The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That

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The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century

From renowned true-crime historian Harold Schechter, whom The Boston Book Review hails as â€œAmericaâ€™s principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers,â€ 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 Manhattanâ€™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 â€œan effeminate man.â€ 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. Molineuxâ€™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 familyâ€™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 timeâ€“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 caseâ€™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 sonâ€™s ignoble deeds besmirched a dignified national heroâ€™s final years. All the while Schechter brings alive Manhattanâ€™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 Devilâ€™s Gentleman is an insightful, gripping work, a true-crime historianâ€™s crowning achievement.
Country USA
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2007-10-16
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780345476791

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2007-10-16
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780345476791

The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century

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