Description
Book SynopsisIn Cry of Murder on Broadway, Julie Miller shows how a woman''s desperate attempt at murder came to momentarily embody the anger and anxiety felt by many people at a time of economic and social upheaval and expanding expectations for equal rights.
On the evening of November 1, 1843, a young household servant named Amelia Norman attacked Henry Ballard, a prosperous merchant, on the steps of the new and luxurious Astor House Hotel. Agitated and distraught, Norman had followed Ballard down Broadway before confronting him at the door to the hotel. Taking out a folding knife, she stabbed him, just missing his heart.
Ballard survived the attack, and the trial that followed created a sensation. Newspapers in New York and beyond followed the case eagerly, and crowds filled the courtroom every day. The prominent author and abolitionist Lydia Maria Child championed Norman and later included her story in her fiction and her writing on women''s rights.
The would-be mu
Trade Review
This deeply researched, absorbing work captures the sensationalism of Norman's failed attempt at murder and the subsequent trial as well as the political and economic upheaval sweeping the country. Bound to appeal to true crime readers, especially those with an interest in the intersection of crime and socioeconomic issues.
* Library Journal *
Concise and engaging, Cry of Murder makes Amelia Norman's sad story a good read for anyone interested in learning more about 19th-century New York. Through Amelia Norman, Miller humanizes the often-impersonal forces of change that shaped Old New York.
* Gotham Center for New York City History *
Table of ContentsPrologue: Defending Amelia Norman
1. I Am Murdered
2. Jersey Maid and Damn Yankee
3. Go and Get Your Living
4. An Awful Place
5. A Great Heart
6. The Trial Begins
7. Verdict
8. The Law of Seduction
Epilogue: Harlot's Fate
