Near Prospect Park
Page 23
Every ounce of melancholy instantly left Mary’s body and was replaced with joy. She leapt to her feet, picked up Josie, and held her tightly. Suddenly, everything seemed so clear.
She had Josie. Nothing else mattered.
EPILOGUE
Theodore Roosevelt left his job as president of the board of police commissioners in March of 1897 to become assistant to the secretary of the navy. When the Spanish-American War broke out, his Rough Riders became legendary. The rest of his career, from governor of New York to vice president of the United States to president, is well known. He remained an advocate for women throughout his life.
Stanford White was able to avoid any legal punishment for drugging and raping women, but as Roosevelt had hoped, he did get his comeuppance. He had an affair (as he called it) with famous teenage showgirl Evelyn Nesbit, who said that she had also been drugged. Years later, in 1906, Harry Thaw, Nesbit’s seriously unhinged husband, whom she had just married the year before, saw White at the rooftop theater of Madison Square Garden and became incensed. Mary had hoped that one day someone would put a bullet in White’s skull, and that’s exactly what Thaw did, blowing his face clear off in what was called “the Crime of the Century.” The trial also became known as “the Trial of the Century.” Harry Thaw was very wealthy and even in prison dined on Delmonico’s steaks. There were two trials: The first one ended in a hung jury. In the second trial, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was sent to Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where his money got him special treatment yet again. He escaped from Matteawan, was eventually brought back, and had a hearing in 1915 to prove that he was mentally stable. He was declared sane and set free. The irony that Stanford White, a man whose privilege had allowed him to avoid punishment for drugging and raping young women, was murdered by another man of privilege who got off with very few consequences was not lost on Mary.
W. S. Gilbert’s production of The Fortune Hunter was a critical and financial disaster. Some critics suggested that Gilbert should have inserted a few songs in the play to make it more entertaining.
Young Ivy Lee eventually graduated from Princeton and went into public relations. The boy that Gilbert called a moron became known as the father of modern public relations.
Lillian Russell continued to have a stellar career and remained friends with Diamond Jim until he died in 1917. Doctors examining his body discovered that his stomach was six times the size of a normal human’s stomach.
The dual marriage ceremony of Sean and Linda and Elizabeth and Artie seemed a little odd to Mary, but it was enjoyable. Josie was the flower girl.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This is where I have traditionally mentioned what was real history in my novel, and I intend on keeping with that tradition. Some of the information may sound repetitive from the epilogue, but my intention is to emphasize the events that are not fiction. I have omitted a few minor players.
Stanford White and James Breese were real people. Breese was a famed photographer and financier. White was a highly lauded architect and he did get his comeuppance in 1906 at Madison Square Garden by Harry Thaw.
The “Pie Girl Dinner” really happened, and all the participants mentioned were there. Unfortunately, the tragic fate of Susie Johnson is also true. She did claim she was drugged and raped by Stanford White and James Breese that night, and though the newspapers made a big thing out of it, it was just to sell papers. No one believed her. She did get married and when her husband found out she was the “Pie Girl,” he divorced her and she committed suicide.
The absurd Bradley-Martin Ball was also real, as were the costumes worn by Stanford White, James Breese, and Bradley Martin, along with the description of how ridiculously expensive some of the participants’ costumes were. It was the event that inspired Thorstein Veblen to coin the phrase “conspicuous consumption.”
Theodore Roosevelt was indeed forced out as president of the board of police commissioners by politicos who were afraid of him. It obviously didn’t stop his political career.
The Players Club is a real club in Manhattan that was established by Edwin Booth, and Stanford White was a member. Joe Jefferson was a real actor of that day, a member of the club, and he did tour for many years as Rip Van Winkle.
Herbert Barnum Seeley’s bachelor party for his brother, Clinton, also really did take place. Captain Chapman did come up empty when he raided it in the hope of finding Roosevelt and discrediting him.
B. F. Keith and Edward Franklin Albee (who was the grandfather of famed playwright Edward Albee) were real theater producers who did reap financial rewards by producing Gilbert and Sullivan plays in the United States without having to pay any royalties to Gilbert and Sullivan. It upset Gilbert and Sullivan so much that they did eventually go to the United States to produce their own plays.
Gilbert did write the drama The Fortune Hunter to prove his mettle as a serious playwright. It was a huge failure, financially and critically. The only alteration I made was that it premiered in London and not in the United States.
Ivy Lee was also a real person who eventually earned the moniker of “the Father of Modern Public Relations.”
Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell were very good friends for many years, and their bizarre eating habits are legendary. Some have conjectured that they were also lovers, but there’s no real proof of that. Russell was fired from a Gilbert and Sullivan play in London, and it did not sit well with her.
It was with great sorrow I discovered that drugging women in order to rape them has gone on for well over a century, possibly much longer, and, looking at today’s headlines, hasn’t slowed down yet. The obvious example is Bill Cosby, but Cosby is a celebrity and thus gets more press. There are many more, and one would hope that common decency, fairness, and doing what’s right would prevail. But they haven’t. It is my sincere hope that through the efforts of movements like #MeToo and others of that ilk, women and all members of our society can help put a stop to these crimes and many more injustices committed against women. It is indeed about time.
For Franny
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I can’t say enough about my editor, Elana Seplow-Jolley, a very talented woman who gives great notes while always encouraging and supporting my creativity. I feel extremely fortunate to have her on my team and thank her for her brilliant work.
My agent, Paul Fedorko, has always been supportive, and his belief in me is unwavering. He’s the best. Enough said.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a huge round of applause to my publicists, Christine Johnston and Dyana Messina, and my marketing managers, Alaina Waagner and Kathleen Quinlan. Their hard work in making my book known and getting it read is greatly appreciated.
I’d like to thank David Garber, who is completely unselfish with his time and has allowed me to bounce ideas off him. What a giving and talented friend.
My son, Joshua, and my daughter, Erin, are the beaming lights in my life, and they have never failed to be more than one hundred percent supportive of my efforts. Erin, a very talented and successful writer in her own right, has read early versions of all my books and has given me very helpful notes.
Many thanks to Michael and Helen Levy, Stan Finkelberg, Charley and Nikki Garrett, and Lois Feller. They, too, have read early versions of this book and have been extremely positive with their comments.
It is important that I mention Lydia Cornell. She has brought happiness into my life at a very difficult time, and her constant affirmation of my abilities has not only increased my belief in myself but has also made me want to be more prolific than ever. We should all have a Lydia in our lives.
ALSO BY LAWRENCE H. LEVY IN THE MARY HANDLEY MYSTERY SERIES
Second Street Station
Brooklyn on Fire
Last Stop in Brooklyn
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LAWRENCE H. LEVY is a
Writers Guild Award winner for Seinfeld and a two-time Emmy nominee who has written for many hit TV shows, including Family Ties, Roseanne, Saved by the Bell, and Seventh Heaven. Mr. Levy recently turned his attention to writing historical fiction mysteries, specifically the Mary Handley mystery series based on a real-life female sleuth in the late nineteenth century. Near Prospect Park is the fourth in that series. The first and also his first novel, Second Street Station, was named “one of the five best mysteries of 2015” by Library Journal. The second in the series, Brooklyn on Fire, was dubbed a “Must Read” by the New York Post, as was his third, Last Stop in Brooklyn.
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