Delaware Humanities has selected one of my research topics for inclusion in its 2025–2026 Speakers Bureau. My lecture series, titled “The Shadow of the Gallows: The History of Capital Punishment in America,” will be available for public programming across the state beginning November 1, 2025, and continuing throughout the 2026 calendar year. This selection followed…
The Dark Legacy of Patty Cannon: A Presentation at the Corbit-Calloway Library
SHADOWS OF THE PAST: THE DARK LEGACY OF PATTY CANNON SEPT 8, 2025 @ 6:30 p.m. CORBIT-CALLOWAY MEMORIAL LIBRARY BY MIKE DIXON This program delves into the chilling history of Patty Cannon, one of the most notorious figures to prowl the Delmarva Peninsula in the early 1800s. Over the years, the Cannon story has been…
The Keeper of the Standards: Weights, Measures, and County Oversight in Maryland
In early America, local governments played a pivotal role in the daily lives of citizens, overseeing an array of public services — from administering justice to maintaining poorhouses, repairing roads, and collecting taxes. Among these essential functions was the regulation of weights and measures, a cornerstone of commercial markets and consumer protection. To safeguard trade…
Ordering an Electric Chair from Montgomery Ward?
When one thinks of the items available from Montgomery Ward, the prominent mail-order retailer based in Chicago, an electric chair is certainly not among them. Yet in 1913, this merchandising giant received an unusual letter from the Colonial Stores Company in Canton, China, seeking to purchase an apparatus for executing criminals. The letter sent by…