Recent Posts
San Antonio Man Tried to Bring Baby to Jail
When officers arrested Policarpo Benegas in 1909, he did not simply object to being taken to jail. He tried to bring his six-month-old baby with…
Bandits Rob Katy Express Near Eufaula
South of Eufaula, a southbound Missouri, Kansas & Texas train came upon a burning trestle near Wirth and was forced to halt before the flames…
Child Labor in Biloxi’s Oyster Canning Factories
Between 3 and 4 each morning, while much of the town still slept, a sound rolled out over the Gulf Coast and called the workers…
76 Lost in South Carolina Schoolhouse Fire
In the small township of Cleveland, South Carolina, families had come together inside the schoolhouse, filling the building with neighbors, children, and familiar faces. But…
Colorado Blacksmith Dies in Dynamite Blast
In Trinidad, Colorado, in 1908, James R. Howard, a 28-year-old blacksmith, went with his friend Fred Long to a bluff to blast out rock. The…
Wilmington Workhouse Prisoner Gets 40 Lashes
At the Newcastle County Workhouse in Wilmington, Delaware, James Dudley Major, also known as Earl White, was fastened to the whipping post and given 40…
Headless Body Found Beneath Wrecked Auto Near Roseburg
In a ravine three miles west of Roseburg, Oregon, a burned and wrecked car belonging to Dr. R.M. Brumfield, a local dentist, was found twisted…
Smoke Poured From Pittsburgh’s Western Penitentiary Windows
Shortly before one o’clock in the afternoon, emergency calls rang out from Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The first reports were alarming enough: prisoners had…
Was Edgar Allan Poe’s Dark Reputation Partly His Brother’s?
Edgar Allan Poe has always been difficult to separate from his legend. To many readers, Poe is remembered as the haunted genius of American literature….
The Collapse of America’s Stage Queens
In 1902, newspapers reported what they called an “epidemic” of sudden illness and nervous collapse among some of the most celebrated actresses of the day. …
