The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars (41 page)

  1
reader guesses included
“Theories of the Multitude,”
NYEJ
, June 29, 1897.

  2
Hearst loved promotion
Turner,
When Giants Ruled
, 124.

  3
“a wooden-legged burglar” Lee
, History of American Journalism,
373
.

  4
“Take all or any part of that”
Turner,
When Giants Ruled
, 123.

  5
Park Row sidewalk … was wearing thin
Swanberg,
Citizen Hearst
, 83.

  6
“We must beat every paper”
Churchill,
Park Row
, 87.

  7
Wreckers dedicated to homicide coverage
Procter,
William Randolph Hearst
, 99.

  8
“One might as well have tried”
Edwarde,
Guldensuppe Mystery
, 30.

  9
“Did love or jealousy have aught” NYW
, June 29, 1897.

10
five men gathered around the dissecting table
“Light on the Murder Mystery,”
NYW
, June 30, 1897.

11
Ferguson sensed a chilling familiarity
“May Be Cyklam’s Headless Body,”
NYP
, June 30, 1897. NB: The quotes from Ferguson that follow are from this account.

12
detectives coursed uptown
Ibid.

13
a lone cub reporter could be seen
Liebling,
Liebling at
The New Yorker, 186.

14
bites by mad dogs
“Hints for Dog Bites,”
NYCA
, June 29, 1897.

15
A Romanesque space with white marble floors
Advertisement in Cahn,
Theatrical Guide
.

16
“The House of a Thousand Hangovers”
“Miscellany,”
Time
, December 7, 1925. NB: The baths’ demolition occasioned the magazine’s recollection of its old days. These same baths, incidentally, also figured in the infamous Becker-Rosenthal murder case of 1912.

17
Ned idly let a question drop
Liebling,
Liebling at
The New Yorker, 187. NB: Liebling’s article is the sole source for the account in this section of Brown’s exploits.

18
It was the new issue of the
Evening Journal “The Real Clew to the Murder Mystery,”
NYEJ
, June 29, 1897.

19
For the first time ever, color was being used
Stevens,
Sensationalism
, 92.

20
“I learned from some neighbors”
“Saw Two Men with Package in a Saloon,”
NYET
, June 29, 1897.

21
a slender
Times
reporter attempted to try on one of Max’s suits NYT
, June 29, 1897.

22
the
Times
theorized … that two escapees NYT
, June 29, 1897.

23
THE DEAD MAN’S VALISE
“Police Work on a New Clue,”
NYEJ
, June 29, 1897.

24
“The German seems to regard”
“Theories of Prominent Persons as to How the Murder Was Committed,”
NYJ
, June 29, 1897.

25
“The solution of the whole matter hangs upon the oilcloth”
“The Rest of the Roll,” Ibid.

26
Carey … hadn’t made it to Queens or Long Island NYT
, June 29, 1897.

27
throwing
thirty men
into tracking the oilcloth
Bleyer,
Main Currents
, 368.

28
a
Journal
team at the dry-goods store of one Max Riger
“Murder Mystery Is Solved by the Journal,”
NYEJ
, June 30, 1897.

  1
another heat wave
“Scorching Heat for the Freshmen,”
NYET
, June 30, 1897.

  2
unshaven and tough-looking fellow
“Mr. and Mrs. Nack Under Arrest; Guldensuppe’s Legs Found in Brooklyn”
NYET
, June 30, 1897.

  3
gangster Mallet Murphy
Marcuse,
This Was New York
, 63.

  4
two men clambered aboard NYEJ
, June 30, 1897.

  5
“Mr. Nack?”
“Murder Charged to a Midwife,”
NYP
, July 1, 1897.

  6
Garfield Drug Company on Thirty-Fourth American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record
30 (1897): 22.

  7
carriage-jackers Oscar Piper and Walter McDevitt NYEJ
, June 30, 1897.

  8
tried escaping twice.… “I have absolutely no idea …”
Ibid.

  9
nine coworkers from the Murray Hill Baths
“May Be Guldensuppe,”
NYT
, July 1, 1897.

10
VICTIM THOUGHT TO BE THEODORE CYKLAM NYW
, June 30, 1897.

11
elbowed aside by Pulitzer’s ace reporter Ike White
Liebling,
Liebling at
The New Yorker, 191.

12
Ike’s pet theory NYW
, June 30, 1897.

13
not unknown for reporters to tail detectives
Liebling,
Leibling at
The New Yorker, 166.

