of double homici
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 10/16/2025
Via Newspapers.comMysterious showers of stones are a tiresomely common Fortean phenomenon, but inexplicable egg falls are unusual enough to pique my interest.  The “Reading [England] Post,” December 11, 1974:Flying eggs are bombarding a school in Wokingham in what must be the strangest unsolved mystery of the year. For over the past two weeks, white chickens' eggs have been 'shelling' the
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Strange Company - 3/18/2026
"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
Via Newspapers.comMysterious showers of stones are a tiresomely common Fortean phenomenon, but inexplicable egg falls are unusual enough to pique my interest.  The “Reading [England] Post,” December 11, 1974:Flying eggs are bombarding a school in Wokingham in what must be the strangest unsolved mystery of the year. For over the past two weeks, white chickens' eggs have been 'shelling' the
More...
Strange Company - 3/18/2026
"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
Bond Street today is a pricey place to live. And so it was in the 1830s, when it became one of New York’s most exclusive enclaves. Wealthy residents fleeing the crowded and increasingly commercial neighborhoods below Houston Street sought refuge on this short little street, which only runs two blocks from Broadway to the Bowery. […]
More...
Ephemeral New York - 3/16/2026
Sport on the Brain. | Brotherly Love.

A Square Meal.

A Square Meal

A wolf in search of a square meal helps himself to a baby; Clintonville, PA.

A one year old baby was taken from its cradle by a wolf, during the absence from the house of its parents, who reside on the mountain near Clintonville, Cambria County, Penn., and no traces of the body or any portion of it have ever been found.


National Police Gazette, January 1, 1881.