No. 643
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
August 02, 2022

A Transparent Rigg.

Benjamin, of that name, vainly attempts to break a bank in female disguise at Palmerston, Ontario.
August 2, 2022
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Strange Company - 10/2/2026
  [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
Mary Anderson was an acclaimed international stage actress in the late 1800s. Among her many fans was a young Brooklyn man named James M. Dougherty.  He worked as a telegraph lineman and studied science in his spare time. He dabbled in a little of everything until, after watching one of her plays, he became obsessed with Miss Anderson. His love for Mary Anderson became his sole
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Murder By Gaslight - 9/26/2026
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 Hot Day in New York. | Eaten by Sharks.

A Transparent Rigg.

Transparent-Rigg

A daring attempt was made to rob Scott's bank at Palmerston, Ontario, Canada, on the morning of June 9th. By a ruse J. W. Scott, proprietor, was got rid of, and about eleven o'clock a person closely-veiled and dressed in woman's clothes went into the office and wished to deposit $2.000. Teller Bert Boomer showed his customer to a seat in the private office until he got through with other customers. When he returned to the veiled one he was asked to lock the door until the deposit was made. As the customer appeared very nervous Boomer complied with the request. and on returning to the private office the party displayed a large knife and ordered him into the washroom. Boomer refused to go and a struggle ensued, the teller getting badly cut and otherwise injured, Finally he overcame the robber, took the knife from him and on stripping the veil from his face found himself confronted by one Ben Rigg, a resident of the town. Rigg was arrested.


National Police Gazette, July 3, 1886.