Pennsylvania Oddities

"A new way to kill babies", was the chilling description given by a young school boy in Pottsville to a teacher in 1880. The boy's story ultimately led to the arrest of Mary Newman, a teen mother who was charged with infanticide after she admitted to killing her newborn- by playing a warped game of catch, using the infant as the ball. Below is an account of the sickening story, as it appeared in the February 10, 1880 edition of the New Bloomsfield Times.

In 1901, a patient at the Danville State Hospital murdered a doctor while his temperature was being taken. The following is the description of the killing, as it appeared in the April 4, 1901 edition of the Montour American.