Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy

by Elizabeth A. DeWolfe

Overview

Jane Armstrong Tucker was a Boston stenographer scrabbling to get by as a single woman in the Gilded Age, until she was offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Madeleine Pollard was a Kentuckian with humble roots who had used charisma to work her way into the parlors of the Washington, DC, elite. Tucker hid behind an alias—Agnes Parker—but Pollard had a secret, too.

Alias Agnes details the story of Jane Tucker, who took a job as an undercover detective with a ten-week mission. Her target: Madeleine Pollard, former mistress of Congressman William C. P. Breckinridge, whom she had sued for breach of promise when he failed to marry her. Exploring the intricacies of this trial and a scandal that captivated the nation, author Elizabeth A. DeWolfe demonstrates that a shared lack of power did not always lead to alliances among women. DeWolfe uncovers the strategies women used to make their way in the world, drawing parallels between the previously forgotten and incomplete tales of Tucker, Pollard, and the women who testified in the trial—from formerly enslaved persons, to white socialites, to single government clerks, to divorced physicians.

Written in engaging prose with all the intrigue and suspense of a detective tale, Alias Agnes chronicles the lives of women at the cusp of the twentieth century—the opportunities that beckoned them and the challenges that thwarted their dreams.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781985902244
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	04/29/2025
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth A. DeWolfe, professor of history and cofounder of the women's and gender studies program at the University of New England, is the award-winning author of The Murder of Mary Bean and Other Stories and Shaking the Faith: Women, Family, and Mary Marshall Dyer's Anti-Shaker Campaign, 1815–1867.

Table of Contents

Author's Note
Prologue
1. Hastily, Jane
2. My Dear Mr. Rodes
3. A Considerable Surprise
4. No Mistakes
5. Pitiful Stories
6. The Stenographer's Guide to Spying
7. So Darned Clever in My Work
8. A Fellow Woman, Ambitious and Smart
9. The Only Chance a Girl Will Get
10. Hems to the Tops of Her Shoes
11. So Like a Woman
12. Happiest Woman in Washington
13. French Dressing
14. Treacherous Typewriters, She-Fanatics, and the Short-Haired Women of Boston
15. The Eve of My Waterloo
16. The Trouble with All Detective Stories
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes

Editorial Reviews

From hints and scraps, Elizabeth DeWolfe has masterfully reconstructed the story of a woman living a life that few people at the time expected or knew women could do. This is a thrilling and exciting tale of two women, one a wronged mistress and the other a spy, carefully researched and beautifully told. Agnes's story is one I won't soon forget.

Erika Janik

I tore right through this courtroom drama of two ambitious women trying to forge a path through the restrictions placed on their lives in 1890s America. Letters, trial transcripts, newspaper coverage, all provide details and insight, making for gripping narrative nonfiction.

Kim Todd

This is a stirring tale of secrecy, betrayal, ambition, jilted love, and the many barriers—political, financial, legal—faced by young women in nineteenth-century America. In Alias Agnes, Elizabeth DeWolfe has deftly wrapped fascinating social history around a page-turning courtroom drama.

Matthew Goodman

In Alias Agnes, Elizabeth DeWolfe delves into a remarkable Gilded Age trial, uncovering little-known sources and never-before-published secrets from hidden archives. Through the riveting tale of a jilted lover and the spy dispatched to entrap her, DeWolfe unveils two narratives of justice and betrayal surrounding women who were striving to break free from the constraints of their time. This book not only sheds light on a dramatic episode in American legal history, but also offers profound insights into the resilience and courage of women fighting for their rights as the modern era dawned.

Amy Stewart

A thoroughly captivating story of late Gilded Age gender norms and deeply rooted social conventions. DeWolfe skillfully weaves the stories of Madeleine Pollard and Jane Tucker while also introducing readers to a wider cast of fascinating female characters, each of whom demonstrate their own agency while creatively navigating a world designed by men. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the era's power dynamics—and of human nature.

Melanie Beals Goan