Overview

The 1909 murder case surrounding the wealthy Swope family of Independence, Missouri, gripped newspaper readers throughout the nation. This book gathers the facts behind the suspicious fates of three Swope family members: the eccentric Colonel, millionaire donor of Kansas City, Missouri's Swope Park, his affable cousin, and a young nephew and heir. The mystery pits the Swope matriarch against her disfavored son-in-law, Dr. Bennett Clark Hyde. Charged with poisoning the Colonel and suspected of multiple other attempted murders, Dr. Hyde endures national media attention for this crime of the century. The series of trials and appeals that followed explores the question: Was he a diabolical villain bent on inheriting Swope's millions or the unfortunate victim of a family grudge? This account of gothic-era America follows streetcar tracks from the courtrooms of Kansas City to the typhoid-plagued Swope mansion in nearby Independence. The author delivers an engaging and accurate retelling of these 100-year-old events in the literary journalism tradition by analyzing court transcripts, newspaper coverage, and personal memoirs. Readers also get a new scenario based on modern science for what may have happened in the dark hallways of the mansion on Pleasant Street.

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9781734260182

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Reviews

Book of the Year Award, 2009 ForeWord Magazine, True Crime category Jackson County Historical Society's 2009 Outstanding Achievement Award for the Historic Book of the Year It has been 100 years since multiple tragedies befell members of the prominent Swope family in Independence, Missouri. But Deaths on Pleasant Street gives those shadowy events and the ensuing scandal the immediacy of today's headlines. I began the book in early afternoon, and was unable to sleep until I'd turned the last page. Rarely does historical nonfiction deliver so effective a combination of exhaustive research and inspired storytelling. -C. W. Gusewelle, journalist and author The trial of western Missouri's crime of the twentieth century may be stone cold, but Giles Fowler's master sleuthing and briskly paced narrative restore this still-unsolved country-house mystery to vivid life. Deaths on Pleasant Street will captivate history buffs and whodunnit fans alike. -Harry Haskell, author of Boss-Busters and Sin Hounds With a creeping sense of dread reminiscent of Gaslight and the immersive reporting that recalls In Cold Blood, Deaths on Pleasant Street elevates a sensational case of Victorian intrigue, skullduggery, ruinous accusations, and black horror to the exalted realm of literature. Poring through a trove of historic manuscripts, legal records, and the delicious yellow journalism of the era, Fowler has done graceful service to the dead by telling the tale-with consistent and unfailing writerly flair-more fully and fairly than it has ever been told, or could possibly have been told at the time. -Patrick Beach, author of A Good Forest for Dying

Author Information

Born in Kansas City in 1934, Giles Fowler joined the city's prominent newspaper, the Kansas City Star, following his graduation from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. During his 24 years at the Star, Fowler worked as a reporter, film and theater critic, and editor of the paper's Sunday magazine. He transferred this considerable background in journalism to teaching in 1980 and held positions at Kansas State University and Iowa State University's Greenlee School of Journalism, from which he retired in 2002. Fowler has contributed academic articles to Journalism Educator and Journalism Quarterly as well as short fiction to the Sewanee Review. He died in 2018 in Ames, Iowa.

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