Random Penseur has another installment of his Behind the Curtain series where he shines the spotlight on history's supporting players. Claudius Smith was a swashbuckling cowboy, jailbreaker, and "a bold, handsome man, around whom secretly clustered all those unprincipled and daring men". He was also a murderer and villain, an American who terrorized New York and New Jersey in support of the Crown of England.

Go read. It's a good 'un.