No. 57
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
December 06, 2011

She Played Kissy Kissy

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December 6, 2011
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Tag: Ohio

A New Child Abandonment Trick.

How a woman slipped out and left a kid on a photographer's hands.

11/4/2024

So Far from Home

Her struggle was useless, the life-blood was pouring from a gaping wound in her throat.

12/21/2021

Burning of Steamers at Cincinnati.

Burning of Steamers on the Ohio River at Cincinnati May 17, 1869.

9/17/2018

Afloat on a Cake of Ice.

Perilous Situation of a Skating Party on the Ohio River Near Zanesville, Ohio.

1/1/2018

Whipped for Alleged Slander.

Actress Dorothy Morton cowhided in Heucks’ Theatre, Cincinnati, by irate chorus girls.

9/4/2017

He Was Coffined Alive.

A Sandusky citizen, the father of Capt. Jacob Garrett of Springfield, O., has a novel experience which he will not soon forget.

2/20/2017

A Scene not on the Bills.

Actor Ricardo’s bluff jump from the stage to the audience at the Grand Opera House, Columbus, Ohio.

10/17/2016

A Triangular Fight.

9/19/2016

Pretty Mary Nelson’s Downfall.

Wine suppers, fine dresses and rolls of greenbacks cause a young and fascinating Cincinnati girl to cast aside the mantle of virtue.

8/29/2016

His Peep Ends Disastrously.

William Peters, a Cincinnati dude, tries to mash Maggie Bolton but gets mashed instead.

8/15/2016

She Stole Her Lover’s Clothes.

A Cincinnati girl parades the streets in male attire and is yanked in for her temerity and immodesty.

7/4/2016

Comedian Punches Drummer.

Pete Baker thrashes H. J. Jenkins for trying to flirt with the actor’s daughter in Dayton, O.

3/10/2015

Aboriginal Footprints.

11/17/2014

A Human Vampire.

4/28/2014

She Skipped.

7/2/2013

Cursing In Church

Westfield, Ohio, October 23, 1887 - The Sudden Insanity of Rev J. R. Young. He uses profane language in a Sunday school at Westfield, Ohio.

12/20/2011

Did the Naughty Midway Dance

Pretty Ida Lawrence gets arrested while entertaining some hackmen in Cincinnati, O.

3/28/2011
WILLIAM PERRY
alias: BILLY PERRY, GRAHAM, WILSON
SNEAK, PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?Why you wouldn't want to be punished by a pirate.Why you wouldn't want to see a supervolcano erupt.The mystery of the 115,000 year old human footprints.The mystery of the undersea "Bloop."  Related:  The ocean contains all sorts of creepy stuff.A chair that may have belonged to Anne Boleyn.How nuns helped create a fertility
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Strange Company - 5/1/2026

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
Amen.

Riverside Drive’s first four row houses were built in 1889—these two sister houses are the only survivors

There’s a curious pair of limestone row houses on the lower end of peaceful, park-facing Riverside Drive. Each looks similar from afar. They share the same color of stone, and both facades have bow fronts. But on closer look, you’ll notice that each sports different ornamental bells and whistles. One has a conical roof and […]
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Ephemeral New York - 4/27/2026

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

Annie Bock.

(New York Journal, August 5, 1896)Annie Bock and her husband, Jacob, were spending the summer at Rockaway Beach. On Sunday, August 1, 1896, Annie went back to their flat at 207 E. 21st Street in New York City’s Tenderloin district to pay their monthly rent. She had $300 in the Dry Dock Savings Bank, and on Monday morning, she withdrew $50 and paid $20 rent. The plan was to return to Rockaway that
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Murder By Gaslight - 4/25/2026
On the Russians.

Remembering Sarah Morse Borden

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

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
Another Voice for Cleveland. | New York Society Classified.

She Played Kissy Kissy

Kissy Kissy

Chicago, Illinois, November 1889 - A Chicago dudine goes around town embracing fellows and making them feel like comitting suicide. [more]

Blanche Nelson, a Handsome, gorgeously dressed young woman, was brought before Justiete C. J, White, in Chicago, the other morning for trial. The charge against her was plain '"disorderly conduct."

"What's the case against this girl?" asked the Court.

"Kissing."

"1 don't kuow that this is any crime," said the Court, reflectively. 'Tell me the story."

It appeared from ihe evidence that the affectionate young creature, while slightly under the influence of wine, created a scene at the corner of Halstead and Madison street, by kissing all the good-looking young men she could catch. Very little outcry on the part of the victims was made, and everything went well until a solemn, middle-aged man, having the appearance and garb of a clergyman, came along. The girl seized him. He appeared anything but reconciled to her caresses. As the middle-aged geutleman struggled to free himself from Blanche's embraces, a crowd gathered, and a policeman hove in sight. The patrol wagon was summoned. Inside of ten minutes Miss Blanche was behind prison bars. The girl's defence was none of the best, and she was fined $5 and costs.

Reprinted from The National Police Gazette, November 2, 1889

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