Yesterday's Chip Paper

One of Hull’s most revered fighters both in and out of the ring, Albert Shakesby was the last person you’d want to get on the wrong side of. While he had reportedly saved 30 lives from “violent death” by the age of 29, he also constantly thirsted for a row, whether squaring up to the nation’s best sportsmen or the band of the Salvation Army. So when Shakesby fell to his knees and declared himself saved at the pulpit of an evangelical church, he caused quite the stir across the world, and so the unlikely preacher’s story began. He continued to save lives not only from sin, but from the continuous stream of unfortunate circumstances that seem to follow him wherever he went. A coincidence? Maybe. Also this week, Jim looks into the draws of Santa Cruz through poetry, and advertises Indian Blood Syrup, which is most definitely the cure-all you need in your life right now - unlike that dastardly Snake Oil. Yesterday’s Chip Paper is a fortnightly history podcast that looks as strange, bizarre and macabre stories fro

Honey, fascists and the death of Santa Claus - just some of the topics covered in this special Christmas edition of Yesterday's Chip Paper Extra! - the very best of the shorter stories from the world's historic newspaper archives. Learn all about the traditional festive season in Violet's home country of Australia, and discover the story of the abandoned child who could or could not be Jim. Yesterday's Chip Paper is the fortnightly podcast that sees your hosts, Jim and Violet, looking at the most strange, bizarre and unbelievable stories from history's newspapers. Everything from high sea mutiny to the Sausage King of London is covered - the only limit to the stories that are told is that they must have been reported on sometime in the last few hundred years.  If you like what you hear, please do rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts, and let us know what you think at @paperpodcast on Facebook and Twitter, or chippaperpodcast@gmail.com. Sources used in this episode: British Newspaper Archive https

In this edition of Yesterday's Chip Paper Extra! We read to each other about incompetent police, errant livestock, insanity-inspired murders on the high seas and more. As with all of our mini-episodes, the stories we read out have been sourced by the other host, and haven't been shared in advance, so we have no idea what we're about to read.  If you like what you hear, please do rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts, and let us know what you think at @paperpodcast on Facebook and Twitter, or chippaperpodcast@gmail.com. Yesterday's Chip Paper is the podcast where your two hosts - Violet and Jim - delve into the world of historical newspapers, unearthing long-forgotten stories from days gone by. In our Extra! episodes, we look at the shorter stories that don't quite make full episodes, but are fun nonetheless.  Source used in this episode: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ Thanks to the Free Music Archive for our intro and outro music. 

Anton Probst was a carpenter's son from (probably) Wiesbaden, Germany. After being deservedly dumped by his betrothed, he embarked upon a criminal escapade with a not-too-bright friend that put the friend in prison and sent Anton on the run.    Eventually, in 1863, Anton arrived in the US, and nothing around him was ever pleasant again. He lied, cheated and stole his way from state to state, at one point mutilating himself to avoid taking guard duty. Misery followed misery, and fate led Anton to the Deering (also spelled Dearing in some sources) family farm in rural Philadelphia. What followed would be so gruesome as to make newspapers across the world, and by far the worst crime we've covered on the show.     Also, Violet's got some correspondence from Australia as a wizened and bitter person critiques the poetry of a child.    Sources used in this episode:   http://lawcollections.library.cornell.edu/trial/catalog/sat:1709 britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk trove.nla.gov.au newspapers.com   Yesterday's Chip P

When a war munitions broker is shot on the steps of his front porch, it causes chaos in the affluent area of Hyde Park, Chicago. For over three weeks the police hunt for his mysterious killer, throwing up dozens of theories and suspects, until a man hands himself in to authorities over 200 miles away in Cedar Rapids. But detectives are suspicious about this man’s story, and the unusual case just gets even more puzzling...   Was it “Human Tigers”, war fanatics, or a simple case of a robbery gone wrong? For episode 25 of Yesterday’s Chip Paper, Jim and Violet try to get to the bottom of this mysterious murder case.   Plus: Jim finds some spooooooky poems from some surprisingly talented children, and reads the pettiest letter we've ever unearthed.    Archives used in this episode:   www.britishnewspaperarchive.com www.newspapers.com trove.nla.gov.au http://www.chicagotribune.com/tribune-archives/    Yesterday's Chip Paper is a bi-monthly (ish) podcast that delves into the murky world of old newspapers to discov

