No. 707
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
July 5, 2025

The Can Can in Denver.

Elevating the Fantastic Toe.
January 2, 2024
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Tag: Maryland

The Wedding Postponed.

11/27/2017
 The Strange Company staffers wishes all our fellow Americans a happy Independence Day!The dark side of the Tower of London.The dark side of small town America.A 16th century manuscript about Robin Hood.The mock mayor of Stroud Green.Once upon a time, there was an ancient Roman with really freaking big feet.Something that is not--in no shape or form, absolutely not, no way in hell--a photo
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Strange Company - 7/4/2025
Wouldn’t you love to have interviewed Lizzie’s physician, Dr. Nomus S. Paige from Taunton, the jail doctor, ? He found her to be of sane mind and we can now confirm that he had Lizzie moved to the Wright’s quarters while she was so ill after her arraignment with bronchitis, tonsilitis and a heavy cold. We learn that she was not returned to her cell as he did not wish a relapse so close to her trial. Dr. Paige was a Dartmouth man, class of 1861. I have yet to produce a photo of him but stay tuned! His house is still standing at 74 Winthrop St, corner of Walnut in Taunton. He was married twice, with 2 children by his second wife Elizabeth Honora “Nora” Colby and they had 2 children,Katherine and Russell who both married and had families. Many of the Paiges are buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Taunton. Dr. Paige died in April of 1919- I bet he had plenty of stories to tell about his famous patient in 1893!! He was a popular Taunton doctor at Morton Hospital and had a distinguished career. Dr. Paige refuted the story that Lizzie was losing her mind being incarcerated at the jail, a story which was appearing in national newspapers just before the trial. Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Taunton, courtesy of Find A Grave. 74 Winthrop St., corner of Walnut, home of Dr. Paige, courtesy of Google Maps Obituary for Dr. Paige, Boston Globe April 17, 1919
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 5/24/2025
How did New Yorkers get through sweltering summer days before the invention and widespread use of air conditioning? Well, a lot of it depended on your income bracket. If you were wealthy, you likely waited out the summer at a seaside resort like Newport or on a country estate cooled by mountains or river breezes. […]
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Ephemeral New York - 6/30/2025
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
Dr. John W. Hughes was a restless, intemperate man whose life never ran smoothly. When his home life turned sour, he found love with a woman half his age. Then, he lost her through an act of deception, and in a fit of drunken rage, Dr. Hughes killed his one true love.Read the full story here: The Bedford Murder.
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Murder By Gaslight - 7/5/2025
Soapy Smith STAR NotebookPage 20 - Original copy1884Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge) oapy Smith's early empire growth in Denver.Operating the prize package soap sell racket in 1884. This is page 20, the continuation of page 19, and dated May 6 - May 29, 1884, as well as the continuation of pages 18-19, the beginning of Soapy Smith's criminal empire building in Denver, Colorado.&
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 6/1/2025
  [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
Crowds Watch the Bicycle Race. | New Years in the Wings.

The Can Can in Denver.

Can-Can

DENVER, Col , Sept. 4.—In this beautiful city of the West the devil is fast gaining ground. Drunkenness and prostitution are becoming alarmingly prevalent, and if not checked will make Denver on a par with the worst cities of the Union in vice. The neighborhood of Halliday Street is the stronghold of sin. The stranger, no matter where he comes from, if his tendencies are evil, gravitates toward this locality as naturally as a duck takes to the water. On this street are located the fashionable palaces of sin, the most notorious of which is presided over by Madam Minnie Clifford, who takes pride in saying that she is the only Madam in Denver in whose house the infamous dance known as the "Can Can" is performed. She openly boasts that her best 3 patrons are married men, many of them bald-headed and grey, who frequently remain till three o'clock in the morning. She has seven soiled doves, whose· names are: Della Thompson, Ida Charleston, Marian Custer, Ada Courtney, Lillie Thorp, May Crocker, India Florence. All of these women perform the "can can" nightly for the delectation of Madam Clifford's patrons. The premiere of the dance is the last named, a young girl with a history. She states that she was born in Washington, D.C., and became the victim of man's perfidy four years ago, and shortly after went to Philadelphia, and entered a fashionable bagnio, presided over by Madam Annie Winters, 1216 Locust Street.

She remained there six months, and came to Denver three years ago, and has since resided at her present abode. She never appears in the "can can" without wearing at least $2,000 worth of diamonds.

Those who have seen these dances say that they excel in lewdness anything ever witnessed in this city. They are orgies which would delight the basest tastes. The accompanying sketch will afford a slight idea of the scene.


National Police Gazette, September 18, 1880.