The devil's gentleman

privilege, poison, and the trial that ushered in the twentieth century

1st ed.
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Last edited by MARC Bot
March 2, 2020 | History

The devil's gentleman

privilege, poison, and the trial that ushered in the twentieth century

1st ed.
  • 3.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 3 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

From renowned true-crime historian Harold Schechter, whom The Boston Book Review hails as "America's principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers," comes the riveting exploration of a notorious, sensational New York City murder in the 1890s, the fascinating forensic science of an earlier age, and the explosively dramatic trial that became a tabloid sensation at the turn of the century.Death was by poison and came in the mail: A package of Bromo Seltzer had been anonymously sent to Harry Cornish, the popular athletic director of Manhattan's elite Knickerbocker Athletic Club. Cornish barely survived swallowing a small dose; his cousin Mrs. Katherine Adams died in agony after ingesting the toxic brew. Scandal sheets owned by Hearst and Pulitzer eagerly jumped on this story of fatal high-society intrigue, speculating that the devious killer was a chemist, a woman, or "an effeminate man." Forensic studies suggested cyanide as the cause of death; handwriting on the deadly package and the vestige of a label glued to the bottle pointed to a handsome, athletic society scamp, Roland Molineux.The wayward son of a revered Civil War general, Molineux had clashed bitterly with Cornish before. He had even furiously denounced Cornish when penning his resignation from the Knickerbocker Club, a letter that later proved a major clue. Bon vivant Molineux had recently wed the sensuous Blanche Chesebrough, an opera singer whose former lover, Henry Barnet, had also recently died . . . after taking medicine sent to him through the mail. Molineux's subsequent indictment for murder led to two explosive trials, a sex-infused scandal that shocked the nation, and a lurid print-media circus that ended in madness and a proud family's disgrace.In bold, brilliant strokes, Schechter captures all the colors of the tumultuous legal case, gathering his own evidence and tackling subjects no one dared address at the time--all in hopes of answering the tantalizing question: What powerfully dark motives could drive the wealthy scion of an eminent New York family to foul murder?Schechter vividly portrays the case's fascinating cast of characters, including Julian Hawthorne, son of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a prolific yellow journalist who covered the story, and proud General Edward Leslie Molineux, whose son's ignoble deeds besmirched a dignified national hero's final years. All the while Schechter brings alive Manhattan's Gilded Age: a gaslit world of elegant town houses and hidden bordellos, chic restaurants and shabby opium dens, a city peopled by men and women fighting and losing the battle against urges an upright era had ordered suppressed.Superbly researched and powerfully written, The Devil's Gentleman is an insightful, gripping work, a true-crime historian's crowning achievement.From the Hardcover edition.

Publish Date
Publisher
Ballantine Books
Language
English
Pages
494

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The Devil's Gentleman
The Devil's Gentleman
2008, Random House Publishing Group
eBook in English
Cover of: The Devil's Gentleman
The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century
October 16, 2007, Ballantine Books
Hardcover in English
Cover of: The devil's gentleman
Cover of: The devil's gentleman

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Book Details


Published in

New York

Table of Contents

The soldier and the clubman
Blanche
Degenerate
Inquest
The people vs. Molineux
The man inside
Aftermath.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
364.152/3092
Library of Congress
HV6534.N5 S34 2007

The Physical Object

Pagination
p. cm.
Number of pages
494

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL17932572M
ISBN 13
9780345476791
LCCN
2007019705
OCLC/WorldCat
131065335
Library Thing
3781141
Goodreads
391280

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History

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March 2, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
May 7, 2012 Edited by ImportBot import new book
July 15, 2010 Edited by WorkBot merge works
June 23, 2010 Edited by ImportBot add details from OverDrive
October 18, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page