No. 64
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
January 17, 2012

A Characteristic Present

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January 17, 2012
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LOUISE JOURDAN
alias: BIGLOW, DARRIGAN, LITTLE LOUISA
PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.comThis is for all of us who tend to think most small children are a bit demonic.  The “New York Herald,” December 2, 1888:To the north and west of this city, about fifteen miles away, dividing this county from Cumberland and Franklin counties, is a ridge of mountains. In some of the mountain valleys the people are in a state of deep ignorance, seeing little of the outer world
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Strange Company - 11/4/2026

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

Caught in the Act.

(The National Police Gazette, October 2, 1886.)A little before 3 o’clock, on the afternoon of September 9, 1886, Henry H. Meyer rushed into the police station in Memphis, Tennessee, and said, “I have just killed a man, and I want to give myself up.”Captain Hackett took down the information and had the man locked up, then hurried to the address he had given to see for himself what had happened. In
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Murder By Gaslight - 10/31/2026
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
A Plucky Elberon, N. J., Girl | The Sawdust Game

A Characteristic Present

Buffalo Bills Present

Wasington, D.C., October 1886 - Buffalo Bill bestows a Mexican bronco pony on the youthful son of Secretary Lamar, Washington, D.C. [more]

The unusual sight of a cowboy in full costume, wearing a sombrero, and a Mexican bronco pony, was afforded the officials at Washington of Post Office and Interior Departments the other afternoon. The bronco was a present to young Mr. Lamar, son of Secretary Lamar. Buffalo Bill had sent the bronco pony with his compliments, and for awhile the story got abroad that it was a wedding gift to Secretary Lamar, but this was denied. The cowboy, after he dismounted, went into the Interior Department and presented the pony, and they took it around to the department stable.

Reprinted from The National Police Gazette, October 21, 1886.

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