Wardrobe malfunctions have been a problem since humans began wearing clothing. Celebrities, whose body parts fall out of their clothing occasionally, have nothing on John Morgan, whose clothing malfunctioned with disastrous consequences for him. John was imprisoned on May 3, 1901, at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, for stealing three blankets from nearby Fort … Continue reading Bagged by his Underwear
Author: Shayne Davidson
Writer, researcher, illustrator and lover of vintage photography
Alias Dorsey Doyle
When a federal census worker counted his family in 1880, George J. Doyle was just one of the thousands of children of Irish immigrants living in the poverty-stricken Five Points section of lower Manhattan. Along with his father and four siblings, George lived in a tenement at 86 Mulberry Street that housed 19 families — … Continue reading Alias Dorsey Doyle
Murder in White Pine
Wong Fong knew he would never see his Chinese homeland again — he was going to die in prison. When his mugshot photos were taken, in 1908, he’d been incarcerated in the Nevada State Prison for more than 13 years for murder. In his front view photo he looks stoic but in the side view … Continue reading Murder in White Pine
Other Men’s Wives
Joseph Evans was a matrimonially challenged man. His first wife, Mary Jane, died of blood poisoning in 1899, leaving him with three sons under the age of nine. Joseph needed to find a woman to care for him and his children. Three years later Joseph married 35-year-old Rebecca Kane and the family moved into a … Continue reading Other Men’s Wives
Escape Tunnel
Despite growing up in a law-abiding family, Hiram Lepper was a small-time crook that spent most of his life in prison. His story would be relegated to the scrap heap of crime history if it weren’t for the fact that he made two daring escapes from the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. Born in 1866 … Continue reading Escape Tunnel
Cupid Pleaded
Pauline Wernovsky had been waiting a long time to marry her sweetheart. In fact she’d been waiting two and a half years for her fiancée, Joseph Kanefsky, to get out of Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia and he’d finally been released after serving time for burglary. But on January 20, 1937, he and two prisoners and … Continue reading Cupid Pleaded
Bury Freddie There
Justice was sometimes meted out in an arbitrary and indiscriminate fashion, or so it seemed in October 1899 when Fred Mason was given a five-year sentence to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. Jewelry and “trinkets” belonging to a white man, J. M. Golledge, were apparently found in Fred’s possession. He claimed the actual thief was a man … Continue reading Bury Freddie There
Her Radiant Smile
Christmas 1907 was not shaping up to be a merry one for Pauline Lyons. The 26-year-old Texas woman was sentenced, just before the holiday, to spend the next eight years in San Quentin State Prison. To add insult to injury, this was her third trip inside. However no one would suspect that she was anything … Continue reading Her Radiant Smile
Iron Foot
He was a harmless-looking old man with a long white beard. He wore a big metal shoe on one foot due to a birth defect or injury that made one of his legs shorter than the other. Possibly he was a man of mixed race, but no one was really sure about that. However there … Continue reading Iron Foot
No Dainties for Him
An impulsive, violent act has the potential to ruin a young man’s life. William Lincoln Parkhill committed such an act in 1896 in Sacramento, California. Parkhill, a street vendor who sold tamales, attacked a child of ten, Lillie Frank, and attempted to rape her on the morning of Monday, August 24. Lillie (or Lulu; both … Continue reading No Dainties for Him
Executed by Guillotine
Enrico (Henri) Pranzini was held to account for the gruesome 1887 murders of courtesan (high class prostitute) Marie Reginault and her servant, Annette Gremeret and Gremeret’s young daughter at Reginault’s Paris apartment in Rue Montaigne. Highly successful in her profession, Reginault lived a life of luxury. Some of her clients were said to be prominent … Continue reading Executed by Guillotine
Give Him Up
A Montana-born woman, 34-year-old Mae Kavanaugh, was convicted of writing "fictitious checks" and sent to San Quentin State Prison, the infamous northern California prison, on March 25, 1918, to serve a two year term. Eight years earlier, in 1910, Mae and a male accomplice, H. S. Farnsworth, lured a man to their rented Santa Cruz … Continue reading Give Him Up
