No. 645
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 19, 2024

Peeped at the Bride.

A little incident that marred actor Lawrence Hanley’s wedding night in Terre Haute, Ind.
April 3, 2017
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Encountering a ghost may be a strange, possibly terrifying experience, but fortunately they are rarely harmful.  However, every now and then there is an account of a spirit that is not just malevolent, but physically dangerous.  One such story was told by folklorist Mary L. Lewes in the December 1912 issue of “Occult Review.”  It concerns a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Caxton. 
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Strange Company - 3/18/2024
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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
Going to the theater has always been a beloved New York City pastime. But theater became even more thrilling with the advent of open-air rooftop gardens—which hit the scene in the late 1880s with the opening of the rooftop theater at the Casino on Broadway and 39th Street. It wasn’t just the cool breezes that […]
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Ephemeral New York - 3/18/2024
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
Dr. John W. Hughes. Dr. John W. Hughes was a restless, intemperate man whose life never ran smoothly. When his home life turned sour, he found love with a woman half his age. Then, he lost her through an act of deception, and in a fit of drunken rage, Dr. Hughes killed his one true love.Date:  August 9, 1865Location:   Bedford, OhioVictim:  Tamzen ParsonsCause of Death:&
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Murder By Gaslight - 3/16/2024
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
Pugilists in Petticoats. | A Needed Addition to the Park Police of Every City.

Peeped at the Bride.

Peeped at the Bride

A little incident that marred actor Lawrence Hanley’s wedding night in Terre Haute, Ind.[more]

Lawrence Hanley, the tragedian, and Miss Edith Lemmert, his leading lady, were married the other night at the Terre Haute, Ind., House, the Rev. F. S. Dunham, pastor of the Episcopal Church of Albion, N. Y. officiating. Clarence H. Taylor, Mr. Hanley's leading man, was groomsman, and Miss Louise Ingersoll, also of the company, attended the bride. After the ceremony, there was a wedding supper served at the hotel.

The bride is the daughter of Paul Lemmert, of Los Angeles, Cal., and was born in Cincinnati. She has been with Mr. Hanley two years playing "Juliet" and other leading parts.

An unpleasant Incident occurred I a few hours after the ceremony. Rooms. 68 and 69 adjoin each other, Mr. and Mrs. Hanley occupied one of theme rooms. and J. E. Kahlo. a drummer for a Chicago millinery house, the other. While Mr. Henley was down stairs in the hotel office Mrs. Hanley got into a bathtub. She was suddenly startled to find that the man who occupied the next room was peeping in on her through a place in the transom which he had scraped the paint. Then he knocked and asked what time it was.

Mrs. Hanley informed her husband of their neighbor’s actions and he demanded admittance to the next room. Not being let in, he broke in the door, and dragging the drummer out of bed by a leg, was proceeding to administer a severe drubbing to him, when the night clerk, hearing the noise, dispatched a. policeman up stairs, who prevented what might have been serious hostilities. Kahlo was on his knees begging for his life when the policeman arrived.

The affair caused much excitement. The policeman took both Mr. Hanley and the drummer to Police Headquarters, Mrs. Hanley accompanying her husband baud. After hearing their statements they were both discharged. The drummer threatened to file an affidavit for assault against Mr. Hanley, but as the feeling was very pronounced against him he did not do so.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 11, 1893.