Uncategorized
-
‘Preserved from the Jaws of Death’ : The Deliverance of Elizabeth and William Fleming
At the beginning of November 1755, four months after General Edward Braddock’s disastrous defeat on the Monongahela, Shawnee and Lenape (Delaware) warriors led by Shingas launched a series of devastating attacks on the Great Cove area of the Province of Pennsylvania. On November 1, a party of about 100 Lenape and Shawnee warriors launched attacks Continue reading
-
Illustrious Thieves: Highway Robbery in Early Modern Oxfordshire
In a previous post, we covered the story of the Dunsdon brothers. Today, we are looking at some other Highwaymen who haunted Oxfordshire’s roads during the Early Modern Period. Claude Duval and James Hind are the two most famous highwaymen associated with Oxfordshire. Duval was born in Normandy in 1643. He moved to Paris Continue reading
-
A Dark and Lonesome Passage to Eternity
Edward Bonney, a 38-year-old alleged counterfeiter from Montrose, Iowa, arrived in Chicago on the steamship Champion early on Thursday, 25 September 1845. Bonney was accompanied by two other men, identified by the local newspaper, The Chicago Democrat, as ’two of the five murderers of Col. Davenport, Wm. F. Birch, alias Haines, and John Long, alias Continue reading
19th Century, 4th of July, Aaron Long, Banditti of the Prairie, Counterfeiting, Crime, Crime and Punishment, Detective, Edward Bonney, George Davenport, Granville Young, Hangings, history, Illinois, Iowa, John Long, Justice, Murder, Newspapers, outlaws, Public Execution, Rock Island, United States History -
Hardened Villainy Displayed
Prologue The night was dark, no hint of moonlight penetrated the thick banks of cloud. The wind blowing from the east brought fast-moving showers that would soon soak anyone foolish enough to be out of doors on such an evening. Better to be inside; in bed, or a tavern, with a welcoming fire and a Continue reading
-
Jack Mayes
The San Francisco Examiner 4 May 1915 On Thursday, 24 June 1915, Mrs. Jessie L. Mayes, a widowed mother of four, left a wicker suitcase in E.J. Shefter’s drugstore on Second and Alder Streets, Portland, Oregon. A short while later, a teenage boy arrived and announced that he had been sent to retrieve the suitcase. Continue reading
-
The 1915 Vancouver Bridge Fires
By Matthews, James Skitt, Major (1878-1970) – Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1612556 Shortly before 4 a.m. on Thursday, 29 April 1915, a watchman working for the Pacific Box Company noticed smoke rising from the Connaught Bridge, spanning False Creek, Vancouver. The Connaught Bridge, a four-lane, 1,247 metres (4,091 ft) long medium-level steel bridge, was opened to traffic Continue reading
-
‘The Very Flames of Hell’ The Great Thunderstorm of 1638
By Original artist unknown, fl 17th century. Contemporary woodcut, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4986301 On the afternoon of Sunday, 21 October 1638, George Lyde, the Anglican minister of the church of St. Pancras, Widecombe in the Moor, Devon, preached before a congregation of 300 worshipers when: ‘a strange darkenesse,’ fell, ‘increasing more and more, so that the Continue reading
-
The Strange Execution of John Langford
John Langford, a 22-year-old citizen of Sheridan, Kansas, who ‘had led a desperate life all over the border,’ was sentenced to be hanged by a vigilance committee at Pond City at 2 am on the morning of 25 August 1869. On discovering his fate, Langford admitted to the killing of six men; he added, ‘if Continue reading
-
‘Good God! How Grief Has Altered Him!’ Thomas Carson’s Gaol Break
On 27 August 1800, brothers Thomas and John Carson, members of the Meath Yeomanry, stood trial at Trim Assizes for the ‘Wilful murder’ of ‘one of His Majesty’s subjects’, Charles Casliny. Kilmainhamwood (Irish: Cill Mhaighneann), where the killing occurred, is a village on the River Dee in County Meath, Ireland.The Carsons were tried in front Continue reading
-
Dreadful Accident at St. James’
The following story was reported in the Bristol Mirror on Saturday, 3 August 1816. Miss Burrowes of Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell, was to be buried in the afternoon of Wednesday, 31 July 1816, at St. James’ church.The gravediggers were instructed to dig the grave to a depth of twenty feet to thwart resurrectionists. When Miss Continue reading
Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men 