Colorado Charlie Utter and Arapaho Joe at the Grave of Wild Bill Hickok, August 1876

This evocative historical image captures an intimate moment of grief and loyalty from the American Wild West. Taken in 1877 in the gold rush town of Deadwood, Dakota Territory, it shows Charles “Colorado Charlie” Utter (seated, right) and Arapaho Joe (standing, left) posing beside the original gravesite of the legendary gunfighter, lawman, and gambler, James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok.

Just a year prior, on August 2, 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was brutally murdered. While playing a game of poker at Nuttall & Mann’s Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, a gambler named Jack McCall walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. When he was killed, Hickok was holding a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights, a combination ever since immortalized in folklore as the “Dead Man’s Hand.”

Colorado Charlie Utter, a flamboyant frontier dandy, trapper, and close partner who had traveled to Deadwood in the same wagon train as Hickok, stepped up to claim his friend’s body and oversee a dignified funeral. Hickok was initially laid to rest at the rugged Ingleside Cemetery. Utter paid for and placed the custom wooden headstone seen in this photograph. The handwritten epitaph clearly legible on the marker reads:

“Wild Bill, J. B. Hickock killed by the assassin Jack McCall in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876.

Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more.

Good bye, Colorado Charlie

C. H. Utter.”

The site pictured above was not Wild Bill’s final resting place. By 1879, Deadwood’s rapid housing boom began encroaching on Ingleside Cemetery. Utter had Hickok’s remains exhumed and moved higher up the mountain to the newly established Mount Moriah Cemetery. When they opened the original coffin during the transfer, witnesses were astonished to find that Hickok’s body was remarkably well-preserved and had practically mummified due to the unique chemical composition of the local soil. The original wooden marker from this photograph was relocated to Mount Moriah but was eventually chipped away to nothing by aggressive souvenir hunters.

Today, Hickok rests at Mount Moriah under a bronze monument, where he is famously flanked by the graves of frontierswoman Calamity Jane and prospector Potato Creek Johnny.

Photos of Las Poquianchis, the Most Notorious Sisters in Mexico

Las Poquianchis, a name that sends shivers down the spine of many in Mexico, refers to the González Valenzuela sisters – María Delfina (1912–1968), María del Carmen (1918–1949), María Luisa (1920–1984), and María de Jesús (1924–1990). Originating from the north-central Mexican state of Guanajuato, these four siblings ran a large-scale prostitution ring and committed numerous murders from 1950 until 1964. Their criminal operation was based at “Rancho El Ángel,” which became infamous as the site of at least 91 murders. However, it is believed that the sisters may have killed more than 150, or even over 200 people. This led to them being recognized by Guinness World Records as the “most prolific murder partnership.”

The sisters grew up in a heavily dysfunctional, highly abusive household under a father who was a law enforcement official, exposing them to violence at an early age. They recruited vulnerable young girls and teenagers from rural areas using deceptive help-wanted advertisements promising legitimate work, such as hiring housemaids. Once the girls arrived at the ranch, they were completely stripped of their freedom. To force compliance, the sisters used severe physical abuse, starvation, and forced drug addiction (primarily heroin and cocaine).

Girls who resisted or tried to escape faced horrific punishments. This included being beaten with nail-studded bats, set on fire, or placed in the cama real (“royal bed”), a narrow wooden board where victims were tightly wrapped in barbed wire for days. If a woman became too sick, pregnant, or unprofitable, she was brutally murdered. The sisters did not stop at their captives; they also robbed and murdered wealthy customers who entered their establishments carrying large sums of cash.

The empire of fear collapsed in January 1964 when a young captive managed to escape the ranch near León and alert local police. Acting on her tip, authorities raided the property and discovered a “concentration camp” housing 19 emaciated survivors. Subsequent excavations of the property turned up mass graves containing the remains of at least 80 young women, several fetuses, and multiple male patrons.

The subsequent trial in 1964 was a media sensation in Mexico. Dozens of former captives testified against the sisters, exposing a vast network of corruption where local officials had been bribed with money and services to look the other way.

Because Mexico did not have the death penalty, the three surviving sisters (Delfina, María Luisa, and María de Jesús) were given the maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Nineteen of their co-conspirators and henchmen were also jailed. None of the sisters lived to complete their full sentences.