A man hires a ghost to kill his wife, a hanging hand haunts a thriving hotel, and a shrunken head is causing trouble from a ping pong box. It's a rapid fire round-up of the best Halloween stories from the historic newspaper archives! In this second mini episode from Yesterday's Chip Paper, we'll also hear the tactics of a ghostly thief and inventive wildlife descriptions David Attenborough would be proud of from the haunted Scottish wilderness.  YCP Extra! Sees Jim and Violet dig out the very best true short stories from the world's newspapers, those that aren't long enough to make up a longer episode, but are brilliant nonetheless. Yesterday's Chip Paper is a fortnightly(ish) podcast that looks at true stories found in historic newspapers from across the world. With hundreds of years of history at their fingertips, the only real limit to the stories that are told is that they have to have happened - or, at least, been reported. Whether it's true crime, mass hysteria or unusual reporting of famous events, it'

Should man mate with apes? How do you survive a bear attack? And what exactly is dibbling a man's clay? All of these questions are answered in the first ever mini episode from Yesterday's Chip Paper. As well as this, there are tales of unbelievable bravery, saving mail trains and novel tactics from a creative policeman. YCP Extra! Sees Jim and Violet pick out the best of the shorter stories they stumble across while looking through the archives, those that aren't long enough to make a full episode, but are brilliant nonetheless.  Yesterday's Chip Paper is a fortnightly(ish) podcast that looks at true stories found in historic newspapers from across the world. With hundreds of years of history at their fingertips, the only real limit to the stories that are told is that they have to have happened - or, at least, been reported. Whether it's true crime, mass hysteria or unusual reporting of famous events, it's always guaranteed to be downright bonkers.  Archives used in this episode: British Newspaper Archive ht

In episode 24, Jim covers the story of Jane Cakebread, a woman once known internationally and now almost completely forgotten. Jane was a likeable character known throughout Victorian Britain and beyond, a woman who got herself in trouble so many times that she broke records for the number of her criminal convictions, and was the catalyst for a huge libel case between a Lady and the Pall Mall Gazette. Jane was so famous, a law was passed because of her. Was she really a drunk, or was it mental illness? Will she ever get her £15,000 inheritance? Is she the best needlewoman in Holloway gaol? Listen to find out.    Also in this episode, Violet covers some Australian traditions (lighting stuff on fire) and a letter to the editor from an Australian J.R.R. Tolkien.    Archives used in the research for this episode: British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk Newspapers.com National Library of Australia http://trove.nla.gov.au/   New York Times Archive http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-f

“Atlanta woman announced her marriage, went to New York to buy her trousseau, and came home with unknown corpse.” - The Vicksburg Herald, 14 Nov 1915 Violet tells the story of Julia Choate Crumley, and ‘the tiny lie that grew into a monster that threatened her destruction’ as the Chicago Tribune put it - or- the lengths a 28-year-old society girl would go to to make people believe that she had found a husband. Meanwhile, Jim takes a trip down memory lane to reveal the local poetry of his hometown thanks to the Lancashire Evening Post, as well as finding some unforgiving letters from the editor. Yesterday's Chip Paper is a fortnighly(ish) history podcast that looks at true crime, bizarre stories, and curious characters from historic newspaper archives. Your hosts, Jim and Violet, are two amateur researchers based on opposite sides of the Atlantic - Jim in New York and Violet in London - who come together twice a month to tell each other about the bonkers tales they've found in historic newspaper archives from

Euphrasie Mercier and her siblings were set for life, until a revolution left them penniless. Years of trying to make ends meet, spells in asylums and failed businesses followed until, one fateful day, Euphrasie crossed paths with Elodie Menetret, a kind and generous woman followed by the faint whiff of scandal. This meeting would lead to Elodie's disappearance, Euphrasie's rise to riches and a scandal that would shock France and captivate the world.  Also in this episode: A rare intentionally bad poem and a very chill abandoned baby. Yesterday's Chip Paper is a bi-monthly podcast in which your hosts, Violet and Jim, scour newspaper archives for curiosities long since forgotten. From murders to mutinies, mad scientists to mass hysteria, the only limit to the stories we find is that they have to have made headlines.  Articles used in this episode: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9405E4DB1638E533A25756C2A9629C94679FD7CF&mcubz=0 https://books.google.com/books?id=jLstAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA285&

