No. 265
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
July 27, 2015

They Are a Bad Lot.

The frightful picture of crime and debauchery which has given notoriety to Mary Jane Cawley’s backwo
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July 27, 2015
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Tag: Great Detectives

Kate Warne.

Kate Warne, America’s first female detective.

5/30/2012

Allan Pinkerton.

The Eye that Never Sleeps.

3/27/2012

Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes.

3/4/2012
WILLIAM BURKE
alias: BILLY THE kID, etc, MURPHY, PETRIE
BANK SNEAK

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!IS EVERYBODY HAPPY???What the hell was the Whitechapel Mount?Fair play for cannibals.The "wonderful year" 1759.The mysterious Great Serpent Mound.Why the number 17 was not popular in ancient Rome.BREAKING:  Scientists have just discovered dogs.  (Note: Cats can tell if you're sad, too.  They just usually don't care.)The lady who was eulogized
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Strange Company - 8/14/2026

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

Ida and Sophia.

 Ida Quinlan and Sophia Grant.Mrs. Ida Quinlan went out to buy a pair of stockings at around 9:00 on the night of February 1, 1896, leaving her baby in the care of her sister, Mrs. Sophia Grant. She took a streetcar to the store several miles away and returned to the house at around 11:00. Entering the sitting room, she was surprised to find the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled out and
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/15/2026
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
Yachting. | A Hot Day in New York.

They Are a Bad Lot.

A Bad Lot

The frightful picture of crime and debauchery which has given notoriety to Mary Jane Cawley’s backwoods dive at Cookstown, N. J.

A picture of Mary Jane Cawley’s backwoods dive at Cookstown, N. J., which has recently been brought to public attention by the disappearance of its white mistress under circumstances that give the appearance of foul play. The patrons of the Cawley dive were both whites and blacks, and the picture presented may be said to be fairly representative of the scenes of debauchery which have been common in this rendezvous of sin.

Reprinted from the National Police Gazette, January 19, 1889.

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