14
The
Herald,
it seemed, had boozily stumbled
“Police Say Murder Mystery Is Solved,”
NYH
, July 1, 1897.

15
overheard by reporter Joe Gavan
Collins,
Homicide Squad
, 55.

16
Hearst alone made a personal visit
Ford,
Forty-Odd Years
, 260.

17
“that antique and shabby”
McAdoo,
Guarding a Great City
, 3.

18
under constant watch by the competition
Jeffers,
Commisioner Roosevelt
, 87.

19
more than 100,000 arrests a year
“New York at Its Best and Worst,”
NYW
, July 1, 1898.

20
chief had more than 250 detectives
“Police Chief’s Suggestion,”
NYT
, December 1, 1897.

21
new rank hadn’t even gone through.… on the force for more than twenty years
Lardner and Reppetto,
NYPD
, 114.

22
walls and floors of the office had been carefully muffled
Ibid., 88.

23
“I went to work at two o’clock” NYEJ
, June 30, 1897.

24
“I get up at about 1 or 2 and go over the ferry” NYP
, July 1, 1897.

25
I was so drunk that I had to stay in bed” NYEJ
, June 30, 1897.

26
“What the deuce” NYP
, July 1, 1897.

27
Bakery’s owner vouch … Nack had actually led Strack’s saloon NYP
, July 1, 1897.

28
$20 monthly lease; she’d given notice NYP
, July 1, 1897.

29
detective now sitting on her sofa.… another detective stood
Edwarde,
Guldensuppe Mystery
, 62.

30
“pleasing, yet repellant, appearance” NYT
, July 1, 1897.

31
“I gave her a bit of my mind” NYET
, June 30, 1897.

32
Krauch had been watching her apartment NYH
, July 1, 1897.

33
fashionable tulle-trimmed hat that she’d quickly donned NYET
, June 30, 1897.

34
“My name is Augusta Nack”
Edwarde,
Guldensuppe Mystery
, 69.

35
Speak louder Ibid.

36
Pauline Riger … had been listening all along
“Mrs. Nack Will Be Formally Charged with Murdering Guldensuppe”
NYEJ
, July 1, 1897.

37
bumping up against the USS
Vermont
NYT
, July 1, 1897.

38
in the middle of his hallway, were two severed human legs
Edwarde,
Guldensupe Mystery
, 77.

  1
Werner’s indispensable assistant was vacationing NYH
, July 1, 1897.

  2
The young millionaire made the landlord an offer
Churchill,
Park Row
, 90.

  3
Pulitzer had increasingly taken
Ibid., 57.

  4
“We must smash the interloper”
Procter,
William Randolph Hearst
, 85.

  5
The
Times
had briefly gone bust
Tifft and Jones,
The Trust
, 36.

  6
Dana … stopped coming to his office
Wilson,
Charles A. Dana
, 513.

  7
“When I came to New York”
Juergens,
Joseph Pulitzer
, 350.

  8
The
World
’s unmatched circulation
Stevens,
Sensationalism
, 86.

  9
“undesirable class of readers”
“Views of New Journalism,”
NYT
, March 4, 1897.

10
World
had dubbed the Missing Head Mystery NYW
, July 2, 1897.

11
“The sensational journals of the city”
“The Sensational Journals of the City,”
NYCA
, June 29, 1897

12
“The freak journals”
“Vociferous Journals,”
NYT
, June 30, 1897.

13
Hearst’s men had cut the cords
Churchill,
Park Row
, 90.

14
Price, Krauch, and O’Donohue … spent the next few hours unpacking NYEJ
, July 1, 1897.

15
small trapdoor in the ground floor … motley assortment
Ibid.

16
Neighbors watched from the adjacent buildings
Ibid.

17
avenue that was turning increasingly chaotic … police were holding back NYH
, July 1, 1897.

18
Vockroth, had rented a horse and surrey to Nack
“More Murder Clues,”
NYME
, July 1, 1897.

19
another
boarder had lived in the apartment NYEJ
, July 1, 1897.

20
in February when Guldensuppe had beaten his rival NYT
, July 1, 1897.

21
knife, a broken saw, and then a revolver … a dried spray of blood NYEJ
, July 1, 1897.

22
that evening’s
Journal
headline NYEJ
, June 30, 1897.

23
sent out beefy guards
Stevens,
Sensationalism
, 93.

24
“When patting oneself on the back”
Editorial,
NYEJ
, July 1, 1897.

25
signed Guldensuppe … not Gieldsensuppe
“Fear and Strain Weaken Mrs. Nack,”
NYP
, July 2, 1897.

