No. 712
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
August 6, 2025

A Pair of Turtle Doves.

J. C. McLean, of Anderson, Ind., discovers that his wife is of a too-loving nature.
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May 23, 2016
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AUGUSTUS GREGORY
alias: GEO SCHWENECKE
HOTEL THIEF

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.comThe following item was something the editors of the “London Times” did not expect to find advertised in their paper.  May 10, 1861:Coblentz, April 25, 1861. In an almost impenetrable ravine in the declivity of Mount Rheineck, which is situate immediately on the banks of the Rhine, between Brohl and Nioderbrel (a district of the Tribunal of First Instance of Cobleutz,
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Strange Company - 8/6/2025

Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1884, Denver: Page #20

Soapy Smith STAR NotebookPage 20 - Original copy1884Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge) oapy Smith's early empire growth in Denver.Operating the prize package soap sell racket in 1884. This is page 20, the continuation of page 19, and dated May 6 - May 29, 1884, as well as the continuation of pages 18-19, the beginning of Soapy Smith's criminal empire building in Denver, Colorado.&
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 6/1/2025
Amen.

The mysterious blocked-off entryways built into a Central Park transverse road

There’s so much exquisite natural and structural beauty grabbing your attention in Central Park that you probably don’t give the transverse roads much thought. You know the transverse roads. Part of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s 1858 Greensward plan for the park, these four serpentine roads at 65th, 79th, 85th, and 97th Streets are […]
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Ephemeral New York - 8/4/2025

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

The Walworth Parricide, in New York.

 Read the full story here: The Walworth Patricide.
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/2/2025
On the Russians.

It’s Almost August

Stop by this week as we explore what happened the week before the murders, Emma and Lizzie’s getaway to Fairhaven and New Bedford, and new imagery which will help to tell the story. The pears are almost ripe, August 4th is coming fast, and thoughts begin to turn to that house on Second Street once again. Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/lizziebordenwarpsandwefts/ !
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 7/26/2025

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
Ought to be Ashamed of Herself. | Demi-Monde Excursion.

A Pair of Turtle Doves.

Turtle Doves

J. C. McLean, of Anderson, Ind., discovers that his wife is of a too-loving nature. [more]

A social sensation was recently caused in Anderson, Ind., when Grocer J. C. McLean handed his wife a check for $700, escorted her to the train for Paris, Ill., her former home, and then went back home and filed suit for divorce. McLean had discovered his wife in a loving attitude with James Benson, who lodged at McLean’s. She was sitting on Benson’s lap. McLean said not a word, but at once consulted a lawyer. Mrs. McLean was a leader in society and church affairs, and is a handsome woman. Her husband is broken-hearted over the affair. Benson, the cause of the separation, is a clerk in a shoe store.

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, September 10, 1892.

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