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Tag Archives: Punishment

EAC Places and Events: The Fort Mackinac Guardhouse Prison Cell

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island was constructed in 1779 in order to protect the lucrative fur trade in northern Michigan and maintain relations with neighboring Native American tribes. The military importance of the Fort diminished as the nineteenth century progressed, but the Fort took on a new role when the Mackinac National Park was established […]

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Early American Criminals: John Dixon, the Recalcitrant Burglar

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

On August 21, 1784, a man entered the house of Capt. James Dagget of Reheboth, MA in the middle of the night and took several valuable items. He was soon caught and committed to the Taunton Gaol, where he gave his name as Abiel Brigs. The authorities knew better. They easily recognized him as John […]

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The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: barnacles

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Image via Wikipedia barnacles – 1. a good booty (as in “things worth sticking to”); 2. a pair of spectacles (a possible corruption of binoculi); 3. handcuffs. Sources London Antiquary, A [Hotten, John Camden]. A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words. 2nd ed. London: John Camden Hotten, 1860. Matsell, George W. Vocabulum: Or, […]

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Early American Criminals: The Odd Couple of William Huggins and John Mansfield

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Even though William Huggins and John Mansfield were both born into good families, their backgrounds couldn’t have been more different. Huggins was raised in New York, served in the army, and then worked the land as a farm laborer. Mansfield was born in the Province of Maine and traveled the sea as a sailor. But […]

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Early American Criminals: Isaac Frasier’s Strike Out

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Isaac Frasier was colonial America’s most prolific burglar. In his Brief Account of the Life, and Abominable Thefts, of the Notorious Isaac Frasier, he recorded over 50 acts of burglary and theft and stated that he committed many more that he could not specifically remember. He toured all over New England and into New York, […]

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