The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars (47 page)

  1
windowless walls on three sides NYW
, December 5, 1897.

  2
“bathing in a search-light”
Molineux,
Room with the Little Door
, 21. NB: Though an erstwhile work of fiction, Molineux’s book is well worth finding for its account of life on Sing Sing’s Death Row—namely, because he was a convicted poisoner sent there just a couple of years after Thorn. Molineux’s conviction was one of the next great “newspaper trials” after Thorn’s, although he was later released after a retrial.

  3
Thorn had already devoured
The Old Curiosity Shop
NYT
, December 6, 1897.

  4
Sutherland was a West Indian in for shooting his wife
“Died in the Electric Chair,”
Sun
(Baltimore), January 11, 1898.

  5
warden stopped by with a message from Howe
“A Stay for Martin Thorn,”
NYT
, January 1, 1898.

  6
Hadley was not as fortunate
“Went to His Death Cheerfully,”
NYW
, January 11, 1898.

  7
“I could never eat off
that
table”
“Ghastly Vanity Fair,”
NYW
, January 16, 1898.

  8
salesrooms on 125th Street magically transformed
“May Go To-Morrow,”
BE
, January 13, 1898.

  9
in the reconstituted parlor was a suite NYW
, January 16, 1898.

10
“a low cut”
“Mrs. Nack’s Effects,”
BE
, January 16, 1898.

11
the plain and melancholy wooden bed of Guldensuppe NYW
, January 16, 1898.

12
dime-museum men … Luetgert’s sausage vat
“Would Exhibit Luetgert’s Vat,”
NYJ
, December 24, 1897.

13
MURDER DEN A KLONDIKE NYEJ
, January 14, 1898.

14
THE FAMOUS STOVE NYW
, January 16, 1898.

15
handed at the entrance—business cards BE
, January 16, 1898.

16
“Those are terrible things my husband told”
“Mrs. Nack’s Story,”
BE
, January 18, 1898. NB: The remainder of this scene is drawn from the
Eagle
’s interview.

17
appeals piled up
“Calmly Martin Thorn Awaits His Fate of Death,”
NYW
, July 28, 1898.

18
“This is good news”
“Martin Thorn to Die, and He Is Glad of It,”
NYW
, July 31, 1898.

19
found one hundred dead rats
“Dead Rats in the Ventilators,”
BE
, May 29, 1898.

20
Howe had claimed a mistrial
“Trying to Save Thorn’s Life,”
NYT
, July 29, 1898.

21
bill was cruelly knocked down to $127
“W. F. Howe’s Cut Down,”
NYT
, June 19, 1898.

22
Howe talked grandly to the press of taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court
“Martin Thorn Must Die,”
NYW
, June 8, 1898.

23
“Take all your clothes off, Martin”
“Murderer of Guldensuppe, Martin Thorn, Will Pay the Penalty and Be Killed Today,”
NYW
, August 1, 1898.

24
a crisp dress oxford NYW
, July 31, 1898.

25
There were five condemned prisoners NYW
, August 1, 1898.

26
“I want my books”
Ibid.

27
snare a coveted title from the prison library NYP
, August 2, 1898. 239
chat across the cell walls with the other prisoners NYW
, August 1, 1898.

28
“Have you seen your mouse yet, Thorn?”
“Thorn Dies in the Chair for Guldensuppe’s Murder,”
NYEJ
, August 1, 1898.

29
Sage was bustling around his office, making preparations NYEJ
, August 1, 1898.

30
only twenty-eight observers were allowed NYW
, July 28, 1898.

31
Hearst had deployed Langdon Smith NYEJ
, August 1, 1898.

32
famed as the country’s fastest telegrapher
“Answer No. 96,”
American Mercury
, May 1926, 114.

33
Haydon Jones, the
World
’s own speed artist
“Martin Thorn Pays the Penalty of Murder in the Electric Chair,”
NYW
, August 2, 1898.

34
scooped up by Pulitzer’s crew from the
Mail and Express Armes, Ethel, “Haydon Jones, Newspaper Artist,”
National Magazine
26 (1906): 151.

35
his favorite Blaisdell pencil
Ibid., 148.

36
room was reminiscent of a small chapel NYW
, August 2, 1898.

37
“Gentlemen … you will oblige me”
“Thorn Met Death Calmly,”
NYS
, August 2, 1898.

