No. 242
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
February 23, 2015

A Monkey and Dog Time.

The novel bating match in Van Wert, Ohio, between a Marion gorilla and a Fort Wayne, Indiana Canine.
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February 23, 2015
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Tag: Society

Heroism of a Society Belle.

The Bravery of charming Miss Jaffray, the daughter of a New York millionaire, saves many lives at Irvington, N. Y.

12/28/2015

A New Wrinkle.

How the fashionable women of “sawciety” get their complexions whit the assistance of a hypodermic injection.

12/14/2015

Society Unveiled.

2/3/2014

Puck's Dude Champions.

12/17/2013

Unpleasantly Like.

11/5/2013
JOE RICKERMAN
alias: NIGGER BAKER
PICKPOCKET, BURGLAR

The Groaning Tree of Baddesley

Eugène Bléry, "The Elm Tree" I always enjoy when someone manages to gain fame through unconventional and imaginative methods, so if an elm tree manages to put itself into the history books by moaning and wailing like a maniac, I say, “Congratulations!” and invite the voluble hunk of wood into the hallowed halls of Strange Company.Our story takes place in the English village of Baddesley. 
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Strange Company - 4/20/2026

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.

The most unusual house number in all of New York City is on West Fourth Street

Fractional house numbers can be found across New York’s older brownstone and townhouse neighborhoods. Usually the half refers to an adjacent carriage house or backhouse, or sometimes even a basement apartment. But as far as I can tell, this is the only 3/4 fractional on a Gotham doorway or entryway. It’s at 184 3/4 West […]
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Ephemeral New York - 4/20/2026

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

Mamie Cunningham.

(New York Journal, May 31, 1896.)On the morning of Memorial Day, May 30, 1896, Mrs. Annie Cunningham had to go to work, while her 13-year-old daughter, Mary (known as Mamie), was home from school for the holiday. Mrs. Cunningham asked Mamie if she planned to go to the parade. Mamie said no, she wasn’t interested, and she planned to do housework and study. At 8:30, she said goodbye to her daughter
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Murder By Gaslight - 4/18/2026
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
Was Her Story a Fake? | A Woman’s Flat-Irony.

A Monkey and Dog Time.

Monkey and Dog

The novel bating match in Van Wert, Ohio, between a Marion gorilla and a Fort Wayne, Indiana Canine. [more]

A fight between the thoroughbred English bulldog Jack and an African gorilla occurred recently at Van Wert, Ohio. The dog was owned by W. H. Steward, of Fort Wayne, Ind., and weighed about forty pounds. The ape belonged in Marion, Ind., and was nearly twice as heavy. The stakes were a $1000 purse. As soon as the animals faced each other the dog fastened his teeth in the ape’s neck, but seemed unable to penetrate the thick hide of the latter. Quick as a flash the gorilla had the dog in his long arms and broke his back by main strength. He sunk his long tusks repeatedly into the neck and spine of the bulldog until the blood flowed in streams. The dog was utterly helpless, and his owner threw up the sponge to save him from being killed just as the dog fell over dead.

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, January 4, 1890

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