Skip to content

Tag Archives: Imprisonment

Crime and Prison Songs: “Black Betty”

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

[display_podcast] In the 1930’s, John A. Lomax and his son, Alan Lomax, traveled around the United States collecting and recording ballads and songs sung by cowboys, lumberjacks, slaves, creoles, and railway men. They also recorded work songs sung by convicts in Southern prison farms. The following song, “Black Betty,” appears in their 1934 compilation, American […]

Filed in Songs | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Early American Crimes: Burglary Wrap-Up

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

[display_podcast] Over the past year or so I have been writing about burglars and burglary in early America. To conclude this informal series I am going to try something a little different. Please click on the audio media file attached to this post to hear me talk about my reflections and conclusions about burglary in […]

Filed in Crimes | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Early American Criminals: Henry Tufts in the Castle

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

[display_podcast] Note: This post follows “Henry Tufts’s Partners in Crime.” While living in Massachusetts in 1793, Henry Tufts purchased a silver tablespoon and five teaspoons from John Stewart, who said he found them while clearing out a cellar. Tufts used the spoons until a neighbor recognized them as stolen and reported Tufts to the authorities. […]

Filed in Criminals | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Early American Criminals: Henry Tufts’s Partners in Crime

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

[display_podcast] Note: This post follows “Henry Tufts’s Thanksgiving.” Henry Tufts returned to his family in Lee, NH after slipping away from Mr. Pickard, who in good faith had released him from the Old York jail. When Tufts arrived in his home town, though, he discovered that his reputation was as bad as ever, especially when […]

Filed in Criminals | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: bit

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

bit – 1. the old Spanish “real” coin and then a dime; 2. money of any kind; 3. a share of the booty; 4. outwitted; 5. a prison sentence. Sources Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant. [London]: The Ballantyne Press, 1889. Matsell, George W. Vocabulum: Or, the Rogue’s […]

Filed in Dictionary | Also tagged | Comments (0)