Canada
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The Crippen Murder
Hawley Harvey Crippen was a meek little man with a big problem. His wife was a cheating, gold digging narcissist. To complicate matters, he was in love with another woman. How did he get into this predicament? Crippen was born to a prosperous family in Coldwater, Michigan in 1862. Despite the fact the family was comfortable, they instilled in young Hawley a strict work ethic. Crippen completed a degree an M.D. from Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital after graduating from the University of Michigan. He set up practice in Brooklyn, NY and married a nurse named Charlotte Bell and the two had a son. Bell died suddenly, and Crippen sent their son…
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Pukwudgie
These magical creatures where capable of both good and evil. They where similar to the fairies and gnomes of Europe. They are usually described as being knee-high or even smaller. Their name literally means ‘person of the wilderness’ and are considered to be spirits of the forest. In some traditions, they have a sweet smell and are associated with flowers. Their stories come from Algonquian folklore. They are told throughout the northeastern United States, southeastern Canada, and the Great Lakes region but their stories differ between tribes. In the Ojibwe and other Great Lakes tribes, the pukwudgie (or bagwajinini) is considered a mischievous but basically good-natured creature who plays tricks…
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The Battle of Crysler’s Farm
We have talked about the strange career of General James Wilkinson. He has been mixed up with a Spanish conspiracy to control the “west” after the revolution (Please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/the-spanish-conspiracy/ ), as well as his involvement the machinations of Aaron Burr after his duel with Alexander Hamilton (Please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/aaron-burr-part-ii-king-america/). He has even been implicated in the death of Meriweather Lewis (Please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/murder-mystery-frontier-death-meriwether-lewis/ ) The final chapter of this enigmatic figure, features prominently in the saga of the failed American invasion of Canada during the War of 1812. No one is really sure how after all his escapades, Wilkinson kept the confidence…
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Canada Bill Jones
Born in a Romnichal tent in Yorkshire, Jones learned classic scams young. At twenty, he migrated to Canada in search of fresh marks. He honed his three card monte travelling Canada as a thrower with Dick Cady. Three-card Monte sometimes known as find the lady and three-card trick is a confidence game in which the victim, or mark, is tricked into betting a sum of money, on theassumption that they can find the “money card” among three face-down playing cards. When Jones wanted bigger game, he left Cady and headed south to the Mississippi riverboats. There he joined up with George Devol, Holly Chappell and Tom Brown, working gambling boats.…
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Laura Secord
Like most people in the Northeast, Laura Secord had family and friends on both sides of the war. Her father had fought with the colonists against the British in the American Revolution, but after the war moved to the Upper Canada. Once there, she met James Secord and they married in 1797 and settled in St. Davids then later Queenston. When war broke out in 1812, James Secord joined the British in the 1st Lincoln militia under Isaac Brock. He was seriously wounded at the Battle of Queenston Heights after helping to carry his commander’s body away from the field after his death. Laura brought him home to nurse him.…
