3. New York Journal, August 16, 1899, p. 3.
4. See all issues of New York World, May 23, 1899, through June 17, 1899, p. 1.
5. New York World, July 30, 1899, fifth section, p. 1; New York Journal, August 13, 1899, p. 1; New York Sun, July 4, 1899, p. 1; New York World, July 7, 1899, p. 1.
6. New York World, July 28, 1899, p. 12, August 27, 1899, p. 7, August 28, 1899, p. 10.
7. New York World, July 28, 1899, p. 5; New York Journal, August 24, 1899, p. 3; Brooklyn Eagle, September 14, 1899, p. 7.
8. Scott, pp. 137–38.
9. New York World, August 2, 1899, p. 3.
10. New York World, November 2, 1899, p. 2.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
1. Klaus, p. 23.
2. New York World, November 15, 1899, p. 2.
3. Ibid.
4. Author’s telephone interview with G. Gordon Liddy, May 19, 2004. See also G. Gordon Liddy, Will (New York: St. Martin’s, 1980), pp. 18–21.
5. New York World, November 15, 1899, p. 2.
6. New York Journal, November 15, 1899, pp. 1–2.
7. Brooklyn Eagle, November 16, 1899, p. 2.
8. New York Times, November 21, 1899, p. 6.
9. New York Sun, November 20, 1899, p. 3.
10. Brooklyn Eagle, November 20, 1899, p. 1.
11. New York Evening Journal, November 22, 1899, p. 1.
12. New York World, November 30, 1899, p. 2.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Pejsa, p. 183. Adding to the charade was the fact that November 29, 1899, was not their wedding anniversary. Roland and Blanche had been married on November 19 of the previous year.
16. New York Evening Journal, November 29, 1899, p. 1.
17. New York World, November 30, 1899, p. 2.
18. New York Evening Journal, December 2, 1899, p. 1.
CHAPTER SIXTY
1. Judy Crichton, America 1900: The Turning Point (New York: Henry Holt, 1998), p. 3.
2. Life, Vol. 28, No. 1 (January 2, 1950), p. 3.
3. Just as the period we call the sixties did not begin until roughly 1963, with the advent of the Beatles, and ended, arguably, on December 6, 1969, with the debacle of Altamont.
4. Neal Gabler, Life: The Movie (New York: Vintage Books, 2000), pp. 7 and 4.
5. Until then, it was common for critics to wait a few days after the first night before publishing reviews to give the production a chance to iron out any wrinkles—a function subsequently served, in the wake of Scott’s innovation, by out-of-town tryouts and previews.
6. Brooklyn Eagle, December 5, 1899, p. 4.
7. New York Sun, December 5, 1899, p. 4.
8. New York Journal, December 5, 1899, p. 5.
9. Klaus, pp. 24–25.
10. New York Herald, December 5, 1899, p. 1.
11. Klaus, p. 23.
12. This account of Osborne’s speech is drawn from the following sources: New York World, December 5, 1899, pp. 1–2; New York Times, December 5, 1899, p. 14; New York Journal, December 5, 1899, p. 16; Brooklyn Eagle, December 5, 1899, p. 4.
13. New York Herald, December 5, 1899, p. 1.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
1. New York World, December 5, 1899. At the end of the first week of testimony, Osborne’s conduct of the case already seemed so incoherent that, according to the New York Sun, “if the entire testimony…were put together in a book and given to the cleverest man that ever lived to read…he might read it from end to end and never suspect that he was reading the evidence in a murder trial” (December 9, 1899, p. 1).
2. Though often misunderstood as a literal corpse—the actual body of the victim without which, supposedly, no crime can be proved—the term corpus delicti actually means “the body or substance of the offense.” In homicide cases, this means the evidence which shows “that a human being was killed, that the death was the result of a criminal act, and that the killing occurred within the jurisdiction of the court.” These basic facts must be established before the trial can proceed. See Michael Kurland, How to Try a Murder (Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2002), p. 68.
3. Klaus, pp. 51–58.
4. The letter was actually penned by Heiles, though dictated by Roland. It was sent, under a pseudonym, to Frederick Stearns & Company of Detroit, and—like the earlier letter mailed to the same company—sought confidential information about Harpster, a former salesman for Stearns who had subsequently gone to work for J. Herbert Ballantine. According to Heiles’s testimony, Roland—who hated Harpster because of the latter’s friendship with Cornish—was hoping to obtain compromising information about Harpster’s employment record “with a view to getting him dismissed from his place in Ballantine’s brewery office.” See New York Journal, December 6, 1899, p. 1.
