The Murder of the Century

by Paul Collins

  13. QUEEN OF THE TOMBS

  1 Intended for a city of 300,000 … now served 1.8 million “Tombs an Unfit Prison,” NYT, June 29, 1895.

  2 throwing the stairways akimbo, and letting sewage ooze Gilfoyle, “America’s Greatest Criminal Barrister,” 528.

  3 tin plates perched on the rim of a malodorous toilet “A Disgrace to the City of New York,” Annual Report of the Prison Association, 79.

  4 murmur passed among the inmates … “It’s Mrs. Nack!” “Thorn Warns Mrs. Nack in Court,” NYEJ, July 9, 1897.

  5 Dressed in a black coat and a straw boater “Mrs. Nack Sees Martin Thorn,” NYET, July 9, 1897.

  6 “Come on up the bridge, Thorn” NYEJ, July 9, 1897.

  7 stubble, the result of a suicide watch NYET, July 9, 1897.

  8 “Have you any counsel?” NYEJ, July 9, 1897.

  9 “We appear for Mrs. Thorn” “Mrs. Nack Meets Thorn in Court,” NYW, July 10, 1897.

  10 “Schweige still” NYEJ, July 9, 1897.

  11 “Halt den Mund und Spricht nicht!” “Im Anklagezustand,” NYSZ, July 10, 1897.

  12 “Mrs. Nack and Martin Thorn Refuse to Talk” Signed editorial, NYEJ, July 13, 1897.

  13 The Guldensuppe Mystery.… hit the streets just days later Edwarde, Guldensuppe Mystery. NB: The Library of Congress’s copy of The Guldensuppe Mystery bears a Received stamp of July 24, 1897. The last dated event noted in the text is July 8, so the book was completed, printed, and shipped to Washington, D.C., within this astonishingly short interval.

  14 Lower East Side summer-school teacher … turned into a mock trial “Murder Trial in School,” NYT, July 24, 1897.

  15 masseurs were now slyly referred to as “Gieldensuppers” “A Gieldensupper Arrested,” NYS, September 14, 1897.

  16 “That’s not Thorn the police got!” “The Question of Jurisdiction,” NYTR, July 18, 1897.

  17 THE MURDER OF WILLIAM GULDENSUPPE Advertisement, NYT, July 18, 1897.

  18 one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations … a top-floor workshop that could whip up a body within twenty-four hours Dennett, Weird and Wonderful, 115.

  19 the Chess Automaton … a Klondike gold-rush mining camp “Notes of the Stage,” NYTR, July 25, 1897.

  20 Woodside Horror NYTR, July 25, 1897.

  21 “Your face possesses a charm” NYW, July 7, 1897.

  22 “I’m no freak,” Nrs, Nack snapped “Howe’s Move for Thorn and Mrs. Nack’s Novel Charity,” NYW, July 16, 1897.

  23 Thorn passed the days in cells #29 and #30 “Dredging for the Head Hopeless,” NYEJ, July 10, 1897.

  24 tutoring cell mates in pinochle “Martin Thorn’s School for Card Players,” NYEJ, July 14, 1897.

  25 Boylan … so weighted down with stolen silverware “John Boylan Laden Down with Silver,” NYEJ, July 8, 1897.

  26 THE HORRIBLE MURDER IN NEW YORK Aberdeen Weekly (Scotland), July 9, 1897.

  27 Japan and Spain were considering an alliance “Japan and Spain May Be Allies,” NYP, July 16, 1897.

  28 reports of massive strikes by coal miners “Strike Battle on Ohio River,” NYH, July 9, 1897.

  29 his own starring role … he’d miss the city elections “Thorn’s Vanity Betrayed Him,” NYW, December 5, 1897.

  30 businessman named Horton.… “Where’s the head?” “Thorn and Mrs. Nack in Court,” NYTR, July 22, 1897.

  31 “The new industry of finding William Guldensuppe’s head” “Guldensuppe’s Head,” NYH, July 14, 1897.

