No. 459
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 12, 2019

A Brooklyn Romance.

A young girl hurled from a Fulton ferry-boat, New York, by a jealous wife, who passes the act off as an accident.
March 12, 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
Rip Roaring Fun. | Fashion's Fillies.

A Brooklyn Romance.

A young girl hurled from a Fulton ferry-boat, New York, by a jealous wife, who passes the act off as an accident.

Brooklyn romance always takes queer sensational shapes, and here is the latest. On the 2d inst., at 5 P. M., two ladies came tripping down the bridge at Fulton Ferry after the gates had been closed and when a crowded boat was just leaving the slip. The stouter of the two stepped aboard first, and when her slender young companion attempted to follow her she interposed and delayed so that the girl had but a slight foothold on the moving boat. Then turning suddenly she gave a sly push that tumbled her companion overboard. The girl fell into the water, rigged just as she was in the height of the spring fashion. A wild excitement prevailed on the boat, and was not allayed until it was seen that the bridgemen of the ferry had fished the young woman with a boat-hook, limp, wet, insensible but, safe. The lady who had been her companion found a private coach of the most "tony" description waiting for her at the ferry on the Brooklyn side, and entering it was driven away without any inquiry being made. A scandal is said to underlie this event. The stout lady, it is rumored, is the jealous wife of a prominent physician, and the ducked young beauty was guilty of flirting with the sawbones and falling under suspicion of doing something worse.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, June 10, 1882.