27 min listen
#222 Who Killed Helen Jewett? A Mystery By Gaslight
#222 Who Killed Helen Jewett? A Mystery By Gaslight
ratings:
Length:
48 minutes
Released:
Feb 16, 2017
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In the spring of 1836, a young woman named Helen Jewett was brutally murdered with a hatchet in a townhouse on Thomas Street, just a few blocks northwest from City Hall. This was not a normal crime. Helen was a prostitute of great beauty and considerable intelligence, making her living in a rapidly transforming city. Among her client list were presentable gentlemen and rowdy young men alike -- their kind fueling the rise of illicit pleasures throughout New York City in the 1830s. This was the era of the sporting man. Young single men with a little change in their pocket hit the streets of New York after dark, looking for a good time. For some single young women struggling to survive, the sex industry -- from the 'high end' brothels to the grimy upper tiers of the theater -- allowed them to live comfortable, if secretive, lives. But it placed many in great danger. The prime suspect for Helen's murder was a young Connecticut man who worked at a respectable New York firm. His trial would captivate New Yorkers and even interest newspaper readers around the country. But would justice be served? ALSO: Find out how this incident helped shape the nature of American journalism itself. PLUS: Meet more than one person named Ogden! www.boweryboyshistory.com If you like this show, check out the new Bowery Boys spin-off podcast series -- The First: Stories of Inventions and their Consequences. You can find it the same place you found this show.
Released:
Feb 16, 2017
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
#50 Canal Street and Collect Pond by The Bowery Boys: New York City History