A Death at Crooked Creek : The Case of the Cowboy, the Cigarmaker, and the Love Letter / Marianne Wesson.
2013
PS3573.E81498 W47 2016
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Title
A Death at Crooked Creek : The Case of the Cowboy, the Cigarmaker, and the Love Letter / Marianne Wesson.
Author
Wesson, Marianne, author.
ISBN
9780814784570
Published
New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2013]
Copyright
©2013
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource
Item Number
10.18574/nyu/9780814784563.001.0001 doi
Call Number
PS3573.E81498 W47 2016
Dewey Decimal Classification
346.7308632
Summary
"This is anextraordinary and ground-breaking book, a wonderfully creative mix of fact andtheory, imagination and drama. Anyone with an interest in law, history, or, forthat matter, great storytelling will fall in love with A Death at Crooked Creek. The startling origin of the complex'intention exception' to the hearsay evidence rule becomes canvas on which agrand and marvelously detailed tale is told. This is modern narrative at itsbest: a marriage of spectacular writing and hard, documented truth presented bya brilliant author who doubles as a gifted and fastidious legal scholar andhistorian."-Andrew Popper,American UniversityOne winter night in1879, at a lonely Kansas campsite near Crooked Creek, a man was shot to death.The dead man's traveling companion identified him as John Hillmon, a cowboyfrom Lawrence who had been attempting to carve out a life on the blusteryprairie. The case might have been soon forgotten and the apparent widow, SallieHillmon, left to mourn-except for the $25,000 life insurance policies Hillmonhad taken out shortly before his departure. The insurance companies refused topay on the policies, claiming that the dead man was not John Hillmon, andSallie was forced to take them to court in a case that would reach the SupremeCourt twice. The companies' case rested on a crucial piece of evidence: a fadedlove letter written by a disappeared cigarmaker, declaring his intent to travelwestward with a "man named Hillmon."In A Death atCrooked Creek, Marianne Wesson re-examines the long-neglected evidence inthe case of the Kansas cowboy and his wife, recreating the court scenes thatled to a significant Supreme Court ruling on the admissibility of hearsayevidence. Wesson employs modern forensic methods to examine the body of thedead man, attempting to determine his true identity and finally put thisfascinating mystery to rest.This engaging andvividly imagined work combines the drama, intrigue, and emotion of excellentstorytelling with cutting-edge forensic investigation techniques and legaltheory. Wesson's superbly imagined A Death at Crooked Creek willhave general readers, history buffs, and legal scholars alike wondering whetherhistory, and the Justices, may have misunderstood altogether the events at thatbleak winter campsite.
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Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Available in Other Form
print 9780814784563
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Author's Notes
Contents
Important Characters in the Story of the Hillmon Case
Timeline of Events Important to the Hillmon Litigation
Prologue
1 A Winter Journey Leads to an Inquest
2 The Parties Ready Their Cases for Trial
3 The Hillmon Case Is Tried before a Jury
4 The Case Is Tried Twice More, and a Surprising Objection Is Made
5 The Supreme Court Hears a Case of "Graveyard Insurance"
6 John Hillmon Is Reported to Be Alive as the Arduous Fourth Trial Proceeds
7 The Fifth Trial Progresses Briskly but Ends Inconclusively, and New York Life Capitulates
8 The Hillmon Case Is Tried for the Last Time
9 The Century Turns, and the Hillmon Case Is Concluded
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
About The Author
Author's Notes
Contents
Important Characters in the Story of the Hillmon Case
Timeline of Events Important to the Hillmon Litigation
Prologue
1 A Winter Journey Leads to an Inquest
2 The Parties Ready Their Cases for Trial
3 The Hillmon Case Is Tried before a Jury
4 The Case Is Tried Twice More, and a Surprising Objection Is Made
5 The Supreme Court Hears a Case of "Graveyard Insurance"
6 John Hillmon Is Reported to Be Alive as the Arduous Fourth Trial Proceeds
7 The Fifth Trial Progresses Briskly but Ends Inconclusively, and New York Life Capitulates
8 The Hillmon Case Is Tried for the Last Time
9 The Century Turns, and the Hillmon Case Is Concluded
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
About The Author