Witchcraft trials are hardly known for their happy endings, so I am pleased to share with you a tale where one remarkable woman took on a notorious witch-hunter--and won.The villain of our piece is Heinrich Kramer, monk and self-appointed witch inquisitor. Kramer was a staunch advocate of a theory which emerged in the late fifteenth century--that the practice of witchcraft was not harmless
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.
Maybe it’s a holiday evening, or perhaps the bright corner street lamp makes late-day shopping easier for these mostly faceless residents of Greenwich Village. Whatever the reason, there’s a line outside this corner meat market, with customers eyeing the goods while others gather outside a dry goods shop, its entrance also illuminated in the night. […]
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: […]
Thomas Ryan, aged 88, lived in Chester, Illinois, with his
widowed daughter, Julia Smith, her 12-year-old daughter Sallie, and 8-year-old
son Arthur. On December 7, 1880, their peaceful morning was shattered when an
intruder burst into the house. It was
a naked man wielding an axe who ordered them all to kneel and pray as they only
had a few minutes to live.
The man was Louis
Soapy Smith's "star" notebookPage 11 - original copy1882Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge)
OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOKPart #11 - Page 11 This is part #11 - page 11, 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. &
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 →
How a Reading, PA., merchant, broke open his wife’s chamber and discovered a supposed lover to be a harmless female cousin. [more]
Mr. Jacob Snyder, a prosperous merchant of Reading, Pa., lately made a fool of himself. He has a young and pretty wife, of whom he is extremely jealous. He was about to depart for Philadelphia on a business trip, when eh accidently fond in his wife’s writing desk a note signed “Will,” which read as follows:
“Dear Kate – I have just received your not. I will come up and spend a couple of days with you and try to make you forget the absence of your hubby.”
“Trifles light as air, are to the jealous confirmation strong as proof of holy writ,” and this brief note was sufficient to set the suspicious man all aglow. He resolved to dissemble, and instead of leaving town laid low until evening. After he had watched the shadows of tow figures upon the blinds of his wife’s bedroom, he quietly entered the house , and stealing up stairs was prepared to burst in upon the gulty pair. He demanded admittance the the champer. There was a shriek. His persistent demands met with a vigorous protest form his wife. This incensed him still more, and seemed to confirm his suspicions. At last the wife unbolted the door to make an explanation. The infuriated man would to listen to nothing, but pushing his wife aside rushed into the room. Instead of the trembling lover he expected to find, a blushing female, in very scant clothing, was hiding behind the door, who his wife introduced as “my cousin, Miss Wilhelmina Wilson.” You bet that husband will have to buy a new fall bonnet.
Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 17, 1883.
"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