Via Newspapers.comThis sinister little ghost story--with hints of murder and spectral vengeance thrown in--appeared in the “Garnett-Journal Plaindealer,” May 6, 1887:New York, May 2. A New Haven, Conn., special says: Charles L. Beecher, who committed suicide Sunday, is now believed by many to have been driven to his death by a belief that he was haunted by the ghost of his wife. The fact
Included in yesterday’s trip to Fall River was a stop at Miss Lizzie’s Coffee shop and a visit to the cellar to see the scene of the tragic demise of the second Mrs. Lawdwick Borden and two of the three little children in 1848. I have been writing about this sad tale since 2010 and had made a previous trip to the cellar some years ago but was unable to get to the spot where the incident occured to get a clear photograph. The tale of Eliza Borden is a very sad, but not uncommon story of post partum depression with a heartrending end. You feel this as you stand in the dark space behind the chimney where Eliza ended her life with a straight razor after dropping 6 month old Holder and his 3 year old sister Eliza Ann into the cellar cistern. Over the years I have found other similar cases, often involving wells and cisterns, and drownings of children followed by suicides of the mothers. These photos show the chimney, cistern pipe, back wall, dirt and brick floor, original floorboards forming the cellar ceiling and what appears to be an original door. To be in the place where this happened is a sobering experience. My thanks to Joe Pereira for allowing us to see and record the place where this sad occurrence unfolded in 1848. R.I.P. Holder, Eliza and Eliza Ann Borden. Visit our Articles section above for more on this story. The coffee shop has won its suit to retain its name and has plans to expand into the shop next door and extend its menu in the near future.
There’s a lot to love about Patsy’s, the three-generation family-run restaurant celebrating its 80th year on the far off-Broadway, low-rise block of West 56th Street off Eighth Avenue. This old-school Italian spot offers highly rated red sauce classics, old-school ambiance, and a connection to Frank Sinatra, who considered Patsy’s one of his favorite New York […]
An article I recently wrote for the British online magazine, New Politic, is now available online. The article, “The Criminal Origins of the United States of America,†is about British convict transportation to America, which took place between the years 1718 and 1775, and is the subject of my book, Bound with an Iron Chain: […]
Soapy STAR notebookPage 12 - original copy1882Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge)
OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOKPart #12 - Page 12
This is part #12 - page 12, dated 1882. This is a continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook can be seen on page 1. The
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 →
Gertie Carmo, a Female Aeronaut and Trapeze Performer, Hurled to the Ground and Instantly Killed in Detroit, Mich.
Gertie Carmo, the daring female aeronaut, was recently killed at Detroit, Mich. It was almost dark and a strong wind was blowing when the balloon arose with Miss Carmo hanging to the trapeze bar. Before the immense bag could clear the Exposition building it struck a projection in the high tower and hurled Miss Carmo to the ground. Falling a distance of 30 feet, her death was instantaneous. Very few people saw the aeronaut fall, as the Exposition builing was between them and the object of their view.
Examinations showed that the woman’s skull, right thigh and left arm were fractured. Her skull at the base was broken completely from one side to the other.
The National Police Gazette, September 17, 1892.
A little incident that marred actor Lawrence Hanley’s wedding night in Terre Haute, Ind.[more]
Lawrence Hanley, the tragedian, and Miss Edith Lemmert, his leading lady, were married the other night at the Terre Haute, Ind., House, the Rev. F. S. Dunham, pastor of the Episcopal Church of Albion, N. Y. officiating. Clarence H. Taylor, Mr. Hanley's leading man, was groomsman, and Miss Louise Ingersoll, also of the company, attended the bride. After the ceremony, there was a wedding supper served at the hotel.
The bride is the daughter of Paul Lemmert, of Los Angeles, Cal., and was born in Cincinnati. She has been with Mr. Hanley two years playing "Juliet" and other leading parts.
An unpleasant Incident occurred I a few hours after the ceremony. Rooms. 68 and 69 adjoin each other, Mr. and Mrs. Hanley occupied one of theme rooms. and J. E. Kahlo. a drummer for a Chicago millinery house, the other. While Mr. Henley was down stairs in the hotel office Mrs. Hanley got into a bathtub. She was suddenly startled to find that the man who occupied the next room was peeping in on her through a place in the transom which he had scraped the paint. Then he knocked and asked what time it was.
Mrs. Hanley informed her husband of their neighbor’s actions and he demanded admittance to the next room. Not being let in, he broke in the door, and dragging the drummer out of bed by a leg, was proceeding to administer a severe drubbing to him, when the night clerk, hearing the noise, dispatched a. policeman up stairs, who prevented what might have been serious hostilities. Kahlo was on his knees begging for his life when the policeman arrived.
The affair caused much excitement. The policeman took both Mr. Hanley and the drummer to Police Headquarters, Mrs. Hanley accompanying her husband baud. After hearing their statements they were both discharged. The drummer threatened to file an affidavit for assault against Mr. Hanley, but as the feeling was very pronounced against him he did not do so.
Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 11, 1893.
"We follow vice and folly where a police officer dare not show his head, as the small, but intrepid weasel pursues vermin in paths which the licensed cat or dog cannot enter."
The Sunday Flash 1841