The Scandalous Hamiltons: The True Crime That Shocked The Gilded Age
The height of the Gilded Age brought about the birth and rise of tabloid journalism. Newspapers competed with each other for the most sensational headlines and scandalous stories. In 1889, Robert Ray Hamilton, the great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton, found himself in a tangle of lies, deceit, forged identity, attempted murder, and fraud that made headlines all over the country. The story, which went on for nearly two years, has been forgotten today, but author Bill Shaffer brings it all back to light in his book “The Scandalous Hamiltons”. Bill joins the show for a look at this complex tangle of true crime that shocked Gilded Age readers and will certainly raise an eyebrow even today.
Related Episode:
“Gilded Age Newspapers: All That Was (Mostly) Fit To Print”
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