Collections

The Crime clippings scrapbook contains newspaper clippings compiled between 1891 and 1893 that are related to various criminals, court proceedings, and executions.

The Crime clippings scrapbook contains newspaper clippings compiled between 1891 and 1893 that are related to various criminals, court proceedings, and executions.

The volume (23 x 15 cm) has brown paper covers and appears to have originally been a copy of Joseph Emerson Worcester’s A Pronouncing, Explanatory, and Synonymous Dictionary of the English Language. Containing 210 pages total, the volume begins with a clipped engraving of New York City Police Department Superintendent Thomas F. Byrnes pasted on the inside of the front cover. Byrnes’ portrait is accompanied by an inscribed caption reading “of New York City April 22 1892.” An additional inscription states that the volume was “Presented to the officers and Men of the 13th street Police station - Chicago Ills. by Wm. H. [Benton?] - 126 Fleming St., Aug 22d 1903.”

Subsequent clippings highlight numerous criminals, trials, and executions, many of which were highly publicized incidents involving crimes such as murder, robbery, swindling, and kidnapping. Many of the clippings include engravings that depict portraits of criminals, courtroom scenes, and crime scenes. Stories of crime and punishment in the eastern United States are most frequent, but transnational and international stories are also included.

Clippings are arranged in a chronological sequence with the first dated December 7th 1891 and the last dated September 4th 1893; as a result, many clippings that pertain to certain long-running criminal trials appear in multiple places throughout the volume.

• Martin D. Loppy [murderer; executed by electric chair] (pgs. 1-3)
• Darwin J. Messerole [murderer] (pg. 3)
• Isaac B. Sawtelle [murderer] (pg. 4)
• Henry L. Norcross [blackmailer, attempted murderer] (pgs. 5-9)
• Carlyle W. Harris [murderer; condemned to execution by electric chair] (pgs. 12-15, 22, 25, 30-35, 40, 54-58)
• Charles E. Waterbury [kidnapper] (pgs. 17-21, 26-29, 37-40)
• August Lentz [murderer] (pgs. 11, 12, 21, 24, 35, 36)
• Alfred Parkes [murderer] (pg. 23)
• Nicola Trezza and Charles McElvaine [murderers; latter executed by electric chair] (pgs. 23, 24, 40)
• Edward W. Hallinger [African American man; murderer] (pgs. 35, 145)
• Alice Jessie Mitchell [lesbian woman; murderer] (pgs. 35, 41, 147, 158)
• Thomas “Buncoer” O’Brien [conman] (pgs. 37, 105-107, 125, 126, 129-131, 133-136, 139)
• Maurice Curtis aka Maurice B. Strelinger [accused murderer; acquitted] (pgs. 41, 42)
• Oliver Curtis Perry [train robber] (pgs. 42-53, 126-129)
• Burton C. Webster [accused murderer; hung jury] (pgs. 47, 58-83)
• John Francis [Native American man; murderer] (pgs. 53, 54)
• Louis Harriot [murderer; hanged] (pgs. 81, 82, 101-104)
• Jim Lyons and Mickey Sliney [murderers] (pgs. 84, 86, 87, 124, 125)
• Death of George C. Searing (pgs. 84, 85)
• F. B. Deeming [murderer and one-time Jack the Ripper suspect; hanged] (pgs. 87, 88-93, 114, 115, 131-133, 140, 141, 145, 146, 151-153)
• Jack the Ripper, “The Nine Bad Jacks” (pgs. 89-93)
• Jeremiah Cotto [murderer; executed by electric chair] (pgs. 93-95)
• Frank C. Almy aka George Abbott [murderer] (pgs. 95, 120, 121, 206-208)
• James Alexander Farmer [accused murderer] (pgs. 95, 96)
• William Myer [murderer] (pg. 97)
• “Origin of Lynch Law” (pgs. 97-99)
• John Lewis Osmond [murderer] (pgs. 99-101)
• Annie Walden [murderer] (pgs. 107-114, 136, 139, 153-155)
• Fred McGuire [murderer; executed by electric chair] (pgs. 116-119)
• Ferdinand Ward [Banker/Ponzi scheme runner] (pgs. 121-123, 141-145)
• Henry W. Jaehne [corrupt politician] (pgs. 121-123)
• Lieut. James Henry Hetherington [U.S. Navy officer; murderer] (pgs. 136-139)
• Charles Reilly [murderer] (pg. 139)
• Murder of Lizzie Farrell [African American man falsely implicated] (pgs. 139, 140, 143, 144)
• Capt. Chris Rath [recounting of execution of Lincoln’s assassins] (pgs. 146, 147)
• “The Murderer’s Hand” [story regarding supposedly distinct features of hands of killers] (pg. 148)
• Guillotine history and contemporary usage (pgs. 148-151, 155-158)
• Col. H. Clay King [murderer] (pgs. 158, 159, 161)
• Lizzie Borden [accused murderer; acquitted] (pgs. 158-170, 172-180, 187-189, 191-205)
• Dr. T. Thatcher Graves [accused murderer; hanged himself while incarcerated] (pgs. 159, 191, 208-210)
• Murder of Luigi Barri (pgs. 167, 168)
• Frank Glowinski [murderer] (pgs. 168-171)
• James Nolan [murderer] (pgs. 171, 172)
• J. M. Brown shootout (pgs. 180-187)
• George Craig [murderer] (pgs. 190, 191)

