No. 37
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
July 31, 2011

The Fight of the Century.

On St. Patrick’s Day, 1897, “Ruby” Robert Fitzsimmons challenged “Gentleman” Jim Corbett for the heavyweight boxing championship of the world.
July 31, 2011
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Tag: Boston

Grand Panoramic View

Of The East Side of Washington Street, Boston.

4/4/2023

A Female Gambling House in Boston.

They call it the "retreat" because of its charming privacy and apparent obscurity.

5/31/2022

A Charming Female Vaccinator.

Young gentlemen of Boston submitting their arms to a charming female vaccinator.

8/30/2021

His Mouth Full of Ivory.

A billiard ball stuck in a man's mouth - the mishap of an idiot at the Adams House in Boston.

5/4/2021

The Merry Wives of Boston.

Such is Boston morality and such is woman's fidelity.

1/5/2021

Ringling Bros.' World's Greatest Shows!

First Time Here of the Amusement Colossus of the West.

10/29/2018

A Human Rat Eater.

An employee of the Boston Gas Works boasted his ability to kill a rat with his teeth.

8/14/2017

Wicked Victorian Boston.

Wicked Victorian Boston, a new book by Robert Wilhelm.

7/31/2017

Caught Helping Themselves.

Boston detectives arrest two stylishly-dressed women while in the act of the shoplifting game.

1/9/2017

A Winter Scene.

Winter Pastime – A Skating Scene.

1/25/2016

“For Members Only.”

11/10/2014

Society Unveiled.

2/3/2014

She Had a High Old Time.

8/13/2013

Baseball Animals.

Cigarette cards, 1880s, 1890s

5/14/2013

Philanthropist or “Moral Leper?”

4/30/2013

Burglary Tools.

2/11/2013

John L. Sullivan Saved by a Neck.

11/6/2012

Female Tobacco Chewers.

What a Correspondent Asserts Regarding a Boston Girl.

7/10/2012

The Female Marine

12/27/2011

The Swindling Beggar

7/11/2011
Via Newspapers.comTreasure hunting and ghosts seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly.  As an example, peruse this story from the “Bartlesville Examiner,” February 13, 1927:OKMULGEE, Okla. - (AP) -Snake Creek, in Okmulgee county, still believes in her six lively ghosts and sets back to laugh at outsiders when they invade the playground of the spirits.  Investigation has failed
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Strange Company - 10/14/2026
  [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
 Laura D. Fair and Alexander P. CrittendenA prominent California legislator was sitting with his wife and son on board the Oakland-San Francisco ferryboat El Capitain the evening of November 3, 1870. They did not notice the woman approaching them, dressed entirely in black, wearing a broad-brimmed black hat with a black veil covering her face. From the folds of her dress, the woman
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Murder By Gaslight - 10/10/2026
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
| A Sleep-Walker’s Act.

The Fight of the Century.

Corbet-Fitz