DOCSLIB.ORG

©2015 Kristoffer M. Shields ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
©2015 Kristoffer M. Shields ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©2015 Kristoffer M. Shields ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CULTURE ON TRIAL: LAW, MORALITY, AND THE PERFORMANCE TRIAL IN THE SHADOW OF WORLD WAR I by KRISTOFFER M. SHIELDS A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School—New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History Written under the direction of T.J. Jackson Lears And approved by _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey OCTOBER 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Culture on Trial: Law, Morality, and the Performance Trial in the Shadow of World War I By KRISTOFFER M. SHIELDS Dissertation Director: T.J. Jackson Lears This dissertation analyzes three specific American trials, each taking place between 1921 and 1926: the State of Tennessee v. John T. Scopes; the murder trial of Frances Stevens Hall; and the murder trial(s) of silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Despite the trials’ disparate facts, each became prominent nationally, covered by a variety of media and heavily attended by live audiences. This was not unprecedented. Throughout American history, trials have often been subjects of public fascination. At times, individual cases have become cultural phenomena, followed and discussed by onlookers across the country, reaching a point of national cultural relevance. I call these types of trials “performance trials” and argue that they are valuable and overlooked resources for historians. The three trials analyzed in this dissertation are especially instructive. The 1920s are a fertile time for performance trials, evidenced in part by this cluster of three such trials taking place within five years of each other. In the wake of World War I and the ii culmination of reform efforts such as Prohibition and the woman’s suffrage movement, the early 1920s were a time of cultural fragmentation and reorganization. Various groups—including Protestants, moral reformers, women, scientists, “modernists,” businesspeople, and “laypeople” alike—were struggling to find their place in the shifting culture and preserve their power within it. These three trials became phenomena because they captured one part of that cultural negotiation: the argument over the moral future of American culture and where moral authority should rest. Through the use of newspaper reports, trial transcripts, audience reactions, and other sources, this dissertation presents the narratives of these trials and analyzes them in order to illuminate these cultural skirmishes over moral authority. The dissertation presents and breaks down the competing versions of modernity offered by the various groups, including both those who embraced the new culture and those who argued that a new moral reform movement was needed in order to rein it in. Viewing the trials through the eyes of Americans responding to an early version of the “culture wars,” the dissertation provides insight into the cultural turmoil of the early 1920s. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT As is always the case, this would not have been possible without the assistance, support, advice, and expertise of many people. First and foremost, I thank my committee: David Greenberg, Paul Israel, Hendrik Hartog, and my advisor Jackson Lears. Their flexibility, encouragement, comments, and advice have been invaluable throughout this process and without their support, this simply would not have happened. I could not have dreamt of a better committee. I also thank the Rutgers History Department. The cooperative nature of the entire department is a credit to the university. I particularly appreciate the assistance of the Graduate Vice Chairs who served during my tenure as well as Dawn Ruskai, who so kindly shepherded me through the administrative requirements. My fellow graduate students in the department also deserve special gratitude; there are far too many to name, but two require special mention. Dennis Halpin and Melanie Kiechle are not only tremendous readers, sounding boards, and historians, they are also fantastic friends. I also appreciate the efforts and advice of Katherine Sibley, the editor of A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover for her suggestions on my contribution to that volume. While I have not directly reproduced that work in this dissertation, I have drawn on some of the research. I have been very fortunate over the past three years to be associated with the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, first as a Fellow and later as an employee. I am indebted to everyone at Eagleton for their support and for being such wonderful co-workers. I especially thank Ruth Mandel, the Director of the Eagleton Institute, and John Weingart, the Associate Director, for their patience and iv encouragement as I completed this project. Their friendship and advice has been invaluable. Eagleton is truly a special place, entirely because of the people who work there. Finally, on a personal note, I save my deepest thanks for my family. My parents have been supportive throughout the process, as they have been throughout my entire life. And last but not least, I thank the two most important people in my life. My wife, Susana, my partner in life, has been by my side through everything. I do not remember life without her. Her dedication and tenacity are a constant inspiration and her unwavering support has gotten me through the most difficult times. And finally, I thank my role model, my light, the person who has taught me more about life than anyone else could: my daughter Sabrina. I love you, Sabi. