No. 281
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
November 23, 2015

Fierce Football.

The great game recently played between teams representing the colleges of Princeton and Yale, on the
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November 23, 2015
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Tag: Thomas Byrnes

Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes.

3/4/2012

The Sawdust Game

The "sawdust game," was a confidence scam that only swindled those who deserved to be swindled.

1/10/2012

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

Bank Heist

The Audacity of a Professional Thief.

4/3/2011
LOUISE JOURDAN
alias: BIGLOW, DARRIGAN, LITTLE LOUISA
PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump, where we're all full of brotherly love!Watch out for the Fresno Nightcrawler!The ghosts of Newcastle.A pioneering architect.A mysterious scandal.A bloody poltergeist.The great medieval famine.The actress who was arrested for the way she rode a horse.Extrajudicial witch hunts.The Maya woman who was given a whole lot of teeth.Medieval ways of keeping warm.The
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Strange Company - 11/6/2026

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 Damnable Dastardly Deed.

(Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15. 1879)Molly McGlew (aka Mary McGlew) and her friend Ada McLaughlin stood on South Street in Indianapolis on the night of September 19, 1878, when Louis Guetig approached them. Molly had recently broken up with Louis, and she was not happy to see him. She worked as a dining room girl at the Spencer House hotel where Louis Guetig was the night clerk.  He was
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Murder By Gaslight - 11/7/2026
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
Her Last Quadrille. | Half-dime Novels and Story Papers.

Fierce Football.

Fierce Football

The great game recently played between teams representing the colleges of Princeton and Yale, on the former's grounds, Thanksgiving Day.


Yale vs. Princeton.

A capital illustration of the recent football match between Princeton and Yale, which resulted in a disputed decision and a free fight.

Reprinted from National Police Gazette, December 11, 1886.

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