California's Lamson Murder Mystery: The Depression Era Case that Divided Santa Clara County

California's Lamson Murder Mystery: The Depression Era Case that Divided Santa Clara County

by Arcadia Publishing
California's Lamson Murder Mystery: The Depression Era Case that Divided Santa Clara County

California's Lamson Murder Mystery: The Depression Era Case that Divided Santa Clara County

by Arcadia Publishing

Paperback

$21.99 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
    Usually ships within 6 days
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

On Memorial Day 1933, Stanford executive David Lamson found his wife, Allene, dead in their Palo Alto home. The only suspect, he became the face of California's most sensational murder trial of the century. After a judge sentenced him to hang at San Quentin, a team of Stanford colleagues stepped in to form the Lamson Defense Committee. The group included poets Yvor Winters and Janet Lewis, as well as the "Sherlock Holmes of Berkeley," criminologist E.O. Heinrich. They managed to overturn the verdict and incite a series of heated retrials that gripped and divided the community. Was Lamson the victim of aggressive prosecutors, or was he a master of deception whose connections helped him get away with murder? Author and Stanford alum Tom Zaniello meticulously examines the details of a notorious case with a lingering legacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781467136532
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date: 10/17/2016
Series: True Crime
Pages: 144
Sales rank: 1,153,103
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Tom Zaniello taught film and cultural studies and directed the honors program at Northern Kentucky University. His interest in the Lamson murder mystery developed during his graduate studies at Stanford University and he has since returned to Santa Clara County to research this book. He has been active as a film programmer for the Hill Center in Washington, D.C., as well as for the London and Liverpool Labor Film Festivals. He currently has two books in print from Cornell University Press on labor films. His works-in-progress include a "psycho-cinematic biography" of Alfred Hitchcock and a study of scandalous religious trials in Victorian England.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

1 The Dark Side of the Valley of Heart's Delight 11

2 Stanford University Dreams of Silicon Valley 25

3 The Death of Allene Lamson on the Stanford Campus 36

4 David Lamson: Why Did You Kill Her? 42

5 Bill Sykes Beats Nancy to Death 46

6 A Lynching in San Jose's St. James Park 63

7 Murderers' Row at San Quentin 71

8 The Radical Lawyer from San Francisco 80

9 A Prosecution Witness Cuts His Own Throat 86

10 "Hangman" Buffington Tracks Blood in the Lamson Home 104

11 Cleaning Up Santa Clara County 112

12 Prisons in Hollywood 116

13 Silicon Valley: Not a Fruit Tree Remains 125

Sources 131

Index 139

About the Author 143

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews