No. 649
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
April 16, 2024

Burning of Josephine Farren, Dancer.

Terrible Accident at the Volks Garten, Bowery, N.Y.
October 4, 2021
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In 1898, a Yorkshire solicitor named Harold Greenwood and his wife Mabel moved to the small Welsh town of Kidwelly.  The couple eventually had four children, and their household was further supplemented by Mabel’s unmarried sister, Edith Bowater.  Edith furnished a small room for herself and contributed to the family expenses.Greenwood’s practice in nearby Llanelly was not very
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Strange Company - 4/15/2024
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
How many ways are there to style a subway entrance sign? In New York City, dozens of designs and typefaces are used across the subway system—often with no rhyme or reason. Take this gold and white sign on William Street. It’s for a side entrance/exit for the Fulton Street station, affixed to a 20th century […]
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Ephemeral New York - 4/15/2024
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
 Samuel Smith and his wife Emma appeared to the world as a happy and affectionate young couple. She was pretty and vivacious with a dazzling wardrobe, and he was energetic with a winning personality. But beneath the surface was a hidden turmoil that did not come to light until Emma was found dead in their apartment, her head blown apart by a shotgun blast, and Samuel nowhere to be found.Read
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Murder By Gaslight - 4/13/2024
CHIEF OF CONSThe Morning Times(Cripple Creek, Colorado)February 15, 1896Courtesy of Mitch Morrissey ig Ed Burns robs a dying man?      Mitch Morrissey, a Facebook friend and historian for the Denver District Attorney’s Office, found and published an interesting newspaper piece on "Big Ed" Burns, one of the most notorious characters in the West. Burns was a confidence man and
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 4/2/2024
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
Fight of the Century! | Photography's Abuse by Blackmailers.

Burning of Josephine Farren, Dancer.

Terrible-Accident

The deaths from burning of ladies connected with the theatre have of late years been very frequent. Miss Webster, in London, Adele Lehman of Niblo's, Mary Marsh, and now Josephine Farren, a pretty and popular danseuse of the Volks Garten, a German theatre in the Bowery, New York. It is a terrible proof of the necessity for some fireproof material for a ballet dress. She was performing on the tightrope on Saturday, the 4th inst., when her dress touched one of the footlights, and in an instant, she was enveloped in flames. Several of the musicians in the orchestra sprang to her assistance and extinguished the flames, receiving some very severe burns themselves. The house being crowded, the utmost confusion end excitement prevailed, the audience fearing that the scenery would take fire, and thus destroy the building. The Tenth Ward police were soon on the spot, and through their praiseworthy and admirable arrangements the spectators were safely dismissed. Upon taking the unfortunate lady to her home, 85 Forsyth street, her burns were found to be so severe as to preclude all hope of her recovery, and despite the utmost efforts of her medical attendants, she died the following day. This is a case which calls on the benevolence of the public, as she supported her mother end younger sisters by her exertion and was in every respect a praiseworthy young woman.


Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, February 18, 1860.