Sounds like Amy Reading will be doing another interview about The Mark Inside, this time in our old stomping ground, Urbana, on WILL-AM, the local NPR affiliate. Listen in on April 25th, or check it out afterward on the net. Amy says her recent interview on NPR’s Saturday Edition was much longer than what was broadcast, […]
Great New Photos
Amy Reading came up with a few photos for her book that are new to us. These two photos, for instance, of Blonger gang members Adolph Duff and George Belcher. “Kid Duffy” managed the big store for Lou; as a matter of fact, Lou tried to throw him under the bus at trial, claiming they […]
Amy Reading on NPR
Amy more than held her own with Scott Simon last Saturday. You can listen in here: http://www.npr.org/2021/10/24/149148112/the-big-con-if-you-cant-avoid-it-avenge-it True, she didn’t get around to Lou (it was only a seven minute segment), but we forgive her. Great job, Amy! We’ll have more to say on her book, The Mark Inside, soon.
The Mark Inside
Looks like Lou will be coming soon to an NPR station near you. Author Amy Reading will be on Weekend Edition with Scott Simon this coming Saturday, March 24th, to talk about her new book The Mark Inside (Random House Digital, Inc.). For what it’s worth, she will also be on a Denver noontime TV news […]
Killer Kate Blonger Apprehended at Last!
Killed By a Woman Back in 2003, one of the very first items we found when we began searching the Internet was an article about a prostitute by the name of Kitty Blonger. On February 22, 1888, in the mining town of Peach Springs, AT, Kitty was arrested for the murder of blacksmith Charles Hill. […]
Joe Finally Shows His Face
Well, new information has been scant in recent months, but yesterday Scott turned on the spigot. Several new items from genealogybank.com are now in the pipe, and one in particular that solves a longstanding mystery. But first, since we were just talking about him behind his back, let’s briefly get back to Little Big Joe […]
Grandpa Mike
For those of you who are unfamiliar with our website and version 1.0 of our blog, we’re starting out by taking a brief look at each of the Blonger brothers. In that spirit, let’s continue with great-great-grandpa Mike Belonger. Born in 1841, Mike was the only brother of six that never adopted the Blonger spelling. […]
Little Big Joe
Now let’s talk about Joe, the Quiet One, the Lone Prospector, Joe Straight-Tongue. Born in 1847, Joe was eight years Sam’s junior, and two years older than Lou. Joe enlisted in the 125th Michigan Infantry just shy of his fifteenth birthday. The 125th saw more than its share of action in the Civil War, including […]
How Bout Sam?
Lou’s older brother Sam was born, like Lou, in Swanton Falls, Vermont, in 1839. Though no photos of Sam are known to exist, it is said that in many ways he was Lou’s complement; where Lou was short, stout and affable, and prone to rely on his personality to get his way, Sam was tall and imposing, with […]
Pronouncing the Name
When we first saw the names Belonger and Blonger, we assumed, as you may have, that they were pronounced like the word “longer“. It’s hard to tell because the name is very nearly unique, but the evidence suggests three options: We use what we believe to be the Americanized pronunciation, which rhymes with conjure. If […]