In New York City, in February 1891, a young woman named Ella Nelson shot and killed her married boyfriend. Yet, in a wild trial, a jury declared her “Not Guilty”. This shocking case made nationwide headlines at the time, but is hardly known today. This episode tells the story of what happened -- and why.  

 

HISTORICAL REFERENCES:

 

Transcript of Trial of Ella Nelson, Trial #14, John Jay College, pp. 23-26.

 

District Attorney Indictment Files, Court of General Sessions, NYC Municipal Archives, Box 428, Folder 3949.

 

New York Times, February 20, 1891; February 27, 1891; June 18, 1891; June 20, 1891

 

New York Herald, June 20 & 21, 1891; April 23, 1892.

 

Wellman, Francis L., Gentlemen of the Jury, Reminiscences of Thirty Years at the Bar (1934), p. 105.

 

Stansbury, Charles Fredrick,The Barrister: Being Anecdotes of the Late Tom Nolan of the New York Bar (1902), p. 81.

 

Murphy, Cait, Scoundrels in Law. The Trials of Howe & Hummel (2010).

 

Rovere, Richard, Howe and Hummel: Their True and Scandalous History (1947, second ed., 1985) [original title: The Magnificent Shysters].

 

GUEST VOICES:

 

Samuel Post: Jeff Richardson of the Everything is Awesome podcast

 

Ella Nelson: Penny Leal of the Murder She Spoke podcast

 

Tom Nolan: Barney Black of the Bloody Murder podcast

 

William Howe: Frank Docherty of the English Martial Arts podcast

 

Francis Wellman: Mike Brown of the Pleasing Terrors podcast

 

Jury Foreman: Nick Howell of The Concession Stand podcast.

 

Host Introduction, Listener Warning, Annie Walden footnote, Extro Aphorism:

Anabelle D-C of Anabelle Audios

 

 

EPISODE MUSIC

 

Swingin' the Alphabet – Childrens’ Song Arrangement – StarSheep4

 

Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com –

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses / by/3.0

 

The following pieces of music by Kevin MacLeod were used - in whole, or in part - within this episode:

 

Anguish

 

At Rest

 

Continue Life

 

Dark Times

 

Dark Walk

 

Dreamy Flashback

 

Fig Leaf Rag

 

I Knew a Guy

 

Look Busy

 

Moonlight Hall

 

Music Box Theme

 

Open Those Bright Eyes

 

Rainbows

 

Sing Along with Jim

 

Some Amount of Evil

 

The Curtain Rises

 

Wagon Wheel

 

 

EXTRO APHORISM:

 

Source: Chesterton, G.K., excerpt from Tremendous Trifles (1909).

 

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