Lake Superior Scenery consists of 26 watercolor sketches produced by artist Albert L. Rawson during a steamboat tour of the Great Lakes (primarily Lake Superior) in 1865. The sketches were compiled into a presentation album gifted to Louise C. Ely, a fellow traveler befriended by Rawson during the tour.

Lake Superior Scenery consists of 26 watercolor sketches produced by artist Albert L. Rawson during a steamboat tour of the Great Lakes (primarily Lake Superior) in 1865. The sketches were compiled into a presentation album gifted to Louise C. Ely, a fellow traveler befriended by Rawson during the tour.

The album (27 x 35.5 cm) has full pebbled burgundy Morocco leather covers replete with gilt decoration and blind-stamped ornamentations. The words “Presented to Mrs. Louise C. Ely By ***** ***** A Lake Superior friend,” “Album,” and “Lake Superior Scenery” are gold stamped on the front cover, spine, and back cover respectively. The binder’s ticket of “Dean Smeal & Hoffman Blank Book Manufacturers and Book Binders 148 Lake Street up stairs, Chicago” appears on the inside of the front cover, likely indicating that Rawson traveled through Chicago at some point during the 1865 steamboat tour. A calling card of “Mrs. C. Arthur Ely” is also tipped-in and includes an inscription reading “Elyria, Lake Superior Views in Water Colors.”

• No. 1 Grand Portal Pictured Rocks.
• 2 Grand Portal, Interior.
• 3 Miners Castle.
• 4 Cascade.
• 5 Cliff, where Steamer Superior was wrecked 1859.
• 6 Sail Rock and Profile.
• 7 Wrecker’s Hut.
• 8 Stranded Fleet.
• 9 Carp River. Near Marquette.
• 10 Cascade near Miner’s Castle.
• 11 [blank] (untitled scene showing railroad tracks, a train with smoke billowing, a river, and a colorful sky)
• 12 Lake Michigumi. Round Islands.
• 13 Chapel. From the Water.
• 14 Chapel and Fall, East.
• 15 Dead River, near White’s Burnt Mill.
• 16 Grand Island Harbor.
• 17 Superior Iron Mine.
• 18 In the Woods near Chocolat.
• 19 Fort Mackinac.
• 20 Washington Harbor - Lake Michigan.
• 21 Lake Michigami.
• 22 Marquette from Chocolat.
• 23 Marquette from the Water.
• 24 Picnic Point, near Presque Isle.
• 25 View near Marquette. Partridge Isle, Picnic Point Presque Isle and grand Island in the distance.
• 26 Chapel, West.

The table of contents accurately lists the relative position of each watercolor within the album except for the first two items (“Grand Portal Pictured Rocks” appears to be located on pg. 2 while “Grand Portal, Interior” is located on pg. 1).

• Eight views depicting various formations of The Pictured Rocks such as the Grand Portal, Miners Castle, Sail Rock, Stranded Fleet, and the Chapel.
• The view titled “The Wrecker’s Hut” (No. 7) showing a man sat near a birch-bark hut erected on Chapel Beach close to the site where the steamer Superior was wrecked in 1856. The view titled “Cliff where Steamer Superior was wrecked 1859” (No. 5) appears to have gotten the year of the wreck wrong.
• The view titled “Cascade Near Miner’s Castle” (No. 10) showing the steamboat Comet (built 1857 as a cargo vessel before being converted to hold passengers; she sank in 1875 while carrying seventy tons of Montana silver ore, making her the one and only treasure ship of Lake Superior)
• Several views of scenes near Marquette, Grand Island, and Lake Michigamme.
• The view titled “Superior Iron Mine” (No. 17) showing a group of miners at work with sledgehammers and horse-drawn carts.
• The view titled “Washington Harbor, Lake Michigan” (No. 20) showing a docked steamer at Washington Island, Wisconsin.