The grim saga deeply scarred Mexican society and has been a prominent fixture in Latin American true crime lore. It famously inspired the critically acclaimed Mexican novel The Dead Girls (Las Muertas) by Jorge Ibargüengoitia, which was later adapted into a 2025 six-part Netflix miniseries titled Las Muertas.

The González Valenzuela sisters

Some women allegedly imprisoned in a ‘white slave concentration camp' near Leon, Guanajuato, point to Gonzalez Valenzuela.

A girl points an accusatory finger at Delfina Gonzalez Valenzuela as Chuy looks on.

Delfina and Maria de Jesus Gonzalez Valenzuela

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Actress Frances Farmer in 1943, Showing Some Attitude After Being Arrested

In January 1943, Hollywood actress Frances Farmer was violently arrested at the Knickerbocker Hotel in Los Angeles for violating her probation. The arrest spiraled into a highly publicized media circus due to her aggressive resistance, which ultimately led to her being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric institution rather than serving jail time.

In October 1942, Farmer was stopped for driving with her headlights on during a wartime blackout. Drunk and uncooperative, she reportedly told the officer, “You bore me.” She was fined $500, given a suspended jail sentence, and put on probation with strict orders not to drink.

By early 1943, her behavior had become increasingly erratic. On a movie set, she got into a physical altercation and allegedly slapped or hit a studio hairdresser. When authorities looked into the assault, they discovered that Farmer had failed to pay the remaining balance of her $500 drunk-driving fine from the previous year. Because she had also violated her sobriety order, a judge issued a warrant for her arrest on January 6, 1943.

On January 14, 1943, police tracked Farmer down to her room at the Knickerbocker Hotel. Officers found her drunk and sleeping naked. She fiercely resisted arrest, refusing to dress and forcing officers to wrap her in a blanket and physically drag her out of the hotel kicking and screaming.

Her hearing the following day became legendary. She famously mocked the judge and threw an inkwell at him. When asked about her drinking, she defended herself by shouting, “Listen, I get liquor in my milk, I get liquor in my coffee and in my orange juice, what do you expect me to do, starve to death?”

The judge sentenced her to 180 days in jail. However, due to her highly unstable behavior, her family and a sister-in-law intervened. Instead of serving prison time, she was transferred to a sanitarium in Los Angeles, marking the beginning of her tragic, years-long institutionalization in psychiatric hospitals.

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Tim Allen in a 1978 Booking Photograph From the Kalamazoo, Michigan Sheriff’s Department

On October 2, 1978, a 25-year-old Tim Allen (then using his birth name, Timothy Alan Dick) was caught in an undercover sting operation at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in Michigan. He placed a brown Adidas gym bag containing 650 grams (1.43 pounds) of cocaine into an airport locker and handed the key to an undercover officer, Michael Pifer, who had been tracking him for months.

The timing of his arrest was incredibly dangerous for Allen. Michigan had recently passed a strict law that tied a mandatory life sentence without parole to any conviction involving more than 650 grams of cocaine. Faced with spending the rest of his life behind bars, Allen chose to cooperate with federal investigators. He provided the names of other high-level dealers involved in the drug ring, which eventually led to the indictment of roughly 20 people.

In exchange for his cooperation, the judge allowed Allen to plead guilty to felony drug trafficking with a significantly reduced sentence. He was sentenced to three to seven years in prison and ultimately served two years and four months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, Minnesota.

Allen has since described prison as a massive wake-up call that forced him to grow up and take accountability. He also credits his time inside with helping him discover the true power of his comedy; he used his wit and dark humor to diffuse dangerous situations, win over both inmates and guards, and survive his sentence. “When I was incarcerated, I started focusing on where I wanted to be,” he told Us Weekly. “I did not want to do that ever again. I humiliated my family and friends and myself. I did not want to make that mistake [again].”

Following his parole in June 1981, Allen was determined to completely change his trajectory. He threw himself fully into the Michigan stand-up comedy circuit. A decade after his release, his routines caught the eye of television executives, landing him the starring role on the hit ABC sitcom Home Improvement in 1991, followed by iconic film roles in The Santa Clause and Toy Story.

Members of the Short Tail Gang Gathered Under a Pier at Corlears Hook in New York City, ca. 1887

Captured in 1889 by Jacob Riis, the only known photograph of the notorious Short Tail Gang offers a rare and chilling window into New York City’s underworld. Pictured beneath the pier at the foot of Jackson Street near Corlears Hook, the gang members sit hunched on damp wooden planks, eating from tin cans. Their distinctive short-tailed jackets, practical yet defiant, gave the gang its name and served as a makeshift uniform in the harsh world of tenement life and street survival.

