No. 682
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 14, 2023

Laughable Adventure with a Bear

Near Georgetown, Colorado.
March 14, 2023
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A visitor to today’s recently restored Waldorf Astoria might be dazzled by the Art Deco design, the luxurious lobby, and the ghosts of all the actors, inventors, and heads of state who made it their temporary home. What that visitor might not realize is that “the hypen”—as the hotel was called before the hyphen was […]
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Ephemeral New York - 7/20/2026
"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!And greetings from the Strange Company mail room!A teenager who died in the American Revolution has finally been identified.An ancient Roman fossil collector.The strange case of the "Leavenworth Look-Alikes."The legend of what may have been the first underwater tunnel.Casual snapshots of the Romanovs.The strange case of the Beale Ciphers.A diplomat's widow
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Strange Company - 7/17/2026
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
(Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 1895.)Johanna Gahan married Jimmy Logue, a professional thief, in 1871, just as he was preparing to serve a seven-year prison sentence for burglary. She waited for him, and after his release, Jimmy bought a house for them in Philadelphia. Within a year, Jimmy was off on a “thieving expedition” to Boston. When he returned, Johanna was gone. Those who knew Jimmy
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Murder By Gaslight - 7/18/2026
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
Rival Monarchs. | Enjoying Their Daily Bath.

Laughable Adventure with a Bear

laughable-Bear

A couple of residents of Georgetown, Colorado, started out on a hunting expedition about twenty miles east of town. On arriving at the scene of operations, its being late, they concluded to camp for the night. Early next morning one of the party decides to go to some convenient spot and prepare what the hunters call a "dear lick." He started out with a yeast powder can filled with salt, and sugar. While pushing his way through the bushes he suddenly came face to face with a huge black hear.

Not liking the intrusion, the bear reared up, prepared to fight. The hunter and the bear were so close to each other that neither could very well back out. The only weapons the hunter had were the salt and sugar. Believing that the salt was the best weapon at hand, he dashed the can full of salt directly in the bear's eyes, and while bruin was scratching the salt out of his peepers the hunter pegged away on his head with the sugar until his bearship gave up the contest and fled. The hunter, not caring to follow up his advantage, returned to camp to relate his adventure.


Illustrated Police News, November 16, 1871.