Recent Posts
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…
Wyoming Man’s Ring Caught on Nail and Tore Off His Finger
A simple ring turned a jump from a hayrick into a painful accident for a Wyoming man in 1917. F.M. Johnson, of the Newcastle area,…
Armed Guards Sealed Off Virginia Smallpox Region
Armed guards once surrounded a small mountain region of Virginia to keep smallpox from escaping. In February 1900, the Denmark area near the headwaters of…
1907 Household Hacks Used Spools, Bottles, and Broomsticks to Save the Day
Long before convenience stores, overnight delivery, and endless household gadgets, home makers often had to solve small domestic emergencies with whatever was already close at…
Chicago Heiress Took Vows of Silence Hoping to Cure Her Deaf Brother
Mary Holway had wealth, youth, and a comfortable place in Chicago society. Then, at twenty-five, she gave it all up. Before the altar of a…
New Rochelle Farmers Threatened to Burn Pesthouse Built for Smallpox Patients
The fight over a pesthouse in New Rochelle had turned into something close to open rebellion. In the Jerusalem Woods north of the city, health…
Yale Medical Student Trapped in Pesthouse After Volunteering to Treat Smallpox Patient
When smallpox appeared in Derby, Connecticut, fear spread almost as quickly as the disease. C.P. Cook was taken to the town pesthouse, isolated from everyone…
