Recent Posts
Smallpox Patients Refused the Pesthouse as New Cases Spread
Another smallpox case had appeared, and with it came the difficult question of where the sick should be kept. Miss Mamie Halligan, a domestic in…
Man Fell From Excursion Steamer and Nearly Drowned as Tugboats Rushed In
An excursion trip nearly turned deadly when a man climbed onto the guard rail of a passing steamer and fell into the water. The steamer…
Baltimore Mother Held Baby From Third-Floor Window as Firemen Raised Ladder
Mrs. Bessie Levin stood at a third-floor window of her burning Baltimore home with her two-month-old baby in her arms, waiting for the firemen to…
Lightning Bolt Knocked House From Its Foundation in Kreischerville
A lightning strike in Kreischerville did more than knock bricks from a chimney. It tore through a house and left the building shifted from its…
Eight Factory Workers Were Accidentally Locked Inside Building For Hours
Eight New York factory workers found themselves unexpectedly imprisoned after the workday ended in March 1901. The men, employees of the Manhattan Bagging Company on…
Montana Town Accused of Shipping Its Sick and Poor to Billings
Billings officials were growing tired of being treated as Montana’s dumping ground for the poor, sick, and unwanted. In March 1901, the complaint was aimed…
Omaha Mob Burned the Pesthouse, and Officials Wanted Arrests
Omaha officials had a rather serious problem in January 1901. The city needed a pesthouse, but someone had burned it down. The smallpox isolation building…
Kentucky Mob Dragged Convicted Killer From Jail and Hanged Him
William Thacker had already been tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison when a Kentucky mob decided the courts had not gone far enough….
Bronx Mother Bound and Gagged While Her Children Watched
Mrs. Caroline Wilson thought she was showing kindness when two rain-soaked men came to her kitchen door in the Bronx. It was a wet morning…
Someone Kept Poisoning This Chicago Family With Arsenic
A Chicago family was struck again and again by arsenic poisoning in the spring of 1907, leaving police to wonder who was trying to wipe…
