No. 879
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
August 11, 2026

A Serenading Lover Comes to Grief

in Lafayette, Indiana.
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August 11, 2026
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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
WILLIAM BURKE
alias: BILLY THE kID, etc, MURPHY, PETRIE
BANK SNEAK

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!IS EVERYBODY HAPPY???What the hell was the Whitechapel Mount?Fair play for cannibals.The "wonderful year" 1759.The mysterious Great Serpent Mound.Why the number 17 was not popular in ancient Rome.BREAKING:  Scientists have just discovered dogs.  (Note: Cats can tell if you're sad, too.  They just usually don't care.)The lady who was eulogized
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Strange Company - 8/14/2026

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
Amen.

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

Ida and Sophia.

 Ida Quinlan and Sophia Grant.Mrs. Ida Quinlan went out to buy a pair of stockings at around 9:00 on the night of February 1, 1896, leaving her baby in the care of her sister, Mrs. Sophia Grant. She took a streetcar to the store several miles away and returned to the house at around 11:00. Entering the sitting room, she was surprised to find the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled out and
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/15/2026
On the Russians.

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
| His Peep Ends Disastrously.

A Serenading Lover Comes to Grief

Seranading

A few nights since, a fond lover in Lafayette, Indiana, seated himself on a barrel turned on its side, while serenading his heart's mistress. In his ecstasy, he rolled the barrel over, slammed his guitar against a shutter in his effort to regain his balance, and disappeared in the cistern. 

The bubbling cry of the strong swimmer in his abony brought out the entire family, including the bull-dog, in various brief and picturesque costumes, ranging all the way from an elaborate robe de nuit and curl papers worn by the innocent cause if it all, to a simple yet serviceable collar, ornamented with spikes, worn by the bull-dog.  P.S. - He was fished out.

Illustrated Police News, March 14, 1872.

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