The cradle of American liberty, and also the same place where Eagles fans threw batteries at Santa Claus. What can we say? Philadelphia is large, it contains multitudes.
There Must Come a Change
the triumph and tragedy of Octavius Valentine Catto
Octavius Valentine Catto was a man for all seasons. He could have been the leader Philadelphia needed... if he hadn't been murdered.
In 1835 Maria Monk claimed that Montreal's Hôtel-Dieu convent was a vice den. She was making it all up... but Americans desperately wanted to believe her.
Billy Sunday was America's foremost evangelist, whose admirers included young men, ex-presidents, and titans of industry... but how was his baserunning?
In 1874 four-year-old Charley Ross was kidnapped in front of his family's Philadelphia home... and became America's first case of kidnapping for ransom.
Years before baseball played its first game under electric lights, the 1900 Philadelphia Phillies used electricity at the Baker Bowl... to steal signs.