The Staircase At The Heart's Delight: 1894

By Anna Katharine Green

'The Staircase At The Heart's Delight' is a short story in the thriller-genre, written by Anna Katharine Green. It follows the investigations of Ebenezer Gryce, a detective of the New York police department, as he tries to uncover the culprit behind the mysterious deaths of three wealthy men.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Mar 16, 2020
• ISBN: 4064066106171

Anna Katharine Green

Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935) was an American writer and prominent figure in the detective genre. Born in New York City, Green developed an affinity for literature at an early age. She studied at Ripley Female College in Vermont and was mentored by poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. One of Green’s best-known works is The Leavenworth Case, which was published in 1878. It was a critical and commercial success that made her one of the leading voices in literature. Over the course of her career, Green would go on to write nearly 40 books.

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Anna Katharine Green

The Staircase At The Heart's Delight

1894

Published by Good Press, 2020

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EAN 4064066106171

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Text

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By Anna Katharine Green (Mrs. Charles Rohlfs)

Table of Contents

Copyright, 1894, by Anna Katharine Green

Table of Contents

AS TOLD BY MR. GRYCE.

"In the spring of 1840, the attention of the New York police was attracted by the many cases of well-known men found drowned in the various waters surrounding the lower portion of our great city. Among these may be mentioned the name of Elwood Henderson, the noted tea merchant, whose remains were washed ashore at Redhook Point; and of Christopher Bigelow, who was picked up off Governor’s Island after having been in the water for five days, and of another well-known millionaire whose name I cannot now recall, but who, I remember, was seen to walk towards the East River one March evening, and was not met with again till the 5th of April, when his body floated into one of the docks near Peck Slip.

"As it seemed highly improbable that there should have been a concerted action among so many wealthy and distinguished men to end their lives within a few weeks of each other, and all by the same method of drowning, we soon became suspicious that a more serious verdict than that of suicide should have been rendered in the case of Henderson, Bigelow and the other gentleman I have mentioned. Yet one fact, common to all these cases, pointed so conclusively to deliberate intention on the part of the sufferers that we hesitated to take action.

"This was, that upon the body of each of the above-mentioned persons there were found, not only valuables in the shape of money and jewelry, but papers and memoranda of a nature calculated to fix