My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark 523 - I'm the Loudest, You're the Smartest
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Mar 12, 2026 A dive into 19th-century Irish immigrant women labeled “Bad Bridgets,” covering bigamy, survival sex work, pickpocketing tricks, pardons, and how those stories were erased. A separate segment follows the rise and unraveling of a Stuyvesant teen day-trading hoax, the viral reporting that amplified it, and why kids fabricate grand tales under social pressure.
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Bridget McCool's Cycle Of Survival And Punishment
- Bridget McCool repeatedly remarried without a legal divorce after abandonment and served multiple prison terms for bigamy in 19th-century Massachusetts.
- Karen recounts Bridget's cycle: abandoned by husband number one, remarriage, arrest, two-year prison term, reformatory, then a legal divorce only after later cruelty evidence.
Why Sex Work Was A Common Survival Choice
- Sex work was often a comparatively better economic option than laundress or domestic labor and carried huge legal and health risks.
- Karen notes NYC had over 10,000 sex workers in 1870 (≈1 per 100 New Yorkers) and many were later jailed for related offenses.
Marion Canning Pardoned After Prison Letter From Her Father
- Marion Canning, an 18-year-old immigrant, was jailed for alleged theft after a client confrontation and later pardoned after her father intervened.
- Karen describes Marion's 1891 arrest, a seven-year sentence reduced by a gubernatorial pardon and return to Ireland aided by family funds.