5. Brooklyn Eagle, December 7, 1899, p. 2; New York Journal, December 8, 1899, p. 2; New York Sun, December 8, 1899, p. 2.
6. Brooklyn Eagle, December 5, 1899, p. 2.
7. Carey, p. 92.
8. New York World and New York Sun, December 9, 1899, p. 1.
9. New York Sun, December 11, 1899, p. 1.
10. New York Times, New York Journal, New York World, December 12, 1899, pp. 1–2; Brooklyn Eagle, December 11, 1899, p. 1.
11. New York Journal Sunday Supplement, December 17, 1899, p. 18.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
1. New York World, December 16, 1899, p. 1.
2. Brooklyn Eagle, December 12, 1899, p. 1.
3. New York World, December 27, 1899, p. 2.
4. Brooklyn Eagle, December 12, 1899, p. 1.
5. New York Journal, December 14, 1899.
6. New York World, December 19, 1899, p. 2.
7. New York Journal, December 19, 1899, p. 1.
8. New York World, December 19, 1899, p. 2.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
1. See Bradford and Bradford, p. 8.
2. New York Sun, December 27, 1899, p. 1.
3. New York World and New York Journal, December 28, 1899, pp. 1–2.
4. New York World, December 26, 1899, p. 5; New York Times, December 26, 1899, p. 8; New York Journal, December 26, 1899, p. 14.
5. New York Sun, December 27, 1899, p. 3.
6. New York World, December 31, 1899, p. 16.
7. Brooklyn Eagle, December 28, 1899, p. 1; New York Times, December 29, 1899, p. 1; New York World, December 29, 1899, p. 1; Klaus, pp. 148 ff.
8. New York World, December 29, 1899, p. 1.
9. Ibid., p. 2.
10. New York World, December 30, 1899, p. 1.
11. New York Journal, December 30, 1899, p. 1.
12. Brooklyn Eagle, December 29, 1899, p. 1.
13. Klaus, pp. 159–60.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
1. New York World, January 1, 1900, p. 1.
2. Ibid.
3. New York Sun, January 1, 1900, p. 1.
4. New York Times, January 2, 1900, p. 8.
5. New York Sun, January 3, 1900, p. 3.
6. Koch “positively connected” Molineux to the private letter box by identifying him as the man who had come to his store in the third week of December 1898 and inquired about the price of a rental. According to Koch, however, it was another man who had appeared a few days later and rented the box under Cornish’s name, suggesting that Roland may have had an accomplice. See New York Journal, January 17, 1900, p. 5, and New York World, January 17, 1900, p. 14.
7. See New York World, January 24, 1900, p. 3.
8. All details about the testimony of Rachel Greene and Minnie Betts come from the following sources: Brooklyn Eagle, January 15, 1900; New York Journal, January 16, 1900, pp. 1–2; New York World, January 16, 1900, p. 4; Klaus, pp. 277–82.
9. Even before the joint appearance of Rachel Greene and Minnie Betts, Osborne had been allowed to introduce evidence related to the death of Barnet. On January 4, for instance, both Barnet’s doctor and valet described the sufferings he had endured after taking some of the sample Kutnow’s Powder. Their testimony occupied
such a significant chunk of the day that the New York Sun was led to remark that “the title of the case seemed to have changed to the People Against Roland Molineux for the Murder of Henry Crossman Barnet” (January 5, 1900, p. 4).
10. Brooklyn Eagle, January 17, 1900, p. 8.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
1. New York Sun, January 19, 1900, p. 3.
2. Brooklyn Eagle, January 19, 1900, p. 2.
3. Brooklyn Eagle, January 24, 1900, p. 1.
4. New York Journal, January 29, 1900, p. 5.
5. New York Journal, February 6, 1900, p. 16.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
1. New York World, January 28, 1900, p. 5.
2. New York World, February 7, 1900, p. 1.
3. Brooklyn Eagle, February 6, 1900, p. 1; New York Journal, February 7, 1900, p. 1; New York World, February 7, 1900, p. 1; New York Times, February 7, 1900, p. 4.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
1. Klaus, p. 26; Brooklyn Eagle, February 7, 1900, p. 1; New York World, February 8, 1900, p. 1.
2. Brooklyn Eagle, February 6, 1900, p. 1; New York Journal, February 7, 1900, pp. 1–2; New York World, February 7, 1900, pp. 1–2.
3. New York World, February 7, 1900, p. 2.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
1. Brooklyn Eagle, February 7, 1900, p. 1.
2. New York World, February 8, 1900, pp. 1–2.
3. Ibid., p. 2.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
1. New York Times, September 29, 1899, p. 1, September 30, 1899, p. 1, October 1, 1899, p. 6; New York World, September 30, 1899, pp. 1–2, and October 1, 1899, pp. 1–2.
