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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Tag: Gangs

Collecting Beer Money.

A gang of female rogues, of the East Side, New York, work a little racket of their own.

9/15/2015

Rogues & Brawlers.

11/13/2012

"Four Aces."

9/25/2012

The Astor Place Riot

8/15/2011
JOSEPH BOND
alias: PAPER COLLAR JOE
BANCO STEERER

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.comI put this missing-persons story into the “mini mysteries” file, due to the unsettling lack of information surrounding the case.  The “Miami Herald,” October 6, 1985:You could set your clock by Irene Matheson.Since Perrine Elementary School opened six years ago, Matheson was always the first person to arrive. She unlocked the cafeteria door at 5:45 a.m., let in the cook at
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Strange Company - 5/20/2026

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
Amen.

Themes of optimism and oppression as seen in two luminous views of the Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is celebrating its 143rd birthday on May 24, the day Gilded Age New Yorkers could finally walk across this wondrous span and celebrate the uniting of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Over close to a century and a half, the Brooklyn Bridge has taken the honor of the city’s most painted and photographed structure. […]
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Ephemeral New York - 5/18/2026

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

Maggie Crowley.

Maggie Crowley.(New York Journal, March 16, 1898.)On March 15, 1898, a woman was found strangled to death in the courtyard of a New York City tenement.  She was the seventh strangulation victim in the Tenderloin district over the previous four years. What made this case different was that even before the victim was identified, the police had a suspect in custody. Some believed he was
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Murder By Gaslight - 5/16/2026
On the Russians.

Remembering Sarah Morse Borden

Whatever you believe about the guilt or innocence of Lizzie Borden, I have always believed film makers do a great injustice to the story by not beginning at the beginning- the death on March 26, 1863 of the first Mrs. Borden. In the dying moments of Sarah Morse, Emma takes on the weight of the care of her little sister, not yet three years old. Emma herself was just 12 on March 1st. Emma has seen her mother suffer for a long time, seen her pain and loss of little Alice Esther. Emma is old enough
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 3/26/2026

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
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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