No. 306
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
May 09, 2016

Frail Minnie Gitto.

How a pretty Oyster Bay, Long Island, lassie sinned with a choir-singer and set all the island gossi
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May 9, 2016
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Tag: Crime

Garrotting.

To Choke.

8/12/2025

What it is Coming to in Chicago.

3/24/2014

Mother Mandelbaum's Secrets.

4/23/2013

Beauty as a Shield.

Beauty Conquers avarice and outlawry "We won't rob this house to-night."

7/24/2012

Allan Pinkerton.

The Eye that Never Sleeps.

3/27/2012

Hospital Horrors.

3/20/2012

Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes.

3/4/2012

Driven by Delusion

Henry Goodwin entered the office of his partner, Albert Swan, pulled out a revolver and shot him.

11/14/2011

Whipped By Women

11/8/2011

Anxious For a Funeral

10/23/2011

Trixie Got the Best of It.

Two Little Gem Theatre, Buffalo, N. Y., Soubrettes have a scrap on account of a man.

10/8/2011

The Astor Place Riot

8/15/2011

The Swindling Beggar

7/11/2011
WILLIAM FALE
alias: BROOKS
HOTEL THIEF, SLEEPING-CAR WORKER

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!However, I'm not sure I like what the Strange Company HQ staffers are planning for today's menu.What the hell was the Dover Demon?An archaeological mystery near Yellowstone.A fatal obsession with an actress.The "f word" goes a long way back.In 1900, these were women's favorite weapons.A look at the latest book about Poe.  It sounds a bit pretentious,
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Strange Company - 10/2/2026

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

James Dougherty's Obsession.

Mary Anderson was an acclaimed international stage actress in the late 1800s. Among her many fans was a young Brooklyn man named James M. Dougherty.  He worked as a telegraph lineman and studied science in his spare time. He dabbled in a little of everything until, after watching one of her plays, he became obsessed with Miss Anderson. His love for Mary Anderson became his sole
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Murder By Gaslight - 9/26/2026
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
Demi-Monde Excursion. | May-Day.

Frail Minnie Gitto.

Frail Minnie Gitto

How a pretty Oyster Bay, Long Island, lassie sinned with a choir-singer and set all the island gossiping. [more]

Miss Minnie Gitto resides within the classic precincts of Oyster Bay, located on Long Island Sound. Miss Minnie was a village belle, aged eighteen, and a member of the village Sunday school. Thomas S. Cheshire sang in the choir and was something of a musician. The two loved clandestinely, with the usual result. Minnie, of course, wanted Tommy to marry her. Tommy kicked. Minnie’s parents insisted. Tommy was called to the house. He agreed to marry Minnie, it is said, if she would swear, on the Big Book, that she has never been intimate with others. She approached the family Bible, hesitated and swooned. Tommy was arrested. He was yanked to court. A charge of being an accessory to malpractice was made against him. Two male members of the choir testified that they had been intimate with Minnie. While the trial was in progress Minnie gave birth to a bouncing girl in the ante-room. Tableau.

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, October 19, 1889.

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