No. 339
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
December 19, 2016

Pretty Stars for the Southern Dives.

Fifteen charming chippies make Rome howl while voyaging to New Orleans, Louisiana.
December 19, 2016
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Via Newspapers.com Proof of reincarnation--sort of--appeared in the “Ottawa Citizen," December 16, 1933:LONDON (by mail).-Here is the man who has "died" three times in three years. He is Mr. Tim Sandell, of Templar street, Camberwell.On the first occasion the report spread among his friends that he had met with a sudden and mysterious death, and that a post-mortem was to be made. His wife's
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Strange Company - 6/3/2026
"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
And old time friends and twilight plays And starry nights and sunny days. Come trooping up the misty ways When my fire burns low.
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 6/1/2026
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
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Executed Today - 11/13/2020
Strangler Suspect, Jacob Tolker(New York Journal, May 14, 1897)Eight women were strangled—seven fatally— on Manhattan’s East Side, between May 1894 and August 1900. While the police closed three of the cases, their solutions were so weak that the New York City newspapers continued to list them all as unsolved and continued to speculate that one man committed all eight crimes. “It is not difficult
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Murder By Gaslight - 5/31/2026
Say what you want about Robert Moses. But as Parks Commissioner in the 1930s, he opened 11 new public municipal pools across the five boroughs—helping residents keep cool and resist the lure of swimming in the East or Hudson River, which amazingly people used to do. Moses, a swim fan himself, also championed and helped […]
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Ephemeral New York - 6/1/2026
  [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 […]
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Early American Crime - 2/7/2019
Seeing in the New Year. | Left His Digits as Souvenirs.

Pretty Stars for the Southern Dives.

Pretty Stars for the Southern Dives

Fifteen charming chippies make Rome howl while voyaging to New Orleans, Louisiana. [more]

New Orleans, Oct. 23, - This announcement was displayed a few days ago in form t of the Pala is Royal, one of the low resorts on Royal street:

“Fifteen distinguished lady artists form New York will make their first appearance here this evening.”

It happened that there were only nine lady artists in the party, and they had arrived that morning from New York. During the six days’ trip by steamer from Gotham the artists had made things decidedly lively for themselves and the ten other passengers who shared with them the accommodations of the first cabin. The artists were not a particularly tough lot, judged by the lowest standards, but they were noisy and untamed, and they made Rome howl whenever the sea was smooth. When the artist ceased to be a novelty, most of the other passengers welcomed a good stiff breeze and the consequent indisposition of the ladies as kindred blessings.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 10, 1888.