All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

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Joseph Lapsley Wilson: The Trooper as Horticulturalist Nov 05, 2025

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ABC:LHS #080-4 Joseph Lapsley Wilson...

...is better remembered today for his arboretum than his troop membership. It still exists today as the Barnes Arboretum at St. Joseph's University. He introduced several species of Asian trees to the United States. His portrait by Thomas Eakins hangs in the Armory Museum.

A. Loudon Snowden: The Man Who Did Everything Nov 04, 2025

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ABC:LHS #080-3 Archibald Loudon Snowden...

...was a polymath who served as Captain of the Troop, as well as postmaster for the city, supervisor of the Philadelphia mint, ambassador to Spain, along with numerous other roles. His portrait is in the armory dining room, and his descendants entertain millions of people.

Fairman Rogers: Horseman Extraordinaire Nov 03, 2025

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ABC:LHS #080-2 Fairman Rogers...

...lived a life of elegant wealth but made himself useful as an expert in many aspects of science, especially civil engineering. He served briefly as captain of the Troop. He excelled as a coachman, especially when he took his magnificent black and red four-in-hand through Fairmount Park. Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins captured Rogers in a painting that is the first to accurately demonstrate motion in animals.

1st City Troop: The First 150 Years Nov 02, 2025

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ABC:LHS #080-1 The First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry...

...or "First City Troop", was organized in 1774 as the Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia, one of the first patriotic military organizations established in the American Revolution. Although part of the National Guard system, it is a free-standing unit with its own uniforms and armory. It has served in virtually every war and skirmish ever entered by the United States. After a quarter century of service, it still proudly serves the American populace and the people of Philadelphia.

Happy 250th to the First City Troop Nov 01, 2025

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ABC:LHS #080 First City Troop, Philadelphia...

...celebrated its semiquincentennial before the country did.

Part 1: brief history of the Troop's First 150 years
Part 2: Fairman Rogers, the finest coach driver in the land, was painted by Thomas Eakins
Part 3: Archibald Loudon Snowden was a late-19th century polymath, an expert in coin minting, the postal service, fire insurance, and Fairmount Park in addition to his years as a captain of the troop
Part 4: Joseph Lapsley Wilson quietly developed one of the finest arboretums in the country which continued under the care of Dr. Albert C. Barnes
Part 5: Hugh Craig, Jr. was the grease that kept the troop moving and the glue that kept it together for more than 30 years, yet he lay in an unmarked grave at Laurel Hill East for more than a century.

Hell Hath No Fury Oct 19, 2025

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BBB:LHWS #049-4 Oscar Rosier...

...had married the prettiest salesgirl in town, who soon bore him a child. But Oscar had a roving eye which was apparently set on his secretary, another beauty and purported friend of his wife. It did not end well for anyone.

The Viper and the Vampire Oct 18, 2025

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BBB:LHWS #049-3 Captain Clayton Erb...

...decided to marry and produce an heir at age 50 and selected a young divorcee to serve as mistress of his Red Gables estate in Delaware County. When the woman's sister got involved, things went sour in a hurry. The court case revealed the mansion had been a house of horrors.

John Hobbs: Victim of an Obsession Oct 17, 2025

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BBB:LHWS #049-2 John Hobbs...

...knew he was being stalked and told his brother that if he didn't leave town soon, he would be a dead man. He was proven right when the woman he was avoiding caught up with him at the train station.

Wives Who Kill, Edwardian Edition Oct 16, 2025

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BBB:LHWS #049-1 Intimate Partner Violence...

...dates to pre-biblical times and violence against women was sanctioned by laws until only recently. Up to 40% of all homicides involve a domestic partner. Men tend not to report abuse when it happens, although attitudes are changing. The adage that “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them" is sometimes reversed. Here are three women who killed their intimate partner; their stories are anything but simple and straightforward.

Mariticide for Beginners Oct 15, 2025

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BBB:LHWS #049 Wives Kill for varying reasons

John Hobbs was stalked and shot at a railway station in 1891 by a spurned lover.
CPT Clayton Erb was shot and killed, either by his wife or his sister-in-law, during one of many knockdown drag-out battles that had occurred in the brief marriage at the Red Gables mansion in Delaware County.
In 1922, businessman Oscar Rosier and his secretary Jerry were mortally wounded by Rosier’s wife, who was thought to be the prettiest salesgirl in Philadelphia. Oscar lived long enough to write a will, which completely blocked his soon-to-be widow from his modest estate.

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