No. 149
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
May 20, 2013

What Led to a Divorce.

What a Husband Discovered, and How a couple were separated.
May 20, 2013
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Tag: Photography

A New Child Abandonment Trick.

How a woman slipped out and left a kid on a photographer's hands.

11/4/2024

The Craze of the Day.

The amateur camera fiend carries his deadly machine in all sorts of disguises, nowadays.

3/6/2017

Amateur Photography.

The only way to prove that you have been clubbed by a policeman - photograph him in the act.

4/6/2015

Photographed as he Died.

6/24/2014

Society Unveiled.

2/3/2014
New York didn’t invent April Fools Day; this holiday might date back all the way to ancient Rome. But starting in the 19th century, April 1 in Gotham has been a day to celebrate with stupid pranks, outrageous hoaxes, the mocking of politicians and business leaders, and since 1986, a parade down Fifth Avenue. This […]
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Ephemeral New York - 3/30/2026
"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
 Welcome to this week's Link Dump!Our host for this Friday is the handsome mascot (name unknown) of the S.S. Custodian, a cargo ship that was active during the first half of the 20th century.New research into the Battle of Hastings.The wonders of Mayan astronomy.The importance of horses in the Mughal Empire.A famous film of Bigfoot is probably a hoax.  I know, shocker.What it was like
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Strange Company - 3/27/2026
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
National Police Gazette, January 28, 1882Mrs. J.W. Gibbons was away from her home in Ashland, Kentucky, on December 23, 1881. She left behind her 18-year-old son Robert, her 14-year-old daughter Fannie, and 17-year-old Emma Thomas (aka Carico), who was staying with them. Mrs. Gibbons returned the following day to find her home burned to the ground and all three inhabitants dead.Read the full
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Murder By Gaslight - 3/28/2026
Whatever you believe about the guilt or innocence of Lizzie Borden, I have always believed film makers do a great injustice to the story by not beginning at the beginning- the death on March 26, 1863 of the first Mrs. Borden. In the dying moments of Sarah Morse, Emma takes on the weight of the care of her little sister, not yet three years old. Emma herself was just 12 on March 1st. Emma has seen her mother suffer for a long time, seen her pain and loss of little Alice Esther. Emma is old enough
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 3/26/2026
  [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
Undercover Lunatic. | Baseball Animals.

What Led to a Divorce.

What led to a divorce.

A newly made benedict discovers the name of a former lover of his wife’s on her ankle, and makes it the basis of a suit or divorce; Galveston Tex. 

What a Husband Discovered, and How a couple were separated.

The pretext which a man naturally jealous will find to keep the fire of family discord up to a white heat is forcibly illustrated in the case of a man who shortly after his marriage made a discovery in the morning on arising which ruined his domestic peace forever. Previous to her marriage his wife had another suitor, who was ‘the only man on earth” to her. While the tattooing mania was at its height, she testified her love for her lover by having his name pricked on her ankle. Subsequently, the engagement was broken off, and they parted forever. She solaced herself, however, a short time after by giving her affections to another, and was rewarded by obtaining a husband. The latter was of a very jealous nature and construed every act into inconstancy on her part. But the worst of all was when he discovered the name of the former lover where it had been printed. After that, nothing could prove to him that she was true. He harped continually on the subject. A divorce is wanted to end the misery.


National Police Gazette, October 30, 1880.