My latest PlanetSlade book – number seven in a planned series of ten – tells the extraordinary story of two interlinked killings in 19th century Pennsylvania and the legal gymnastics used to ensure one of these murders was never punished. I’ve kept this 50-page essay available as a free online article for nearly ten years, but now I’m asking people to buy the book instead.
Uniontown’s Dukes/Nutt affair – as this case is sometimes known - has all the elements of a lurid daytime soap. There’s the sexually explicit letter calling a beloved daughter’s honour into question; the outraged father gunned down while challenging his daughter’s despoiler; his killer walking free from court; lynch mobs baying in the streets; riots and a fleeing jury; the dead man’s son taking deadly revenge; high rhetoric at the boy’s trial; an innocent woman shot in the violent aftermath; and a prison sentence cut short by friends in the governor’s mansion.
Elsewhere in the book, you’ll find the sad tale of Pearl Bryan’s decapitation in a Kentucky orchard, the full story behind the classic murder ballad Duncan & Brady and a look at the Indiana family massacre case which inspired horror writer Shirley Jackson.
All these delights can be yours in either paperback or e-book form for the price of a couple of drinks. Head over to the book’s Amazon page to buy your copy now!
"A wonderful read." – Americana-uk.com.
