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South Dakota Woman Reportedly Driven Insane by Sliver Under Fingernail
A sliver beneath a fingernail is a small injury, painful but ordinary. In this 1915 account from South Dakota, however, that tiny wound was said…
Man and Unknown Woman Drown in Fairmount Park
In March 1907, a quiet stretch of the Schuylkill River became the scene of a grim mystery. A park guard in Fairmount Park saw a…
Third Bad Dollar Leads to Arrest in NYC
Harry Wilson might have gotten away with one bad silver dollar. He might even have slipped by with two.But in 1906 New York, his mistake…
San Francisco Judge Backs Handshake Marriage
A judge was asked to decide whether a marriage could begin with nothing more than a handshake back in 1915 San Francisco. Frank Wells said…
Helena Mining Leader Found Dying Outside Hospital
In January 1909, a mysterious note lured a prominent Montana mining man into the cold darkness of a winter night. By dawn, he was dying…
Los Angeles Woman Found Murdered in Fifth-Floor Office
In September 1913, a quiet Los Angeles office became the scene of a brutal and puzzling murder. Mrs. Rebecca P. Gay, a religious practitioner and…
D.C. Children Warned Not to Drink From Horse Troughs
In the summer of 1907, Washington, D.C. officials faced a public health problem that seems almost unthinkable today: children drinking from horse troughs in the…
New York Gripped by Fear After Mutilated Woman Found at Staten Island
It was the summer of 1907, and New York was gripped by a series of horrifying discoveries that newspapers quickly tied together under the shadow…
Smallpox Strikes New York’s House of Refuge on Randalls Island
In the spring of 1894, fear of one of America’s most dreaded diseases swept through a New York institution housing hundreds of troubled boys. What…
Kansas Coal Miners Call for Strike When Company Threatens Fines for Failure to Work on Saturdays
It was the summer of 1920, and the coal fields of southeastern Kansas stood on the brink of another labor showdown. Less than a year…
