The Affair of the Veiled Murderess, livre ebook

Troy, New York, 1853. Two Irish immigrants—a man and a woman—die shortly after drinking beer poured by a neighbor. Was it poisoned? And if so, was their slayer the beautiful mistress of an important Democratic politician? Many Trojans soon answer yes to both questions, but others question the guilt of the glamorous accused. Rumored to be the once-respectable Miss Charlotte Wood, a former student at Emma Willard's elite Troy Female Seminary and the runaway wife of a British lord, her identity remains in doubt, and the air of mystery is only heightened by her decision to remain hidden behind a veil during her trial, which earns her the nickname "The Veiled Murderess." As the affair widens to include the antebellum social and political worlds of Troy and Albany, the blossoming scandal threatens important people on both sides of the Atlantic.
Drawing on newspapers, court documents, and other records of the time, Jeanne Winston Adler attempts to come to an understanding of the truth behind the strange affair of the veiled murderess. In the process, she addresses a number of topics important to our understanding of nineteenth-century life in New York State, including the changing roles of women, the marginal position of the Irish, and the contentious political firmament of the time.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Troy, New York, 1853
PART ONE: Henrietta Robinson, spring 1852–spring 1853
1. River Street
2. May 25th
3. The New Prisoner
PART TWO: JOHN C. MATHER, BIRTH(1813)–spring 1853
4. Introducing John C. Mather
5. Rise
6. Trouble
PART THREE: PRETRIAL, JUNE 1853–APRIL 1854
7. Contagion
8. Long Hot Summer Into Fall
9. Limbo Time
PART FOUR: Trial, May 1854
10. Day One—Officers of the Court
11. Day Two—The Doctors
12. Day Three—The Veil
13. Day Four—Bombshell
14. Day Five—Some Antebellum Lore
15. Day Six—Verdict
PART FIVE: THE VEILED MURDERESS, JUNE 1854–AUGUST 1855
16. Settled But Not Settled
17. Breaking of the Storm
18. More Mather
19. Trends
20. Charlotte Wood
21. Lively Season
22. “Admiral Pagnum’s Daughter”
23. Angel of Mercy
24. Departure
PART SIX: Irish Answer, 1851 and the DEEPER PAST
25. Susan Gaynor
26. Immigrants and Others
PART SEVEN: LATER LIFE AND LEGEND, SEPTEMBER 1855–MAY 1905
27. The Sing Sing Years
28. Auburn
29. Charlotte Doolittle Norris
30. Finale
PART EIGHT: CONCLUSION
31. What Really Happened
Appendix I: The Wood Daughters
Appendix II: The Duke of Kent Business
Notes
Index