No. 205
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
May 27, 2014

Two Giddy Girls.

Sent up Eight Years for Smoking Cigars in Public.
May 27, 2014
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Tag: Fire

Burning of Steamers at Cincinnati.

Burning of Steamers on the Ohio River at Cincinnati May 17, 1869.

9/17/2018

A Train of Cars Rushing Through Fire.

Traveling through fire—Fearful peril of a railway train, at Cedar Swamp, on the Eastern Railroad, Maine, Sunday, Sept. 17

10/23/2017

What a New York Girl Did.

A vain girl makes a fireman wait until she fixes her hair preferring to risk her life rather than appear in public not “made up’; New York.

5/22/2017

Unmindful of their Attire.

A Fire in the Chicago Opera House creates a stampede among pretty actresses who rush to the street dishabille.

3/11/2014
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
"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
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
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
(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
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
  [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
Progress of Naval Architecture. | Decoration Day and its Memories.

Two Giddy Girls.

2 Giddy Girls

Sent up Eight Years for Smoking Cigars in Public. 

A couple of dashing Providence, (R. I.) females imitate the Lords of Creation, are arrested, and sentenced to a reformatory for eight years.

A case at Providence, R. I., has excited considerable attention. Two girls were taken up for smoking cigars on the street and carrying canes, and were sentenced to the Reformatory for eight years. The sentence is pronounced cruel and unjust, particularly as men who have been guilty of great embezzlements, and even of manslaughter and other crimes, have been let off with from two to four years. It is well said that when these poor girls come out from their long term they will in all probability be hopelessly ruined. Reformatories seldom reform girls who are put there for eight years for smoking cigars.


The National Police Gazette, 23 Oct 1880