THE ROSE MAN OF SING SING. A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism

Hardback. Despotic, tragic, and yet mesmerising, newspaper editor Charles E. Chapin ruled the evening press in that bygone era when it was the CNN of the pre-electronic world of journalism. For two decades a century ago, Chapin held dominion over New York's wild assortment of tabloids and broadsheets until he murdered his wife in her sleep and his fiefdom was reduced to that of tending roses in one of the nation's most notorious prisons. The author scrupulously traces the rise and fall of this iconic newspaperman, a life so extraordinary that today journalists still recount the myths it generated. As city editor of Joseph Pulitzer's 'New York Evening World', Chapin was the model of the take-no-prisoners newsroom tyrant: he drove reporters relentlessly, and kept his paper on top of the centre ring of the circus of big-city journalism. From the city's most celebrated murder trials to the sinking of the 'Titanic', Chapin set the pace for New York's Park Row. Then in 1918 at the pinnacle of fame, Chapin's world collapsed. The obsessive temperament that made him such a masterful editor now tormented him as he faced financial ruin after years of profligate spending. Sunk in depression, he decided to kill himself and his wife. On a quiet September morning he took not his own life, but that of his beloved wife, Nellie. After his trial - and one hell of a story for the 'Worlds' competitors - he was sentenced to life in the infamous Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. In prison, Chapin edited an uncompromising inmate newspaper, wrote a best-selling autobiography, and sustained two long-distance love affairs. More significantly, he tapped his prodigious energy and compulsive traits to transform barren prison plots into massive rose gardens that became world famous, before he died peacefully in his cell in 1930. Illus., Epilogue, Appendix, Guide to Notes and Abbreviations, Notes, Bibliog. and Index. 438pp. lge. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true-crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in f. dw. A fairly heavy book which may require additional postage.