The witch of New York : the trials of Polly Bodine and the cursed birth of tabloid justice

Hortis, Alex, 1972- author.

First Pegasus Books cloth edition.

Book

New York : Pegasus Crime, 2024.

©2024

xx, 315 pages,16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), color maps ; 24 cm

"Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony--before even Lizzie Borden--there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for first-degree murder in the age of tabloid media ... The Witch of New York is the first narrative nonfiction history about the dueling trial lawyers, ruthless newsmen, and shameless hucksters who turned the Polly Bodine case into America's formative tabloid trial. An origin story of how America became addicted to sensationalized reporting of criminal trials, The Witch of New York vividly reconstructs an epic mystery from old New York--and uses the Polly Bodine case to challenge our system of tabloid justice today"--Dust jacket flap.

Bodine, Polly -- Trials, litigation, etc.

Trials (Murder) -- New York (State) -- History -- 19th century.

Trials (Murder) -- New York (State) -- New York -- 19th century.

Trials (Arson) -- New York (State) -- 19th century.

Murder -- New York (State) -- New York -- 19th century.

Infanticide -- New York (State) -- New York -- 19th century.

Tabloid newspapers -- New York (State) -- New York -- 19th century.

True crime stories.

Prologue: Christmas night 1843 -- Part I: A fallen woman. Islands in the stream ; Sex and the 1840s city ; Incendiaries ; Low-speed chase ; They would hang her without judge or jury ; Confessions of the sun ; The living jury of the nation ; Dream teams -- Part II: The Staten Island trial. Poe cracks the case ; The people v. Mary Bodine ; Ghosts of Granite Village ; Trial by water ; Breaking news ; Consciousness of guilt ; Playing the Jew card ; Sisters ; The man in the Spanish cloak ; The runaway juror ; Undue prejudice -- Part III: The Manhattan trial. Barnum's witch ; Eldridge Street jail ; Trial by fire ; Mayor Harper ; The weight of the baskets ; Gala night at the Park Theatre ; To conceal the circumstances of her pregnancy ; The opposite counsel ; Cruel and unbecoming curiosity ; Judge Edmonds's charge ; April thunderstorms ; The hanging of Polly Bodine ; Witch trial interlude ; The appeal ; Six thousand jurors -- Part IV: The Newburgh trial. National Police Gazette ; Whitman's sympathy ; George Washington camped here ; Fragment of the mother's dress ; Orange County House v. United States Hotel ; The gangs that infest New York ; Judgment night ; Polly Bodine in the popular imagination -- Epilogue: Another prison -- Afterword: Lawyers will not save us.

9781639363919