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Tag Archives: Prisons and Jails

The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: boarding-house and boarding-school

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

boarding-house – city prison, the Tombs (New York City prison). boarding-school – penitentiary. Sources Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant. [London]: The Ballantyne Press, 1889. Farmer, John S. and W. E. Henley. A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English. Abridged from Slang and Its Analogues. London: George Routledge […]

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Crime and Prison Songs: “Jumpin’ Judy”

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

[display_podcast] In 1933, John and Alan Lomax visited prison farms in the South in the hope of recording African-American songs that dated back to the time of slavery. Their visits were based on the theory that the best places to find songs of slavery preserved in their purest form were in prison camps, with their […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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 […]

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