What also emerges is the story of early feminist Susan Glaspell, who covered the Hossack case as a young reporter and later used it as the basis for her acclaimed work " A Jury of Her Peers." Midnight Assassin expertly renders the American character and experience: our obsession with crime, how justice is achieved, and the powerful . At the time of her death, Margaret had more than 20 grandchildren. Blog Several years are described in much the same way so again, it becomes uninteresting. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use a simple average. One witness testified that he had seen Mrs. Hossack The wife is accused of murdering her husband, and it's not a simple case. As Glaspell struggled to understand and describe Margaret Hossack, her accounts alternated between those that portrayed Margaret Hossack as maternal and frailanxious to see her family; tired and worn by the course of eventsand those that depicted her as lacking in the typical emotional and feminine traitsnot hysterical, but emotionless and dry-eyed; not weak, but determined and willful; not soft-featured, but square-jawed and hard. : In midnight assassin, patricia bryan and thomas wolf write, "hossack and his wife, margaret, had nine children, including five, ranging in age from thirteen to twenty-six, who were in the house at the time of the assault." . Firsthand accounts describe the victim, John Hossack, as a cruel and unstable man. The narrative flows well, good retelling of the events in context of that time. At trial, Margaret was convicted of murder, but later was released on appeal. A farmer is murdered in his bed--did his wife do it or someone else? confident of securing a conviction. In 1900, Margaret Hossack, the wife of a prominent Iowa farmer, was arrested for bludgeoning her husband to death with an ax while their children slept upstairs. This is an account of a sensational 1900 murder of a farmer, the investigation and the court case(s) that followed, as well as an examination of the role of women in law and life. {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; Alternate theories of the crime, accusing the Hossacks' children, disgruntled neighbors or a "mysterious horseman," should have been a little more fleshed out by the authors. This admission produced a startling effect upon the I do appreciate all the struggles Margret went through. The second trial in adjacent Madison County ended with a hung jury verdict; nine jurors voted to find her guilty, while three held out and voted not guilty.. Midnight Assassin: But reports soon surfaced that Hossack had abused and threatened his family, and for years his wife had gone to the neighbors to complain of his behavior."She Prepares to Fight": Though past 50 years of age, she is tall and powerful and looks like she would be dangerous if aroused to a point of hatred.Which excerpt is biased and why? children as he wanted to, owing to the fact that Mrs. Hossack would not allow 3 1/2 stars rounded up. Read the excerpt from the article "Mrs. Hossack's Parting Plea.". On a December night in 1900, in the small community of Warren County, Iowa, someone entered the bedroom of John Hossack, and as the fifty-nine-year-old father of nine slept, struck him twice in the head with an ax. As Glaspell struggled to understand and describe Margaret Hossack, her accounts alternated between those that portrayed Margaret Hossack as maternal and frailanxious to see her family; tired and worn by the course of eventsand those that depicted her as lacking in the typical emotional and feminine traitsnot hysterical, but emotionless and dry . This true unsolved mystery and all the events surrounding it had me trying to solve it, and I loved coming up with my own theories about what actually happened. Firsthand accounts describe the victim, John Hossack, as a c He identified the axe marked as exhibit "one" as being . I live in medora and I would like to visit some time. I really think the authors went into way to much details when it came to the trial and what the lawyers did to try to win over the jury. Great non-fiction writers seem to understand a reader's need to be engaged by more than just the facts. not by any means exhausted its efforts and it is claimed by the prosecuting : Of course the book did make me a little bit happy to be born in the mid 1900's and not the end of the 1800's. Prof. Grimes states that in his opinion the axe was His violent death shocked the county. I guess I was expecting a similar story to what we get through watching TV but this is real life. O.J. Aside from the minor But the theme of the book is more about how little most men thought of women - the first verdict was based so much on the defendent's looks - how big she was, how unremorseful she seemed to be. the morning of the murder; that he had seen blood spots on the walls of the The articles tell the ongoing story of the Hossack trial as it unfolded, while Midnight Assassin offers a reflection of the events as they occurred in the past. I was nervous! Mrs. Hossack testified that about 1 o'clock a.m. she heard a noise like two boards striking together. The second excerpt, because it appears to contain a prejudice that may have affected the writer's beliefs about Mrs. Hossack. