No. 669
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
September 18, 2024

Two Giddy Girls.

Sent up Eight Years for Smoking Cigars in Public.
May 27, 2014
...
...

The following story, which appeared in the "Liverpool Mercury" on July 28, 1815, falls into the "random weird stuff" category.  (Via Newspapers.com)The following, (copied from the Sun paper) contains a further account of the singular phenomenon already related in page 407 of our last volume.  Other papers, we understand, both in America and England have noticed the remarkable
More...
Strange Company - 9/18/2024
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.
More...
Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 2/12/2024
New Yorkers have strong opinions about neighborhood names. Soho, Nolita, Tribeca—the names of these downtown enclaves probably sounded funny, even ridiculous, to longtime residents. But 30, 40, even 60 years on, they’re accepted in today’s Manhattan. Yet if you describe any of the lettered streets in the East Village as part of “Alphabet City,” you […]
More...
Ephemeral New York - 9/16/2024
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: […]
More...
Early American Crime - 12/17/2021
From the confession of Mary Brown to the murder of her husband, John Brown, by her paramour, Joseph Wade:When I first went to the gate Mr. Brown was lying with his feet about the middle of the gate and his head towards the buggy, close to the hind wheel. The buggy robe was under him and the blanket over him, so that I could not see his head. After I took the child in and returned Brown was
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 9/14/2024
CHIEF OF CONSThe Morning Times(Cripple Creek, Colorado)February 15, 1896Courtesy of Mitch Morrissey ig Ed Burns robs a dying man?      Mitch Morrissey, a Facebook friend and historian for the Denver District Attorney’s Office, found and published an interesting newspaper piece on "Big Ed" Burns, one of the most notorious characters in the West. Burns was a confidence man and
More...
Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 4/2/2024
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
A Lunatic's Ball | The Convicts Returning from Dinner.

Two Giddy Girls.

2 Giddy Girls

Sent up Eight Years for Smoking Cigars in Public. 

A couple of dashing Providence, (R. I.) females imitate the Lords of Creation, are arrested, and sentenced to a reformatory for eight years.

A case at Providence, R. I., has excited considerable attention. Two girls were taken up for smoking cigars on the street and carrying canes, and were sentenced to the Reformatory for eight years. The sentence is pronounced cruel and unjust, particularly as men who have been guilty of great embezzlements, and even of manslaughter and other crimes, have been let off with from two to four years. It is well said that when these poor girls come out from their long term they will in all probability be hopelessly ruined. Reformatories seldom reform girls who are put there for eight years for smoking cigars.


The National Police Gazette, 23 Oct 1880