The Short Tail Gang, also known as the Short Tails for their distinctive short-tailed jacket coats, were an 1880s–1890s Irish gang located in the Corlear's Hook section of the Lower East Side, on Rivington Street in the vicinity of Mangin and Goerck Streets of Manhattan, in New York City. The Eastman Gang was also headquartered around Corlear’s Hook and may have had its beginnings as a breakaway gang of the Short Tail Gang.

The Short Tails, along with rival gangs the Daybreak Boys, the Patsy Conroy Gang, the Swamp Angels, and the Hook Gang, worked the New York City waterfront, plundering ships of their cargo on the East River. The Short Tail Gang was photographed in 1887, under a pier by noted photographer Jacob Riis, being one of the few 19th-century New York gangs to allow its members to be photographed. In fear of being identified and arrested by the law, usually individual police mug shots were the only criminal pictures known to exist.

The Aftermath of Ian Ball’s Attempt to Kidnap Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth’s Only Daughter, in 1976

On March 20, 1974, an armed, lone gunman named Ian Ball attempted to kidnap Britain’s Princess Anne along The Mall near Buckingham Palace. The 23-year-old Princess Royal famously thwarted the abduction with her calm composure and the now-legendary response: “Not bloody likely!”

Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, were returning from a charity film screening in a chauffeur-driven limousine. Ian Ball swerved his Ford Escort in front of their car, forcing it to stop. He immediately jumped out brandishing two pistols.

The windows of Anne’s Vanden Plas Princess were blown out during the gun fight between her bodyguard and her would-be kidnapper.

Ian Ball’s Ford Escort, and the royal car close behind, at the scene of the attempted kidnap.

Police search for evidence in flower beds by the Mall after the attempt to kidnap Princess Anne.

Police found handcuffs and tranquilisers in Ian Ball’s possession.

Ball intended to hold Princess Anne for a ransom of £2 million to £3 million. When he stormed the royal vehicle, several individuals courageously intervened, resulting in four people being shot and wounded: Inspector James Beaton, her personal police protection officer, who was shot three times trying to shield her; Alex Callender, the Princess’s chauffeur; Brian McConnell, a journalist who tried to intervene; Michael Hills, a police constable who approached the scene.

Ball tore open the limousine door and commanded Princess Anne to get out. Standing her ground, she absolutely refused to budge. While Ball tried to drag her out by her arm, she engaged him in a brief, calm argument to stall for time, eventually dodging backward out of the car when he pulled at her. A passerby and former heavyweight boxer, Ronald Russell, charged at Ball and struck him in the head. Russell then helped shield the Princess while police reinforcements arrived to tackle and arrest Ball.

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Members of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch: The Story Behind the Famous “Fort Worth Five” Photograph in 1900

Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch was the most successful train- and bank-robbing outlaw gang in American history. Operating at the turn of the 20th century, this loose-knit coalition of cowboy-outlaws terrorized the Mountain West before being driven into South America by the relentless Pinkerton Detective Agency. Unlike many violent gangs of the era, they were famous for their meticulous planning, strategic getaways, and a reputation for avoiding bloodshed whenever possible.

Five members of the Wild Bunch, ca. 1892. This crudely constructed tintype portrait of five members of the gang dressed in bowler hats and city clothes shows, clockwise, from the top left, Kid Curry, Bill McCarty, Bill (Tod) Carver, Ben Kilpatrick, and Tom O’Day. Without their six shooters and cowboy hats the outlaws appear quite civilized and could easily be mistaken for the sheriffs and Pinkerton agents who pursued them in a “Wild West” already much tamed by the probable date of this photograph.

On September 19, 1900, the Wild Bunch pulled off a spectacularly lucrative heist. They robbed the First National Bank in Winnemucca, Nevada, escaping with roughly $32,640 in gold and cash, a massive fortune at the time. Flush with stolen money, the core members traveled southeast to Fort Worth, Texas, to lay low and blow off steam. They took refuge in “Hell’s Half-Acre,” Fort Worth’s notorious red-light district packed with gambling halls, brothels, and saloons.

To celebrate their criminal success, the gang decided to play the part of legitimate, wealthy high-society businessmen. They bought expensive, matching three-piece wool suits and elegant bowler hats. On November 21, likely after a few drinks, they walked into the professional studio of photographer John Swartz, located upstairs at 705½ Main Street (right above John P. Sheehan's Saloon). The resulting portrait captured five calm, smiling men staring into the lens.