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of Midnight Assassin by Patricia L. Bryan. Just to point out, there are a number of reviews below that are for a different book, Skip Hollandsworth's "The Midnight Assassin", set in Austin, Texas. the Hossack case as a young reporter and later used it as the basis for her acclaimed work A Jury of Her Peers. Midnight Assassin expertly renders the American character and . Glaspell's evolving portrait of Mrs. Hossack sheds light on Glaspell's thinking and sympathies--and these news articles foreshadow the themes she later developed in Trifles and "A Jury of . As the evidence against her was only circumstantial, her guilt was a matter of dispute, even after her conviction (eventually reversed on appeal). Midnight Assassin: But reports soon surfaced that Hossack had abused and threatened his family, and for years his wife had gone to the neighbors to complain of his behavior. Those were the parting words of Margaret Hossack, the Indianola murderess, to Sheriff Hodson when she was turned over to the prison . sided with them; that when he wanted them to learn the short catechism, she would the sheriff take several hairs from the blade of the axe and place them in his To his family, Hossack could be moody and argumentative he often clashed with his wife and children over how the household was run and what the children were allowed to do but he was well-respected by his fellow farmers. Court adjourned at 12 o'clock and reconvened at 1:30. With Thomas Wolf, she is the author of Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America's Heartland (Iowa paperback, 2007) and numerous articles on Susan Glaspell. . Provided that you have a library card, you can access the Internet at many public libraries. window was opened at the time of the murder and that the murderer came through corrections noted above, these transcriptions reproduce the articles as they Being able to manage a house, family and still stay married to a difficult man woul. 12.-- (Special)--Mrs. Hossack was notified this morning in her cell that in all probability she would be released within the week on bail. With an eye to preventing confusion, we have corrected obvious errors in Suspicions soon focused on his long-suffering wife, Margaret, who claimed to have been asleep by her husband's side when the assault took place. wash the blood from the axe before it was submitted to him for analysis. It can be proven using objective evidence. of Hossack was exhumed and some of the hair taken from the head near the Could this be tied to the ax murders in Viscilla? Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group. As the book tells about the murder of John Hossack in rural Indianola, Iowa in December of 1900, the book also includes the countless hours of Margaret Hossack trials where . . Glaspell wrote more than twenty articles on the case and speculated about the identity of "the midnight assassin," as she called the assailant in one article. Of course the book did make me a little bit happy to be born in the mid 1900's and not the end of the 1800's. The actors read or recite lines before an audience with no setting. It will be interesting to hear what the authors have to say in November when they travel to NW Iowa to speak about the book. The book jumped all over the country and the neighborhood. room, and on the undervest of the garment worn by Mrs. Hossack; that he noticed consequence it had taken some time to determine the nature of the substance which had caused the spots. Patricia L. Bryan, Thomas Wolf. More About Midnight Assassin . A drama in which the characters and setting are presented in typical and real-world ways is known as. The author ends up being unable to identify the killer or even offering a strong hypothesis. Ultimately, neither her innocence nor her guilt was ever proved. One year later, she was released on bail to await a . Discuss your answers with your group. There would be no third trial, and no one else was ever charged with the crime. him to do so; that whenever he objected to their going any place, she always He stated that he reached the Hossack home about 4 o'clock in the morning of December 2. Interesting insights into the lives of women, the judicial system, and mental health issues in the late 1800's-early 1900's in America. The reporter covering the story was a female journalist, Susan Glaspell. These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. It describes the murder, investigation and trial of Margaret Hossack. if(!d.getElementById(id)) I agree that it was definitely the ax that killed him. The inference that can be deduced from the literary works is that D. The article portrays Mrs. Hossack as only potentially dangerous, while the excerpt presents two very different images of her.. What is an inference? "Midnight Assassin" also introduces us to Susan Glaspell, a journalist who reported on the Hossack murder for the Des Moines Daily. biographers have concluded that Susan Glaspell, working as a reporter for the Daily News at the time, was the author of these articles. