No. 860
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
April 07, 2026

Cool Break for Liberty.

Two Prisoners Handcuffed Together Jump from a Hotel Window in their Night Clothes and Escape.
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April 7, 2026
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Tag: Missouri

The Scandal Which Agitates St. Louis.

Astounding Revelations of a Low Cunning and Vile Curiosity in One of the Proprietors of the Grand Opera House.

7/23/2024

His Wife Danced the Coochee-Coochee.

She and her friends had been drinking wine, and they gave the sedate hubby an unexpected treat when he arrived at his home in St. Louis Mo.

2/14/2023

Kidnapped in Broad Daylight.

Miss Alice Jackson, of St. Louis, seized by three men who hurry her into a coach and drive away.

10/16/2017

A Bride’s Toggery.

An inquisitive male sees the contents of a bride

8/27/2013

Dan Creedon in Training.

6/4/2013
JOSEPH BOND
alias: PAPER COLLAR JOE
BANCO STEERER

The Ghost Sausage of Devon

This brief, but delightfully offbeat “ghost story” (for lack of a better term) was related by author, paranormal researcher, and photographer J.P.J. Chapman:Many years ago my late father-in-law rented a large farm near Bampton in North Devon.  The farm buildings and the dwelling house were situated half way up a steep hill overlooking the River Exe.  During a warm summer it was quite
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Strange Company - 5/18/2026

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
Amen.

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

Maggie Crowley.

Maggie Crowley.(New York Journal, March 16, 1898.)On March 15, 1898, a woman was found strangled to death in the courtyard of a New York City tenement.  She was the seventh strangulation victim in the Tenderloin district over the previous four years. What made this case different was that even before the victim was identified, the police had a suspect in custody. Some believed he was
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Murder By Gaslight - 5/16/2026
On the Russians.

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
Bloody Duel over a Woman. | Belles of the Bowling Alley.

Cool Break for Liberty.

Cool-Break

Two Prisoners Handcuffed Together Jump from a Hotel Window in their Night Clothes and Escape.

Clinton West and W. J. Ninman were brought to North Manchester, Ind. from Union City in that State on Tuesday night, Feb. 4. to answer to the charge of burglarizing Rev. Kempi's house in December last. They were taken to the American House to be kept until morning. Expressing a desire to go to bed, they were taken up stairs, handcuffed together, and their boots and clothing taken from the room, and they were allowed to retire. Between two and three o'clock it was discovered that they had jumped out of the window, a distance of about ten feet, and made their escape in their night clothes and stocking feet. They went four miles south of town. where they entered the stable of J. W. Mease, stole two of his horses and lit out. Men following in hot pursuit caught them on the horses.

Illustrated Police News, February 29, 1879.

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