The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars (43 page)

  1
“Going fishing?”
“Mrs. Nack Sees Martin Thorn,”
NYET
, July 9, 1897.

  2
These were naphtha boats NYEJ
, July 8, 1897.

  3
grapplers, salvagers who worked the docks
“How the Grappler Earns His Bread,”
NYT
, May 5, 1901.

  4
A couple of dozen grapplers … on six launches NYEJ
, July 8, 1897.

  5
“Three cheers for Guldensuppe!”
“Still Seeking the Head,”
NYT
, July 12, 1897.

  6
Captain Schultz … was in a droll mood NYET
, July 9, 1897.

  7
“Heads you win, tails you lose!”
Ibid.

  8
“These men know how to find” NYEJ
, July 8, 1897.

  9
Street urchins were stripping off … diving among the rakes
Ibid.

10
The riverbed was a good twenty-five feet
“Diver Hunts Head,”
NYW
, July 9, 1897.

11
“Something’s caught!”
Ibid.

12
William E. Chapman … 
came chugging up
Ibid.

13
already run an operation with hooks
“Valise and Clothes of the Murdered Man Found,”
NYJ
, June 29, 1897.

14
veteran deep-sea diver Charles Olsen NYW
, July 9, 1897.

15
all they were pulling up were stones and tin cans
“Mrs. Nack Faces Martin Thorn,”
NYP
, July 10, 1897.

16
130 feet of rubber hose to Olsen’s diving suit NYW
, July 9, 1897.

17
The door of the narrow three-story brick boardinghouse NYEJ
, July 7, 1897. NB: The remainder of this scene is drawn from this
Evening Journal
account, except for the quote that follows.

18
“Do you recognize me?” NYH
, July 8, 1897.

19
copy after copy of murder coverage
“Lured to His Death,”
NYME
, July 7, 1897.

20
from the
World
NYW
, July 7, 1897.

21
the
Journal NYEJ, July 7, 1897.

22
the
Herald
NYH
, July 8, 1897.

23
“My God!” was gleefully illustrated NYEJ
, July 7, 1897.

24
witnessed them discovering a bullet hole NYEJ
, July 8, 1897.

25
“Blood Spots on Martin Thorn’s Undershirt” NYEJ
, July 8, 1897.

26
“the
Evening Journal
’s pen and pencil”
Editorial, Ibid.

27
“a nail made the bullet hole” NYW
, July 9, 1897.

28
Thorn did indeed resemble a man who’d walked up to Dr. O’Hanlon
Ibid.

29
Herald
had been the city’s colossus, with a circulation of more than 190,000
Reel,
The National Police Gazette and the Making of the Modern American Man
, 48.

30
1874 hoax claiming escaped circus tigers
Ibid.

31
Thorn pondering aloud how one might lure NYH
, July 9, 1897.

32
reduced to profiling the Woodside duck
“Thorn Said to Have Confessed,”
NYP
, July 8, 1897.

33
detectives marched into the
World
offices NYW
, July 9, 1897.

34
Mr. Valentine’s turnip giveaway
“Turnips Free for All,” Ibid.

35
Old-timers … recalled “the Kelsey Outrage” NYEJ
, July 9, 1897.

36
no jury had been able to convict NYT
, “The Kelsey Murder Mystery,” November 6, 1876.

37
“as dead as Kelsey’s nuts”
Carol Richards, “The Kelsey Outrage Gets More Outrageous,”
Newsday
, February 3, 2001.

38
assistant DA had been busy insisting … didn’t particularly need Guldensuppe’s head
“Mrs. Nack Warns Thorn in Court,”
NYH
, July 10, 1897.

39
he couldn’t recognize Nack and Thorn … detectives grumbled, he feared a conviction
“Mrs. Nack May Be Indicted,”
NYT
, July 6, 1897.

40
attempted to keep the coroner from touching his precious baseboards NYW
, July 8, 1897.

  1
Intended for a city of 300,000 … now served 1.8 million
“Tombs an Unfit Prison,”
NYT
, June 29, 1895.

  2
throwing the stairways akimbo, and letting sewage ooze
Gilfoyle, “America’s Greatest Criminal Barrister,” 528.

  3
tin plates perched on the rim of a malodorous toilet
“A Disgrace to the City of New York,”
Annual Report of the Prison Association
, 79.

  4
murmur passed among the inmates …
“It’s Mrs. Nack!” “Thorn Warns Mrs. Nack in Court,”
NYEJ
, July 9, 1897.

  5
Dressed in a black coat and a straw boater
“Mrs. Nack Sees Martin Thorn,”
NYET
, July 9, 1897.

  6
“Come on up the bridge, Thorn” NYEJ
, July 9, 1897.

  7
stubble, the result of a suicide watch NYET
, July 9, 1897.

  8
“Have you any counsel?” NYEJ
, July 9, 1897.

  9
“We appear for Mrs. Thorn”
“Mrs. Nack Meets Thorn in Court,”
NYW
, July 10, 1897.

