No. 70
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
February 28, 2012

Their Name a Misnomer.

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February 28, 2012
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Tag: Newspaper

"Jack the Inkslinger."

Public Morality Must Suffer at the Hands of Our Newspaper Scandalmongers.

11/13/2018

Concerning Sensational Methods.

There is a class of publications whose lives depend upon their successful appeal to vicious instincts.

6/1/2015
EDW'D FAIRBROTHER
alias: DOCTOR ST CLAIR, DR EDW'D S WEST
HOTEL, BOARDING-HOUSE THIEF

The Plum Tree Hanging

I’ve noticed that in recent years, Halloween decorations have grown increasingly macabre.  In my neighborhood, at least, grinning Jack o’lanterns and innocuous ghosts are being replaced by ghoulish skeletons (both human and animal,) gravestones, knife-wielding devils, and various other ugly monstrosities.  Last year, a house near me put in their yard such a revolting handmade display of
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Strange Company - 10/26/2026

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

The Three Hangings, Lycoming County.

This week, we feature a guest post by Don Everett Smith Jr., author of The Goffle Road Murders of Passaic County (History Press, 2011).   In a previous post on Murder by Gaslight, “Revisiting the Goffle Road Murders,” Don presented an excerpt from his book. This week’s post, “The Three Hangings, Lycoming County,” examines the 1880 murder of Andrew Miller in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
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Murder By Gaslight - 10/24/2026
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
Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes. | It Was Another Kind of Cat.

Their Name a Misnomer.

MisnomerAvon, Mass., Oct. 1891 - Clarence Makepeace shot and killed in a row with his hot-tempered wife in their home in Avon, Mass.

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One morning recently Clarence Makepeace of Avon, Mass., got up about 6 o’clock and asked his wife Annie, to prepare the breakfast. She demurred, and angry words followed. Makepeace threw a lamp at his wife who ran to her room followed by her husband. As he enntered the door the woman grabbed a gun and fired at him, shooting off one side of his fade. Mrs. Makepeace made no attempt to escape but stood over her husband weeping and wailing. Makepeace died from his injuries and the woman was arrested charged with his death.
Reprinted from The National Police Gazette, October 17, 1891.

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