Deaths on Pleasant Street: The Ghastly Enigma of Colonel Swope and Doctor Hyde

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.

Author: Giles Fowler
Publisher: Donella Press
Published: 04/09/2021
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781734260182

About the Author
Fowler, Giles: - 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.