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract of the Dissertation ii Acknowledgement iv Introduction 1 Chapter One – Scopes: Creating a Scene 30 Chapter Two – Scopes: Complicating the Stakes 55 Chapter Three – Hall-Mills: A Curious Affair 94 Chapter Four – Hall-Mills: The Widow, The Daughter, and the Pig Woman 123 Chapter Five – Fatty Arbuckle: A Star is Tried 159 Chapter Six – Fatty Arbuckle: The Case for Censorship 186 Epilogue 221 Bibliography 235 vi 1 INTRODUCTION The crowd pushed towards the outdoor stage, each member jostling for a prime seat on one of the backless wooden benches closest to the action. There were more people than seats on this particular afternoon, ensuring that it would be a standing room only performance. Some spectators stood in the grass behind those lucky enough to get a seat, cooling themselves with a soda or ice cream purchased from vendors. Others found a spot on the ground to sit, under the shade of towering maple trees. Still others sat in the windows of local buildings, dangling their feet over second-floor ledges. This was the sight so many had traveled hundreds of miles to see. The performance was about to begin.1 The crowd would witness high drama on the afternoon of July 20, 1925, but it was not attending a play. It had, as the Atlanta Constitution described it, the “formal air of a Chautauqua debate,” but it was neither a debate nor a Chautauqua meeting.2 It was a trial; more specifically, it was the seventh day of the trial of John T. Scopes for the teaching of evolution in Dayton, Tennessee. Moved outside for the afternoon due to structural concerns about the Rhea County Courthouse, the Scopes trial for at least one day looked more like a public performance than a legal proceeding, a perception that was not far from the truth. The scene outside the courthouse was not unprecedented. Throughout American history trials have often become public performances. By the 1920s, American trials— 1 “Big Crowd Watches Trial Under Trees,” New York Times, July 21, 1925, 1. Also “Bryan and Darrow in Bitter Religious Clash as Commoner is Quizzed on his Bible Views,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 21, 1925, 1. 2 “‘Read Your Bible’ Banner Removed from Jury’s Sight,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 21, 1925, 2. 2 particularly those involving gruesome crimes—had long been subjects of public interest.3 Traditionally open to the public in the United States, trials could provide the public access to an important social institution—the law—as well serve as a form of entertainment featuring drama, oration, and mystery. Individuals in the 1920s took full advantage of both functions, perhaps most obviously embracing a trial’s value as entertainment. Newspapermen began attending certain trials by the hundreds, not only to report the gory details of the crimes, but increasingly to provide a daily update to their readers on the happenings inside the courtroom. The inherent entertainment appeal of trials is not hard to understand. Narrative has always been an important part of human experience and trials, at their foundation, provide a series of competing narratives, each side attempting to convince the decision-maker (usually a jury in the most famous cases) that its “story” is closest to the “truth.” As the legal historian Lawrence Friedman put it, “[Criminal trials] were lush dramas, embroidered with juicy details (some of them fake) in the daily press. These trials satisfied some deep-seated hunger of the bourgeoisie. The newspapers clucked and scolded and pretended to be appalled; but these sordid affairs gave off the rotting perfume of forbidden fruit.”4 A criminal trial is, as Friedman concludes, “almost inherently dramatic.”5 While this is certainly true, the significance of a certain type of trial in U.S. history goes still deeper. When a trial becomes as notorious or popular as the scene described in Dayton, it reaches the point of cultural relevance. It is no longer simply 3 On the popularity of trial report pamphlets, see Karen Halttunen, Murder Most Foul: The Killer and the American Gothic Imagination (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998). For discussion of the importance of crime and trial in penny press, see Andie Tucher, Froth and Scum: Truth, Beauty, and the Ax Murder in America’s First Mass Medium (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • (16198000Deficit
