No. 630
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
May 10, 2022
alias: DILLON, MARY ANN DOWD, SANDERS
PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER
The 1883 book “Shropshire Folk-lore: A Sheaf of Gleanings” included a story about what we today would call a “poltergeist” which appeared to center around an enigmatic farm servant. While the tale purports to be true, at this distance of time it is impossible to say how much of it is fact, and how much is legend. Still, it’s such a quaintly charming little curiosity that I wanted to
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Strange Company - 8/24/2026
[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
(Illustrated Police News, April 3, 1886.)Agnes Anastasia Long moved out of her parents’ home in East Attleboro, Massachusetts, in April 1882. With her many male suiters, she was considered the black sheep of the family. Her father had enough of her bad behavior and, according to the Boston Herald, “refused to permit her to darken the threshold of his humble home.”She took a job at Streeter
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/22/2026
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
At the breakfast table at Haman's Hotel, Greensburg, Ind., C. C. Edwards, a dry goods merchant, occupied the seat or honor next to a fascinating and beautiful widow boarder. Dr. H Lee Millican, who is in love with the widow, wanted Mr. Edwards to exchange seats. This Mr. Edwards refused to do. Some hot words followed as to each gentleman's respective rights to a seat next to the lady, and It ended by the doctor flooring the merchant by a blow between the eyes. The case was then appealed to a justice's court, where it was settled to the satisfaction of all concerned.The Bloody Century 2
Takes the reader back to 19th-century America in all its gory glory.