2. New York Times, October 3, 1899, p. 2.
3. New York Times, September 29, 1899, p. 4.
4. New York Journal, February 8, 1900, p. 1.
5. Brooklyn Eagle, February 8, 1900, p. 2; New York Journal, February 9, 1900, p. 16.
6. New York Journal, February 9, 1900, p. 16.
7. Brooklyn Eagle, February 8, 1900, p. 2; New York World, February 9, 1900, p. 1; New York Sun, February 9, 1900, p. 1.
8. New York Journal, February 9, 1900, p. 16.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
1. Brooklyn Eagle, February 9, 1900, p. 2; New York Sun, February 10, 1900, p. 1.
2. New York World, February 10, 1900, p. 1.
3. Brooklyn Eagle, February 9, 1900, p. 2; New York Sun, February 10, 1900, pp. 1–2; New York Journal, February 10, 1900, pp. 1–2; New York World, February 10, 1900, pp. 1–2.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
1. Brooklyn Eagle, February 10, 1900, p. 1.
2. New York World, February 11, 1900, p. 2.
3. Scott, pp. 163–65.
4. New York Sun, February 11, 1900, p. 2.
5. New York World, February 11, 1900, p. 2.
6. New York Sun, February 11, 1900, p. 2.
7. New York World, February 11, 1900, p. 2.
8. New York Times, February 11, 1900, p. 1.
9. New York Sun, February 11, 1900, p. 2.
10. Ibid.
11. Brooklyn Eagle, February 10, 1900, pp. 1–2; New York World, February 11, 1900, pp. 1–2; New York Journal, February 11, 1900, pp. 1–2; New York Sun, February 11, 1900, pp. 1–2; New York Times, February 11, 1900, p. 1.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
1. New York Sun, February 12, 1900, p. 1.
2. New York World, February 12, 1900, p. 2, and February 13, 1900, p. 2.
3. New York World, February 12, 1900, p. 1.
4. New York Sun, February 12, 1900, p. 1.
5. New York Sun, February 12, 1900, p. 2; New York Times, February 12, 1900, p. 6.
6. New York Journal, February 13, 1900, p. 16.
7. New York Herald, February 17, 1900, p. 2.
8. New York Times, February 17, 1900, p. 2.
9. Ibid.
10. New York Sun, February 17, 1900, p. 2.
11. Brooklyn Eagle, February 16, 1900, p. 1; New York Times, February 17, 1900, p. 2; New York Journal, February 17, 1900, pp. 1 and 2; New York Sun, February 17, 1900, pp. 1 and 2; New York Journal, February 17, 1900, pp. 1 and 2; New York World, February 17, 1900, pp. 1 and 2.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
1. New York Times, February 17, 1900, p. 2.
2. New York World, February 17, 1900, p. 2.
3. Ibid.
4. New York Journal, February 17, 1900, p. 2; New York World, February 17, 1900, p. 2; New York Times, February 17, 1900, p. 2; New York Sun, February 17, 1900, p. 2.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
1. New York Journal, February 17, 1900, p. 1; New York Times, February 17, 1900, p. 1; New York Sun, February 17, 1900, p. 1.
2. Ibid.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
1. New York Times, August 27, 1898, p. 11, April 1, 1899, p. 12.
2. Denis Brian, Sing Sing (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2005, p. 22).
3. Roland Molineux, The Room with the Little Door (New York: G.W. Dillingham, 1902), p. 21.
4. Ibid., p. 25.
5. Ibid., p. 20.
6. New York Journal, February 20, 1900, p. 4; New York World, February 20, 1900, p. 14.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
1. In 1901, to distinguish it from its notorious prison, the village changed its name to Ossining. At the time of Roland’s arrival, however, it was still known as Sing Sing.
2. Scott, p. 169.
3. Scott, pp. 169–71; Pejsa, pp. 220–21.
4. Scott, pp. 173–78.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
1. Brooklyn Eagle, March 3, 1900, p. 12.
2. New York Sun, March 3, 1900, p. 1.
3. New York Journal, March 5, 1900, p. 3.
4. Brooklyn Eagle, June 11, 1900, p. 5.
5. A vivid description of Milburn can be found in a memorial address delivered by Chief Judge Benjamin Cardozo of the Court of Appeals in December 1930 and privately printed by the Carnegie Corporation. See also the profile of Milburn in the Brooklyn Eagle, September 15, 1901, p. 15.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
1. Molineux, The Room with the Little Door, p. 52.
2. Brander Matthews, His Father’s Son (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1896), pp. 211–12.
3. Lewis Lawes, Life and Death in Sing Sing (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1928), pp. 163–64.
4. Ibid.
5. Molineux, The Room with the Little Door, pp. 26–29.
6. Ibid., p. 209.
7. Ibid., pp. 198–207; Lawes, p. 161.
8. For a list of the men put to death in Sing Sing between February 1900 and August 1901, see Scott Christianson, Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House (New York: New York University Press, 2000), p. 148.