    i rf 11 fffTftl [flffjl IflBBli Blflffi Qffi 11 11 Icon IrfQ III111 Tlfl QXfi QTQ {rHill 1111 M f^Q] IQuiI IMU! I IKU1* i UUI QQ ii' n I ,IW1 I.Ml PI MillPtTtj rrm I ! r 111 ll f iL11 ill Mill III' II III Tl 111 11 Mill 11T1111 GLANDS MARKET ibwiIki^u ibbpimlij impi icpj[Till itzxpi ioujI ibpi hxxpi laxpi loro] hhpi itnui a Doorv Milk Fmh From Cow to Yon icbpi icnpi (tcfj |tnpi Declares America Opens Y CHRISTMAS NOACTIONIND.C. SOARS; BABOONS (16,198,000DEFICIT M E R R i « IN GREAT DEMAND To AU Who Laibor for a* « .... Progress By Cable to The Star and Chicago Dally New*. Copyright, 1932. > 22..London INPOSTALSERVICE ON V LONDON, December ARBUCKLEFILMS 22 to of these fortunate PITTSBURGH, Pa., December ., take advantage his surgeons confirm the report that that America opens wide circumstances. His task is to find Order on Saturday the demand for Declaring chosan work and to labor at it with For monkey gland the door of advancement to those who diligence and earnestness. For work Bandar Delivery Authorities Await Public Is Increasing so rapidlyoperationsGen. Dawes Gives Figures in It with an earnest Is It Is his duty to acquaint that they cannot living approach happiness. Mince it Pumpkin Pies supply to labor for progress.determinationhimself with the government glands fast enough. The Increase the customs and the idealsInstitutions.of from i B the of such operations has resulted in Scoring "Submerged" of Labor James J. Davis today to himself Opinion Regarding SecretaryAmerica, and give an order being placed with a firm gave a holiday greeting to the to their support.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fatty Arbuckle Case
    M60 5O§ A PAPERBACK LIBRARY FIRST EDITION SIIKI !8ITH«j Most famous rape case of the century The Hollywood story no one dared publish THE KING He could have any woman in Hollywood he wanted—except beautiful Virginia Rappe. Already a star, Virginia didn't need Fatty Arbuckle and didn't want him. Surrounded by adulation, yes-men, the semi-royal glitter of Hollywood, glutted with money, fame and success, Fatty Arbuckle couldn't take "no" for an answer. HERE IS THE SHOCKING, SOMETIMES SORDID, AND ALWAYS FASCINATING STORY OF ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CRIMINAL TRIALS OF ALL TIME THE FATTY ARBUCKLE CASE THE FATTY ARBUCKLE By LEO GUILD V PAPERBACK LIBRARY, INC New York Copyright © 1962 by Paperback Library, Inc. All Rights Reserved PAPERBACK LIBRARY ORIGINAL First Printing: August 1962 Printed in the United States of America FOREWORD The writing of a book such as this is a monumental re- search job. It entails conversation with people who were on the scene; a search for their friends, relatives, ac- quaintances; study of the court records, the newspaper stories of the trial, magazines which contain much perti- nent material about the case. People only remotely in- volved with the subject or the circumstances must be questioned. One interview always leads to another and another until the list of prospects becomes so long it seems impossible to write or to see all of them. But all must be reached. Then medical experts must be consulted, legal advice must be secured. Books which covered similar cases have to be read to study pattern and summation.
    [Show full text]
  • Mabel's Blunder
    Mabel’s Blunder By Brent E. Walker Mabel Normand was the first major female comedy star in American motion pictures. She was also one of the first female directors in Hollywood, and one of the original principals in Mack Sennett’s pioneering Keystone Comedies. “Mabel’s Blunder” (1914), made two years after the formation of the Keystone Film Company, captures Normand’s talents both in front of and behind the camera. Born in Staten Island, New York in 1892, a teenage Normand modeled for “Gibson Girl” creator Charles Dana Gibson before entering motion pictures with Vitagraph in 1910. In the summer of 1911, she moved over to the Biograph company, where D.W. Griffith was making his mark as a pioneering film director. Griffith had already turned actresses such as Florence Lawrence and Mary Pickford into major dramatic stars. Normand, however, was not as- signed to the dramas made by Griffith. Instead, she went to work in Biograph’s comedy unit, directed by an actor-turned-director named Mack Sennett. Normand’s first major film “The Diving Girl” (1911) brought her notice with nickelodeon audiences. A 1914 portrait of Mabel Normand looking Mabel quickly differentiated herself from the other uncharacteristically somber. Courtesy Library of Congress Biograph actresses of the period by her willingness Prints & Photographs Online Collection. to engage in slapstick antics and take pratfalls in the name of comedy. She also began a personal ro- to assign directorial control to each of his stars on mantic relationship with Mack Sennett that would their comedies, including Normand. Mabel directed have its ups and downs, and would eventually in- a number of her own films through the early months spire a Broadway musical titled “Mack and Mabel.” of 1914.