Described as a “vulgar, industrious, shrewd” character worthy of Charles Dickens or Chris Reade, this is the story of, arguably, the most brilliant and bonkers businessman of Victorian London. William Harris, the Sausage King, built his string of sausage shops from the murky misery of Newgate Market, before moving to his glamorous new premises across the road from Smithfield Market. He was known in every household in England, and his fame spread to most every continent in the world. Also this week, Jim reads a lyrical musing about what would happen if people didn’t have to eat, and a gaff of an announcement which has a certain newpaper in all kinds of trouble. This is Yesterday’s Chip Paper, a fortnightly(ish) history podcast that looks at true crime, strange stories, bizarre letters and old poetry from the pages of historic newspapers. Every two weeks or so, transatlantic researchers Jim and Violet discuss a story they’ve found from historic newspaper archives across the world.   Newspaper archives used in t

A handsome young couple go to an island off the coast of Ireland to paint, bathe and...murder? In episode 20 of Yesterday's Chip Paper, Jim tells the story of the Ireland's Eye Murder, also known as the Kirwan Case. This true crime story has every element of a classic Victorian scandal: the untimely death of a - repeatedly described in every newspaper as - beautiful young woman, lies, deceit, more lies, lies about those lies and for some unrelated reason a surprise skeleton.  Also in this episode, is window ham genuine?  Yesterday's Chip Paper is a fortnighly(ish) history podcast that looks at true crime, bizarre stories, and curious characters from historic newspaper archives. Your hosts, Jim and Violet, are two amateur researchers based on opposite sides of the Atlantic - Jim in New York and Violet in London - who come together twice a month to tell each other about the bonkers tales they've found in historic newspaper archives from across the world. Archives used in this episode: British Newspaper Archive

Just before midnight on the 14th of April 1912, the RMS Titanic, branded “unsinkable” by the White Star Line, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage. The ship, which was the largest vessel in the world at the time, was transporting 2,208 passengers and crew from Southampton to New York. Everyone knows how the story ends, but the reports printed at the time of the disaster told a very different story. How exactly did the story go so wrong? Also this week, Jim finds great hatred through poetry, and a letter from a man keen to clear his name from a heinous crime.  Yesterday's Chip Paper is a fortnightly(ish) history podcast looking at all sorts of stories from historic newspaper archives. Whether it's true crime, mad sea captains, 'unsolved' murders or the worst families in history, it's guaranteed to be downright bonkers.  Jim and Violet are two amateur researchers based on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Jim in New York and Violet in London, who love the bizarre stories to be found in history's headlines.    A

In this episode, Jim goes a little off piste and takes liberties with what is and isn't a newspaper, but nonetheless unearths squalid stories of a half-hanged man and the most lavish con man who ever conned. In our letters to the editor, we have mystery vegetables that are probably hilarious and a poem from a child with no friends. Yesterday's Chip Paper is a fortnighly(ish) history podcast that looks at true crime, bizarre stories, and curious characters from historic newspaper archives. Your hosts, Jim and Violet, are two amateur researchers based on opposite sides of the Atlantic - Jim in New York and Violet in London - who come together twice a month to tell each other about the bonkers tales they've found in historic newspaper archives from across the world.   Archives used in this episode: British Newspaper Archive www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ The New Newgate Calendar @ archive.org   Yesterday’s Chip Paper online: Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/paperpodcast Follow us on on Twitter: www.twit

Ingenious inventor or crackpot fraud? This is the question on everyone’s mind with this edition of Yesterday’s Chip Paper. When an English inventor lights up the world’s imaginations with claims of his invisible Death Ray, the War Office is quick to try and validate it. So is Harry Grindell Matthews onto something or is this a fraudulent story gone way too far? Also this week, Jim finds the shortest poem in the world and an ode to the old Hollywood great John Wayne. Yesterday’s Chip Paper is a fortnightly(ish) history podcast that looks into the strange, macabre and downright terrifying stories found in historic newspaper archives. Whether it be true crime, tales of adventure or unbelievable characters from history, it’s guaranteed to be downright bonkers. Your hosts, Jim and Violet, are two amateur researchers based on opposite sides of the Atlantic who love delving into the crazy world of historic newspapers and getting to the bottom of history’s strangest headlines from across the world. Newspaper archives

