Hyde THE Last Free MAN

[Hamilton, Thomas]. MEN AND MANNERS IN AMERICA. By the Author of Cyril Thornton, Etc. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1833.

- Octavo, three-quarter brown calf & marbled boards. The covers are quite scuffed & rubbed, with some wear to corners. 410 pages. The hinges are cracked and the front endpaper has partially adhered to the pastedown. A previous owner's name is boldly penned on the front blank and 3 lines of notes in ink are penned at the top of the title page. Scattered foxing throughout and some staining to the inner edge of the last few leaves. Some marginal pencil lines. A complete copy. <p>First American edition. [Howes H-138].<p>The author, who embarked from Liverpool, England and arrived in New York on board the ship of the same name, recounts his impressions of his travels in America. Commenting on all aspects of American culture, industry and government, he frequently expresses fascinating insight into the mores of this country. Nowhere is this most apparent than in his observations of the supposedly free blacks in the Northern States of the Union: "Of the whole, I cannot help considering it a mistake to suppose, that slavery has been abolished in the Northern States of the Union. It is true, indeed, that in these States the power of compulsory labour no longer exists; and that one human being within their limits, can no longer claim property in the thews and sinews of another. But is this all that is implied in the boon of freedom? If the word mean any thing, it must mean the enjoyment of equal rights, and the unfettered exercise in each individual of such powers and faculties as God has given him. In this true meaning of the word, it may be safely asserted, that this poor degraded caste are still slaves. They are subjected to the most grinding and humiliating of all slaveries, that of universal and unconquerable prejudice....Citizens! there is, indeed, something ludicrous in the application of the word to these miserable Pariahs. What privileges do they enjoy as such? Are they admissible upon a jury? Can they enrol themselves in the militia? Will a white man eat with them, or extend to them the hand of fellowship? Alas! if these men, so irresistibly manacled to degradation, are to be called free, tell us, at least, what stuff are slaves made of!"

[SW: AMERICANA; AMERICAN HISTORY; FIRST AMERICAN EDITION; THOMAS HAMILTON; MEN AND MANNERS IN AMERICA; VOYAGE TO NEW YORK; SCENERY; THEATRES AND ACTORS; ANTI-SLAVERY; CIVIL RIGHTS; OPINIONS; ESSAYS; SERVANTS; CHARLESTON PRISON; CONSTITUTION OF NEW ENGLAND STATES; THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION; PHILADELPHIA; CLERGY; LITERATURE; KENTUCKY; NEW ORLEANS; GOVERNMENT; VAN BUREN; FIRE FLIES; AMERICAN POLYGAMIST; INDIANS; GEORGIA; WEST POINT; HYDE PARK; JEMIMA WILSON; NIAGARA FALLS; METHODISTS; ALBANY; PLATTSBURGH; QUEBEC; FIRST AMERICAN EDITION; 1ST US EDITION.]

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Hodel, Steve: Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, New York Arcade Publishing 2003
ISBN: 1559706643 Fine

Cloth, 481 pp., illus., biblio.; 25 cm. AS NEW. Stated "First Edition." Dust jacket protected in a mylar book cover. "On January 15, 1947, at about 10:30 A.M., in Los Angeles, California, a woman's body was discovered in a vacant lot at 39th and Norton. Not only had the murderer bisected her but he had horribly mutilated her body, then carefully posed her as if to leave a provocative message. When LAPD detectives arrived on the scene a few minutes later, even the most hardened among them were shocked and sickened. That crime, which until now has never been solved, became known to history as the Black Dahlia murder. It made front-page headlines coast-to-coast for weeks, as the LAPD sought vainly to track down the killer. The murdered girl, it turned out, was lovely twenty-two-year-old Elizabeth Short. From Massachusetts, she had come west, like so many women before her, in search of fame and fortune in the film capital of the world. Shortly after her murder, the L.A. papers began receiving notes from a person who called himself the Black Dahlia Avenger. For weeks the killer tormented police, clearly reveling in his notoriety and ability to avoid detection, much as his English counterpart Jack the Ripper had done in London sixty years before. At one point he offered to turn himself in, then reneged and said he was leaving town. 'Catch me if you can,' he challenged. When LAPD failed to solve the crime, the case was passed down from year to year to crack homicide detectives, but none could ever bring the killer to justice. In 1949, the Los Angeles grand jury - convened by the district attorney in the wake of public outcry against the failure of the LAPD to solve not only this crime but a dozen other murders of lone women in Los Angeles over the succeeding two years - conducted their own investigation and subpoenaed LAPD detectives and the chief of police to testify. As a result, a 'prime suspect' was identified and named in secret, but for some unexplained reason he was never indicted or brought to justice. Hints of LAPD corruption were rife during that era, and some very high-ranking police department heads rolled, as politicians vied to capitalize on the situation to their advantage. Also finally solved in this shocking expose is the brutal killing of Jeanne French, known as the 'Red Lipstick' murder, which occurred just three weeks after the Black Dahlia murder. Why had these high-profile murders never been solved? Because, the author demonstrates unequivocally, there was a massive cover-up by the LAPD, including the top brass, who as early as 1947 had identified the actual suspect - a man too hot to handle - and allowed him, a psychopathic serial killer, to remain free to prey for years on other beautiful lone women. Even more startling is the identity of the murderer, a true-life Jekyll and Hyde, a man who by day was a highly respected member of society and by night a mad, sadistic killer. This book, the result of more than two years of meticulous investigation by a professional homicide detective, at long last closes the case on what has often been called 'the most notorious unsolved murder of the twentieth century.' / STEVE HODEL was born and brought up in Los Angeles. Now a private investigator, he spent almost twenty-four years with the LAPD, most of them as a homicide detective supervisor. During his tenure, he worked on more than three hundred murder cases." - Publisher. First Edition, First Printing Fine Hard Cover 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall Collectible