  32 mystically body-homing loaves of black bread “Says Tombs Fare Makes Her Ill,” NYP, July 13, 1897.

  33 an intrepid Herald reporter to discover why NYH, July 14, 1897.

  34 Three more boys spotted a head floating “Italian Boys Find a Head,” NYT, July 27, 1897.

  35 “decomposed mass” frightened passing ferry passengers “A Head, Not Guldensuppe’s,” NYT, September 2, 1897.

  36 A grisly find made in an Upper West Side boardinghouse “Not Guldensuppe’s Skull,” NYTR, July 20, 1897.

  37 girl from Woodside found an actual chunk “Guldensuppe Death Mask,” NYT, September 20, 1897.

  38 Woodside child promptly discovered a brown derby BE, September 22, 1897.

  39 “Woodside is undergoing a boom in the agricultural line” “Yellow Sleuth’s Work,” NYS, September 23, 1897.

  40 Allegations emerged that someone … had paid a couple of local utility workers BE, September 22, 1897.

  41 more than half a million in circulation “It Breaks All Records,” NYEJ, August 23, 1897.

  42 Perrin H. Sumner … “the Great American Identifier” “Habeas Corpus for Martin Thorn,” NYH, July 16, 1897.

  43 nearly bankrupted an Indiana college Branigan, History of Johnson County, 293.

  44 run Florida real estate swindles “Perrin H. Sumner Sued,” NYT, November 13, 1907.

  45 fleeced would-be fiancées “Perrin H. Sumner Dies in the Subway,” NYT, March 20, 1914.

  46 passed off worthless mining stock “Telegraphic Brevities,” Harvard Crimson, May 18, 1883.

  47 descended on the Bellevue morgue to identify an unclaimed suicide NYW, February 1, 1892.

  48 professor spent July embarrassingly tied up in divorce proceedings “Professor Witthaus Must Pay It,” NYTR, August 3, 1897.

  49 human blood, he declared “Human Blood Stains,” BE, August 23, 1897.

  50 a whopping dredging bill “Police Board Meeting,” NYT, August 19, 1897.

  51 O’Brien lost his own: He was relieved of his post “Sleuth O’Brien Bounced,” NYS, August 31, 1897.

  52 “I have been described in a paper as a ‘murderess’ ” “Mrs. Nack Talks Freely to the World,” NYW, August 6, 1897. NB: The remainder of this scene is drawn from this World account of the interview.

  14. THE HIGH ROLLER

  1 Mitchell hastily sent for a stenographer “Nack’s Awful Charge Against His Wife,” NYW, September 3, 1897.

  2 “She said lots of bad things” Ibid.

  3 They were joined by Detective Samuel Price Ibid.

  4 “My wife left me in 1896” “Murders by Scores Laid to Mrs. Nack,” NYEJ, September 2, 1897. NB: All but the last line of remaining dialogue in this section is from this Evening Journal account.

  5 Dr. Weiss of Tenth Avenue … F. W. Werner, quietly assisted “Says the Accused Out-Heroded Herod,” NYEJ, September 3, 1897.

  6 “There is something at the back of that” NYW, September 3, 1897.

  7 “It’s a lie!” … “Fool!” NYEJ, September 3, 1897.

  8 SAYS THE ACCUSED MURDERESS OUT-HERODED HEROD NYW, September 3, 1897.

  9 so was the death of John Gotha’s ninety-five-year-old father-in-law “Mrs. Nack Gains Time,” NYW, July 13, 1897.

  10 Dr. Weiss claimed to have no idea … nor did Mrs. Nack’s landlord NYW, September 3, 1897.

  11 Alois Palm tried rather unsportingly NYEJ, September 3, 1897.

  12 Even Mrs. Nack’s friends faulted her “Mrs. Nack’s Neighbors,” NYW, July 4, 1897.

  13 “she was a high roller” NYEJ, September 3, 1897.

  14 Guldensuppe had kept Gussie from leaving NYW, September 3, 1897.

  15 Mrs. Nack had gone to one Ernest Moring … hire him to kill her ex-husband “Journal Completes Case Against Martin Thorn,” NYEJ, September 4, 1897.

