No. 455
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
February 18, 2019

He Hit the Pipe

A Minneapolis millionaire, visits an opium joint and is carried out feet first.
February 18, 2019
...
...

 Welcome to "Weekend Link Dump:  The Musical!"The bombing of LaGuardia Airport.When dead bodies were asked to pick out their murderer.The amulet that could rewrite the history of Christianity.The world's most haunted museum.  That's the boast, at any rate.It may be time to stop insulting the dodo bird.The U.S. Navy and the Soviets compete to find a crashed F-14 jet.15th century
More...
Strange Company - 8/7/2026
  [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 […]
More...
Early American Crime - 2/7/2019
"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
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025
Illustrated Police News, February 8, 1879.O.P. Hull, a well-to-do farmer, lived with his wife and six children near the village of Wassonville, Iowa. Mr. Hull was a kind father and affectionate husband who was adored by his family. He especially doted on his attractive and popular 19-year-old daughter, Emma. Her comfort and happiness were foremost in his mind. He would leave nothing undone
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 8/1/2026
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
More...
Executed Today - 11/13/2020
Fashion's Fillies. | The Rejected Valentine.

He Hit the Pipe

Fool With a Gun

Mattie Salter killed by her brother, who didn’t know it was loaded, Sandersville, Ga.

Miss Mattie Salter died recently at her home, two miles east of Sandersville, Ga. From the effects of a rifle ball fired by her brother. John Salter had come in to dinner, bringing a loaded rifle, which he laid on a bed. After finishing dinner, he picked up the rifle, pointed it at his sister, who was in an adjoining room, told her to look out and pulled the trigger.

The ball entered behind the ear and lodged in her head. She suffered intense pain and for several days had been in an unconscious condition. Her vitality was remarkable, considering the serious ness of the wound. Salter stated that he did not know the rifle was cocked. No coroner’s inquest was held, as her death was caused by accident and the act of her brother was simply carelessness.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, December 9, 1893.

Opium Den

Butte, Montana, October 1889 - P. M. Mathews, A Minneapolis millionaire, visits an opium joint and is carried out feet first. 

P. W. Matthews, a millionaire contractor of Minneapolis. Minn., went to Butte. Mont., last June to direct the building of a railroad. Since he has lived there he has spent lots of money and lived a high life. One day recently he and his chief bookkeeper, L. C. Kreck, went to an opium joint kept by a Chinaman named Ah Chung, to "hit the pipe." It was their first venture of this kind, and twelve pipes were prepared for them, but at this point Kreck weakened, and concluded not to indulge his curiosity. Matthews, who had been drinking, swore he would smoke the twelve pipes himself. This he did, and then sank into a stupor, from which he never recovered, having died from opium poisoning. Ah Chung and his wife have been arrested for murder.


Reprinted from The Natoinal Police Gazette, October 12, 1889