Details

Hyde, Dayton O. The Last Free Man; The True Story behind the Massacre of Shohone Mike and His Band of Indians in 1911, New York The Dial Press 1973
Reasonable

264pp. Orange coloured endpapers. The text is illustrated with numerous sepia toned contemporary photographs and three maps. Dark brown boards with gilt and metallic copper writing on the front panel and spine. Bumping to the head and to the heel of the spine and to the lower book corners. Other book corners are slightly rubbbed. A few marks to the boards of the book. Browning and dust marks to the top paper edge. Photographic dustwrapper ( wraparound ) showing contemporary photographs of massacre, with Orange and white writing on the front panel and dark brown and white on the spine. The dustwrapper is rubbbed and faded, particularly the spine. Rubbing to the dustwrapper corners and a hint of chipping as well. The major damage to the dustwrapper is a tear to the rear top spine -- the edge which runs for 5.5 "down the length of the dustwrapper. There is also another tear, with associated creasing, on the lower rear spine gutter edge, which arcs into the body of the rear dustwrapper panel. In 1911 at a place called Rabbit Creek in northern Nevada, Shohone Mike and his extended family were massacred by white men. Only four children survived. In this book the author retraces the steps of Shohone Mike and interviews for people remember him. First American Edition Poor Brown Boards Octavo - up to 9 ¾" Tall Western

[SW: Shohone Mike -- American Indian -- Massacre, Genocide -- American Indians -- 20th CenturyAmerican Western History]

Details

Hodel, Steve: Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, New York Arcade Publishing 2003
ISBN: 1559706643 Very Good

Cloth, 481 pp., illus., biblio.; 25 cm. Near fine. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Spine slightly rolled at crown. Stated "First Edition." Dust jacket protected in a mylar book cover. Another copy available. "On January 15, 1947, at about 10:30 A.M., in Los Angeles, California, a woman's body was discovered in a vacant lot at 39th and Norton. Not only had the murderer bisected her but he had horribly mutilated her body, then carefully posed her as if to leave a provocative message. When LAPD detectives arrived on the scene a few minutes later, even the most hardened among them were shocked and sickened. That crime, which until now has never been solved, became known to history as the Black Dahlia murder. It made front-page headlines coast-to-coast for weeks, as the LAPD sought vainly to track down the killer. The murdered girl, it turned out, was lovely twenty-two-year-old Elizabeth Short. From Massachusetts, she had come west, like so many women before her, in search of fame and fortune in the film capital of the world. Shortly after her murder, the L.A. papers began receiving notes from a person who called himself the Black Dahlia Avenger. For weeks the killer tormented police, clearly reveling in his notoriety and ability to avoid detection, much as his English counterpart Jack the Ripper had done in London sixty years before. At one point he offered to turn himself in, then reneged and said he was leaving town. 'Catch me if you can,' he challenged. When LAPD failed to solve the crime, the case was passed down from year to year to crack homicide detectives, but none could ever bring the killer to justice. In 1949, the Los Angeles grand jury - convened by the district attorney in the wake of public outcry against the failure of the LAPD to solve not only this crime but a dozen other murders of lone women in Los Angeles over the succeeding two years - conducted their own investigation and subpoenaed LAPD detectives and the chief of police to testify. As a result, a 'prime suspect' was identified and named in secret, but for some unexplained reason he was never indicted or brought to justice. Hints of LAPD corruption were rife during that era, and some very high-ranking police department heads rolled, as politicians vied to capitalize on the situation to their advantage. Also finally solved in this shocking expose is the brutal killing of Jeanne French, known as the 'Red Lipstick' murder, which occurred just three weeks after the Black Dahlia murder. Why had these high-profile murders never been solved? Because, the author demonstrates unequivocally, there was a massive cover-up by the LAPD, including the top brass, who as early as 1947 had identified the actual suspect - a man too hot to handle - and allowed him, a psychopathic serial killer, to remain free to prey for years on other beautiful lone women. Even more startling is the identity of the murderer, a true-life Jekyll and Hyde, a man who by day was a highly respected member of society and by night a mad, sadistic killer. This book, the result of more than two years of meticulous investigation by a professional homicide detective, at long last closes the case on what has often been called 'the most notorious unsolved murder of the twentieth century.' / STEVE HODEL was born and brought up in Los Angeles. Now a private investigator, he spent almost twenty-four years with the LAPD, most of them as a homicide detective supervisor. During his tenure, he worked on more than three hundred murder cases." - Publisher. First Edition, First Printing Fine Hard Cover 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall Collectible

Details