The Murder of the Century

by Paul Collins

  36 Thorn’s informant looked puffy and tired “Gotha Repeats Thorn’s Story,” NYET, November 26, 1897.

  37 “I asked him if he done the murder” New York v. Thorn, 299. NB: The remainder of this section is drawn from the trial transcript.

  38 Howe was thunderstruck NYW, November 27, 1897.

  39 CROWD MAY BREAK RECORDS BE, November 28, 1897.

  40 attorneys were making a pilgrimage “All Eager to Hear Thorn,” NYT, November 29, 1897.

  41 “No women” “Martin Thorn a Good Witness,” NYET, November 29, 1897.

  42 Scores of women promptly laid siege “Thorn’s Bid for Life,” NYW, November 30, 1897.

  43 “I have been watching them” “Thorn’s Story Told, His Life at Stake,” NYH, November 30, 1897.

  44 women who had gotten in under the pretense “Thorn Testifies in His Own Behalf,” BE, November 29, 1897.

  45 “The killing of Guldensuppe germinated” “Thorn Talks for His Own Life,” NYTR, November 30, 1897.

  46 “In a long career in the court” “Jurors Paled at Thorn’s Grewsome Evidence,” NYJA, November 30, 1897.

  47 “Will Your Honor pardon me if I sit down” New York v. Thorn, 369.

  48 Howe rose and walked to the jury box BE, November 29, 1897.

  49 Then the defendant leveled his gaze squarely at the twelve men “Thorn’s Account of the Murder,” NYEP, November 29, 1897.

  21. MRS. NACK’S OFFICE

  1 Hearst even joked W. R. Hearst, editorial, NYEJ, November 26, 1897.

  2 $60,000 windfall “Patrick J. Gleason Dead,” NYT, May 21, 1901.

  3 her lucky piece of coral “Luetgert Predicts Thorn’s Conviction,” NYW, November 24, 1897.

  4 carried a rabbit’s foot—a present from his wife “Fears Thorn’s Collapse,” NYW, November 23, 1897.

  5 “The case for the people was complete without her” NYH, November 30, 1897.

  6 “Where do you live?” New York v. Thorn, 387.

  7 her voice small and precise, free of artifice NYW, November 30, 1897. 212 “Do you remember” New York v. Thorn, 387.

  8 “Is that all your evidence?” NYH, November 30, 1897.

  9 “I ask … that the jury be permitted to view the bath tub” New York v. Thorn, 495.

  10 Thorn … wasn’t interested in joining them Ibid., 501.

  11 While a private trolley was requisitioned for the jurors, reporters jockeyed “Martin Thorn’s Case Is in the Hands of the Jury,” NYEJ, November 30, 1897.

  12 He hadn’t allowed his charges to read … “nothing but hotel menu cards” “Fight for Thorn’s Life Is On Again,” NYH, November 24, 1897.

  13 Good Thing Club “Thorn Jurors’ Bright Idea,” NYH, November 29, 1897.

  14 genially hazed their police escort by loading his rifle with blanks “Thorn Will Say the Woman Did It,” NYH, November 28, 1897.

  15 referred to as Mrs. Nack’s Office “Thorn Confesses It All,” NYT, December 1, 1897.

  16 “All off here for Woodside cottage!” “Thorn’s Fate in Jury’s Hands,” BE, November 30, 1897.

  17 The place had hardly changed NYT, December 1, 1897.

  18 shooing gawkers to a perimeter NYH, December 1, 1897.

  19 Sullivan busily threw open the shutters “Thorn’s Life in Jury’s Keeping,” NYET, November 30, 1897.

  20 Judge Maddox hadn’t yet finished his cigar NYEJ, November 30, 1897.

  21 tugged down on his pin-striped vest Ibid.

  22 so loud that the chandeliers jangled NYJA, November 30, 1897.

  23 “Now, as to your visit to the cottage” NYEJ, November 30, 1897.

  24 “Remember that the scenes of this day will never” BE, November 30, 1897.

  25 “Put these things together in a mosaic” NYEJ, November 30, 1897.

  26 it was 2:25 NYEJ, November 30, 1897.

  27 a single black-veiled woman nearly hidden “Thorn Found Guilty,” NYTR, December 1, 1897.

  28 “So long as Mr. Howe kept in a sphere above the actual evidence” “The Jury’s Declaration at Thorn’s …” (title damaged), NYJA, December 1, 1897.

  29 “It is not believed that he cut himself up” editorial, BE, November 27, 1897.