  16 World reporter ascended the rickety stairs “Diploma Mills for Midwives,” NYW, September 18, 1897.

  17 A SCHOOL FOR BARBARITY NYW, September 22, 1897.

  18 DIPLOMA MILL FOR MIDWIVES NYW, September 18, 1897.

  19 “Out of 55,000 live births” NYW, September 3, 1897.

  20 suspicions ran strong that “Madame Restell”…. had dumped her body Reel, The National Police Gazette and the Making of the Modern Man, 38.

  21 designated villainess both for moralizing Herald journalists and for the American Medical Association Srebnick, Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, 86.

  22 state criminalized abortion soon afterward Ibid., 85.

  23 laws
made it illegal to even discuss Brodie, Contraception and Abortion, 257.

  24 The better practitioners were often immigrants Ibid., 228.

  25 “Their methods are so hidden” NYW, September 3, 1897.

  26 WOMEN FARM, MEN COOK NYW, August 2, 1897.

  27 SHE’S PRETTY, EVEN IF SHE IS A LAWYER NYJ, October 17, 1897.

  28 “Really … the newspapers are becoming” NYH, August 9, 1841, quoted in Stashower, Beautiful Cigar Girl, epigraph.

  29 another indictment had just been handed down “Indicted in Queens,” NYW, September 16, 1897.

  30 handed over to Undersheriff Baker … and slipped out the Leonard Street exit “Taken to L.I. City Jail,” BE, September 16, 1897.

  31 One thousand New Yorkers were waiting “Mrs. Nack and Thorn in New Cells,” NYS, September 17, 1897.

  32 He’d become used to the sound of pile drivers and hammers “Nack … Cottage” (title partly destroyed), NYEJ, September 17, 1897.

  33 “I rented the Woodside cottage” Mrs. Nack’s Window of Spectres, NYEJ, September 4, 1897.

  34 blurted out to Journal reporter Lowe Shearon “Justice’s Bar,” NYEJ, September 15, 1897.

  35 “That is all rot” NYEJ, September 4, 1897.

  36 Mrs. Nack had pulled an upper-floor unit NYEJ, September 14, 1897.

  37 World sent … Harriet Hubbard Ayer “Mrs. Nack’s Own Story of the Killing of Guldensuppe,” NYW, October 3, 1897.

  38 Ayer was a household name … whose cosmetics empire had fallen apart “Mrs. Harriet Ayer Dead,” Chicago Daily Tribune, November 26, 1903.

  39 “Must I be locked in?” NYW, October 3, 1897. NB: The remainder of this section is drawn from this World account.

  15. KLONDIKE WILLIE

  1 Rockaway Ed was a trusty.… second only to a “bum boss” “Dist. Att’y Youngs Says Journal Gives the Last Link of Evidence,” NYJA, October 7, 1897. NB: Rockaway Ed’s dealings with Nack and the Journal, although repeated to some degree in other newspapers, is drawn from this Journal account.

  2 writers and artists at the ready to make a copy “Mrs. Nack’s Strange Letter to Thorn Captured by the Jailers,” NYJA, October 6, 1897.

  3 the text that would appear in the next morning’s paper … “Dear Martin” NYJA, October 6, 1897.

  4 “Where is it?” Sheriff Doht demanded NYJA October 6, 1897.

  5 The fragments bearing Thorn’s writing were reassembled.… “My dear” NYJA, October 7, 1897.

  6 The watch on Thorn’s cell was instantly doubled “Mrs. Nack Has Lost Hope,” NYT, October 7, 1897.

  7 “I am sorry.” DA Youngs sighed NYJA, October 7, 1897.

  8 He had tried to induce vomiting … hung a picture of a man’s disembodied head “The Soup Was Too Rich,” NYTR, October 8, 1897.

