No. 231
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
December 01, 2014

Giddy Young Girls.

December 1, 2014
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Tag: Hoax

Willie Craig Was a Girl.

But what a lovely sensation she created among the Henderson, Tenn. sweet girls and susceptible boys before her sex was discovered.

5/11/2015

Was Her Story a Fake?

Miss Alice Jackman, a St. Louis heiress, claims to have been abducted a second time.

3/2/2015

Aboriginal Footprints.

11/17/2014

Undercover Lunatic.

5/26/2013

The Advent of Spiritualism.

A simple schoolgirl prank spawned a new belief with millions of followers.

9/4/2012

McGinty Survives!

10/30/2011

The Cardiff Giant

Cardiff, New York, October 16, 1869.

4/10/2011

“Daredevil” Steve Brodie

2/17/2011
Via Newspapers.com Here is just one of those minor little oddities that help keep life on this earth from getting too dull.  The “Boston Globe,” December 17, 1928:SANTA BARBARA, Calif, Dec 16 (A.P.) -There may be sermons in stones and books in the running brooks, but it was left for a Santa Barbara woman to reveal today that there is a Schubert melody in a pan of boiling vegetables.&
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Strange Company - 4/22/2026
"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
She Went into the Scrimmage. | Now in Convenient Book Form!

Giddy Young Girls.

Giddy Young Girls

They are infatuated with two minstrel men, but their mothers interfere, Winchester, Ind. [more]

A scene was enacted at Winchester, Ind., by the reckless escapade indulged in by two young ladies of Greenville, O., who became infatuated with two members of Cleveland’s Minstrel Company and followed them from Greenville to that place. Friends of the girls suspected their intentions, and had in turn followed them. The girls registered at a hotel, and were just on the point of retiring, having engaged separate rooms, when they were surprised, not to say paralyzed, by the sudden and alarming appearance of their mothers. The old ladies “had blood in their eyes,” and a dramatic scene was only averted by the quick surrender of the girls and their departure for home. The entertainment hadn’t closed when the ladies left, and the two disappointed showmen afforded spectators considerable amusement by their efforts to locate their friends before they learned of the old ladies’ visit and the announced change of programme. The showmen are married men.


Reprinted from the National Police Gazette, December 8, 1894