  30 reporters could make out raised voices “Jury in Three Hours Finds Thorn Guilty,” NYJA, December 1, 1897.

  31 poring over the intercepted jailhouse correspondence “Martin Thorn Convicted,” NYS, December 1, 1897.

  32 “Remove your hats!” NYT, December 1, 1897.

  33 “Gentlemen of the jury, have you agreed upon a verdict?” “Jury Finds Thorn Guilty of Murder,” NYH, December 1, 1897.

  22. THE SMOKER TO SING SING

  1 “I suppose Howe will get a new trial” NYH, December 1, 1897.

  2 wrestling with his adopted mutt “Thorn Sentenced to Die In January,” BE, December 3, 1897.

  3 “I had no motive to kill Guldensuppe” NYH, December 1, 1897.

  4 “Martin!” his sister sobbed “Martin Thorn Is Breaking Down,” NYW, December 3, 1897.

  5 “It doesn’t make any difference to me” NYH, December 1, 1897. NB: The remainder of this scene is drawn from this account.

  6 “I am smoking a cigar” “Howe Calls Doht a Liar,” BE, December 1, 1897.

  7 Garden City Hotel dutifully filed “Thorn Trial Expenses,” NYS, December 3, 1897.

  8 Detective Sullivan’s fruitless trip to Hamburg “Mrs. Nack May Escape Death,” NYW, December 2, 1897.

  9 the entire cost of the case might balloon to $40,000 or $50,000 “Luxurious Thorn Jurors,” NYT, December 3, 1897.

  10 hotel bill consisted of the usual pettiness “Thorn Jury Bill Edited,” BE, January 13, 1898.

  11 The jury was incompetent to render a verdict “The Thorn Jury Wine Bill,” NYT, January 8, 1898.

  12 “I saw no wine drunk” “Thorn Jurors Swear They Had No Wine,” BE, January 9, 1898.

  13 “Prisoner, arise” BE, December 3, 1897. NB: The remainder of the scene is drawn from this account.

  14 Thorn sat up on his jail cot “Thorn Taken to Sing Sing,” BE, December 4, 1897.

  15 he turned to his dog “Martin Thorn in Sing Sing,” NYET, December 4, 1897.

  16 two inches of slush and snow “Thorn Must Die Within Five Weeks,” NYW, December 4, 1897.

  17 Thorn slid on the ice “Almost Fell Twice,” NYJ, December 5, 1897.

  18 crowd was pressing on Thorn and his two jailers NYET, December 4, 1897.

  19 “They all want to see you” “Thorn’s Vanity Betrayed Him,” NYW, December 5, 1897. NB: The remainder of this scene is drawn from this account.

  20 a piano maker’s wife had thrown herself “The Suicidal Mania,” NYT, May 13, 1881.

  21 man recently arrested for assisting a high diver’s illegal leap “Jumped from the Bridge,” NYT, July 5, 1897.

  22 employee had once run off with the florist’s wife “Mrs. Spengler Went Wrong,” NYT, September 9, 1892.

  23 burnished oak coffin “Guldensuppe’s Body Buried,” NYTR, December 6, 1897.

  24 his right hand laid upon his breast NYT, December 6, 1897.

  25 Journal women’s page reporter who visited her on Christmas Day “Mrs. Nack’s Christmas Present to Thorn,” NYJA, December 26, 1897.

  26 “head devil” of the case “Maudlin Sympathy,” BE, December 6, 1897.

  27 “They should place her in the electric chair with Thorn” “Mrs. Nack May Escape Death,” NYW, December 2, 1897.

  28 “Imagine Santa Throwing an X-Ray” Bloomingdale’s display ad, NYW, December 5, 1897.

  29 FIRE IN A MATCH FACTORY NYH, December 4, 1897.

  30 proposal to put bike racks on trolley cars “Brooklyn Trolleys May Carry Cycles Next Season,” NYJ, December 10, 1897.

  31 THOUGHTS PICTURED NYH, November 28, 1897.

  32 FISH CHOWDER POURS NYJ, December 15, 1897.

  33 the Prophecy Prize “What Do You Think Will Happen in the Year 1898?” NYJA, December 19, 1897.

  34 “Poor Martin.” Gussie sighed N
YJA, December 26, 1897. NB: The remainder of this section is drawn from this account.

  23. A JOB FOR SMITH AND JONES

  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.

  24. A STORY OF LIFE IN NEW YORK

  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.)