10
“Schweige still”
NYEJ
, July 9, 1897.

11
“Halt den Mund und Spricht nicht!” “Im Anklagezustand,”
NYSZ
, July 10, 1897.

12
“Mrs. Nack and Martin Thorn Refuse to Talk”
Signed editorial,
NYEJ
, July 13, 1897.

13
The Guldensuppe Mystery
.… hit the streets just days later
Edwarde,
Guldensuppe Mystery
. NB: The Library of Congress’s copy of
The Guldensuppe Mystery
bears a Received stamp of July 24, 1897. The last dated event noted in the text is July 8, so the book was completed, printed, and shipped to Washington, D.C., within this astonishingly short interval.

14
Lower East Side summer-school teacher … turned into a mock trial
“Murder Trial in School,”
NYT
, July 24, 1897.

15
masseurs were now slyly referred to as “Gieldensuppers”
“A Gieldensupper Arrested,”
NYS
, September 14, 1897.

16
“That’s not Thorn the police got!”
“The Question of Jurisdiction,”
NYTR
, July 18, 1897.

17
THE MURDER OF WILLIAM GULDENSUPPE
Advertisement,
NYT
, July 18, 1897.

18
one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations … a top-floor workshop that could whip up a body within twenty-four hours
Dennett,
Weird and Wonderful
, 115.

19
the Chess Automaton … a Klondike gold-rush mining camp
“Notes of the Stage,”
NYTR
, July 25, 1897.

20
Woodside Horror NYTR
, July 25, 1897.

21
“Your face possesses a charm” NYW
, July 7, 1897.

22
“I’m no freak,” Nrs, Nack snapped
“Howe’s Move for Thorn and Mrs. Nack’s Novel Charity,”
NYW
, July 16, 1897.

23
Thorn passed the days in cells #29 and #30
“Dredging for the Head Hopeless,”
NYEJ
, July 10, 1897.

24
tutoring cell mates in pinochle
“Martin Thorn’s School for Card Players,”
NYEJ
, July 14, 1897.

25
Boylan … so weighted down with stolen silverware
“John Boylan Laden Down with Silver,”
NYEJ
, July 8, 1897.

26
THE HORRIBLE MURDER IN NEW YORK Aberdeen Weekly
(Scotland), July 9, 1897.

27
Japan and Spain were considering an alliance
“Japan and Spain May Be Allies,”
NYP
, July 16, 1897.

28
reports of massive strikes by coal miners
“Strike Battle on Ohio River,”
NYH
, July 9, 1897.

29
his own starring role … he’d miss the city elections
“Thorn’s Vanity Betrayed Him,”
NYW
, December 5, 1897.

30
businessman named Horton.… “Where’s the head?”
“Thorn and Mrs. Nack in Court,”
NYTR
, July 22, 1897.

31
“The new industry of finding William Guldensuppe’s head”
“Guldensuppe’s Head,”
NYH
, July 14, 1897.

32
mystically body-homing loaves of black bread
“Says Tombs Fare Makes Her Ill,”
NYP
, July 13, 1897.

33
an intrepid
Herald
reporter to discover why NYH
, July 14, 1897.

34
Three more boys spotted a head floating
“Italian Boys Find a Head,”
NYT
, July 27, 1897.

35
“decomposed mass” frightened passing ferry passengers
“A Head, Not Guldensuppe’s,”
NYT
, September 2, 1897.

36
A grisly find made in an Upper West Side boardinghouse
“Not Guldensuppe’s Skull,”
NYTR
, July 20, 1897.

37
girl from Woodside found an actual chunk
“Guldensuppe Death Mask,”
NYT
, September 20, 1897.

38
Woodside child promptly discovered a brown derby BE
, September 22, 1897.

39
“Woodside is undergoing a boom in the agricultural line”
“Yellow Sleuth’s Work,”
NYS
, September 23, 1897.

40
Allegations emerged that
someone
 … had paid a couple of local utility workers BE
, September 22, 1897.

41
more than half a million in circulation
“It Breaks All Records,”
NYEJ
, August 23, 1897.

42
Perrin H. Sumner … “the Great American Identifier”
“Habeas Corpus for Martin Thorn,”
NYH
, July 16, 1897.

43
nearly bankrupted an Indiana college
Branigan,
History of Johnson County
, 293.

44
run Florida real estate swindles
“Perrin H. Sumner Sued,”
NYT
, November 13, 1907.

45
fleeced would-be fiancées
“Perrin H. Sumner Dies in the Subway,”
NYT
, March 20, 1914.

46
passed off worthless mining stock
“Telegraphic Brevities,”
Harvard Crimson
, May 18, 1883.

47
descended on the Bellevue morgue to identify an unclaimed suicide NYW
, February 1, 1892.

48
professor spent July embarrassingly tied up in divorce proceedings
“Professor Witthaus Must Pay It,”
NYTR
, August 3, 1897.

