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The New York Press & The Headless Torso Mystery
New York journalism in 1897 was in a pretty technicolor space. Newspapers, so long the grey, stolid, medium of the merchants and businessman, were instead being filled with lurid stories of murder, scandal and drunken debauchery and the public were loving it. As papers fought for readers in the streets, sometimes quite literally, the stories that filled the pages and the methods utilised on order to write the stories grew more and more sensational by the day. It all came to something of a boiling point in the high temperatures of Summer, when a body washed up in the East River, carved up and lacking a head. The investigation that followed was carried out just as much by the journalists as it was the police, as the lines between who was who became increasingly blurred.
SOURCES
Collins, Paul (2011) Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars. Broadway Books, NY, USA.
Reagan, L. J. (1995). Linking Midwives and Abortion in the Progressive Era. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 69(4), 569–598. John Hopkins University Press, USA
The World (1897) Boys Ghastly Find. 27 June 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) The Fragments of a Body Make a Mystery. 28 June 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) World Men Find A Clue. 28 June 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) The Murder Mystery is a Mystery Still. 01 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) Murder Will Out. 03 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) Mrs Nack’s Confession. 04 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) Supposed Thorn is Captured. 07 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) Thorn’s Friend Betrays Him. 08 July 1897, p3, NY, USA
The World (1897) Mrs Nack Talk Freely to The World. 06 August 1897, p1, NY, USA
The Journal (1897) Mrs Nack: Murderess! 01 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
Buffalo Evening News (1897) Says He Bought Corpses. 14 January 1897, p1, NY, USA
----------
For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com
Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories
The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories
Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9
Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast
Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories
& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/
Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected]
or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072
or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf
The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye
Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017
Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
View all episodes
By Ben Cutmore
4.8
17411,741 ratings
New York journalism in 1897 was in a pretty technicolor space. Newspapers, so long the grey, stolid, medium of the merchants and businessman, were instead being filled with lurid stories of murder, scandal and drunken debauchery and the public were loving it. As papers fought for readers in the streets, sometimes quite literally, the stories that filled the pages and the methods utilised on order to write the stories grew more and more sensational by the day. It all came to something of a boiling point in the high temperatures of Summer, when a body washed up in the East River, carved up and lacking a head. The investigation that followed was carried out just as much by the journalists as it was the police, as the lines between who was who became increasingly blurred.
SOURCES
Collins, Paul (2011) Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars. Broadway Books, NY, USA.
Reagan, L. J. (1995). Linking Midwives and Abortion in the Progressive Era. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 69(4), 569–598. John Hopkins University Press, USA
The World (1897) Boys Ghastly Find. 27 June 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) The Fragments of a Body Make a Mystery. 28 June 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) World Men Find A Clue. 28 June 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) The Murder Mystery is a Mystery Still. 01 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) Murder Will Out. 03 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) Mrs Nack’s Confession. 04 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) Supposed Thorn is Captured. 07 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
The World (1897) Thorn’s Friend Betrays Him. 08 July 1897, p3, NY, USA
The World (1897) Mrs Nack Talk Freely to The World. 06 August 1897, p1, NY, USA
The Journal (1897) Mrs Nack: Murderess! 01 July 1897, p1, NY, USA
Buffalo Evening News (1897) Says He Bought Corpses. 14 January 1897, p1, NY, USA
----------
For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com
Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories
The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories
Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9
Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast
Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories
& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/
Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected]
or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072
or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf
The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye
Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017
Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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