Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of AmericaSimon & Schuster, 1997 - Всего страниц: 875 Big Trouble begins on a snowy evening at Christmastime 1905 in the little town of Caldwell, Idaho, to which the state's former governor, Frank Steunenberg, had returned to head his family bank while contemplating his political future. As he walked home that night, he sensed all about him the bold, exuberant, unashamedly acquisitive spirit of Caldwell's young entrepreneurs, who - as his brother had written - were "here for the money". Like so many in the West at that time, these brothers believed their prospects for enriching themselves were limitless, that the future opened wide before them. And yet the governor suffered premonitions that he and his neighbors weren't fully in control of their own destiny, that something malign threatened their well-being. Now, as he followed the plume of his frozen breath, his boots crunching eight inches of freshly fallen snow, he turned through his garden gate and a bomb attached to the gatepost blew him "into eternity". Authorities threw a dragnet around the town, and soon the state placed the investigation in the hands of America's most renowned detective, James McParland of the Pinkerton Agency. Now sixty-two, McParland hankered after one more coup to top off his glittering career. Before long, he extracted an astonishing confession from an itinerant "sheep dealer" named Harry Orchard, who admitted setting the bomb that killed the governor and said the murder had been commissioned by "Big Bill" Haywood of the Western Federation of Miners in retaliation for the harsh tactics that Steunenberg had used to put down a miners' "insurrection" in northern Idaho six years before. In the summer of 1907 Haywood went on trial for his life in Boise, defended by Clarence Darrow, the country's most famous defense attorney, and prosecuted by William Borah, a golden-throated orator just elected Idaho's junior senator. For three months they did combat with lofty rhetoric and sly espionage. Big Trouble is both a narrative of a sensational murder case and a social tapestry. It is richly peopled with vivid characters: Operative 21, Pinkerton's daring undercover agent who penetrated to the heart of Darrow's defense team; E. H. Harriman, the icy railroad magnate; William Howard Taft, the gargantuan secretary of war; Jacob Fillius, the Denver mining lawyer who secretly bankrolled the prosecution on behalf of Colorado's mine owners; Eugene Debs, the fiery Socialist leader; the fearsome gunslingers Charlie Siringo and Bob Meldrum. At times the book seems like a nonfiction Ragtime, for some most unlikely figures found their way to the trial or its environs that summer: among them, Ethel Barrymore, the most glamorous young actress of her day; Walter Johnson, perhaps the greatest pitcher who ever threw a baseball; Hugo Munsterberg, director of the Harvard Psychology Laboratory; and Gifford Pinchot, the lanky chief forester of the United States and confidant of President Roosevelt. |
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Стр. 198
... evidence , that my evidence convicts the leaders , as you have explained , the State takes care of me by eventually giving me my liberty , then I would be taken back to Colorado and tried for some of the crimes they claim I have ...
... evidence , that my evidence convicts the leaders , as you have explained , the State takes care of me by eventually giving me my liberty , then I would be taken back to Colorado and tried for some of the crimes they claim I have ...
Стр. 375
... evidence and witnesses , funneling them north for the trial , and ( 2 ) money . Of those , the greater requirement by far was money . The Pinkertons and the Idaho prosecutors had had their eyes on Colo- rado money from the start . Their ...
... evidence and witnesses , funneling them north for the trial , and ( 2 ) money . Of those , the greater requirement by far was money . The Pinkertons and the Idaho prosecutors had had their eyes on Colo- rado money from the start . Their ...
Стр. 701
... evidence of the great trial wind down to nothing . Spent by their exertions , the two sides rested , one after another , on the evening of July 17 and the morning of July 18 . The rest of that day was spent in fierce argument over the ...
... evidence of the great trial wind down to nothing . Spent by their exertions , the two sides rested , one after another , on the evening of July 17 and the morning of July 18 . The rest of that day was spent in fierce argument over the ...
Содержание
Authors Note | 13 |
The Sweatbox | 55 |
Imps of Darkness | 98 |
Авторские права | |
Не показаны другие разделы: 11
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Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Strugg J. Anthony Lukas Ограниченный просмотр - 2012 |
Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the ... J. Anthony Lukas Просмотр фрагмента - 1997 |
Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the ... J. Anthony Lukas Недоступно для просмотра - 1998 |
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Ada County Adams American April arrested asked assassination attorney August Bill Haywood Boise Boise's Borah Caldwell Caldwell's called Calvin Cobb Canyon County Chicago citizens Clarence Darrow Coeur d'Alenes Colorado court courtroom Cripple Creek Darrow Davis defense Denver detective editor February February 26 Federation of Miners Frank Steunenberg George governor Harry Orchard Haywood trial Ibid Idaho Idanha James Hawley James McParland January John Johnson judge July June jurors jury justice labor later lawyer letter March McP3 Merriam mining Molly Molly Maguires Moyer Münsterberg murder night operative owners party Pettibone Pinchot Pinkerton political president Press prisoners prosecution prosecutors railroad reported Republican Richardson Roosevelt S. S. McClure saloon Senate September Sheriff Shoaf Shoshone County Siringo social Socialist Statesman story Street Swain Taft Thiel told took town train union Western Federation White who'd William William Borah William Howard Taft wrote York