No. 647
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 28, 2024

A New Wrinkle.

How the fashionable women of “sawciety” get their complexions whit the assistance of a hypodermic in
December 14, 2015
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Via Newspapers.comThis account of diabolical doings down on the farm appeared in the “Great Bend Tribune,” September 28, 1908:Groton, Conn. This town is excited indeed over the amazing happenings at the fine old farm of William Hempstead, a mile east of New London.Visitors have been going out in automobiles and carriages to study the mystery. Small articles, such as beans, spools of thread,
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Strange Company - 3/27/2024
HE DUEL IN ELLEN'S HONOR. Soapy Smith’s grandmotherOn Wednesday, August 9, 1820, an argument between 17-year-old, James Bowe Boisseau (1802-1820) and Robert C. Adams (unknown-1820) vying for the attention of 18-year-old Ellen Stimpson Peniston (1802-1860), took a terrible turn. The happy party in her honor took a tragic turn when the competition for Ellen’s affections ended in a deadly duel,
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 1/10/2024
Is that the crenellated crown of a faux Medieval castle looming five stories above Riverside Drive and 83rd Street—flanked by European-inspired row houses with dormer windows and tiled roofs? The separate dwellings that compose this delightful design mashup are quite a sight among the Drive’s mostly uniform prewar apartment houses. Who built these eclectic residences […]
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Ephemeral New York - 3/25/2024
An article I recently wrote for the British online magazine, New Politic, is now available online. The article, “The Criminal Origins of the United States of America,” is about British convict transportation to America, which took place between the years 1718 and 1775, and is the subject of my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: […]
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Early American Crime - 12/17/2021
Margaret Howard learned too late that the man she married was a violent, two-timing gambler. After they separated, he kidnapped their children to be raised by another woman posing as his wife. Margaret snapped and took her revenge on the false Mrs. Howard.  Read the full story here: Margaret Howard.
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Murder By Gaslight - 3/23/2024
Included in yesterday’s trip to Fall River was a stop at Miss Lizzie’s Coffee shop and a visit to the cellar to see the scene of the tragic demise of the second Mrs. Lawdwick Borden and two of the three little children in 1848. I have been writing about this sad tale since 2010 and had made a previous trip to the cellar some years ago but was unable to get to the spot where the incident occured to get a clear photograph.  The tale of Eliza Borden is a very sad, but not uncommon story of post partum depression with a heartrending end. You feel this as you stand in the dark space behind the chimney where Eliza ended her life with a straight razor after dropping 6 month old Holder and his 3 year old sister Eliza Ann into the cellar cistern. Over the years I have found other similar cases, often involving wells and cisterns, and drownings of children followed by suicides of the mothers. These photos show the chimney, cistern pipe, back wall, dirt and brick floor, original floorboards forming the cellar ceiling and what appears to be an original door. To be in the place where this happened is a sobering experience. My thanks to Joe Pereira for allowing us to see and record the place where this sad occurrence unfolded in 1848. R.I.P. Holder, Eliza and Eliza Ann Borden. Visit our Articles section above for more on this story. The coffee shop has won its suit to retain its name and has plans to expand into the shop next door and extend its menu in the near future.
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 2/12/2024
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
Heroism of a Society Belle. | Absolutely Pure.

A New Wrinkle.

A New Wrinkle

How the fashionable women of “sawciety” get their complexions whit the assistance of a hypodermic injection. [more]

A New Way to Color the Cheeks. Avery clever Philadelphia lady and the wife of a popular naval officer has encountered a new idea of great social importance. She was running on about society matters generally, when a gentleman remarked that a certain young lady possessed remarkably pretty cheeks, having that peculiarly lovely tinge of pink rarely seen among fashionable women, and which cannot be imitated by the brush.

“Oh pshaw! You men don’t know anything about it. The same effect is now produced with a syringe.”

“The syringe!” he exclaimed.

“Yes; why, don’t you know that fashionable women restore color in their cheeks by hypodermic injection? Thy have a small syringe, the same as used for administering an anesthetic, and with this they inject a coloring fluid beneath the skin. Peach-blow cheeks are very desirable, and if there is no blood there to make them, the minute veins can be forced full of coloring matter which answers for blood. The trouble is it is only temporary and will eventually injure the skin permanently. But what of that! Drunkenness is only temporary and will eventually ruin those who indulge so why sneer at the woman who wishes to look interesting for an hour? There are women I know who habitually resort to the syringe for their color. When the effect is gone—that is, when the coloring matter is absorbed in the skin and carried away by the blood—the face is absolutely ghastly. The skillful use of the instrument is quite disastrous. There are the daughters of admiral ------, both of whom use it. By nature they haven’t a particle of color. One of them—well, if you ever see her you will see a sight! I mean if your ever see her in daylight. The coloring matter forced into the chees has been taken up in the glands beneath the eyes and carried into the end of the nose. She looks like—like—what do you call it? Yes, and old ‘bum!’ It is too funny for anything! There’s the other difficulty, don’t you see, you can’t tell where the color is going to finally show up.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 6, 1886.