Life, Adventures, Strange Career and Assassination of Col James Fisk..
Jealousy, Fraud, Accusations and Murder: The 1872 Assassination of "Jubilee Jim" Fisk [Murder]. [Stokes, Edward S. (1841-1901)]. [Fisk, James, Jr. (1835-1872)]. Life, Adventures, Strange Career, And Assassination of Col. James Fisk, Jr. The Fisk-Stokes Tragedy. All about Miss Mansfield. Those Rich, Rare, And Racy Letters and Many Oddities Now for the First Time Made Public. Philadelphia: Published by Barclay & Co., [1872]. First and Only Edition. [ii], [19]-111, [1] pp. 12 full-page engraved woodcuts. Complete. Octavo (9-1/4" x 5-3/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet in pictorial wrappers. Binding slightly cocked, light soiling, rubbing to corners with light wear, spine ends abraded, wrappers just beginning to detach at ends. Moderate toning, light foxing to a few leaves. $1,250. * This sensational nineteenth-century sensationalized pamphlet details the infamous Gilded Age murder of "Jubilee Jim" Fisk, a notorious financial speculator and robber baron who, along with Jay Gould, controlled the Erie Railroad. The narrative exposes the intricate love triangle and financial feud involving Fisk, his associate Edward S. Stokes, and Fisk's mistress, Helen Josephine "Josie" Mansfield. Following a series of escalating legal battles over embezzlement and false imprisonment, Mansfield threatened to publish extortionate letters revealing Fisk's illicit corporate transactions. After a humiliating courtroom cross-examination regarding her personal life on January 6, 1872, an enraged Stokes tracked Fisk to New York's Broadway Central Hotel and shot him on the grand staircase. Following three high-profile trials, Stokes was ultimately convicted of third-degree manslaughter. This work serves as an important primary artifact of Gilded Age public interest in white-collar corruption, tabloid journalism, and the volatile business culture of 1870s New York. OCLC locates 11 copies, 2 in law libraries (Library of Congress, Yale). McDade, The Annals of Murder 919.
Price: $1,250.00
Book number 71284