Colin Evans > Quotes

“Other members of the Guglielmi family lit candles of celebration. Putting an ocean between them and this embarrassing spendthrift was the answer to all their prayers.”
― Colin Evans, The Valentino Affair: The Jazz Age Murder Scandal That Shocked New York Society and Gripped the World

“Mostly this was due to the so-called “unwritten law,” a murky legal concept that every attorney knew existed yet few would admit to having adopted. In essence, it granted women, especially wives, the emotional license to kill any errant male with little fear of retribution.”
― Colin Evans, The Valentino Affair: The Jazz Age Murder Scandal That Shocked New York Society and Gripped the World

“Celia Coleman and two other black witnesses should be “tied in a bag . . . and thrown into the river.”5 Such vicious bigotry was part and parcel of acceptable courtroom strategy at this time, and it was commonly agreed that Mrs. Carman’s team of high-priced lawyers had pulled off a legal miracle.”
― Colin Evans, The Valentino Affair: The Jazz Age Murder Scandal That Shocked New York Society and Gripped the World

“The reference to the corset was a clumsy slur on Rodolfo’s sexuality; so too was the comment about the wristwatch. In 1916 the chunky pocket hunter was the preferred choice for “real” men while the more slender wristwatch was still viewed with suspicion in some quarters.”
― Colin Evans, The Valentino Affair: The Jazz Age Murder Scandal That Shocked New York Society and Gripped the World