38
“the tentacles of an electrical octopus” NYEJ
, August 1, 1898.

39
“By these lamps … we will test the current” NYW
, August 2, 1898.

40
“The hour has come” NYP
, August 2, 1898. 242
long black rubber sash was stretched across his face NYW
, August 2, 1898.

41
“Christ, Mary, Mother of God” NYEJ
, August 1, 1898.

42
“like an overheated flatiron on a handkerchief”
“Martin Thorn Dies in Abject Terror,”
NYH
, August 2, 1898.

  1
MARTIN THORN GOES CALMLY TO HIS DEATH NYET
, August 1, 1898.

  2
THORN MET DEATH CALMLY NYS
, August 2, 1898.

  3
MARTIN THORN DIES IN ABJECT TERROR NYH
, August 2, 1898.

  4
WOMAN MEDIUM COMMUNES WITH THORN NYW
, August 2, 1898.

  5
O’Neill was a surgeon with the New York School of Clinical Medicine Medical Times and Register
35–36 (1898): 185.

  6
sponges had dried out, causing a burn hole
“Thorn Met Death Calmly,”
NYS
, August 2, 1898.

  7
nitroglycerin, strychnine, and brandy NYW
, August 2, 1898.

  8
Kemmler had been left still breathing
Brandon,
Electric Chair
, 177.

  9
O’Neill bent over and rested the stethoscope NYW
, August 2, 1898.

10
“The law requires post-mortem mutilation”
O’Neill, “Who’s the Executioner?” 185.

11
“the prostitution of science”
“Electrocution,”
American Medico-Surgical Bulletin
21, no. 21 (November 10, 1898): 999.

12
Evening Journal
lavished attention that night NYEJ
, August 1, 1898.

13
front-page attacks on crooked dealings
“The Journal Stops,”
NYJA
, December 3, 1897.

14
stoked his paper’s capacity
“The Journal’s Presses—Past, Present and Future,”
NYJ
, December 5, 1897.

15
THE WORST INSULT
“The Worst Insult to the United States in Its History,”
NYJ
, February 9, 1898.

16
“Have you put anything else on the front page?”
Morris,
Pulitzer
, 339.

17
WAR! SURE!
“War! Sure! Maine Destroyed by Spanish,”
NYEJ
, February 17, 1898.

18
THE WHOLE COUNTRY THRILLS
“The Whole Country Thrills with War Fever,”
NYJ
, February 18, 1898.

19
“Remember the
Maine
! To hell with Spain!” Procter,
William Randolph Hearst
, 118.

20
HOW DO YOU LIKE THE JOURNAL’S WAR?
Stevens,
Sensationalism
, 97.

21
offered the U.S. military $500,000
Procter,
William Randolph Hearst
, 122. 247
now rocketed up to … a million and a half
Bleyer,
Main Currents
, 378. 247
“war news was written by fools for fools”
Turner,
When Giants Ruled
, 135.

22
ran news of the death of one Colonel Reflipe W. Thenuz
“The World Confesses to Stealing the News!”
NYEJ
, June 9, 1898.

23
newspaper publisher tearing around Havana Harbor
Churchill,
Park Row
, 131.

24
MUST FIND THAT FLEET! NYEJ
, May 28, 1898.

25
summer dessert tips for homemakers
“Even Ice Cream and Confectionary Are Now Made to Suggest War,”
NYEJ
, May 28, 1898.

26
taking some Spanish prisoners of war
Procter,
William Randolph Hearst
, 130.

27
spotted at the Battle of El Caney
Ibid., 129.

28
Eden Musée was busy adding a score of patriotic
advertisement,
NYT
, August 14, 1898.

29
its baggage car disgorged a plain pine box
“Curious Crowds Look on the Coffined Face of Martin Thorn,”
NYW
, August 3, 1898.

30
worries that freak-show promoters might try
“Took Amperes to Kill Thorn,”
NYP
, August 2, 1898.

31
A thousand disappointed spectators had appeared
“Thorn Met Death Calmly,”
NYS
, August 2, 1898.

32
A dozen policemen from the Twenty-Seventh Precinct
“Martin Thorn Body Buried in Calvary’s Consecrated Ground To-Day,”
NYH
, August 2, 1898.

