No. 694
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 14, 2025

Mrs. Snyder Pays Her Bet.

She backed Harrison, and had to wheel Henry Singer in a barrow, at Atlantic City, N. J.
November 21, 2016
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 Welcome to this week's Link Dump, where our staffers will premiere "Strange Company: The Musical."The Thames of Old London.The family that slays together...Yet another "insurance murder."Van Gogh in Paris.A very tragic family.Los Angeles' first policewoman.Britain's most ghostly places.A planet's gruesome death.So, let's talk Danish Protest Pigs.An English "major UFO scare."The case for
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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.
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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: […]
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Soapy Smith STAR NotebookPage 18 - Original copy1884Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge) oapy Smith in Denver.Operating the prize package soap sell racket in 1884.This is page 18, the continuation of page 17, and dated March 28 - April 12, 1884, the continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook
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The Pastor Kissed Her. | The Women Screamed.

Mrs. Snyder Pays Her Bet.

Pays her Bet

She backed Harrison, and had to wheel Henry Singer in a barrow, at Atlantic City, N. J. [more]

Mrs. Otto Snyder, the wife of the proprietor of the National Hotel, Atlantic City, N. J., a strong advocate of the re-election of President Harrison, wager upon her favorite’s election with Henry Singer that in the event of his defeat she would ride him in a wheelbarrow the distance of a block. She gave odds by his promising to pay for supper for six.

She paid the wager the other day. The oddity of the bet on her side drew a crowd of several hundred people about the hotel, who inspected the decorated vehicle with much curiosity.

Knowing that Mrs. Snyder was a woman who weighed considerably above 200 pounds, bets were made that shoe would not fulfil her contract. To the surprise of all she appeared at 8 o’clock, quickly caught the handles of the barrow and rushed the one-wheeled vehicle to the corner of New York avenue and returned amid the plaudits of the crowd. The horns and whistles screeched n accompaniment, and at the end of the ride a cheer was given for the pluck of the woman. Several other elections bets of a similar character were discharged, one being accompanied by a fife and drum corps.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 26, 1892.