No. 650
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
April 17, 2024

A Hidden Skeleton.

Barton Russel and his wife discover the skeleton of missing Charlie Young near Moorsburg, Hawkins Co
October 26, 2015
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Via Newspapers.comAs I believe I’ve mentioned before, I have a particular fondness for obscure, unimportant, but intriguing little mysteries.  One such example appeared in the “London Morning Chronicle,” April 21, 1809:Nevis, Feb. 7, 1809.“Dear Sir,"I beg leave to mention the following circumstances, and leave to your better judgment the propriety of making the same public.-- "About a
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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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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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The Latest Agony. | A Rattling Main.

A Hidden Skeleton.

A Horrible Find

A Horrible Find.

Barton Russel and his wife discover the skeleton of missing Charlie Young near Moorsburg, Hawkins Co., Tennessee. [more]

Late on Saturday week evening Barton Russel and his wife were digging for ginseng on Flatgap Road, a mile from the village of Mooresburg, Hawkins County, Tenn., when they discovered the Skelton of a boy lying hidden under the brush wood on the road. A report of the terrible discover brought a crowd to the spot on the following day, when it was ascertained that the body was that of Charlie Young, aged sixteen years, who had left Mooresburg a few weeks previously and who had been missing from his home since that time. It was evident that the lad had been murdered on his way from his aunt’s home at Mooresburg to visit an uncle who lived across Clinch Mountain. Suspicion at once was directed to a man named Marcellus Bunch, who had been heard to say that he would hang or be sent to the penitentiary if something that had happened was ever known.

It was ascertained that Bunch had been trying to sell a coat and a pair of shoes which were subsequently found on his premises and have been identified as belonging to the murdered boy. The hat which Bunch wore was also identified as Young’s. On those proofs of suspicion Bunch was arrested and is now in jail.

Young had no money about him, and the motive for the murder is therefore yet a mystery.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 6, 1886.