No. 622
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 15, 2022

A Society Escapade.

How some swell dames of Virginia City, Nevada, in male attire, painted the town red.
March 15, 2022
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Tag: Brothel

Spoiled the Chappies’ Fun.

Policemen of Aurora Ill. Break into a famous resort during an orgy and capture some well-known young men of the town.

6/18/2018

Shocking Youthful Depravity.

The discovery that public school children frequent immoral places creates a startling sensation in Columbus, O.

2/22/2016

Clubbed by a Wronged Wife.

4/22/2014

Philanthropist or “Moral Leper?”

4/30/2013

Breaking Up a Bagnio.

11/18/2012

Copper.

8/20/2012

Steam Powered Reformation.

8/14/2012

Saloons and Houses of Ill-Fame.

Buffalo, New York, May 1893.

5/8/2012

The Female Marine

12/27/2011

“I’ve Taken Poison, Maudie!”

7/25/2011
 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?Why you wouldn't want to be punished by a pirate.Why you wouldn't want to see a supervolcano erupt.The mystery of the 115,000 year old human footprints.The mystery of the undersea "Bloop."  Related:  The ocean contains all sorts of creepy stuff.A chair that may have belonged to Anne Boleyn.How nuns helped create a fertility
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Strange Company - 5/1/2026
"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
There’s a curious pair of limestone row houses on the lower end of peaceful, park-facing Riverside Drive. Each looks similar from afar. They share the same color of stone, and both facades have bow fronts. But on closer look, you’ll notice that each sports different ornamental bells and whistles. One has a conical roof and […]
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Ephemeral New York - 4/27/2026
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 Evening Journal, March 18, 1898)Around 1 a.m. on September 2, 1896, Samuel Meyers ran out of the tenement at 202 East 29th Street, screaming, “Murder! Murder! Police! Police!” Patrolman Tyler heard his cries and ran to the spot. “My wife is murdered!” said Meyers, “Somebody has killed my wife. She’s dead.” Tyler and another officer followed Meyers to a second-floor apartment.
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Murder By Gaslight - 5/2/2026
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
A Way Out of the Sunday Difficulty. | A Smuggler Queen.

A Society Escapade.

Western-Ladies-Lark

On a recent evening two well-known ladies of Virginia City, Nev., started out for a frolic disguised in fashionable male attire. They were accompanied by male companions, and visited several saloons, calling for drinks at the bar with the nonchalance of habitues. The young men were well known, but the barkeepers were puzzled in trying to guess the identity of their companions.

When they drank at the Sazerac the searching glance of Billy Eckhoft frightened the elder of the two ladies (who, by the way, is married) and with her companion she deserted the other couple and returned home, apprehending discovery. The remaining couple visited numerous saloons on C street and looked in at the faro games, the young lady passing for a good-looking, delicate young man. The participants in the harmless frolic are well known, but their names are suppressed through fear of creating a flutter of surprise in Comstock society.

 

National Police Gazette, June 26, 1886.