"...the man who, about three months ago, entered at night the Convent of Our Sorrowful Mother at Morgan avenue and Garden street and kissed and offered other indignities to the nuns."

Before the phrase “Jack the Ripper” became synonymous with urban horror, “Jack the Kisser” was often used in newspapers to describe kissing bandits. (There were also many a “Jack the Hugger.”) Quite a number of men seem to have behaved this way in the late nineteenth century.

One such lip-locking louse was Peter Demuth, a Flushing man who favored young girls and nuns. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle had an account of his unwanted advances in its January 18, 1892 edition. An excerpt:

“Peter Demuth, 32 years of age, who was arrested on Tuesday last as the fellow who has become known as ‘Jack the Kisser,’ was sentenced to the penitentiary for eighteen months on three charges. The complainants were Annie Zeibig of 1,035 Flushing avenue; Carrie Leys of 120 Moore street amd Frederika Cassel of 1,011 Flushing avenue.

These young girls had been chased, caught and kissed by the prisoner. The police have had a great deal of trouble in arresting the fellow. He usually escaped the officers by running into one of the Johnson avenue slaughter houses and disappearing. In court to-day he was identified as the man who, about three months ago, entered at night the Convent of Our Sorrowful Mother at Morgan avenue and Garden street and kissed and offered other indignities to the nuns. The sisters, however, refused to prefer charges against him.”

More Old Print Articles:

• A maniac gymnast. (1877)
• Performing bears at Bay Shore. (1895)
• Hobos steal fine clothes from decent folk. (1895)
• Hairy woman thrown through barbershop window, uninjured. (1897)
• Brooklyn judge encounters sea monsters in his bathroom. (1902)
• General Robert E. Lee kisses pretty girls. (1891)
• Brooklyn geezer tries to shoot noisy dogs. (1896)
• Hoaxer pretends to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. (1889)
• Manhattan madman goes on rampage. (1890)
• Fisticuffs at a male beauty pageant. (1893)
• Viennese surgeon performs experimental operations in NYC. (1902)
• Tough girl breaks detective’s nose. (1898)
• Circus Freak gets indigestion after swallowing metal objects. (1904)
• George Francis Train loses his mind. (1888)
• Hunchback paramour has throat cut. (1877)
• Organ grinder has monkey kidnapped. (1899)
• Human vampire behaves poorly. (1892)