  9 Mrs. Nack also tried denying the note “Nack and Thorn Plan Suicide,” NYH, October 7, 1897.

  10 the block of brick tenements past the corner of Forty-Second and Tenth Annual Report of the Committee on the Fire Patrol, 108. NB: All the details of this block except for the mattress shop are drawn from this source.

  11 Mssr. Mauborgne’s Mattress Renovating NYT, classifieds, June 13, 1897.

  12 Where’s Guldensuppe’s head? “Thorn’s Brother-in-Law Sunk the Missing Head,” NYJ, October 12, 1897.

  13 tantalizing story: that one Frank Clark had heard a boozy confession NYW, October 6, 1897.

  14 “He often boasted,” Clark recalled NYJ, October 12, 1897.

  15 visit to the ailing forger by the district attorney NYW, October 6, 1897.

  16 Journal came piling into Menker’s hallway YJ, October 12, 1897.

  17 letter had arrived in Coroner Hoeber’s office “Did Thorn Admit Murder?” BE, August 6, 1897.

  18 My dear sir: I cannot “Hoeber Jumped on Friend,” NYTR, July 8, 1897.

  19 One claimed that it was Guldensuppe who’d been hiding “Another Guldensuppe Letter,” NYT, August 17, 1897.

  20 At least two more claimed that Guldensuppe was alive “Letters to Hoeber,” BE, August 9, 1897; and “Guldensuppe or Edwards?” NYT, August 10, 1897.

  21 “I have always believed that he had gone to Europe” “Martin Thorn Has Hope,” NYW, August 5, 1897.

  22 Kindly do not believe any of the cards NYT, August 10, 1897.

  23 Yet another missive, sent by Mrs. Lenora Merrifield “Guldensuppe Case Stirs Up Cranks,” NYEJ, August 13, 1897.

  24 Guldensuppe is alive, and taking revenge on Thorn BE, August 9, 1897.

  25 “The police do not expect to see Guldensuppe” W. R. Hearst, editorial, NYEJ, July 3, 1897.

  26 Evangelina Cisneros, the pretty eighteen-year-old daughter.… Hearst preferred the latter explanation Ibid., 317.

  27 another Journal operative—the hotshot reporter Karl Decker—to Cuba Whyte, Uncrowned King, 325.

  28 Disguised with a sailor’s outfit and a cigar Ibid., 328.

  29 EVANGELINA CISNEROS RESCUED BY THE JOURNAL NYJ, October 10, 1897.

  30 A NEW IDEA IN JOURNALISM NYEJ, October 3, 1897.

  31 offensives against a gas trust and crooked paving contractors Procter, William Randolph Hearst, 101.

  32 “Every one will sympathize with the Journal’s enterprise” Whyte, Uncrowned King, 330.

  33 “The newspapers of your country” Creelman, On the Great Highway, 187.

  34 “It is epochal” W. R. Hearst, editorial, NYJA, October 13, 1897.

  35 a fine profusion of ads … the Lady Push Ball Players advertisement, NYEJ, September 4, 1897.

  36 “Organize a great open-air reception” Creelman, On the Great Highway, 171.

  37 Rooms were hired at the Waldorf, reservations made at Delmonico’s Whyte, Uncrowned King, 332.

  38 “scooped every day of its existence” Ibid.

  39 THE PAPER SUFFERS AN EXCESSIVE STATESMANSHIP telegram, October 27, 1897. Pulitzer Papers, container 2.

  40 firing of a reporter for using the word “pregnant” Morris, Pulitzer, 379.

  41 MAKE SALARIED ARTISTS telegram, November 16, 1897. Pulitzer Papers, container 2.

  42 I REALLY DON’T EXPECT TO BE IN NEW YORK telegram, October 29, 1897, ibid.

  43 Brisbane, who jumped ship for the Journal Morris, Pulitzer, 334.

  44 Brooklyn Eagle … a curious development in Germany BE, October 13, 1897.

  45 “reputable merchants of Hamburg,” were departing for New York BE, October 15, 1897.

