No. 306
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
May 09, 2016

Frail Minnie Gitto.

How a pretty Oyster Bay, Long Island, lassie sinned with a choir-singer and set all the island gossi
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May 9, 2016
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JAMES BURNS
alias: , BAKER, BIG JIM, BOSTON J1M, etc, HAWKINS, JAMES BOYLE, JOHN BOWEN
SNEAK, BURGLAR

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.comBring on the Mystery Fires!  The (Napoleon, Ohio) “Democratic Northwest,” January 6, 1890:In regard to the mysterious fires that have visited the home of W. F. Miller, and which have been noted in the Advertiser, a Bairdstown friend sends us the following, which we are sure our readers will peruse with interest:The first of the series of unaccountable fires that have
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Strange Company - 10/7/2026

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

A Cursed Murderer in Lowell, Mass.

William H. Devlin(Illustrated Police News, December 22, 1877)Shortly after noon on Monday, December 10, 1877, a man entered the Lowell, Massachusetts, Police Station in a highly excited state. He told Deputy Marshal Favor that he had heard a terrible fight between a husband and wife Saturday night in a tenement on Common Street. Since then, he had heard nothing from the house, and he feared the
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Murder By Gaslight - 10/3/2026
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
Demi-Monde Excursion. | May-Day.

Frail Minnie Gitto.

Frail Minnie Gitto

How a pretty Oyster Bay, Long Island, lassie sinned with a choir-singer and set all the island gossiping. [more]

Miss Minnie Gitto resides within the classic precincts of Oyster Bay, located on Long Island Sound. Miss Minnie was a village belle, aged eighteen, and a member of the village Sunday school. Thomas S. Cheshire sang in the choir and was something of a musician. The two loved clandestinely, with the usual result. Minnie, of course, wanted Tommy to marry her. Tommy kicked. Minnie’s parents insisted. Tommy was called to the house. He agreed to marry Minnie, it is said, if she would swear, on the Big Book, that she has never been intimate with others. She approached the family Bible, hesitated and swooned. Tommy was arrested. He was yanked to court. A charge of being an accessory to malpractice was made against him. Two male members of the choir testified that they had been intimate with Minnie. While the trial was in progress Minnie gave birth to a bouncing girl in the ante-room. Tableau.

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, October 19, 1889.

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