No. 24
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
May 22, 2011

A Newspaper Man’s Plight

Denver Col., October 1892 – Correspondent Jake Hirsh cowhided by indignant Lizzie Gonzales, an actress, in Denver.
More...
May 22, 2011
...
...

Tag: Thomas Byrnes

Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes.

3/4/2012

The Sawdust Game

The "sawdust game," was a confidence scam that only swindled those who deserved to be swindled.

1/10/2012

The Bunco Game

The term “bunco” has come to mean to any type of swindle, but in the 19th century it usually referred to a confidence game involving crooked gambling.

5/17/2011

Bank Heist

The Audacity of a Professional Thief.

4/3/2011
JOHN RILEY
alias: JOHN MURPHY
SNEAK, PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER

Weekend Link Dump

 Everyone here at Strange Company HQ wishes you a happy Halloween!In which an 18th century priest meets a troll.Gunnhild, Mother of Kings.The strange case of the Crow Hill Bones.So now we know what is the oldest pub in England.The Abominable Snowman visits Massachusetts.I thought you'd like to know that someone is cataloging public restrooms.  (And, yeah, I don't want to know what this
More...
Strange Company - 10/30/2026

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 […]
More...
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
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025

Caught in the Act.

(The National Police Gazette, October 2, 1886.)A little before 3 o’clock, on the afternoon of September 9, 1886, Henry H. Meyer rushed into the police station in Memphis, Tennessee, and said, “I have just killed a man, and I want to give myself up.”Captain Hackett took down the information and had the man locked up, then hurried to the address he had given to see for himself what had happened. In
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 10/31/2026
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 →
More...
Executed Today - 11/13/2020
Post 5 | The Bunco Game

A Newspaper Man’s Plight

Newspaper Mans PlightDenver Col., October 1892 – Correspondent Jake Hirsh cowhided by indignant Lizzie Gonzales, an actress, in Denver. 

Jake Hirsh, a correspondent with Chicago and New York papers, was horsewhipped and badly punished in Denver, Col., the other night by a Philadelphia actress named Lizzie Gonzales, now filling an engagement in that city.

Miss Gonzales resented some scurrilous items Hirsh wrote in his papers. She procured a blacksnake, and when Hirsh made his appearance flew at him, bringing down the whip with the force of an old¬time ox driver and raising blisters at every blow. Then reversing the whip, she smashed his nose with the loaded butt. Hirsh then endeavored to clinch with her and was worsted.

National Police Gazette - October 8, 1892

Reprinted from The National Police Gazette - October 8, 1892

Turn to Page 1