9. New York Times, November 23, 1900, p. 14. Kennedy would be tried two more times, in February and June 1901. Each trial resulted in a hung jury, and the indictment was finally dismissed with the consent of the district attorney. Kennedy returned to his home in New Dorp, Staten Island, where he practiced dentistry for another fifty-seven years before his death in August 1948 at the age of eighty-one. See New York Times, August 26, 1948, p. 4.
10. New York Times, November 30, 1900, p. 3.
11. New York World, January 5, 1901, p. 3.
12. New York Times, January 7, 1901, p. 6, and June 16, 1901, p. 15.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
1. Margaret Leech, In the Days of McKinley (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1959), pp. 575–85.
2. New York Times, June 17, 1901, p. 3.
3. Brooklyn Eagle, June 17, 1901, p. 1.
4. New York World, June 18, 1901, p. 2; Brooklyn Eagle, June 18, 1901, p. 3.
5. Brooklyn Eagle, June 19, 1901, p. 1; New York World, June 19, 1901, p. 3, and June 20, 1901, p. 4; New York Times, June 20, 1901, p. 3.
6. Brooklyn Eagle, June 19, 1901, p. 1.
7. New York World, June 20, 1901, p. 4.
CHAPTER EIGHTY
1. Robert J. Donovan, “The Man Who Didn’t Shake Hands,” New Yorker, Vol. 29 (November 28, 1953), p. 122.
2. Leech, pp. 589 ff.;
Mark Goldman, High Hopes (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983), pp. 3–12.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
1. With its ubiquitous red-tiled roofs and wildly eclectic mix of architectural elements—from Islamic minarets to Italian loggias—the Pan-American Exposition was a baroque fantasyland of riotous color and garish design: a “Rainbow City”(as it was immediately dubbed) in striking contrast to the marble-like splendor of Chicago’s great “White City” of 1893.
2. New York World, October 30, 1901, p. 1; New York Times, October 30, 1901, p. 3.
3. Several of the judges dissented from Werner’s strict interpretation of the “uncharged misconduct” rule (as it has come to be known), arguing that there are additional circumstances when evidence of previous crimes is admissible. All seven agreed, however, that the testimony of Dr. Henry Beaman Douglass—who stated that Barnet had told him of having been sickened by the Kutnow’s Powder he received through the mail—was hearsay and should not have been allowed. See The People of the State of New York, Respondents, against Roland B. Molineux, Appellant; Thomas J. Reed, “How the Uncharged Misconduct Rule was Born,” 2003; Joseph O’Shea, “The Molineux Rule,” Joseph O’Shea, 1990; and Marvin Schechter, “Molineux Unleashed,” 1998.
4. Brooklyn Eagle, October 15, 1901, p. 1; New York World, October 16, 1901, p. 1; New York Times, October 16, 1901, p. 1; New York Journal, October 16, 1901, p. 1.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
1. New York Times, October 17, 1901, p. 5; New York World, October 17, 1901, p. 1.
2. New York World, October 18, 1901, p. 1.
3. New York Times, October 18, 1901, p. 5.
4. Brooklyn Eagle, October 16, 1901, p. 1.
5. Brooklyn Eagle, October 20, 1901, p. 3. A signed typescript of General King’s speech exists among Edward Molineux’s personal papers, now in possession of his great-grandson, Will Molineux.
6. Brooklyn Eagle, November 11, 1901, p. 7.
7. Brooklyn Eagle, November 12, 1901, p. 5.
8. See Forest Davis, “12 Trials that Gripped New York: How Gallant Old General Molineux Led a Lost Cause and Won,” New York Telegram Sunday Supplement, January 13, 1931, p. 1.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE
1. At the time of his release from Sing Sing, Roland, like the General, told reporters that “nothing but an acquittal will satisfy me now.” See New York Sun, October 17, 1901, p. 1.
2. New York World, December 7, 1901, p. 1.
3. New York Times, March 11, 1902, p. 6.
4. New York World, October 19, 1901, p. 3.
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