Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Ohio History

by Susan Sawyer

Overview

Each volume in this series features fifteen to twenty short biographies of notorious bad guys, perpetrators of mischief, visionary if misunderstood thinkers, and other colorful antiheroes from the history of a given city, state, or region of the U.S. The villainous, the misguided, and the misunderstood all get their due in these entertaining yet informing books.

Ohio has more than its fair share of stories of women who chose arsenic as the way to eliminate "problems" from their lives, along with corrupt politicians, thieves, unscrupulous gamblers, and other con artists. Read about Dr. John Cook Bennett, who made a fortunate off his belief that diplomas were better bought than earned; Olympic gold medalist James Snook, whose sordid affair took a deadly turn; and Nancy Farrar, whose culpability for one man's murder was as unclear as her mental status.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493018925
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Series:	Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Histo
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	156
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Susan Sawyer enjoys exploring the past and writing about historical topics. History serves as the centerpiece for many of her writings, taking form in both fact and fiction. Susan is the author of sixteen books, including Ohio’s Remarkable Women, 2nd edition, More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Tennessee Women, It Happened in Tennessee, and Myths and Mysteries of Tennessee (all by Globe Pequot Press).

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Susan worked as a magazine editor and communications consultant before establishing a career as a freelance writer and published author. Today she writes from her home in the suburbs of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Dr. John Cook Bennett: The Diploma Peddler (1804-1867) 1

Chapter 2 John Chivington: The Fighting Parson (1821-1894) 12

Chapter 3 George H. Devol: King of the Riverboat Gamblers (1829-1903) 23

Chapter 4 Nancy Farrer: Insane Poisoner or Witless Dupe? (1832-185?) 32

Chapter 5 Victoria Claflin Woodhull: Scandalous Suffragette (1838-1927) 39

Chapter 6 Stephen Wallace Dorsey: Senator and Swindler (1842-1916) 50

Chapter 7 Cassie Chadwick: Con Artist (1857-1907) 60

Chapter 8 Alfred Knapp: Serial Strangler (1863-1904) 70

Chapter 9 Dr. James Howard Snook: Gold Medal Murderer (1879-1930) 80

Chapter 10 Eva Brickel Kaber: Murderer for Hire (1881-1931) 91

Chapter 11 Martha Wise: The Poison Widow of Hardscrabble (1884-1971) 102

Chapter 12 Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd: Public Enemy Number One (1904-1934) 112

Chapter 13 Anna Marie Hahn: Arsenic Anna (1906-1938) 122

Chapter 14 Edythe Klumpp: Murderous Seamstress (1918-1999) 132

Chapter 15 Jean Struven Harris: The Scorned Headmistress (1923-2012) 143

Bibliography 153

Index 159

About the Author 167