The good ole days of law and order.
Look closely, and you’ll see shadowy figures in the windows of the old Gratiot County Jail. The imposing structure of brick, stone, and iron rose from the ground in 1877 in Ithaca, Michigan, at the cost of about $5,700. … Continued
A six-card series of cabinet card photographs details a double hanging, c. 1890. While the cards do not contain names or places, the sequence provides an interesting glimpse into law and order in the western frontier. Each cabinet card contains … Continued
Otto Cobb, prisoner number J2440, has a sinister-looking smirk in his March 1908 mugshot. His expression is halfway between a scowl and a grin—somewhere on the edge between disgust and cockiness. He may look the part of a Goodfella, but … Continued
Twenty-seven-year-old house maid Ida Olliver apparently had her eye on a particular ring. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for sale, so in a moment of weakness, she pocketed it—a petit theft that landed her in a Rochester, New York, courtroom. It was … Continued
They poisoned deadbeat husbands, tossed unwanted infants out of tenement windows, and chopped off the heads of lovers. They shoplifted and forged checks. And their misdeeds led them to a temple on a hill in Ossining, New York—the state’s premier … Continued
Al Capone relied on him. So did Detroit’s Purple Gang and other Prohibition-era underworld syndicates. Traffickers like Albert Phillips, AKA David Bram, helped keep America from becoming too sober during the Roaring Twenties. Bram specialized in bringing whiskey as well … Continued
Harry Grayson, who made his living robbing post offices, didn’t like to have his picture taken. Maybe he worried the camera would steal his soul, or perhaps he feared his likeness would become a fixture in rogue’s galleries, and the … Continued
The two men earnestly watch as the turnkey finishes his rounds and then disappears down the corridor leading into the adjacent sheriff’s residence. When the flickering of the guard’s kerosene lantern disappears, the prisoners begin sawing through the iron bars of … Continued
Judging by his “Report of Fines”—dated 5 January 1835—the Fall of 1834 was certainly a busy season for Thomas Crawley, Justice of the Peace in frontier Kentucky. Crawley hailed from Adair, Kentucky, and as the primary lawman in the area, … Continued
That ole black horse just ain’t where he’s supposed to be… …as Dan Powers, a livery stable operator of Jackson, Michigan, discovered after lending his horse and rig to a “Frank Cook,” who subsequently hoofed it out of town. Powers … Continued