No. 673
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
October 22, 2024

Shot for a Bear.

December 9, 2020
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The Boeing 747 was the first modern passenger airline.  It was considered a wonder in its day.  For the first time, a passenger plane was soundproof, air-conditioned, and so quiet that those onboard could speak to each other without having to yell.  However, what the plane is perhaps best known for was its involvement with an enigmatic tragedy.At 6:57 p.m. on October 10, 1933,
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Strange Company - 10/21/2024
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.
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 2/12/2024
What would the beginning of First Avenue in the East Village be without the neon beauty of the Gringer & Sons Appliances sign glowing beneath a red-brick 19th century tenement? This iconic blast of neon has fronted the shop at 29 First Avenue since 1953, when it was commissioned by late owner Philip Gringer, according […]
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Ephemeral New York - 10/21/2024
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: […]
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Early American Crime - 12/17/2021
 Elizabeth Wharton, in custody, en route to trial in Annapolis.In June 1871, General William Scott Ketchum became ill while a houseguest of Mrs. Elizabeth G. Wharton, a pillar of Baltimore society. As the general lay dying, a second houseguest, Eugene Van Ness, became violently ill. When General Ketchum died, the police determined that he had been poisoned and they arrested Elizabeth Wharton
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Murder By Gaslight - 10/19/2024
Soapy Smith's "star" notebookPage 9 - original copy1882-1883Courtesy of Geri Murphy(Click image to enlarge) OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOK Part #9 - page 9 This is part #9 - page 9, the 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.      The notebook(s) are in
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/19/2024
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
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Executed Today - 11/13/2020
Gamblers and Their Games. | Bucking the Tiger

Shot for a Bear.

Shot-For-A-Bear

At Platte Lake. a few miles north of Frankfort. Mich., on Oct. 26, Mrs. Jane Briggs, of Platte Township, while picking cranberries in a swamp and walking along In a stooping position, with a black hood and shawl on, was mistaken for a bear by two hunters and shot through the neck. Death followed In a few hours. Mrs. Briggs was an old resident of this county and the mother of a large family.


National Police Gazette, November 14, 1885.