18th century… Hanging the Slave Traders 1 Oct 2020 Books with the title of The Newgate Calendar were published as early as the mid-eighteenth century. Mostly they were collections of “Last Dying Speeches” of criminals and short biographies of…
18th century… The Fine Art of Murder 24 Jul 202024 Jul 2020 Stephen Basdeo This website usually deals with the 'fun' side of crime history by discussing mobsters, outlaws, and highwaymen. Yet not all portrayals of crime and criminals were wild and…
19th Century… Lines Written by a New York Homeless Woman 30 Jun 2020 By Stephen Basdeo I recently came across a fascinating book titled Darkness and Daylight; or, Lights and Shadows of New York Life (1891), which formed the basis of another post…
19th Century… Jack’s Story: The True Story of a Poor Boy in 19th-Century New York 24 Jun 2020 By Stephen Basdeo I recently came across a fascinating book titled Darkness and Daylight; or, Lights and Shadows of New York Life (1891). Inspired by books such as Henry Mayhew’s…
16th Century… Gamaliel Ratsey (d.1605): The Man whose Life Kick-started the “True Crime” Genre 18 Mar 2020 By Stephen Basdeo Gamaliel Ratsey was born in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, during the late sixteenth century.[1] Little is known of Ratsey’s early life; his father, Richard, and his wife had…
17th century… Claude Du Vall: The Ladies’ Highwayman 21 Feb 2020 By Stephen Basdeo In 1671 the poet and satirist wrote an ode ‘To the Memory of the Most Renowned Du-Vall’.[1] It celebrated the bravery and heroism of an English highwaymen…
