No. 334
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
November 15, 2016

The Women Screamed.

A gang of pickpockets go through an excursion train near Wabash, Ind.
November 15, 2016
...
...

 It's time for this week's Link Dump!Let's dance!That time when an English village was terrorized by a giant rabbit.How the Declaration of Independence made the news.The socialite and the "Titanic orphans."The last victim of the Berlin Wall.Remembering the American Soapbox.Life on one of Lord Nelson's 32-pounders.The hidden communication of animals.British fairies, meet Indian changelings.3I
More...
Strange Company - 4/17/2026
"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
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025
Riverside Drive is one of Manhattan’s most beautiful and dramatic avenues. It’s also a place of legend and mystery, especially during the Drive’s early decades as a Gilded Age “millionaire colony” rival to Fifth Avenue. Which mansion built in the early 1900s has a basement tunnel leading to the Hudson River? Where can you find […]
More...
Ephemeral New York - 4/16/2026
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
More...
Executed Today - 11/13/2020
(New York Journal, May 31, 1896.)On the morning of Memorial Day, May 30, 1896, Mrs. Annie Cunningham had to go to work, while her 13-year-old daughter, Mary (known as Mamie), was home from school for the holiday. Mrs. Cunningham asked Mamie if she planned to go to the parade. Mamie said no, she wasn’t interested, and she planned to do housework and study. At 8:30, she said goodbye to her daughter
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 4/18/2026
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
More...
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 […]
More...
Early American Crime - 2/7/2019
Mrs. Snyder Pays Her Bet. | Crazed by Politics.

The Women Screamed.

The Women Screamed

A gang of pickpockets go through an excursion train near Wabash, Ind. [more]

The excursion train from Goshen, Ind., on Wednesday night was raided by a gang of pickpockets, who inaugurated a reign of terror on the train. In one of the coaches reserved for ladies from Warsaw men climbed all over the seats, and it is estimated that fully two hundred people were jammed into the coach. Fights and brawls were frequent, during which the light-fingered gentry ton in their work, and whenever the trainmen rushed in to quell a disturbance the terrorized passengers would not dare to point out the thieves. The crooks, besides taking watches and pocketbooks, boldly stole checks out of passengers’ hats and rode on them. Several pistol shots were fired and one man was severely wounded. He was taken off the train at Warsaw. The ladies on the train screamed almost constantly and it is reported that several fainted.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 3, 1888.