    [Show full text]
  • The 1925 Monkey Trial
    The “Monkey Trial” March 1925. • On 21st March 1925 Tennessee passed the Butler Act which stated: • That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals. Proposer of the act: John Washington Butler. Religion vs. Science. • (State Representative) John W. Butler, a Tennessee farmer and head of the World Christian Fundamentals Association, lobbied state legislatures to pass the anti-evolution law. The act is challenged. • John Thomas Scopes' involvement in the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial came about after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced that it would finance a test case challenging the constitutionality of the Butler Act if they could find a Tennessee teacher willing to act as a defendant. • Photograph of John Scopes taken one month before the trial. Opportunistic Bush Lawyers? • A band of businessmen in Dayton, Tennessee, led by engineer and geologist George Rappleyea, saw this as an opportunity to get publicity for their town and approached Scopes. • Rappleyea pointed out that while the Butler Act prohibited the teaching of human evolution, the state required teachers to use the assigned textbook, Hunter's Civic Biology (1914), which included a chapter on evolution. • Rappleyea argued that teachers were essentially required to break the law.
    [Show full text]
  • Sex, Crime, and Jazz-Age Journalism
    Sex, Crime, and Jazz-Age Journalism The 1920s were an exciting, shocking decade in America’s cities. Although Prohibition laws outlawed alcohol, people flocked to speakeasies, private clubs where they could drink bootleg liquor and dance to the latest jazz. Gangsters battled in the streets for control of the alcohol trade. Women put on lipstick and rouge, wore short skirts, and smoked in public. Ground-breaking novels and plays focused on the once-taboo subject of sex. People poured into sporting events and movie houses and worshipped new-found celebrities like Babe Ruth and Charlie Chaplin. This raucous decade was known as the jazz age. Newspapers reflected the era, attracting readers with sensational stories. Throughout the decade, many newspapers drew readers by focusing on stories involving sex, crime, and celebrities. This was known as "jazz-age journalism." In 1921, a story broke that involved all three elements—sex, crime, and a celebrity. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, one of Hollywood’s most famous stars, was accused of sexually assaulting and killing a movie actress. The press pounced on the story, printing detail after lurid detail. The case of "Fatty" Arbuckle raised the question of whether a celebrity could get a fair trial amid enormous national press coverage. The Rise of the Tabloids On June 26, 1919, a new kind of newspaper called a tabloid hit the streets of New York City. Half the size (15 x 11 inches) of other newspapers, the Daily News typically displayed a front page with a screaming headline and large pictures. Inside, short, sensationalized news articles sat alongside photos, illustrations, and feature stories about the lives, loves, and misfortunes of both ordinary and famous people.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scopes Trial, Antievolutionism, and the Last Crusade of William Jennings Bryan
    University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2012 Six Days of Twenty-Four Hours: the Scopes Trial, Antievolutionism, and the Last Crusade of William Jennings Bryan Kari Lynn Edwards Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the History of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Edwards, Kari Lynn, "Six Days of Twenty-Four Hours: the Scopes Trial, Antievolutionism, and the Last Crusade of William Jennings Bryan" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 96. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/96 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SIX DAYS OF TWENTY-FOUR HOURS: THE SCOPES TRIAL, ANTIEVOLUTIONISM, AND THE LAST CRUSADE OF WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Southern Studies The University of Mississippi by KARI EDWARDS May 2012 Copyright Kari Edwards 2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT The academic study of the Scopes Trial has always been approached from a traditional legal interpretation. This project seeks to reframe the conventional arguments surrounding the trial, treating it instead as a significant religious event, one which not only altered the course of Christian Fundamentalism and the Creationist movement, but also perpetuated Southern religious stereotypes through the intense, and largely negative, nationwide publicity it attracted. Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan's crucial role is also redefined, with his denial of a strictly literal interpretation of Genesis during the trial serving as the impetus for the shift toward ultra- conservatism and young-earth Creationism within the movement after 1925.
