The Chicago Trunk Murder - by Elizabeth Dale (Hardcover)

About the Book

On November 14, 1885, a cold autumn day in the
City of Broad Shoulders, an enthusiastic crowd of
several hundred watched as three Sicilians Giovanni
Azari, Agostino Gelardi, and Ignazio Silvestri were
hanged in the courtyard of the Cook County Jail. The
three had only recently come to the city, but not long after
they were arrested, tried, and convicted for murdering
Filippo Caruso, stuffing his body into a trunk, and
shipping it to Pittsburgh.

Historian and legal expert Elizabeth Dale brings the
Trunk Murder case vividly back to life, painting an indelible
portrait of nineteenth-century Chicago, ethnic life there,
and a murder trial gone seriously awry. Along the way she
reveals a Windy City teeming with street peddlers, crooked
cops, earnest reformers, and legal activists--all of whom
play a part in this gripping tale. Chicago's Trunk Murder
shows how the defendants in the case were arrested on du
bious evidence and held, some for weeks, without access to
lawyers or friends. The accused finally confessed after being
interrogated repeatedly by men who did not speak their lan
guage. They were then tried before a judge who had his own
view and ruled accordingly. Chicago's Trunk Murder revisits
these abject breaches of justice and uses them to consider
much larger problems in late nineteenth century criminal
law. Written with a storyteller's flair for narrative and brim
ming with historical detail, this book will be must reading
for true crime buffs and aficionados of Chicago lore alike.

Book Synopsis

On November 14, 1885, a cold autumn day in the City of Broad Shoulders, an enthusiastic crowd of several hundred watched as three Sicilians--Giovanni Azari, Agostino Gelardi, and Ignazio Silvestri--were hanged in the courtyard of the Cook County Jail. The three had only recently come to the city, but not long after they were arrested, tried, and convicted for murdering Filippo Caruso, stuffing his body into a trunk, and shipping it to Pittsburgh. Historian and legal expert Elizabeth Dale brings the Trunk Murder case vividly back to life, painting an indelible portrait of nineteenth-century Chicago, ethnic life there, and a murder trial gone seriously awry. Along the way she reveals a Windy City teeming with street peddlers, crooked cops, earnest reformers, and legal activists--all of whom play a part in this gripping tale. The Chicago Trunk Murder shows how the defendants in the case were arrested on dubious evidence and held, some for weeks, without access to lawyers or friends. The accused finally confessed after being interrogated repeatedly by men who did not speak their language. They were then tried before a judge who had his own view and ruled accordingly. The Chicago Trunk Murder revisits these abject breaches of justice and uses them to consider much larger problems in late-nineteenth century criminal law. Written with a storyteller's flair for narrative and brimming with historical detail, this book will be must reading for true crime buffs and aficionados of Chicago lore alike.

Review Quotes

"Chicago's Trunk Murder is a valuable reconstruction

of an 1880s Chicago murder trial. The author's

exhaustive primary research in court records,

newspapers, and geneaological records and

thorough mining of the relevant secondary

literature create a fascinating portrait of the

dynamics of anti-immigrant prejudice and

u2018common sense justice' (as opposed to a concern

for due process) underlying a criminal trial in an

emerging gilded Age American metropolis."

-Michael J. pfeifer, John Jay College of

Criminal Justice, City University of New York

Chicago's Trunk Murder is a valuable reconstruction of an 1880s Chicago murder trial. The author's exhaustive primary research in court records, newspapers, and genealogical records and thorough mining of the relevant secondary literature create a fascinating portrait of the dynamics of anti-immigrant prejudice and "common sense justice" (as opposed to a concern for due process) underlying a criminal trial in an emerging gilded Age American metropolis.

About the Author

Elizabeth Dale is Associate Professor of History and Affiliate Professor of Law at the University of Florida. She is the author of The Rule of Justice.