Front row left to right: Harry A. Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid; Ben Kilpatrick, alias the Tall Texan; Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy. Standing: Will Carver & Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry; Fort Worth, Texas, 1900.

The outlaws were so pleased with the incredibly sharp, high-quality portrait that they reportedly didn’t care when Swartz kept a copy for himself. Shortly after, a local Fort Worth detective or Pinkerton agent happened to visit John Swartz’s studio. Looking at the sample prints, the lawman recognized the faces of Ben Kilpatrick and Will Carver, whom he had dealt with or seen on older Texas descriptions. Recognizing that these dapper “businessmen” were actually wanted train robbers, the police quickly confiscated the original photograph and its negatives.

Before this photograph existed, law enforcement had incredibly poor descriptions of the Wild Bunch. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had spent years operating under aliases, and many lawmen had no idea what they actually looked like. The Pinkertons immediately cropped the group photo into individual, high-definition mugshots. They flooded post offices, police departments, and train stations across the American West with new, hyper-accurate “Wanted” posters.

Will Carver was the first to fall; he was shot and killed by lawmen in Texas less than six months later, in April 1901. Ben Kilpatrick was captured in late 1901 after trying to pass banknotes from a recent train robbery. Butch and Sundance realized the game was over in the United States. Recognizing their own faces on posters everywhere, they fled the country for South America early in 1901.

In 1999, the Smithsonian Institution declared the “Fort Worth Five” portrait the most iconic image of the Wild West, a lasting monument to a moment where outlaw pride paved the way for their own destruction.

Before 9/11: Bomb Exploded Under the World Trade Center in 1993

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when terrorists detonated a massive truck bomb in the underground parking garage beneath the North Tower in New York City. The attack killed six people, including a pregnant woman, injured over 1,000 others, and forced the evacuation of roughly 50,000 workers from the complex.

Mastermind Ramzi Yousef packed a rented Ryder van with roughly 1,200 to 1,500 pounds of urea nitrate explosives enhanced with hydrogen gas. His goal was to compromise the North Tower’s foundation so violently that it would collapse into the South Tower, potentially killing up to 250,000 civilians.

The explosion detonated at 12:18 p.m., tearing a crater roughly 100 to 150 feet wide and several stories deep into the basement parking structure. While the structural integrity of the buildings held, heavy smoke rushed up the elevator shafts and stairwells, trapping thousands in darkness during a grueling multi-hour rescue effort. The six casualties were local workers and Port Authority employees: John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen Knapp, Wilfredo Mercado, Monica Rodriguez Smith (who was pregnant), and William Macko. They are honored at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

Investigators sifted through thousands of tons of rubble to locate a blown-apart piece of wreckage containing a vehicle identification number (VIN). The VIN was traced to a van reported stolen by Mohammed Salameh. The FBI arrested Salameh when he foolishly returned to a Jersey City rental agency to try and reclaim his $400 cash rental deposit. Ramzi Yousef fled the country but was tracked down by federal agents in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 1995. Yousef and five other co-conspirators, including the van driver Eyad Ismoil, Mahmud Abouhalima, Ahmad Ajaj, Nidal Ayyad, and Mohammed Salameh, were captured, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. One suspect, Abdul Rahman Yasin, remains at large.

The 1993 bombing serves as a historic precursor to the catastrophic attacks of September 11, 2001. Ramzi Yousef's uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would later become the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, executing his nephew’s original objective of bringing down the Twin Towers using commercial airplanes instead of a truck bomb.

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John Wojtowicz Posing in Front of the Chase Manhattan Bank in Brooklyn He Tried to Rob, 1978

John Wojtowicz (also known as “Littlejohn” or “The Dog”) standing outside the Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Gravesend, Brooklyn (at 450 Avenue P), that he tried to rob on August 22, 1972. He is wearing a black T-shirt reading “I ROBBED THIS BANK.” The photo was taken after his release from federal prison in April 1978; he returned to the site to pose for pictures and sign autographs, capitalizing on his notoriety.

Wojtowicz (then 27), a Vietnam veteran, former Chase Manhattan teller, and married father of two who was also involved in New York’s gay scene, planned the heist primarily to fund gender-reassignment surgery for his lover, Ernest Aron (later Elizabeth Debbie Eden / Liz Eden). Aron had attempted suicide, and Wojtowicz believed the surgery would help. He recruited two accomplices, Salvatore (“Sal”) Naturile and Robert (“Bobby”) Westenberg. After some failed scouting attempts at other banks (and after watching The Godfather that day for inspiration), they targeted this branch near closing time.

