No. 313
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
June 28, 2016

A Wild Girl in a Connecticut Swamp.

She resides in a swamp near Branford, Conn, and fills the rustics with terror.
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June 28, 2016
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EDWARD A CONDIT
alias:
SWINDLER BY BOGUS CHECKS

Weekend Link Dump

 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
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Strange Company - 8/7/2026

Convicts to Maryland, 1773 by Peter Dickson

  [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
Amen.

Artifact #93: Soapy's son, hires attorney to stop the slurring of his father's name.

"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

A Father's Demon Deed.

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
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/1/2026
On the Russians.

1617: A miller of Manberna, the hangman’s last

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
She Stole Her Lover’s Clothes. | Done Up by Dizzy Blondes.

A Wild Girl in a Connecticut Swamp.

She resides in a swamp near Branford, Conn, and fills the rustics with terror.

Wild Girl A special from New Haven, Oct. 28 says: For several weeks past sportsmen who have been hunting in the woods in the vicinity of Branford have from time to time seen a young woman darting about among the trees. She is apparently about sixteen years of age, wears no hat or shoes, and her clothing hangs in tatters about her, barley covering her form. Who she is, where she lives or where she came from is unknown. On several occasions when addressed she replied in incoherent language and ended her sentence with wild, hysterical laughter. Any attempt to approach her is fruitless. She runs like a dear and leaps stone walls and fences in a single bound. Her retreat is believed to be in Towner’s swamp, about two miles from Branford Center, as she seeks refuge there when pursued. It is supposed that the girl has been the inmate of some asylum from which she escaped. The authorities and citizens of Branford are to organize and if possible capture her and place her in some one of the State institutions.

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 19. 1887.

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