Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers:

¶ … Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York by Amy Gilman Srebnick and published by the Oxford University Press in 1995. Specifically it will discuss the author's argument, the relationship between women, cities, and culture, and sex and violent crime in nineteenth-century New York City. This cultural history book attempts to assess the role of women and sexual conduct in the early New York City culture, and looks at the growth of one of America's biggest metropolises. Organized by chapter and chronologically, the book uses evidence such as newspaper articles, personal letters and diaries of Mary Rogers' family and friends, and others of the period, works of fiction, and books and literature of the period (1840s New York City). These primary sources help the author paint a compelling picture of New York City culture at the time of Mary's murder, and show that violence, fear, and murder were commonplace in New York City even then. This book is a good look at this particular time in New York, but it strays far from the Rogers story and seems to wander into many aspects of New York culture in a very small space. Mary Rogers serves as a gateway into the author's study of the growth and development of New York City, especially as it related to women and their sexuality.

The author introduces Mary Rogers in an attempt to give the background the book is based on. Rogers was a young woman found murdered and floating in the Hudson River. Her murder touched off a fierce reaction, because the police never found her murderer, and the public thought her attackers raped and murdered her. (in reality, modern researchers believe she died because of a botched abortion.) Mary represented the chaste, virginal woman revered by society at that time, but she also represented the violence that occurred every day throughout the city. The author writes, "Cast as the virtuous maiden, Mary became an extended metaphor for an older and presumably lost ideal of civic virtue and organic unity in the urban landscape."

However, the paradox is that Mary was not chaste at all, in fact, she may have been just the opposite, and her virginal image is more about the culture and expectations of the moral times, rather than the realities of life in the city. In fact, to the women of the city, she represented the dangers that could face them, too. The author continues, "Rogers raised middle-class fears about the dangers of city life to such an extent that she becomes therefore not the victim but the danger of the modern metropolis."

Mary's story seemed to reach every corner of the city, and it continually made headlines in the newspapers.

The author maintains that the newspapers covering the story altered the way they reported and fed people the news after Mary's death. She notes, "A new press, in the midst of finding a popular language to address its new and diverse audience, adopted a discourse of sensation that depended on images of death, of sexual violation, and the decomposition of the female form."

This leads the author to discuss the growth of crime news, a phenomenon that still permeates our culture today, and at that time, an area of news reporting that reporters largely fictionalized. The author notes, "Crime news itself emerged as a distinct aspect of urban reporting; it grew with the penny press and rapidly became a mainstay of these urban dailies."

These journalistic accounts of the murder kept it alive throughout the city, but also led to many fictional accounts of the murder, including a story by Edgar Allen Poe, who supposedly "solved" the mystery of who killed Mary in his story.

Srebnick also uses Mary's murder to paint a disturbing picture of New York culture at the time. People may think that the mid nineteenth-century was a much more serene time in history, but in reality, the culture was extremely violent. The author states, "Neighbors struck, bit, and hit each other; they tore at noses and ears and hair. Generally, however, the fights did not result in death."

She shows how attitudes about crime altered the criminal justice system and helped keep an attitude of fear prevalent among the people. She notes, "The Rogers murder was a particularly useful device in fostering hysteria over crime and social disorder."

This is a very different view of society that most people think of today, and it shows violence has always been prevalent in many parts of the country.