49
human blood, he declared
“Human Blood Stains,”
BE
, August 23, 1897.

50
a whopping dredging bill
“Police Board Meeting,”
NYT
, August 19, 1897.

51
O’Brien lost his own: He was relieved of his post
“Sleuth O’Brien Bounced,”
NYS
, August 31, 1897.

52
“I have been described in a paper as a ‘murderess’ ”
“Mrs. Nack Talks Freely to the World,”
NYW
, August 6, 1897. NB: The remainder of this scene is drawn from this
World
account of the interview.

  1
Mitchell hastily sent for a stenographer
“Nack’s Awful Charge Against His Wife,”
NYW
, September 3, 1897.

  2
“She said lots of bad things”
Ibid.

  3
They were joined by Detective Samuel Price
Ibid.

  4
“My wife left me in 1896”
“Murders by Scores Laid to Mrs. Nack,”
NYEJ
, September 2, 1897. NB: All but the last line of remaining dialogue in this section is from this
Evening Journal
account.

  5
Dr. Weiss of Tenth Avenue … F. W. Werner, quietly assisted
“Says the Accused Out-Heroded Herod,”
NYEJ
, September 3, 1897.

  6
“There is something at the back of that” NYW
, September 3, 1897.

  7
“It’s a lie!” … “Fool!” NYEJ
, September 3, 1897.

  8
SAYS THE ACCUSED MURDERESS OUT-HERODED HEROD NYW
, September 3, 1897.

  9
so was the death of John Gotha’s ninety-five-year-old father-in-law
“Mrs. Nack Gains Time,”
NYW
, July 13, 1897.

10
Dr. Weiss claimed to have no idea … nor did Mrs. Nack’s landlord NYW
, September 3, 1897.

11
Alois Palm tried rather unsportingly NYEJ
, September 3, 1897.

12
Even Mrs. Nack’s friends faulted her
“Mrs. Nack’s Neighbors,”
NYW
, July 4, 1897.

13
“she was a high roller” NYEJ
, September 3, 1897.

14
Guldensuppe had kept Gussie from leaving NYW
, September 3, 1897.

15
Mrs. Nack had gone to one Ernest Moring …
hire him to kill her ex-husband “
Journal
Completes Case Against Martin Thorn,”
NYEJ
, September 4, 1897.

16
World
reporter ascended the rickety stairs
“Diploma Mills for Midwives,”
NYW
, September 18, 1897.

17
A SCHOOL FOR BARBARITY NYW
, September 22, 1897.

18
DIPLOMA MILL FOR MIDWIVES NYW
, September 18, 1897.

19
“Out of 55,000 live births” NYW
, September 3, 1897.

20
suspicions ran strong that “Madame Restell”…. had dumped her body
Reel,
The National Police Gazette and the Making of the Modern Man
, 38.

21
designated villainess both for moralizing
Herald
journalists and for the American Medical Association
Srebnick,
Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers
, 86.

22
state criminalized abortion soon afterward
Ibid., 85.

23
laws made it illegal to even discuss
Brodie,
Contraception and Abortion
, 257.

24
The better practitioners were often immigrants
Ibid., 228.

25
“Their methods are so hidden” NYW
, September 3, 1897.

26
WOMEN FARM, MEN COOK NYW
, August 2, 1897.

27
SHE’S PRETTY, EVEN IF SHE IS A LAWYER NYJ
, October 17, 1897.

28
“Really … the newspapers are becoming” NYH
, August 9, 1841, quoted in Stashower,
Beautiful Cigar Girl
, epigraph.

29
another indictment had just been handed down
“Indicted in Queens,”
NYW
, September 16, 1897.

30
handed over to Undersheriff Baker … and slipped out the Leonard Street exit
“Taken to L.I. City Jail,”
BE
, September 16, 1897.

31
One thousand New Yorkers were waiting
“Mrs. Nack and Thorn in New Cells,”
NYS
, September 17, 1897.

32
He’d become used to the sound of pile drivers and hammers
“Nack … Cottage” (title partly destroyed),
NYEJ
, September 17, 1897.

33
“I rented the Woodside cottage”
Mrs. Nack’s Window of Spectres,
NYEJ
, September 4, 1897.

34
blurted out to
Journal
reporter Lowe Shearon
“Justice’s Bar,”
NYEJ
, September 15, 1897.

35
“That is all rot” NYEJ
, September 4, 1897.

36
Mrs. Nack had pulled an upper-floor unit NYEJ
, September 14, 1897.

37
World
sent … Harriet Hubbard Ayer
“Mrs. Nack’s Own Story of the Killing of Guldensuppe,”
NYW
, October 3, 1897.

38
Ayer was a household name … whose cosmetics empire had fallen apart
“Mrs. Harriet Ayer Dead,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, November 26, 1903.

39
“Must I be locked in?”
NYW
, October 3, 1897. NB: The remainder of this section is drawn from this
World
account.