    [Show full text]
  • The Last Days of Buster Keaton John C. Tibbetts
    Fall 1995 79 The Hole in the Doughnut: The Last Days of Buster Keaton John C. Tibbetts In the Fall of 1995 Eleanor Norris Keaton will come to Kansas to celebrate the 100th birthday of her late husband.1 Part of an extensive itinerary that also takes her to other centenary observances in New York, Muskegon, Michigan, and Los Angeles, the Kansas trip is particularly poignant. Keaton was born on October 4,1895, in the tiny farm community of Piqua, in southeast Kansas, while his parents were performing with a medicine show.2 Although he may have been a Kansan only through sheer accident of circumstances—the baby and his mother remained in Piqua only two weeks before rejoining the troupe on the road—he returned there many times as a child on tour with his parents.3 Later, the classic slapstick comedian paid tribute to his home state in many of the themes and situations of his best films, most notably in the cyclone sequence in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928). To my mind, even his trademark "deadly horizontal" hat (as James Agee described it) evokes the stark flatness of the Kansas prairies.4 While the Keaton phenomenon will be fully explored throughout the centenary year, Eleanor herself should not be forgotten. By all accounts, she was an important force in Buster's later years. "She has seen Buster Keaton through a long period of painful adjustment, relapse, and readjustment and a dozen partial comebacks," wrote Rudi Blesh, shortly before Buster's death on February 1,1966. "She has carried him, content and at times happy, across the threshold of his seventies.
    [Show full text]
  • Cases of the Century
    Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review Volume 33 Number 2 Symposium on Trials of the Century Article 4 1-1-2000 Cases of the Century Laurie L. Levenson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Laurie L. Levenson, Cases of the Century, 33 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 585 (2000). Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol33/iss2/4 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CASES OF THE CENTURY Laurie L. Levenson* I. INTRODUCTION I confess. I am a "trials of the century" junkie. Since my col- lege years, I have been interested in how high-profile cases reflect and alter our society. My first experience with a so-called trial of the century was in 1976. My roommate and I took a break from our pre- med studies so that we could venture up to San Francisco, sleep in the gutters and on the sidewalks of the Tenderloin, all for the oppor- tunity to watch the prosecution of newspaper heiress, Patty Hearst. It was fascinating. The social issues of our time converged in a fed- eral courtroom While lawyers may have been fixated on the techni- cal legal issues of the trial, the public's focus was on something en- tirely different.
    [Show full text]
  • Film Essay for The
    The Kid By Jeffrey Vance “The Kid” (1921) is one of Charles Chaplin’s finest achievements and remains universally beloved by critics and audiences alike. The film is a perfect blend of comedy and drama and is arguably Chap- lin’s most personal and autobiographical work. Many of the settings and the themes in the film come right out of Chaplin’s own impoverished London child- hood. However, it was the combination of two events, one tragic (the death of his infant son) and one joyful (his chance meeting with Jackie Coogan), that led Chaplin to shape the tale of the abandoned child and the lonely Tramp. The loss of three-day-old Norman Spencer Chaplin undoubtedly had a great effect on Chaplin, and the emotional pain appears to have triggered his creativ- ity, as he began auditioning child actors at the Chap- lin Studios ten days after his son’s death. It was dur- ing this period that Chaplin encountered a four-year- old child performer named Jackie Coogan at Orphe- um Theater in Los Angeles, where his father had just performed an eccentric dance act. Chaplin spent more than an hour talking to Jackie in the lob- by of the Alexandria Hotel, but the idea of using Jackie in a film did not occur to him. After he heard that Roscoe Arbuckle had just signed Coogan, Chaplin agonized over his missed opportunity. Later, Charlie Chaplin as The Tramp sits in a doorway with the he discovered that Arbuckle had signed Jack orphan he has taken under his wing (Jackie Coogan).
