No. 77
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
April 03, 2012

Killed By Cowardly Anarchists.

April 3, 2012
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Tag: Great Detectives

Kate Warne.

Kate Warne, America’s first female detective.

5/30/2012

Allan Pinkerton.

The Eye that Never Sleeps.

3/27/2012

Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes.

3/4/2012
 Welcome to this week's Link Dump, where our host is this very personable cat from around 1900.  Alas, I have no other information about this photo.A handy reminder that the 19th century seaborne trade wasn't always much fun.10th century priests go to court.The mysterious death of George Proctor.In which an Australian tree just wants to be left alone.The sad life of Marilyn Monroe's
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Strange Company - 9/18/2026
  [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
 A Song Written in Memory ofThe St. George Murder.(excerpt) In St. George, Me., as you shall hear,It proves to be the fatal year -That Mrs. Meservey, in the prime of life.By a murderer's hand has lost her life....Nathan Hart is the murderer's name,Father and husband think of the shame,Did he forget all woman kind,Seek like a beast some prey to find?...God in His written book doth say, 
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Murder By Gaslight - 9/19/2026
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
Melancholy Boat Accident. | Allan Pinkerton.

Killed By Cowardly Anarchists.

Killed by Anarchists Calamity, Pennsylvania, Oct. 1893 - Mrs. Reese, of Calamity, Pa., Learned their secrets, and she and her husband are shot.[more]

Mrs. August Reese was murdered and her husband brutally and seriously beaten by anarchists at Calamity, a small mining town two miles south of Pittsburgh, Pa., the other night. Some time ago Mrs. Reese learned the secrets of the anarchists and her death was at once decreed

While returning from church Mr. Rees and wife were met by Moen Laisen and August Brice, anarchists, who at once opened fire. Mrs. Reese was killed at the second shot. The murderers then turned upon the husband and left him for dead. A party was organized and Laisen captured. Brice had already succeeded in getting away. Constable Hebaffer, of Calamity, says the murder is the direct result of the killing of a Frenchman a year ago. Brice cannot avoid arrest.


Reprinted from The National Police Gazette, October 14, 1893