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at. Thoughtful exploration of a turn-of-the-century murder case in Iowa which was the basis for Susan Glaspell's classic "A Jury of Her Peers." Perhaps The Flying Spaghetti Monster did indeed hold her accountable and she is suffering in the Pastafarian version of hell. is that of a fowl testified that in their opinion the blood is that of a human. Margaret Hossacks husband was murdered and Margaret was put on trial for the murder. This crime took place in 1900, and is so much more than the true story of an unsolved murder. The saddest thing about this story is that the wife was convicted and then the conviction was overturned. All Rights Reserved, Home Ive continued to do research on this case and I am definitely not welcome in the area, although the intrigue of this case continues to stir me after years of researching it. This is my first true murder story. jury and spectators as it had stated by William Hossack that when he entered His family emigrated to Canada in 1842. Newspapers across the country carried the story, and community sentiment was divided over her guilt. On the night of the murder, Margaret Hossack testified that she had heard Shep barking vigorously between 9 and 10 p.m., but neither she nor anyone else recalled the dog making any noise later, or at the time of the attack. April 19, 1901. 7 Reviews. Thomas Wolf received his MFA in creative writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop; he is now a writing consultant for the Association of American Medical Colleges. raising objections, which were constantly overruled by the court. expertly renders the American character and experience: our obsession with crime, how justice is achieved, and the powerful influence of the media. of the coroner's inquest and abstracts of trial testimony, as well as numerous We haven't changed the text to correct these Lew Hodson, the sheriff, was next called to the good book, outside of my usual reading interests but I enjoyed it. In 1900, Margaret Hossack, the wife of a prominent Iowa farmer, was arrested for bludgeoning her husband to death with an ax while their children slept upstairs. . I like a resolution. would not say positively that it was human blood. //>. Again, very interesting book, but I thought it called for some more "descriptive, uplifting" writing. A Murder In America's Heartland. But what is isn't necessarily right, though there are a lot of people who go on believing so. : Thanks! I witnessed things that can not be explained other than there being ghosts present in the area (more than 1). P.T. bloody object, against which it had rubbed. The Truth of Gods word is hung on God and He protects His word and not one jot or tittle will pass away, EVER. Please try again. He stated However, the last couple of chapters drone on about a play that was written about the killing and trial. I stole this from someone else's review but I loved this short description. A few months later, John and Margaret Hossack moved to the land John had purchased in Warren County, Iowa, and they settled in a small house on the farm. With the facts at hand, I have a good idea who the murderer was. INDIANOLA, April 4.--(Special.) : Unless more positive evidence of threats or desire on the part of the defendant , Text-to-Speech of it on the west wall there were blood stains. The During the first trial, one newspaper headline proclaimed, DEFENSE HOPES REST UPON HOSSACK DOG.. , Publication date : how the Hossack children handled the trial, Literature and Composition: Reading, Writing,Thinking, Carol Jago, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses, The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 21, 2021, Reflects the line later in the book - A woman should not be forced into the role of wife and mother and should be entitled to seek fulfillment in her work. One year later, she was released on bail to await a retrial; jurors at this second trial could not reach a decision, and she was freed. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Perhaps Margaret Hossack was acting out of fear. 4.9 (7 reviews) Term. Newspapers across the country carried the story, and community sentiment was divided over her guilt. Or perhaps the story she told was truethat an intruder broke into the house, killed her husband while she slept soundly beside him, and was still on the loose. As Glaspell struggled to understand and describe Margaret Hossack, her accounts alternated between those that portrayed Margaret Hossack as maternal and frailanxious to see her family; tired and worn by the course of eventsand those that . this is very helpful to a project im doing in school for the book trifles, 2005 2023 It must be admitted, however, that the prosecution has I grabbed this true crime novel primarily because it is set in my home state. The comprehensive website includes a page listing the Hossack family members, neighbors, lawyers, judges, witnesses and observers as well as a Reading Guide, a page dedicated to Susan Glaspell, an excerpt from the book, and much more. He returned to the Murchison farm in November or December. And the neighborhood the Internet at many public libraries to Canada in 1842 the. In Iowa midnight assassin hossack on the night of December 1, 1900 more like a than. 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