Westenberg lost his nerve and fled. Wojtowicz and Naturile entered, presented a note inspired by The Godfather (“This is an offer you can’t refuse”), and took employees hostage. What was meant to be a quick job turned into a chaotic 14-hour standoff. Police and FBI surrounded the bank; a large crowd of onlookers and media gathered. Wojtowicz negotiated, played to the crowd (throwing money, demanding food and pizza, etc.), and demanded to see Aron (who was brought from a hospital). The vault had limited cash; they seized roughly $38,000 in cash plus traveler’s checks.

The situation ended when the hostages and robbers were taken to Kennedy Airport under the pretense of providing a plane. FBI agents shot and killed Naturile; Wojtowicz surrendered. He was sentenced to 20 years but served about five (released in 1978).

The story became a media sensation and inspired the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon (directed by Sidney Lumet, with Al Pacino as a character based on Wojtowicz and John Cazale as the Naturile figure). Wojtowicz sold the rights and used some of the money to help fund Eden’s surgery; she had the operation in 1973. Their relationship later ended; Eden died of AIDS-related illness in 1987.

After release, Wojtowicz struggled to find steady work, he even applied unsuccessfully for a security job at the same bank. He leaned into his fame: standing outside the bank signing autographs and posing in the “I Robbed This Bank” shirt, as seen in the 1978 photo. He lived much of the rest of his life in Brooklyn (often with his mother), had further legal troubles, and died in 2006. A 2013 documentary, The Dog, covers his life in more detail.

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Inside the Opium Dens From Between the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Opium dens were establishments where opium was sold and smoked, typically in reclining positions using long pipes heated over oil lamps. They flourished from the mid-to-late 19th century into the early 20th century across China, Southeast Asia, North America (especially Chinatowns), parts of Europe, and Australia.

Chinese immigrants brought the practice to the United States during the California Gold Rush (around 1850 onward). San Francisco’s Chinatown became an early hub, with dens often in basements, back rooms, or upstairs spaces of laundries and boarding houses. These were tightly sealed to protect the lamps from drafts and contain the distinctive fumes. The habit spread eastward to cities like New York (notably Mott and Pell Streets), Denver, Portland, and others, as well as Canadian Chinatowns in Victoria and Vancouver. Similar dens existed in Australian gold-rush areas (e.g., Melbourne, Ballarat) and, to a lesser and often exaggerated extent, in London’s Limehouse district.

In China itself, dens ranged widely by class: opulent ones for the affluent and sparse ones for laborers. Western dens mirrored this range. Many Chinese smokers used opium as an escape from loneliness, hard labor, prejudice, and homesickness. By the 1870s–1890s, non-Chinese patrons, including white Americans of various classes, from underworld figures to middle- and upper-class individuals, and both men and women, frequented them. Some dens became mixed-race spaces.

Unlike bars or taverns designed for standing or sitting upright, opium dens were laid out specifically for patrons to lie down on their sides. Because smoking opium (chandoo) required heating a viscous paste over a small oil lamp while balancing a heavy pipe, resting on one’s side was both ergonomically necessary and essential for safety. Dens featured low wooden platforms, raised bamboo beds, or cushioned divans. In basic establishments, smokers shared wide wooden couches covered with straw mats or simple fabric; upscale establishments offered carved teak benches, silk pillows, and porcelain headrests.

Dens were typically dim and heavily insulated from drafts, as open air currents could extinguish or fluctuate the flame of the opium lamp. The air held a heavy, sweet, burnt-herbal aroma distinct from tobacco smoke. Establishments employed attendants (often called “cooks” or pipe-masters) who prepared the opium spheres, heated them over oil burners, loaded the clay pipe bowls, and handed them to patrons.

Peak popularity in the U.S. came in the 1880s and 1890s. Opium was initially legal or loosely regulated. Concerns, fueled by moral reformers, temperance advocates, and anti-Chinese sentiment, led to local bans (San Francisco’s 1875 ordinance was among the earliest anti-drug laws targeting dens), the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (which also restricted opium imports), the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, and the Smoking Opium Exclusion Act of 1909. Public burnings of confiscated opium and pipes occurred. Dens were driven underground but persisted in some places into the mid-20th century (New York’s last known one closed in 1957; some Australian dens lasted into the 1950s).

