"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan MandijnWelcome to this week's Link Dump!It's not the only new thing around here, I guess.Britain's last executed witch...may not have been executed after all.Why we call it a "grandfather clock."The British "bonfire night" of 1824.Why ancient Roman concrete was so strong.The use of medicinal herbs 15,000 years ago.To some people, it's a museum. To
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.
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. &
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: […]
Myron Buel.“He possesses an expressionless and almost idiotic countenance.” Illustrated Police News.Myron Buel was called “The Boy Murderer,” though he was 20
years old when he committed the crime. He was charged with the murder of Catherine
Richards in Plainfield, New York, on June 25, 1878. The following February he
was tried and convicted of first-degree murder.
Buel
On the northwest corner of First Avenue at First Street, on the border of the East Village and the Lower East Side, is a handsome red-brick tenement. Five stories high (with a two-story, beach house–like penthouse on the roof, but that’s a subject for another post), it’s a typical, well-kept building likely on this corner […]
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 →
Two sleeping girls are imprisoned and one of them is nearly killed at Louisville, KY.
Miss Lena Summers and Miss Nellie Mitchell were caught in a folding-bed recently in the fashionable boarding-house of Mrs. H.L. Mitchell, in Broadway, at Louisville, Ky. Miss Mitchell was not much hurt, but Miss Summers was unconscious when rescued, and has not yet regained her senses. No bones were broken, but her face is swelled, and the doctors believe she has sustained internal injuries that may prove dangerous. The accident happened about 2 o’clock in the morning. The house was aroused by the smothered shrieks of the girls. The bed was let down with difficulty, but in time to save them from suffocation. The girls had been asleep at the time, and the cause of the bed’s queer action cannot bue surmised. It is the second time it has acted in this way. Si months ago it flew up while occupied by a Miss Johnson, who was, however, rescored unhurt but badly scared. The bed is of the ordinary pattern.
Reprinted from the National Police Gazette, December 8, 1894
"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