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The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century Posters
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List Price: $27.95Amazon.com's Price: $20.40 You Save: $7.55 (27%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1523092
EAN: 9780345476791
ISBN: 0345476794
Label: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 494
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: October 16, 2007
Sales Rank: 116313
Studio: Ballantine Books
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
From renowned true-crime historian Harold Schechter, whom The Boston Book Review hails as “America’s principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers,” comes the riveting exploration of a notorious, sensational New York City murder in the 1890s, the fascinating forensic science of an earlier age, and the explosively dramatic trial that became a tabloid sensation at the turn of the century.
Death was by poison and came in the mail: A package of Bromo Seltzer had been anonymously sent to Harry Cornish, the popular athletic director of Manhattan’s elite Knickerbocker Athletic Club. Cornish barely survived swallowing a small dose; his cousin Mrs. Katherine Adams died in agony after ingesting the toxic brew. Scandal sheets owned by Hearst and Pulitzer eagerly jumped on this story of fatal high-society intrigue, speculating that the devious killer was a chemist, a woman, or “an effeminate man.” Forensic studies suggested cyanide as the cause of death; handwriting on the deadly package and the vestige of a label glued to the bottle pointed to a handsome, athletic society scamp, Roland Molineux.
The wayward son of a revered Civil War general, Molineux had clashed bitterly with Cornish before. He had even furiously denounced Cornish when penning his resignation from the Knickerbocker Club, a letter that later proved a major clue. Bon vivant Molineux had recently wed the sensuous Blanche Chesebrough, an opera singer whose former lover, Henry Barnet, had also recently died . . . after taking medicine sent to him through the mail. Molineux’s subsequent indictment for murder led to two explosive trials, a sex-infused scandal that shocked the nation, and a lurid print-media circus that ended in madness and a proud family’s disgrace.
In bold, brilliant strokes, Schechter captures all the colors of the tumultuous legal case, gathering his own evidence and tackling subjects no one dared address at the time–all in hopes of answering the tantalizing question: What powerfully dark motives could drive the wealthy scion of an eminent New York family to foul murder?
Schechter vividly portrays the case’s fascinating cast of characters, including Julian Hawthorne, son of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a prolific yellow journalist who covered the story, and proud General Edward Leslie Molineux, whose son’s ignoble deeds besmirched a dignified national hero’s final years. All the while Schechter brings alive Manhattan’s Gilded Age: a gaslit world of elegant town houses and hidden bordellos, chic restaurants and shabby opium dens, a city peopled by men and women fighting and losing the battle against urges an upright era had ordered suppressed.
Superbly researched and powerfully written, The Devil’s Gentleman is an insightful, gripping work, a true-crime historian’s crowning achievement.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I stumbled across this book in the library and am so glad I picked it up. Having never heard of Roland Molineux before (and not knowing much about Yellow Journalism), I had no idea what to expect, but I was not disappointed. This is a story of greed, lust, and exploitation, all disguised under a prim Victorian facade. Chapters are short and to the point, and make for much page-turning suspense. I wish the author had been able to include more than two photographs of the people spoken of in the books, ... Read More
Rating:  -
The book provides and excellent description of Victorian life and the Victorian mindset, but I was unable to shake the mind-boggling Victorian habit of actually TAKING some unidentified medicine that someone you don't know sent you in the mail. Schechter explores a world of pomp and priviledge, obsessed with the surface appearance of propriety, but secretly seething with sexual scandals and murderous grudges. This trial marked the beginning of the media circus that subsequent murder trials from Lizzie ... Read More
Rating: -
Thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Schecter's book from cover to cover. Purchased after reading a review, possibly in the New York Times Book Review. Book might have benefited from a more compelling jacket image. I would not have picked this book up had I not read the review. Also kept wanting to see more pictures of the characters but I realize that availability of archival images may have played a part. Great story, well told.
Rating: -
I accidentally came across this book at the library. It is a fascinating look at one of the most famous murder trials of the early 20th century, extremely well-written and involving. Even those who do not like "that sort of book" will enjoy this one. The people involved are brought to life by the author's talents, and the research behind the book is thorough and definitive. Absorbing and informative.
Rating: -
Over the past two decades, Harold Schechter has resurrected the stories of many prominent moral monsters from America's past, corrected the numerous myths that have grown up around them, replaced those myths with more fascinating facts, and then related them in compelling narratives that are also scholarly, sensitive, and keenly written.
In resurrecting the crazy story of crazy Roland Molineux and his bizarre journey into murder and in and out of justice, Schechter has written his masterpiece. ... Read More
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