Period accounts mixed genuine observation of addiction and squalor with heavy racial stereotyping, claims of dens luring and “corrupting” white women, associations with crime or moral decay, and “Yellow Peril” tropes. Many such narratives were exaggerated or false; dens attracted diverse patrons, and smoking also occurred privately in homes. Photographs from the era show both ordinary Chinese smokers and mixed groups reclining with pipes, sometimes appearing relaxed rather than purely degraded.

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Famous Posthumous Photos of “Bloody Bill” Anderson After Being Killed by Union Solders, 1864

William T. Anderson (c. 1840 – October 26, 1864), known by the nickname “Bloody Bill” Anderson, was a Confederate soldier who was one of the deadliest and most notorious guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War. Anderson operated along the lawless Missouri-Kansas border, leading a group of irregular pro-Confederate partisan fighters known as “bushwhackers.” His tactics were defined by extreme violence and a thirst for personal vengeance, fueled in part by the death of his sister in a Union jail collapse.

He became infamous for scalping, mutilating, and executing Union soldiers. His most notorious act was the Centralia Massacre in September 1864, where his men executed over 20 unarmed Union soldiers on a train and slaughtered over 100 pursuing troops. His band of fighters served as a breeding ground for future outlaws, including young Jesse James and Cole Younger.

Furious over the Centralia Massacre, Union forces tasked Lieutenant Colonel Samuel P. Cox with hunting Anderson down. On October 26, 1864, Cox lured the guerrillas into an ambush near Albany, Missouri. Anderson charged directly into the line of fire and was shot twice in the head, dying instantly.

Union forces brought his body to Richmond, Missouri, parading it through the streets in triumph. To provide undeniable propaganda proof to the public that the notorious terrorist was dead, local photographer Robert B. Kice propped his corpse into a chair, arranged his hair, and placed a revolver in his hand. The photographs were widely distributed across the border states. Following the photo session, Union soldiers reportedly dragged his body through the streets, decapitated him, and buried him in an unmarked field. Decades later, in 1908, his former subordinate Cole Younger returned to give him a proper burial in Richmond’s Pioneer Cemetery.

Historians have been mixed in their appraisal of Anderson. Biographer Larry Wood describes him as the “bloodiest man in America’s deadliest war” and characterizes him as the clearest example of the war’s “dehumanizing influence.” In their biography of Anderson, Albert Castel and Tom Goodrich view Anderson as one of the war’s most savage and bitter combatants, but they also argue that the war made savages of many others.

According to journalist T.J. Stiles, Anderson was not necessarily a “sadistic fiend,” but illustrated how young men became part of a “culture of atrocity” during the war. He maintains that Anderson’s acts were seen as particularly shocking in part because his cruelty was directed towards white Americans of equivalent social standing, rather than targets deemed acceptable by American society, such as Native Americans or foreigners.

In a study of 19th-century warfare, historian James Reid posited that Anderson suffered from delusional paranoia, which exacerbated his aggressive, sadistic personality. He sees Anderson as obsessed with, and greatly enjoying, the ability to inflict fear and suffering in his victims, and suggests he suffered from the most severe type of sadistic personality disorder. Reid draws a parallel between the bashi-bazouks of the Ottoman Army and Anderson’s guerrillas, arguing that they behaved similarly.

Anderson, ca. 1864

Portrait of Fred Waite and Henry Brown, Two Prominent Members of the “Regulators” During the Lincoln County War

Fred Waite and Henry Brown were once members of the Regulators, a vigilante group born out of the violent turmoil of the Lincoln County War in New Mexico during the late 1870s. Known for their sharp shooting and fearless resolve, both men played active roles in the bloodshed that followed, as factions battled for control in a region where law and loyalty were often fluid. In an era where the difference between outlaw and lawman could shift overnight, Waite and Brown gained reputations as capable, if dangerous, figures navigating a brutal chapter of Western history.

In the war’s aftermath, the two found themselves allied with one of the most enduring legends of the American frontier, Billy the Kid. Riding with his gang, they took part in daring escapes and deadly confrontations, living lives defined by risk and rebellion. Their association with Billy the Kid sealed their place in Western lore, linking them to a band of outlaws whose story blurred the lines between justice and vengeance. For a time, Waite and Brown rode in the shadow of a legend, their own names woven into the mythos of the Wild West.

