Murder In The City by Wilfried Kaute

Murder In The City by Wilfried Kaute

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Blurb

When night falls on New York, the shadows are everywhere and death wears many faces. How the victims leave their bodies is deeply personal, but the witnesses to their death and the factors that brought it about belong to the public world–a somber world which is encapsulated in this gruesome survey of crime and violence in the 1910s.

Parts of the city that are today among its trendiest neighborhoods were once the battlegrounds of evil forces, which left their mark in unforgettable ways. Here, newspaper clippings, police reports and testimonies are placed alongside the scenes that they describe, fleshing them out and giving life to the departed.

Complete with an introduction from German actor and writer Joe Bausch, this book is a must for anyone who has ever anxiously imagined how dark an activity like dying can be–and isn’t that everyone?

Review

This is not a romance novel. This is a book of crime scene photographs dating roughly between 1914 – 1920, printed from a selection of negatives found during renovations at New York City police offices. The negatives, like the originals themselves, were supposed to have been destroyed once the court cases had wound their way to completion. These negatives were lost instead, they were found, and now we can see them for ourselves.

Crime scene photographs are raw, they are gruesome, and they are horrifyingly real. Please don’t go and pick up this book thinking you’re looking at art. The people in these photos were real. They left behind families who cared for them. They died painfully and horrifically, and if you look at this book you will remember there is no actual “dignity” in death. There is less dignity in death when another human has chosen the time and place of your demise.

Now, I am not criticizing the decision to publish these photos. Far from it. I’m simply stating some people will be disturbed by these images, and they are disturbing. Also, diving into this book isn’t something to be done lightly. The images are old enough that the victims and their immediate families are long gone. The value in sharing these images today lies in understanding the role and evolution of crime scene investigation and crime scene photography, and in understanding violent crime in modern society.

Some of the images have accompanying newspaper articles. Some do not. Some of the victims are identified. Some are not. While this is frustrating, we have to remember that these images were intended to be destroyed. I personally do not label my trash. A lifetime ago, when I was an archaeologist, most of what I dealt with was other people’s trash and none of that came neatly labeled either.

The people who will get the most use out of this book are authors – people like me, who write about murder but would prefer not to incorporate first-hand knowledge. Or not to get caught incorporating first-hand knowledge, whichever, no judging. My advice would be to get the eBook version, lest your small child pick up your copy and get ideas. (Go ahead, ask me about that forensics textbook…)

People who write about historical murder will find this book exceptionally useful. I got a whole host of new ideas from this book, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

There is no shame in deciding this book is not for you. Only one of these photos is censored in any way. I had a hard time looking at some of these pictures myself.

If you do choose to pick up this book, I ask that you please be respectful.