J. North Conway

The Big Policeman

The Rise and Fall of America's First, Most Ruthless, and Greatest Detective

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

A story bursting with murder, mayhem, and intrigue—the astonishing career of Thomas Byrnes, the 19th Century New York City detective who closed the city's most notorious murders and robberies and became one of the most celebrated detectives in American history. The second in the New York City Gilded Age Crime Trilogy by J. North Conway.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Lyons Press
• Seitenzahl: 346
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Mai 2019
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 20mm
• Gewicht: 562g
• ISBN-13: 9781493040551
• ISBN-10: 1493040553
• Artikelnr.: 54030509

Autorenporträt

J. North Conway is the author of King of Heists: The Sensational Bank Robbery of 1878 That Shocked America and the upcoming Bag of Bones: The Sensational Grave Robbery of the Merchant Prince of Manhattan; in addition to seven other nonfiction books. He has been a daily newspaper reporter and editor, and a columnist and feature writer for the Providence Journal and Bostonia, the alumni publication of Boston University. He has worked as an editor/writer for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second oldest international learned society in the country. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth and Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts. He previously taught at Boston University, Northeastern University, and Fisher College. He lives in Assonet, Massachusetts.

Inhaltsangabe

Chapter 1  THE CASE OF JACK THE RIPPER (Chief Detective Thomas Byrnes
solved the case of the brutal slaying that prompted the press to speculate
that London’s Jack the Ripper had struck in New York City.)
American Almanac 1854 (A selection of social, political, cultural and
historical details depicting the tenor of the times are presented in this
intercalary chapter.)
Chapter 2  NO IRISH NEED APPLY (The Byrnes family immigrated from Ireland
during the Potato Famine and settled into one of New York City’s worst
slums, Five Points.)
American Almanac 1863
Chapter 3  NEW YORK CITY UNDER SEIGE (Byrnes distinguished himself as a
brave and fearless police officer during the infamous New York City draft
riots in the summer of 1863.)
American Almanac 1872
 Chapter 4  THE MURDER OF MAUDE MERRILL (Byrnes solved the sensational
murder involving a  fashionable courtesan, Maude Merrill, who was brutally
killed in an upscale house of prostitution.)
Chapter 5  THE MURDER OF JUBILEE JIM (Byrnes apprehended the murderer of
James Fisk Jr., one the country’s most successful Wall Street financiers.)
American Almanac 1878
Chapter 6  THE GREATEST BANK ROBBERY IN AMERICA (Using gritty detective
work, Byrnes tracked down the criminals responsible for robbing close to $3
million from the Manhattan Savings Institution.)
Chapter 7  BAG OF BONES (Byrnes tracked down the grave-robbers who stole
the body of millionaire department store magnate, A.T. Stewart.)
American Almanac 1880-1884
Chapter 8  CHIEF OF DETECTIVES (In 1880 Byrnes was promoted to Inspector
and took command of  New York City’s detective bureau.  He instituted a
series of protocols that modernized the detective bureau including the use
of mug shots, police line-ups and the use of undercover detectives to
infiltrate criminal gangs.)
Chapter 9  THE CASE OF THE MURDERED WINE MERCHANT (Byrnes  tracked down and
apprehended the murderer of New York City wine merchant, Louis Hanier.)
American Almanac 1892-1895
Chapter 10   AN UNSPEAKABLE ROTTENESS (After being appointed Superintendent
of the New York City Police Department in 1892, Byrnes faced a series of
legislative investigations into police corruption. Although Byrnes was
never directly implicated in any corrupt practices, he was forced into
retirement in 1895 by Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt when  it was
revealed that he had amassed a small fortune on his meager $5,000 yearly
salary. Byrnes became an insurance investigator, opening a detective agency
on Wall Street and died in 1910.)