Vintage Photos, Genealogy & Crime Stories
I’ve pretty much stopped buying vintage mugshots on eBay because there’s almost nothing of interest for sale, but recently two photos popped up that captured my eye. They were CDVs of two young African American males, both of whom had been arrested in 1895 for “housebraking,” according to the backs of the cards. The photos … Continue reading “Housebraking”
The body of W.J. Trotter being removed from his shop by police. Collection of the author. Shortly before 8 a.m. on the morning of February 2, 1948, Ples McWilliams discovered the body of William Jonas Trotter, a 59-year-old white man, lying in a pool of blood on the floor behind the counter of his snack … Continue reading Can’t Hear Nobody Pray
Born in Texas on July 14, 1876, 100 years and ten days after the United States, Nathan Bridgeforth became prisoner #2007 at Leavenworth on February 26, 1900. Seven weeks earlier, he pleaded guilty to forgery in the Northern District Court of Muskogee, Indian Territory. The details of the crime that sent him to Leavenworth have … Continue reading The Cowboy
Harry Ward and Fred Williams were arrested in Albany, New York, on suspicion of robbing a jewelry store on February 23, 1887, according to an article in the Boston Globe. The newspaper claimed the men were well-known thieves in Boston, and that they had also been “working the carnivals in Montreal,” presumably as pickpockets. Montreal, located in Quebec, is about 220 miles due north of Albany.
With the crowd yelling “lynch him; lynch him,” a squad of patrolmen in Scranton last night used their night sticks with telling effect, rescuing Jasper Johnson, a young negro, from a frenzied mob of several thousand men and boys at the carnival grounds on Providence road, in that city, after Johnson had fired five shots, … Continue reading Nearly Lynched
John Medlock is to hang tomorrow for the murder of Carrie Boyd, or McKinney, more than three years ago in the Gardiner coal camp. The Boyd woman was living with a negro named McKinney when Medlock won her somewhat fickle affections. She went to live with him but after a short time left him for … Continue reading The Drop
Mary Snowden and Cynthia Walton, two dusky damsels of Eufaula, who have been awaiting trial in the Muskogee jail on a charge of assault to kill, were tried by a jury and the result was a verdict of guilty as to Mary Snowden and acquittal as to Cynthia. — Muskogee Phoenix (Muskogee, Oklahoma), December 7, … Continue reading The Freedwoman
Captured and Exposed 