THE UNCOMMON CASE OF DANIEL BROWN
HOW A WHITE POLICE OFFICER WAS CONVICTED OF KILLING A BLACK CITIZEN, BALTIMORE, 1875
By Gordon H. Shufelt
Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2021. $24.95
COLD WAR SECRETS
A VANISHED PROFESSOR, A SUSPECTED KILLER,
AND HOOVER’S FBI
By Eileen Welsome
Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2021. $24.95
THE EAST RIVER RIPPER
THE MYSTERIOUS 1891 MURDER OF OLD SHAKESPEARE
By George R. Dekle Sr.
Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2021. $24.95
QUEEN OF THE CON
FROM A SPIRITUALIST TO THE CARNEGIE IMPOSTER
By Thomas Crowl
Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2021. $24.95
Kent State University Press has been publishing some of the most interesting historical true-crime stories in recent years. Some of these cases dominated the headlines nationwide; others were simply nine-day wonders in small towns and rapidly faded into obscurity. The publisher’s True Crime History series has done marvelous work in identifying little-known tales that ought to be better known, most of which offer powerful insights into issues of race, gender, class, and politics. Over the past year, Kent State University Press has released four interesting and revealing books that look at ethnicity, law enforcement, the press, and public opinion in America’s past in fascinating and complex ways.
The Uncommon Case of Daniel Brown by Gordon H. Shufelt is the story of a case of police brutality that took an atypical path. Patrick McDonald was a policeman who viciously killed Daniel Brown, a Black man who had committed no crime. At a time when comparable attacks were perpetrated with no punishment for those who harmed innocent African Americans, McDonald was eventually arrested and convicted of manslaughter after a public outcry pushed the case forward, though there were additional twists to the story long after the verdict.
Shufelt’s narrative is bound to enrage many readers, as it’s a tale of injustice and racism deeply entrenched in a society where acts of lethal violence could be committed with impunity against certain citizens. It’s a compelling look at what it takes to stir up outrage in the community, as well as an unsettling depiction of how easy it is for the systems of power to maintain the status quo. Shufelt doesn’t hesitate to draw parallels to contemporary events, which sometimes leads to overstressing an obvious point, though his zeal to stress certain lessons is understandable.
Cold War Secrets by Eileen Welsome is the story of Thomas Riha, a Czech-born academic who vanished one day. The authorities insisted that this was a voluntary disappearance spurred by his domestic unhappiness. Welsome argues that Riha was murdered by a mysterious and unstable woman named Galya Tannenbaum, and the story becomes a cautionary tale of how the FBI and the CIA could be manipulated and deceived.
The details are simultaneously too over-the-top to believe and also have the ring of truth. It’s a comedy of errors, with a central figure who may be a madwoman and who may be a manipulative genius. It’s unsettling to think how once a powerful government agency is sure of something, those who work for it feel honor-bound to stick with that preconception, as a reversal might mean losing face. Welsome’s detective work is convincing, especially her observation of some telling spelling errors, and yet it still seems possible that Welsome’s solution is not correct. The narrative she creates is so bizarrely fascinating that the reader certainly wants it to be true.
The East River Ripper by George R. Dekle Sr. takes place not long after Scotland Yard had egg on its face for failing to capture Jack the Ripper. Thomas Byrnes, chief of detectives for the NYPD, scoffed at his colleagues across the Atlantic, until an ominous communication made him fear that that the serial killer was visiting New York City. Carrie Brown, a prostitute who went by the name of “Old Shakespeare,” was brutally slain, and Byrnes’s reputation rested on finding the killer. After a prolonged investigation, Amir Ben Ali of Algeria was charged with the crime and eventually convicted. The press proclaimed this a miscarriage of justice, and a decade of protests led to Ben Ali’s release. Soon after he was set free, however, a reexamination of the case led many authorities to believe that they’d had the right man all along.
The East River Ripper is intriguing because it could be telling two very different stories. It could be a tale of investigative incompetence, driven by lazy, politically motivated bureaucrats. Alternatively, it might be about dedicated and determined professionals who uncovered the truth with a great deal of effort. The arrest of Ben Ali might have been fueled by racism and false preconceptions, or it could have been the fair pursuit of a guilty man. The personal opinions of readers are bound to shape how they interpret this Rorschach test of a crime, and by the end, when Dekle reveals what he believes really happened, some readers will feel vindicated, and others will be shocked or possibly indignant.
Finally, Queen of the Con by Thomas Crowl is the story of Cassie Chadwick, a smooth talker who worked as a medium and as a madam, cheating banks and getting caught and marrying her way into respectability. It was not until she claimed to be Andrew Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter, however, that she latched onto her most lucrative scheme, convincing numerous institutions to lend her considerable sums on her supposed father’s credit. In the end, she managed to pocket $2 million before the law caught up with her.
Queen of the Con explores what happens when people are too ready to believe what they want to hear. Everybody can be fooled under certain circumstances, and the Chadwick case illustrates both how influential men routinely underestimate women and how people are conditioned to believe something that’s untrue if the liar repeats it loudly and forcefully enough.
Increasingly, true-crime history is becoming one of the most important subgenres of the field. The snapshots of American life and culture are both disturbing and inspiring, as they illustrate both what has gone wrong and how decent and intelligent people can put things right. All of these histories are not only insightful but highly entertaining as well.
—Chris Chan