  46 GULDENSUPPE ALIVE? BE, October 14, 1897.

  16. CORPUS DELICTI

  1 A thick fog blanketed the Hudson NYT, November 6, 1897.

  2 “The Fürst Bismarck has been sighted” “Looks in Vain for Mrs. Nack,” NYEJ, November 5, 1897.

  3 Hamilton Fish was on board “A Young Wheelman Hurt,” NYT, November 6, 1897.

  4 one Josephine Vanderhoff had turned up “No Bail for Martin Thorn,” BE, July 19, 1897.

  5 Edwards’s minister visited to view the pickled “Didn’t Know Guldensuppe,” NYT, August 28, 1897.

  6 they immediately identified the abandoned valise “Edward’s Satchel Murray Says,” NYTR, August 29, 1897.

  7 explain the enigmatically marked-up slates “Murrays Identify Valise,” NYT, August 29, 1897.

  8 daughter examined the corpse’s hands Ibid.

  9 Chicago trial had concluded for the infamous sausage-maker Adolph Luetgert NYT, October 22, 1897.

  10 nothing but five bone fragments “On These Five Bones Hang Luetgert’s Fate,” NYEJ, October 10, 1897.

  11 Thorn eagerly read the wire reports NYEJ, November 5, 1897.

  12 No Carl and Julius Peterson were listed “Ready for the Thorn Trial,” NYTR, November 7, 1897.

  13 Open twenty-four hours a day Rovere, Howe & Hummel, 126.

  14 When seventy-eight brothel madams were arrested Ibid., 6.

  15 loud green and violet waistcoats Ibid., 16.

  16 defended 650 murder and manslaughter cases Ibid., 5.

  17 “You cannot prove a corpus delicti” NYW, October 12, 1897.


  18 DA’s office laughed Howe off NYT, July 13, 1897.

  19 The notion had originated with Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale “Proof of the Corpus Delicti Aliunde the Defendant’s Confession,” 639.

  20 revived in America in 1819 after the Boorn brothers case Ibid., 646.

  21 combination safe filled with coal Rovere, Howe & Hummel, 25.

  22 staff amused themselves by serving one another Ibid., 27.

  23 they’d found nothing in the desks Ibid.

  24 “I cannot see how the District Attorney can get around the identification” “Mrs. Nack Offers to Confess All,” NYW, October 12, 1897.

  25 Danish preacher Soren Qvist Warren, Famous Cases, 14. NB: Warren’s account of Soren Qvist, along with a number of nearly identical ones published in English in the late nineteenth century, is curiously lacking in specific dates—and may indeed be drawing its information from an earlier Danish fictionalization of the case, the 1829 novel The Rector of Veilbye. That tale, though, is drawn from an apparently factual account of a 1626 case.

  26 “Then there was the Ruloff case” “Dredging for the Head Hopeless,” NYEJ, October 7, 1897.

  27 two hapless detectives on the next steamer to Hamburg Carey, Memoirs, 51.

  28 secretly paying a witness to move to Japan Rovere, Howe & Hummel, 51.

  29 blaming a stabbing on the man’s four-year-old daughter Ibid., 69.

  30 “Well … when you see Guldensuppe walk” “Thorn’s Victim Rebuilt,” NYEJ, July 23, 1897.

  31 carpenters added extra benches “Heavy Demand for Seats,” BE, November 7, 1897.

  32 They’d spent nearly two hours shifting tables BE, November 7, 1897.

  33 he had a table custom-built for the case NYEJ, November 5, 1897.

  34 galleries were saved for sketch artists “Ready for the Thorn Trial,” NYTR, November 7, 1897.

  35 Sheriff Doht was flooded with ticket requests NYEJ, November 5, 1897.

  36 being converted into a newsroom BE, November 7, 1897.

  37 housewives … hung Room for Rent signs NYEJ, November 5, 1897.

  38 COURT TO PRINTING PRESS NYEJ, November 6, 1897.

  39 prosecution of a recent Columbia graduate “College Man Confesses Crime,” NYW, November 9, 1897.

  40 murder trial of a man who gunned down a police officer “Traced by a Timepiece,” Ibid.