A double murder in 1843 ushered in a new era of tabloid journalism
The trial of Polly Bodine proved perfect material for a nascent, sensationalist press
It was Christmas Day in 1843, and men were gathered in a tavern on Staten Island for a festive drink. They set down their pints when they heard shouting. After extinguishing the flames engulfing George Houseman’s home, they inspected the wreckage. In a corner of the kitchen, they found the charred remains of his wife and young daughter. A post-mortem revealed evidence of blunt trauma.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “True crime’s first crime”
Culture March 16th 2024
- Why is it so hard to write a good book about the tech world?
- A double murder in 1843 ushered in a new era of tabloid journalism
- Climate change is unearthing and erasing history all at once
- What’s behind the wave of literary retellings?
- How Aesop’s fables fostered a secret language of protest in Russia
- Maastricht is where museums go on shopping sprees
From the March 16th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Pep Guardiola, football’s greatest coach, is in a bind
A serial winner is learning how to lose
The Economist’s word of the year for 2024
The Greeks knew how to talk about politics and power
What do feta, cucumbers and cottage cheese have in common?
Social media and the internet are changing how people cook and relate to food
Germany’s former chancellor sets out to restore her reputation
But her new memoir is unlikely to change her critics’ minds
The best books of 2024, as chosen by The Economist
Readers will never think the same way again about games, horses and spies
What to read to understand Elon Musk
The world’s richest man was shaped by science fiction