On episode 16 of Yesterday's Chip Paper, Jim regales Violet with the terrible tale of Alexander Pearce, an Irishman sentenced to transportation in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) in the early 19th century. A repeated escape artist, Pearce and his companions took off one fine day and made good their escape from camp. The events that took place in the following weeks would be murderous, terrifying and life-ruining. For our letter and poem, Violet found a missive from an irresponsible psychic and a poem about a shrill child who meets a tragic end. Yesterday's Chip Paper is a fortnightly (bi-monthly) podcast that delves into the world of historical newspapers, unearthing tales of murder, mischief, mayhem and more. Newspaper archives used in this episode: British Newspaper Archive www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ TROVE (National Library of Australia) trove.nla.gov.au/ Yesterday’s Chip Paper online: Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/paperpodcast Follow us on on Twitter: www.twitter.com/paperpodcast Review us on

Morritt was one of the most famous magicians of his time, Monson was a notorious criminal let off scot-free. What could possibly go wrong when these two household names join forces for a tour? In 1893, Charles Morritt was running highly successful nights at the Prince’s Theatre in London’s Piccadilly. Alfred John Monson was in the centre of the Ardlamont Murder, a famous case that took place in Scotland. The case inspired William Roughead, one of the pioneers of true crime writing, who provides some of the commentary in this episode. Also this week Jim takes a look at gender issues - 1949 style, and Sally’s sister has some scathing poetry. Newspaper archives used in this episode: British Newspaper Archive www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ TROVE (National Library of Australia) http://trove.nla.gov.au/ More on Morritt and Monson: Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible by Jim Steinmeyer The Scotsman, 2005 http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-ardlamont-mystery-tragic-mistake-or-calculated-e

One balmy, Charleston night in May of 1862, an act of such bravery was carried out that it would turn the perpetrator into a propaganda sensation and a national celebrity (depending on whose side you were on). This is the story of Robert Smalls, a man who went from slavery to the senate in the 19th century South. Also this week, Violet reads out a letter from a terrible person and a poem that gives Jim cluster headaches. Yesterday's Chip Paper is a bimonthly (or so) podcast that delves into historic newspapers to find true stories from columns gone by, be they inspiring, bizarre or completely outrageous. Your hosts, Violet and Jim, are amateur researchers with a love for old newspapers and telling each other what we've found in them, and every couple of weeks we get together to do just that. From hunger artists to fox sanctuaries, bicycle murders to mutinies, anything could come up. Newspaper archives used in this episode: Newspapers.com www.newspapers.com/ British Newspaper Archive www.britishnewspaperarchiv

In 1932, an Englishman, an Australian and an American walk into a house in Florida. One of them wouldn’t leave alive. This is the story of Englishman Captain Bill Lancaster and Australian “Chubbie” Miller, who met at a party in London, a chance encounter that would spark the most bizarre five years of their lives. Soon they’d embark on a flight to Australia in a tiny Avro Avian, become household names across the world, be welcomed in the states by tickertape parades and movie deals, before falling into the depths of despair. Enter Haden Clarke, the American biographer who’d alter their lives in a way they’d never expect. Also this week, Jim digs up the story of the luckiest fox alive. Honestly, it’s our most bonkers letter to the editor yet. Yesterday’s Chip Paper is a fortnightly(ish) history podcast that looks at bizarre, macabre and downright strange true stories from the historic newspaper archives. Violet and Jim are two amateur researchers based on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Violet in London and Ji

This is the story of Giovanni Succi, once the most famous name in Paris completely forgotten today. Succi was a hunger artist, a name given to people from across the world who took part in great feats of fasting. Some cited science as their motive, others entertainment, but the one thing they all knew for certain was that they couldn’t ever lose. Enter Succi, the Italian poster boy of the fasting craze, who was prepared to put everything on the line to defeat his rivals with the help of his magical elixir. Succi made a name for himself as the most famous hunger artist in the world, taking part in a series of deadly challenges well documented by the world press. Also this week, the newspaper origins of IMDB and a trainwreck of a nursery rhyme from Uncle Geoff. Yesterday’s Chip Paper is a fortnightly(ish) history podcast that looks at the weird and the wonderful from the historic newspaper archives. Ever two weeks, Jim and Violet, a pair of trans-atlantic amateur researchers, look at everything from true crime,