Read Online The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie MAnsfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age by H. W. Brands - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: H. W. Brands
Tags: History
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you that they would be a benefit to him in this litigation?”
“I did.” She doesn’t like how this sounds. “I did not mean it would be a benefit so much as an explanation.”
“Did he ever return them to you?”
“No, to my surprise.”
“Have you seen any of these letters since?”
“Never.”
“You don’t personally know what became of them?”
“Not personally.”
“Did you furnish these letters to any person in the employ of the Herald office?”
“Never.”
“You furnished them to Mr. Stokes?”
“Yes.”
“To be used against Fisk?”
“Yes.”
Another pause from Spencer, to let the court, the jury, and the audience appreciate the implications for blackmail of this admission.
Spencer brings Bill Tweed and Tammany Hall into the conversation. “Did you go to Albany about the matter?” he asks Josie.
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
“To Mr. Tweed.”
For what purpose?
“I thought there would be a good deal of publicity about this matter, and I wanted to avoid it.”
It has been a long session, but the injection of Tweed into the tale ends it with a wicked twist, one that is potentially damning to Josie. Spencer sits down and lets all present ponder Josie’s shameless treachery in working her feminine wiles on Tweed to further her blackmail scheme against Tweed’s friend and ally and her erstwhile lover, Jim Fisk.
Josie’s testimony in the libel trial is carried in all the papers; from Thanksgiving Day till Christmas it drives the gossip mills of New York City and across the state. The personal aspect of the scandal is reason enough for New Yorkers to pay attention; rarely do the rich and powerful find themselves so exposed as Fisk has become in this messy love triangle. “On the one side is Colonel Fisk, Prince of Erie, owner of the Grand Opera House, Lord of the Isles, famed in love and war,” the Herald mocks. “On the other the Cleopatra of the period, who has worked as much mischief in her own way with the unfortunate Fisk as did the Egyptian goddess of love and sensuality on the luckless Antony.”
But the political potential of the scandal is equally enticing. The involvement of Tweed makes the Fisk-Mansfield-Stokes affair politically explosive. Tweed’s cumulative missteps have weakened him; bettors lay odds that new sins discovered in the libel case will bring him and Tammany down.
Judge Bixby promises that justice will be swift in his Yorkville court. “If the lawyers in this case think they are going to make a long winter’s job of it, they are mistaken,” he declares in early December. “I will take up the case and carry it on day after day until it is concluded. I will not allow myself to be checkmated by the lawyers in carrying out this resolve.”
But he can’t control the calendar completely, and the new year arrives before the court resumes its hearings. January 6, 1872, is bitterly cold in Manhattan, and the courtroom is hardly warmer. The custodians have taken this Saturday morning off, and the coal stove in the center of the room has not been lit. The judge allows the counsel and witnesses to keep their coats on and does so himself.
Marietta Williams again accompanies Josie. This time Ned Stokes appears, too, although he arrives separately from Josie. Every eye in the courtroom follows him as he walks to his seat, for this is the man who has stolen Josie from Fisk and set the entire sordid spectacle in motion. Fisk has learned at the last minute that Stokes is coming; he can’t bring himself to be in the same room as his rival and stays away.
Josie enters the witness stand again. Fisk’s counsel Beach inquires how she met Fisk. “Are you acquainted with Miss Annie Wood?” he asks.
“Yes, I formed her acquaintance about six years ago in Washington.”
“Did you have a conversation with her in relation to Mr. Fisk?”
“No.”
“Did you ask Miss Wood to introduce you to Mr. Fisk after she had given you a description of him and of his
“I did.” She doesn’t like how this sounds. “I did not mean it would be a benefit so much as an explanation.”
“Did he ever return them to you?”
“No, to my surprise.”
“Have you seen any of these letters since?”
“Never.”
“You don’t personally know what became of them?”
“Not personally.”
“Did you furnish these letters to any person in the employ of the Herald office?”
“Never.”
“You furnished them to Mr. Stokes?”
“Yes.”
“To be used against Fisk?”
“Yes.”
Another pause from Spencer, to let the court, the jury, and the audience appreciate the implications for blackmail of this admission.
Spencer brings Bill Tweed and Tammany Hall into the conversation. “Did you go to Albany about the matter?” he asks Josie.
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
“To Mr. Tweed.”
For what purpose?
“I thought there would be a good deal of publicity about this matter, and I wanted to avoid it.”
It has been a long session, but the injection of Tweed into the tale ends it with a wicked twist, one that is potentially damning to Josie. Spencer sits down and lets all present ponder Josie’s shameless treachery in working her feminine wiles on Tweed to further her blackmail scheme against Tweed’s friend and ally and her erstwhile lover, Jim Fisk.
Josie’s testimony in the libel trial is carried in all the papers; from Thanksgiving Day till Christmas it drives the gossip mills of New York City and across the state. The personal aspect of the scandal is reason enough for New Yorkers to pay attention; rarely do the rich and powerful find themselves so exposed as Fisk has become in this messy love triangle. “On the one side is Colonel Fisk, Prince of Erie, owner of the Grand Opera House, Lord of the Isles, famed in love and war,” the Herald mocks. “On the other the Cleopatra of the period, who has worked as much mischief in her own way with the unfortunate Fisk as did the Egyptian goddess of love and sensuality on the luckless Antony.”
But the political potential of the scandal is equally enticing. The involvement of Tweed makes the Fisk-Mansfield-Stokes affair politically explosive. Tweed’s cumulative missteps have weakened him; bettors lay odds that new sins discovered in the libel case will bring him and Tammany down.
Judge Bixby promises that justice will be swift in his Yorkville court. “If the lawyers in this case think they are going to make a long winter’s job of it, they are mistaken,” he declares in early December. “I will take up the case and carry it on day after day until it is concluded. I will not allow myself to be checkmated by the lawyers in carrying out this resolve.”
But he can’t control the calendar completely, and the new year arrives before the court resumes its hearings. January 6, 1872, is bitterly cold in Manhattan, and the courtroom is hardly warmer. The custodians have taken this Saturday morning off, and the coal stove in the center of the room has not been lit. The judge allows the counsel and witnesses to keep their coats on and does so himself.
Marietta Williams again accompanies Josie. This time Ned Stokes appears, too, although he arrives separately from Josie. Every eye in the courtroom follows him as he walks to his seat, for this is the man who has stolen Josie from Fisk and set the entire sordid spectacle in motion. Fisk has learned at the last minute that Stokes is coming; he can’t bring himself to be in the same room as his rival and stays away.
Josie enters the witness stand again. Fisk’s counsel Beach inquires how she met Fisk. “Are you acquainted with Miss Annie Wood?” he asks.
“Yes, I formed her acquaintance about six years ago in Washington.”
“Did you have a conversation with her in relation to Mr. Fisk?”
“No.”
“Did you ask Miss Wood to introduce you to Mr. Fisk after she had given you a description of him and of his
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