33
undertaker barred the door NYEJ
, August 2, 1898.

34
his head still bore red electrode marks BE
, August 2, 1898.

35
brother-in-law leaned over for a word NYEJ
, August 2, 1898.

36
luxuriant display of lilies of the valley
“Thorn Met Death Calmly,”
NYS
, August 2, 1898.

37
“Probably a woman” NYEJ
, August 2, 1898.

38
“Mrs. Nack?” NYH
, August 2, 1898.

39
inmate #269 at Auburn
“Mrs. Nack Is Now No. 269,”
NYW
, January 20, 1898.

40
a three-inch-thick oak door
“How Mrs. Nack Will Spend Her Term in Auburn,”
NYW
, January 16, 1898.

41
spent her day in the prison’s sewing room NYW
, January 20, 1898.

42
Word was leaking out
“State Control of Midwives,”
Buffalo Medical Journal
48 (1898): 131.

43
Journal
pounced on a damning discovery
“Mrs. Nack Has Money in Realty,”
NYEJ
, August 11, 1898.

44
sardonic inscription of AUGUSTA NACK, SURGEON
“Bright Editorial,”
San Antonio
(Texas)
Daily Light
, March 13, 1900.

45
“Epidemic Hypnotic Criminal Suggestion”
“Epidemic Hypnotic Criminal Suggestion,”
Massachusetts Medical Journal
21 (1901): 512.

46
SECOND GULDENSUPPE CASE NYT
, October 9, 1899.

47
third
[Guldensuppe case] “Zanoli, Queer Man of Tragedies,”
NYJA
, December 11, 1897.

48
fourth
[Guldensuppe case] “Murder and Butchery,”
NYT
, February 9, 1898.

49
fifth
[Guldensuppe case] “Like Guldensuppe Murder,”
NYT
, June 11, 1899.

50
a woman’s leg was found
“Another Ghastly Find,”
NYS
, October 10, 1899.

51
her chest washed ashore on Staten Island
“Torso of the Body Found,”
NYS
, October 11, 1899.

52
NYPD threw 200 detectives on the case NYS
, October 10, 1899.

53
Moses Cohen, the “C” newspaper
“Murder Still His Mystery,”
NYT
, October 13, 1899.

54
captain of the barge
Knickerbocker
NYS
, October 10, 1899.

55
“would have appealed to Sherlock Holmes”
“The Influence of Sherlock Holmes,”
BE
, October 11, 1899.

56
Prospect Place coal cellar of Alma Lundberg
“New Clue in Murder Case,”
NYT
, December 4, 1899.

57
other clues proved to be the usual nonsense
“Police at a Standstill,”
NYS
, October 13, 1899.

58
“the Great American Identifier” NYT
, October 19, 1899.

59
cuts precisely matched those on Guldensuppe NYT
, October 13, 1899. NB: Although the crime was officially unsolved, police afterward believed that the victim was Kate Feeley, who went missing after answering a newspaper ad for employment. Max Schmittberger, later the chief police inspector for the NYPD, voiced the suspicion that William Hooper Young—later convicted of the 1902 murder of Anna Pulitzer—was the perpetrator. (See “Mrs. Pulitzer Is Buried,”
NYT
, August 24, 1902.)

60
a novel
, Three Men and a Woman “A Strong Book by an Iowa Author,”
Cedar Rapids
(Iowa)
Daily Republican
, June 10, 1901.

61
“The death of Guldensuppe preyed”
“Nack Brooded,”
Lowell
(Massachusetts)
Sun
, June 23, 1903.

62
346 Second Street sat vacant
“For Use as a Wine-Shop,”
BE
, March 19, 1899.

63
thrown the Bualas’ baseboards into a bonfire
“Relics of Murder Burned,”
NYTR
, March 24, 1899.

64
turning them into a jaunty pair of scarf pins
“Personal Chats,”
Muncie
(Indiana)
Morning Post
, May 4, 1898.

65
“We have already put one haunted house”
“Join to Rout Ghosts,”
NYTR
, May 21, 1904.

66
only to die of rabies
“Dog Dealer Dies of Rabies,”
NYT
, February 12, 1910.

67
preserving the bathroom upstairs BE
, March 19, 1899.

68
Piernot ran half-naked and screaming
“Saw Guldensuppe’s Ghost,”
NYT
, December 1, 1900.