No. 675
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
January 24, 2023

In a Deadly Folding-Bed.

January 24, 2023
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Tag: Gambling

A Female Card Sharp.

A female gambler detects an opponent cheating and rakes in the pot.

6/2/2026

The New City of Leadville.

A gambling saloon on one of the main streets of Leadville.

6/24/2025

Bucking the Tiger

In a Cheyenne gambling Saloon.

10/7/2024

The Scandal Which Agitates St. Louis.

Astounding Revelations of a Low Cunning and Vile Curiosity in One of the Proprietors of the Grand Opera House.

7/23/2024

"Bet Anything You've Got."

Jim Tuttle startles a faro bank party, at Gold Hill, Neb.

12/13/2022

A Female Gambling House in Boston.

They call it the "retreat" because of its charming privacy and apparent obscurity.

5/31/2022

A Woman Gambler in Nevada.

She Bucks the Tiger and Quits $200 Ahead.

3/29/2022

Forex news live

Two female athletes at Virginia City, Nevada, indulge in a wrestling match for the championship.

11/9/2021

Renewed Activity of "The Finest."

The Police Succeed in Breaking Up Another Gambling Establishment.

5/14/2018

They Ran a Snide Game.

A “friendly” poker scheme exposed at Bogota, N. J., by one of the players squealing.

6/13/2016

Take a Chance?

Many a one, who otherwise would not contribute a dime, will take a chance in a lottery.

9/9/2014

Thimble Rig A La Mode.

3/18/2014

New York Society Classified.

11/27/2011

The Old Shell Game

7/18/2011

The Bunco Game

The term “bunco” has come to mean to any type of swindle, but in the 19th century it usually referred to a confidence game involving crooked gambling.

5/17/2011
 Welcome to this week's Link Dump, where our host will be Little Tim!Although I don't think he approves of us one bit.Watch out for the Skunk River Monster!The Los Angeles novelist who is forgotten at home, but loved in Italy.From "miracle vine" to invasive species: yes, yet another instance of government and unexpected consequences.A ramming disaster at sea.Europe's "hunger stones."Japan's
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Strange Company - 10/16/2026
  [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
"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
 Laura D. Fair and Alexander P. CrittendenA prominent California legislator was sitting with his wife and son on board the Oakland-San Francisco ferryboat El Capitain the evening of November 3, 1870. They did not notice the woman approaching them, dressed entirely in black, wearing a broad-brimmed black hat with a black veil covering her face. From the folds of her dress, the woman
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Murder By Gaslight - 10/10/2026
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
$20-Bills on a Cane. | Thrilling Railroad Accident.

In a Deadly Folding-Bed.

Deadly Folding-Bed Two sleeping girls are imprisoned and one of them is nearly killed at Louisville, KY. 

Miss Lena Summers and Miss Nellie Mitchell were caught in a folding-bed recently in the fashionable boarding-house of Mrs. H.L. Mitchell, in Broadway, at Louisville, Ky. Miss Mitchell was not much hurt, but Miss Summers was unconscious when rescued, and has not yet regained her senses. No bones were broken, but her face is swelled, and the doctors believe she has sustained internal injuries that may prove dangerous. The accident happened about 2 o’clock in the morning. The house was aroused by the smothered shrieks of the girls. The bed was let down with difficulty, but in time to save them from suffocation. The girls had been asleep at the time, and the cause of the bed’s queer action cannot bue surmised. It is the second time it has acted in this way. Si months ago it flew up while occupied by a Miss Johnson, who was, however, rescored unhurt but badly scared. The bed is of the ordinary pattern.


Reprinted from the National Police Gazette, December 8, 1894