A surviving photograph, housed in the True West Archives, captures the stoic faces of Waite and Brown, men shaped by conflict, loyalty, and the shifting allegiances of their time. It’s a haunting reminder of the era they inhabited, when survival meant choosing sides in a world without clear heroes.

The Own Goal at 1994 World Cup That Cost Andrés Escobar His Life

Going into the 1994 World Cup in the United States, the Colombian national team was widely considered a dark horse favorite to win the entire tournament. They had famously dismantled Argentina 5–0 in Buenos Aires during qualifiers, and Brazilian legend Pelé had even tipped them for the title.

However, back home, Colombia was fracturing. The death of drug lord Pablo Escobar (no relation to Andrés) in December 1993 had opened a massive power vacuum, causing chaos among rival drug cartels. These syndicates were deeply entrenched in Colombian football, heavily betting on matches and using clubs to launder money. The pressure on the team was suffocating. Players received death threats at their hotels, and the manager’s tactical decisions were actively influenced by cartel syndicates threatening the lives of the squad and their families.

After a shocking 3–1 loss to Romania in their opening match, the Colombian team received severe backlash and even death threats. On June 22, 1994, Colombia played a must-win group stage match against the host nation, the United States, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

In the 34th minute, American midfielder John Harkes sent a sharp cross into the Colombian penalty box. Attempting to block the pass, Colombia’s dependable, elegant star defender and captain, Andrés Escobar, slid to intercept the ball. Instead of clearing it, his deflection redirected the ball past his own goalkeeper, Oscar Córdoba, into the back of the net. The own goal gave the U.S. the momentum, resulting in a 2-1 defeat for Colombia. Despite winning their final group match against Switzerland, the Colombian team finished last in Group A and was eliminated early from the tournament.

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Sid Vicious’ Mugshot Taken After His Arrest by New York City Police on December 8, 1978

Two months prior to this photograph, on October 12, 1978, Sid Vicious’ 20-year-old American girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, was found dead on the bathroom floor of Room 100 at Manhattan’s historic Chelsea Hotel. She died from a single stab wound to the abdomen. Sid, who claimed he woke up from a severe drug stupor with no memory of what happened, was promptly arrested and charged with her murder. Virgin Records subsequently put up his $50,000 bail.

While out on bail for the murder charge, Sid’s volatile behavior continued. On December 8, 1978, he was arrested again after escalating a fight at a Manhattan rock club called Hurrah. During the altercation, he assaulted Todd Smith, the brother of acclaimed punk poet and musician Patti Smith, by striking him in the face with a broken bottle. This specific booking photograph was captured immediately following that arrest.

Following this booking, a judge revoked Sid’s bail and sent him to New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail. He spent 55 days there, where he underwent a forced, agonizing drug detoxification process. He was released on bail once again on February 1, 1979.

To celebrate his release, friends and family threw a party at an apartment in Greenwich Village. Tragically, having lost his drug tolerance during his time in jail, Sid took a lethal dose of highly pure heroin. He was found dead the following morning on February 2, 1979, at just 21 years old. Because of his sudden death, he never stood trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen, leaving the truth behind her death forever unresolved.

Brooklyn Stand-Up Mugshots

Before the stand-up series began, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) relied on the “Rogues Gallery” (established in 1857), which consisted of thousands of small, portrait-style photos of known criminals organized by height and specialty. By the turn of the 20th century, police departments integrated these photos into Bertillon cards, a French identification system combining physical measurements with front-and-profile mugshots.

In 1918, looking for a more practical way for detectives to recognize active criminals on the street, the NYPD launched the “Brooklyn Stand-Up series.” Subjects were photographed standing up against a plain background or height chart, capturing their complete physical presence rather than just a facial portrait.

When known collaborators, pickpocket rings, or gang members were arrested together, the NYPD photographed them in a group stand-up. This allowed detectives to document the physical associations and relative sizes of co-conspirators. The process was explicitly directed at recidivist criminals (repeat offenders) or individuals accused of severe, major crimes.

Margie Goldberg, Sarah Klein, Anna Miller. April 9, 1933. Grand larceny (shoplifting).

Alleyne Brothers. April 22, 1934. Felony assault knife.

Claire Odds. September 9, 1945. Felonious assault.

Bessie Globllo. January 19, 1947. Grand larceny.

Sarah Elizabeth Palmer. July 13, 1947. Homicide and 1897 Penal Law (gun).