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Analysis of the Stage Work Inherit the Wind Regarding Its Deviation from the Historic Scopes'
    A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STAGE WORK INHERIT THE WIND REGARDING ITS DEVIATION FROM THE HISTORIC SCOPES’ TRIAL OF 1925 AND SUBSEQUENT IMPACT UPON THE DEBATE OF HUMAN ORIGINS A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Jeffrey S. Miller May 2008 A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STAGE WORK INHERIT THE WIND REGARDING ITS DEVIATION FROM THE HISTORIC SCOPES’ TRIAL OF 1925 AND SUBSEQUENT IMPACT UPON THE DEBATE OF HUMAN ORIGINS Jeffrey S. Miller Thesis Approved: Accepted: Advisor Dean of the College James Slowiak James M. Lynn Faculty Reader Dean of the Graduate School Durand L. Pope George R. Newkome Faculty Reader Date Kevin Priest School Director Neil Sapienza ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I. THE STAGE WORK’S ORGINAL INTENT AS A PRODUCT OF THE TIMES…………………………………..…………….………….…..………………….01 II. THE STAGE WORK’S GRADUAL DEVIATION FROM ITS ORIGINAL INTENT………………………………………………………………..……………..…06 III. THE STAGE WORK’S DEVIATION FROM THE HISTORICAL PERCEPTION OF THE CHARACTER OF WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN…..…14 IV. THE STAGE WORK’S DEVIATION FROM THE HISTORICAL PERCEPTION OF THE CHARACTER OF CLARENCE DARROW……………...24 V. THE STAGE WORK’S DEVIATION FROM A HISTORICAL PERCEPTION OF DAYTON, TENNESSE’S RELIGIOUS POPULATION……..............…..….…..35 H. L. Mencken…………………………………………………………….……47 Concluding thoughts on the religious of Dayton, Tennessee……...…..….53 VI. THE PHENOMENON OF ART’S ABILITY TO INFLUENCE SOCIETY AS SEEN IN THE STAGEWORK INHERIT THE WIND………….…….…..….……....55
    [Show full text]
  • The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: the Injustice of the Century
    Constructing the Past Volume 5 Issue 1 Article 5 2004 The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: The Injustice of the Century Elizabeth Fischer Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing Recommended Citation Fischer, Elizabeth (2004) "The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: The Injustice of the Century," Constructing the Past: Vol. 5 : Iss. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing/vol5/iss1/5 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by editorial board of the Undergraduate Economic Review and the Economics Department at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: The Injustice of the Century Abstract This article discusses the Fatty Arbuckle case, an incident in which it is still not known whether or not he caused the death of Virginia Rappe. It discusses the various accounts given of the incident and whether or not some of the witnesses may have purposely lied about events for their own gain. This article is available in Constructing the Past: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing/vol5/iss1/5 The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: The Injustice of the Century other members of the party.
    [Show full text]
  • The American Mercury March 1936
    Mencken's Autopsy on Roosevelt ---- - WHY SHOULD I READ THE SUN? Because The Sun is New York's finest ,evening newspaper. Because it presents the complete and unbiased news of current OUTSTANDING MEN WHO happenings,written in the dis­ tinct'ive Sun style for which WRITE FOR THE SUN this newspaper is famous. GEORGE VAN SLYKE S~n's Politics Because of The provoca­ tive editorials, itS" interesting BOB DAVIS features, liv~ly spgrts stories, Travel dependable financial news and CARLETON A. SHIVELY its thorough coverage of sub,­ Finance jects that, appeal to mett and FRANK GRAHAM women of in,telligence.' Sports DAVID LAWRENCE If you are not already· a Sun Politics reader, why not try this New York ,newspaper? You'll like H. I. PHILLIPS Hunlor its balance', its completeness and the stories, articles and col­ RICHARD LOCKRIDGE umns of its many distinguisht:d Theater writers. GEORGE TREVOR Sports WILLIAM J. HENDERSON Music The Newspaper 0/ Disti,lclion ;n;ts Readers, ;1$ News atld its Advertising WARD MOREHOUSE N'EW YORK Broadway THE AMERICAN MERCURY This Box • Contained · .. Napoleonic "most eXCItingf ur tIme· "'· discovery 0 0 - -cealment for fear of libel, of bons the book as one of the Best Napoleon's odd, gay behavior Books published during 1935­ when only 1,000 of the Old Guard that hundreds are discovering it returned to Paris, of 600,000 who as the one great collateral-narra­ tive, of complete accuracy, to Tolstoy's WAR AND PEACE? DON'T MISS THIS TREAT !-biog­ Critics - scholars -librarians ­ raphy, memoirs, history, mystery and thousands of individual read­ all in one great book that belongs ers are discovering this Trans­ in every tastefully selected per­ Century Flash as history's "exclu­ sonal library.
    [Show full text]