26
couldn’t find missing money she claimed
“Now Formally Accused,”
NYTR
, July 3, 1897.

27
a jail matron found it hidden in her corset
“The Murder Mystery,”
NYTR
, July 2, 1897.

28
The matron also noticed bruises
“Murder Will Out,”
NYEP
, July 1, 1897.

29
having her fingernails pared and scraped
“Police Couldn’t Weaken Her,”
NYET
, July 2, 1897.

30
“If that body belonged to William Guldensuppe”
“The Identification Upset,”
NYW
, July 2, 1897.

31
One was a Bowery waiter … other was a babbling metal-polish peddler NYT
, July 1, 1897.

32
home address that proved to be a lumberyard NYP
, June 30, 1897.

33
“He is a freak” NYW
, June 30, 1897. 61
“She has a temper” NYP
, July 1, 1897.

34
Herald
writer heard Herman Nack claim NYH
, July 1, 1897. 61
“She is strong enough?” NYP
, July 1, 1897.

35
Friend, had marched into the Mulberry Street
“To Protest Her Innocence,”
BE
, July 2, 1897.

36
World
editors were doubling down
“Murder Mystery Is a Mystery Still,”
NYW
, July 1, 1897.

37
willing to testify that the body was not his
“The Identification Upset,”
NYW
, July 2, 1897.

38
Mrs. Clark, it turned out, had been caught up in a divorce
“Police Seeking Thorn,”
NYT
, July 2, 1897.

39
“always mixed up in several affairs”
“Mrs. Nack Spends Hours on Detective Chief O’Brien’s Rack,”
NYEJ
, July 2, 1897.

40
Journal
reporters sat down with Frank
Ibid. NB: The remainder of this chapter’s dialogue is drawn from this account.

41
the illicit service that some midwives quietly provided
Brodie,
Contraception and Abortion
, 54.

  1
finally been promoted to acting inspector
“More Murder Clues,”
NYME
, July 1, 1897.

  2
a composer of novelty tunes
“Ex-Inspector O’Brien Dead,”
NYT
, July 3, 1913.

  3
on the table and chairs … O’Brien had arranged the tools NYET
, July 2, 1897.

  4
“the most cold blooded woman”
“Trying to Trace Thorn,”
BE
, July 3, 1897.

  5
alienists wandered in and out
“An Expert Alienist Studies Mrs. Nack,”
NYH
, July 4, 1897.

  6
readers were treated to close-ups NYEJ
, July 1, 1897.

  7
“I made an especial study” NYH
, July 4, 1897.

  8
“masturbatic insanity”
Spitzka,
Cases of Masturbation
, 238.

  9
presiding over the electric chair’s rather messy debut
Moran,
Executioner’s Current
, 19.

10
“Did you know … she has never reported a live birth” NYH
, July 4, 1897.

11
“I cannot understand how detectives could expect such a clumsy trick”
“World-Wide Hunt for Martin Thorn,”
NYEJ
, July 3, 1897.

12
“She is a decided liar.… Streuning buried a child of hers”
“Looks Black for the Midwife,”
NYH
, July 2, 1897.

13
lost their own five-year-old daughter to diphtheria NYP
, July 1, 1897.

14
a servant girl who let burglars
“A Servant’s Intelligence Suspected,”
NYEP
, July 1, 1897.

15
a would-be parachute inventor
“Hung by One Foot in Midair,”
NYH
, July 1, 1897.

16
a severed black-stockinged leg
“Found a Woman’s Leg,”
NYEJ
, July 1, 1897.

17
the druggist who hanged himself
“Rope His Last Resort,” Ibid.

18
“My name … is Sophie Miller”
“Mrs. Nack at the Bar of Justice,”
NYH
, July 2, 1897.

19
Hearst’s print room hastily jammed the two crucial words
“Mrs. Nack Will Be Charged with Murdering Guldensuppe,”
NYEJ
, July 1, 1897.

20
spent the afternoon working barbershops … over a shave
Collins,
Homicide Squad
, 61.

21
he’d quit on the spot last week NYH
, July 2, 1897.

22
“As soon as I saw … I thought right away of Thorn” NYW
, July 2, 1897.

23
a particular fondness, Keehn said, for widows NYH
, July 2, 1897.

24
“He used to laugh at Guldensuppe” NYW
, July 2, 1897. NB: The dialogue in the remainder of this section is all drawn from this
World
account.

25
his face prickling painfully
Collins,
Homicide Squad
, 61.