†
The versions of Earle Nelson’s life found in most histories of American crime aren’t entirely trustworthy (they often have him born in Philadelphia, raised by an old, fanatical aunt, and married to a lovely young woman). The best brief account of his case appears in L. C. Douthwaite’s classic study Mass Murder (New York: Henry Holt, 1929), published just one year after Nelson’s execution.
To reconstruct the “Gorilla Man’s” cross-country murder spree, I relied primarily on the following newspapers: the San Francisco Chronicle, the Santa Barbara Daily News, the Portland Oregonian, the Seattle Times, the Kansas City Star, the Council Bluffs Nonpareil, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, the Buffalo Courier Express, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Manitoba Free Press, the Winnipeg Tribune, and the New York Times.
My descriptions of the 1920s were likewise drawn from newspapers and periodicals of the era, as well as from assorted social histories, including the following: Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday (New York: Harper & Row, 1931); Ann Douglas, Terrible Honesty (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995); James H. Gray, The Roar of the Twenties (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1978); and Paul Sann, The Lawless Decade (New York: Bonanza Books, 1957).
For information on specific subjects (such as the San Francisco earthquake, Harry Houdini, the Scopes “Monkey Trial,” the horrors of the Great War, the quasiscientific theories of Cesare Lombroso, and the Snyder-Gray and Hall-Mills cases), I consulted the following: William Bronson, The Earth Shook, the Sky Burned (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1959); Milbourne Christopher, Houdini: The Untold Story (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969); L. Sprague de Camp, The Great Monkey Trial (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1968); Paul Fussell, The Great War in Modem Memory (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975); Martin Gilbert, The First World War (New York: Henry Holt, 1994); Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man (New York: Norton, 1981); John Kobler, The Trial of Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran, 1938); and William Kunstler, The Minister and the Choir Singer (New York: William Morrow, 1964).
I owe special thanks to a number of people in Winnipeg and elsewhere in Canada for their help and generosity. Foremost among these is Larry Halcro, who graciously shared his own extensive knowledge of the case, gave me access to his private collection of Nelson papers, and assisted me in tracking down some obscure but vital information. I am also grateful to Professor Alvin Esau, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, who provided me with a mountain of material, including a complete trial transcript and other legal documents, that proved indispensable.
Others to whom I am indebted include: Cameron Harvey of the Archives of Western Canadian Legal History; Janet Murray of the National Archives of Canada; Gerry Berkowski, Peter Bower, and Nancy Stunden of the Provincial Archives of Manitoba; Annie Vialard of the Winnipeg Medical College; Ab Brereton; and Mary Shelton, daughter of Dr. Alvin Mathers.
As has been the case with every book m this series, I received significant support from my friend and researcher Catharine Ostlind. My thanks also to Mike Wilk for his usual, unhesitating generosity, to John E. Vetter, and to Nancy Ferrara.
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Bestial
Bela Borsodi
HAROLD SCHECHTER is a professor of American literature and culture. Renowned for his true-crime writing, he is the author of the nonfiction books Fatal, Fiend, Bestial, Deviant, Deranged, Depraved, and, with David Everitt, The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. He is also the author of Nevermore and The Hum Bug, the acclaimed historical novels featuring Edgar Allan Poe. He lives in New York State.
Mug shots of Earle Leonard Nelson, aged twenty-four, at the time of his arrest for assaulting twelve-year-old Mary Summers in May 1921. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann.
A GALLERY OF EARLE LEONARD NELSON’S VICTIMS
Clara Newman, murdered February 20, 1926, in San Francisco. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann.
Mrs. Beata Withers, murdered October 19, 1926, in Portland. With her is her son, Charles. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann.
Mabel Fluke, murdered October 23, 1926, in Portland. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann.
Mrs. Florence Monks, murdered November 24, 1926, in Seattle. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann.
Mrs. Blanche Myers, murdered November 29, 1926, in Portland. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann.
The body of Mrs. Emily Patterson, murdered June 10, 1927, in Winnipeg. Provincial Archives of Manitoba.
WANTED poster for the Winnipeg strangles. Private collection.
Main Street of Killarney. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann.
Earle Leonard Nelson in custody. Western Canada Pictorial Index.
Earle Leonard Nelson, the “Gorilla Murderer.” Winnipeg Free Press.
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