No. 19
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
June 06, 2011

Belles of the Bowling Alley.

The athletic diversions of an association of dashing damsels in their club rooms in Chicago. 
More...
June 6, 2011
...
...

JOHN CURTIN
alias: REYNOLDS
SNEAK, BURGLAR

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!We have tea!A marriage ends with a murder/suicide."Through thick and thin" was originally used literally.How prehistoric humans survived a supervolcano.Why we call them "dive bars."So maybe deflecting asteroids isn't such a great idea.An extinct human species who appear to have buried their dead.You will be pleased to hear that scientists spend their time
More...
Strange Company - 9/19/2025

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/ !
More...
Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 7/26/2025
Amen.

Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, Page #24: 1882 and 1884, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland.

Soapy Smith STAR NotebookPage 24 - Original copy1884Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge) oapy Smith's "STAR" notebook page 24, 1882 and 1884, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland. Steamer Ancon. This post is on page 24, the last of the "STAR" notebook pages I have been deciphering and publishing for the last two years, since July 24, 2023. The page is two separate notes dated 1882
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 9/17/2025

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 →
More...
Executed Today - 11/13/2020

Why I Hate A.I.

Artificial Intelligence would be an excellent tool for historical research, but for one flaw – it does not distinguish between fact and guesswork. I was researching Robert Sprague, who murdered his mother in Jasper County, Iowa, in 1868, and I could not find any information on his trial and sentencing. I decided to ask Grok, which very confidently returned a quite detailed answer, concluding
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 9/18/2025
On the Russians.

The enchanting stained glass luring drinkers into one of Midtown’s dwindling workingman’s taverns

Deep roots anchor P.J. Clarke’s, the restaurant and bar occupying a Civil War–era brick building with its top two floors sheered off at Third Avenue and 55th Street. Converted into a tavern in 1884 when Irish laborers held a large presence in the developing neighborhood, the building was bought by Irish immigrant Patrick “Paddy” J. […]
More...
Ephemeral New York - 9/15/2025

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 […]
More...
Early American Crime - 2/7/2019
Terrible Struggle with Flame and Flood | Duel of the Divas.

Belles of the Bowling Alley.

Chicago, 1878 - Belles of the Bowling Alley -The athletic diversions of an association of dashing damsels in their club rooms in Chicago. 

Life in Chicago presents many phases not met with elsewhere, and one such is the establishment, a year since, of a club for social enjoyment by eight young ladies, all well educated and wealthy, who move in first-class circles.

They conceived the idea of setting up a club similar to the exclusive coteries in which the sterner sex find their relaxation. They accordingly secured suitable quarters fitted up with an attention to the luxurious details so dear to the feminine heart, but with a view also to the gratification of the fair clubbists for some sport as affected by their masculine prototypes. A well-arranged billiard room and a gymnasium with every improved appliance were among the conveniences, but the favorite feature proved to be the bowling alley. Some of the fair members have become quite expert players, and spirited contests are regularly held in which the participants vie with hoydenish, albeit gay and sparkling, enthusiasm.

Reprinted from The National Police Gazette - October 26, 1878

Content 5

Turn to Page 1