No. 879
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
August 11, 2026

A Serenading Lover Comes to Grief

in Lafayette, Indiana.
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August 11, 2026
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WILLIAM BURKE
alias: BILLY THE kID, etc, MURPHY, PETRIE
BANK SNEAK

In Which Mary Grimes Wallace Makes Life Difficult For Everyone

"Dayton Daily News," October 6, 1966, via Newspapers.comInvestigating a violent death can be difficult enough if it is uncertain whether it is a case of suicide, or murder.  When even trying to establish the identity of the victim leads everyone down various rabbit holes, and the unfortunate corpse gets permanently misplaced…well, have some pity for the police detectives involved.32-year-old
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Strange Company - 8/10/2026

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

Daniel, Teresa, and Phillip.

Daniel Sickles, Teresa Bagioli, Phillip KeyIn 1859, Dan Sickles, a congressman from New York (and future Union General), was married to the most beautiful woman in Washington, but his other interests, including his mistresses, often kept him away from home. His lonely young wife, Teresa, found comfort in the arms of Philip Barton Key, D.C. District Attorney and son of poet Francis Scott
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Murder By Gaslight - 8/8/2026
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
| His Peep Ends Disastrously.

A Serenading Lover Comes to Grief

Seranading

A few nights since, a fond lover in Lafayette, Indiana, seated himself on a barrel turned on its side, while serenading his heart's mistress. In his ecstasy, he rolled the barrel over, slammed his guitar against a shutter in his effort to regain his balance, and disappeared in the cistern. 

The bubbling cry of the strong swimmer in his abony brought out the entire family, including the bull-dog, in various brief and picturesque costumes, ranging all the way from an elaborate robe de nuit and curl papers worn by the innocent cause if it all, to a simple yet serviceable collar, ornamented with spikes, worn by the bull-dog.  P.S. - He was fished out.

Illustrated Police News, March 14, 1872.

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