Description
Book SynopsisFrom supreme president to forgotten enemy, John W. Talbot lived a remarkable life. Charismatic, energetic, and powerful, he founded a national fraternal organization, the Order of Owls, and counted senators, congressmen, and business leaders among his friends. He wielded his influence to help causes close to his heart but also to bring down those who stood against him.
In So Much Bad in the Best of Us, Greta Fisher's careful research reveals that Talbot was capable of great evil, causing one woman to describe him as "the Devil Incarnate." His string of very public affairs revealed his strange sexual preferences and violent tendencies, and charges leveled against him included perjury, blackmail, jury tampering, slander, libel, misuse of the mail, assault with intent to kill, and White slavery. Ultimately convicted on the slavery charge, he spent several years in Leavenworth penitentiary and eventually lost everything, including control of the Order of Owls. His descent into alcoholism and death by fire was a fitting end to a tumultuous and dramatic life. After 50 years of newspaper headlines and court battles, Talbot's death made national news, but with more enemies than friends and estranged from his family, he was ultimately forgotten.
A gripping true crime story, So Much Bad in the Best of Us offers a mesmerizing account of the life of John W. Talbot, the Order of Owls, and how quickly the powerful can fall.
Trade ReviewGreta Fisher cooly travels us through "So Much Bad in the Best of Us: The Salacious and Audacious Life of John W. Talbot." No one can make up the kind of ordinary citizen gullibility that ran rampant around South Bend, Indiana, starting as early as 1872 and continuing to lope along the echelons of society for the next sixty-five years and counting. . . . The enduring scheming legacy of Talbot resides within the Order of Owls. Never heard of it? Neither did I, and now I am amazed and saddened. Owls deserve a better rap.
-- Rita Kohn * Nuvo *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
An Auspicious Beginning
A Budding Career and a Blossoming Criminal
Diversification: Social Networks, Political Influence, and the Importance of Family
The Founding of the Order of Owls
Legal Trouble: The Talbot Brothers on the Defensive
Leona Mason Tries to Put Him Down
Death and Resurrection
Unwanted Owls
A Profit in Syphilis
An Owl Rebellion and the Charitable Institutions that Weren't
Can't Keep Out of Trouble and Other Odd Behavior
Not Just Owls: Talbot Cultivates an Interest in Exotic Birds (the Kind with Feathers)
"She Is Certainly Having a Fine Time"
"Guilty as Sin": Talbot Is Sent to Leavenworth
The Ex-Convict: Talbot Is No Longer Supreme
A Quieter Life
A Fiery Death
The Fate of the Order of Owls
Talbot's Legacy
Postscript
Appendix A: Order of the Owls Handbook
Appendix B: The Character and Life of John W. Talbot Exposed by an Outraged Woman
Appendix C: The Question
Notes
Bibliography
