No. 62
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
January 03, 2012

Pretty Female Billiardists

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January 3, 2012
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Tag: Hotel

Booze Through a Key-Hole.

5/15/2017

The Pawn-Ticket Game.

Pawn tickets make bad collateral.

3/5/2013

It Was Another Kind of Cat.

2/21/2012
JOHN RILEY
alias: JOHN MURPHY
SNEAK, PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER

Arne Gandy's Final Phone Call

"Hackensack Record," May 24, 1934, via Newspapers.com20-year-old Arne Gandy of Teaneck, New Jersey, was a restless, adventurous young man who, like so many restless, adventurous sorts throughout history, felt the call of the high seas.  After several voyages to South America, in December 1933 he signed on to serve as “messboy” on the “President Harrison.”  Gandy carried with him a
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Strange Company - 11/2/2026

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

Caught in the Act.

(The National Police Gazette, October 2, 1886.)A little before 3 o’clock, on the afternoon of September 9, 1886, Henry H. Meyer rushed into the police station in Memphis, Tennessee, and said, “I have just killed a man, and I want to give myself up.”Captain Hackett took down the information and had the man locked up, then hurried to the address he had given to see for himself what had happened. In
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Murder By Gaslight - 10/31/2026
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
The Sawdust Game | The Female Marine

Pretty Female Billiardists

Pretty Female Billiardists

Philadelphia, Oct. 1888 – Miss Disston and Miss Minnie Lippincott of Philadelphia, PA., do some marvelous manipulating of the cues. Last week the Philadelphia Times gave an account of Miss Disston’s marvelous shooting at a beach gallery. It will now record the names of a brilliant party at billiards a few nights ago at the Hotel Brighton, among whom were Miss Minnie Lippincott of Philadelphia. The young lady is probably nineteen years of age and is a demi blonde. She is tall and shapely and a quick and graceful player. She can make the balls fly about the table after the manner of Sexton, and much of her time is devoted to fancy shots of finger billiards. She would astonish Yank Adams if he could get a chance to see her play his favorite game. The largest three runs made by her were 110, 89 and 56. Edward Webster, who was playing with her, ran 81, 65 and 52.

Reprinted from The National Police Gazette, October 13, 1888

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