No. 155
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
June 25, 2013

The Tyranny of Fashion.

More...
June 25, 2013
...
...

Tag: Bicycle

Time Works Many Changes.

Men used to flock to the beach, now they seek sections were roads are good.

9/12/2023

A Velocipede Riding-School.

Scene in a velocipede riding-school, New York City.

9/10/2018

The Bicycle Tournament at Springfield, Mass.

Perhaps the most successful bicycle tournament ever held in this country was that which opened at Springfield, Mass., on Tuesday, September 18th, 1883, and continued for three days.

9/29/2015

Burglars on Bicycles.

Burglars in Massachusetts utilize the flying wheels in their midnight depredations.

12/31/2013
JOHN LOVE
alias: JAMES D WELLS
SNEAK, BANK BURGLAR

June 6, 1865

At the end of the day, we take a moment to note that June 6th was also the date of Abby & Andrew’s anniversary. I wonder if Lizzie thought about that while sitting in the courtroom today?
More...
Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 6/6/2026

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
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025
Amen.

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!I'm sure our host this week needs no further introduction.  The caption says it all.A medieval anti-war satire.Mysterious meat shower?  Or vulture vomit?The paranormal side of the Cold War.Ernest Hemingway, boxing, and, uh, salad dressing.The man who blew up a nuclear power station.Mystery in a medieval tomb.More proof that scientists have way too
More...
Strange Company - 6/5/2026

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

The Conspirators and their Hitman.

In 1830, Joseph Knapp conspired with his brother, John Francis Knapp, to hire a local criminal, Richard Crowninshield, to murder their great uncle, Captain Joseph White, in Salem, Massachusetts. They believed that if the captain died without a will, they stood to inherit a sizable fortune.Read the full story here: "A Most Extraordinary Case"
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 6/6/2026
On the Russians.

All the beaches open for swimming in Depression-era New York City, according to a subway poster

Say what you want about Robert Moses. But as Parks Commissioner in the 1930s, he opened 11 new public municipal pools across the five boroughs—helping residents keep cool and resist the lure of swimming in the East or Hudson River, which amazingly people used to do. Moses, a swim fan himself, also championed and helped […]
More...
Ephemeral New York - 6/1/2026

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 […]
More...
Early American Crime - 2/7/2019
She Skipped. | Dropping Their Disguise.

The Tyranny of Fashion.

Tyranny of Fashion

“The scene depicted above is not so tragic as one might suppose. It merely represents the best of husbands, Jones, helping the lovely Mrs. J. to divest herself of her jersey.”

Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours, August 1882.

 

 

Turn to Page 1