The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age

by H.W. Brands

The two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War traces the extraordinary downfall of financier Jubilee Jim, bringing to life New York’s Gilded Age and some of its legendary players, including Boss William Tweed, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the railroad tycoon Jay Gould.Even before he was shot dead on the stairway of the tony Grand Central Hotel in 1872, financier James “Jubilee Jim” Fisk, Jr., was a notorious New York City figure. From his audacious attempt to corner the gold market in 1869 to his battle for control of the geographically crucial Erie Railroad, Fisk was a flamboyant exemplar of a new financial era marked by volatile fortunes and unprecedented greed and corruption. But it was his scandalously open affair with a showgirl named Josie Mansfield that ultimately led to his demise.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, American History, Biography, 19th Century

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 31, 2011

About the author

H.W. Brands is an acclaimed American historian and author of over thirty books on U.S. history, including Pulitzer Prize finalists The First American and Traitor to His Class. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his PhD. Originally trained in mathematics, Brands turned to history as a way to pursue his passion for writing. His biographical works on figures like Franklin, Jackson, Grant, and both Roosevelts have earned critical and popular praise for their readability and depth. Raised in Oregon and educated at Stanford, Reed College, and Portland State, he began his teaching career in high schools before entering academia. He later taught at Texas A&M and Vanderbilt before returning to UT Austin. Brands challenges conventional reverence for the Founding Fathers, advocating for a more progressive and evolving view of American democracy. In addition to academic works, his commentary has featured in major documentaries. His books, published internationally and translated into multiple languages, examine U.S. political, economic, and cultural development with compelling narrative force. Beyond academia, he is a public intellectual contributing to national conversations on history and governance.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Murder of Jim Fisk is written in the spirit of the recent true crime trend of taking relatively minor cases and giving them a somewhat extended treatment. For H.W. Brands' book, the justification for his 200-page coverage of Jim Fisk's murder is the relationship of the principals to Gilded Age scandal and crookery. The likes of Jay Gould and William Tweed loiter in the background of the story. If you look hard you might even see President Ulysses S. Grant off in the distance. None of these peripheral players really justify this book-length telling of an open-and-shut crime. Nor does the book's structure, which reminds of James Patterson with its clipped sentences and fleeting chapters. There is some suggestion of political upheaval ultimately effecting the fate of Fisk's killer but Brands doesn't explore this aspect extensively. Ultimately, The Murder of Jim Fisk is relatively well-written but -- as other reviewers have noted -- the story is more worthy of a magazine article than a book.

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that makes a reader pick up the TV remote.

Subtitled A Tragedy of the Gilded Age the only real tragedy is that it resulted in this book. A clumsy retelling of the murder of Jim Fisk, railroad magnate and thug plumped up like a Thanksgiving Butterball with conjecture and hearsay. Josie Mansfield, his discarded mistress, provides color but it is in nonsensical bookended chapters. H.W. Brands took a fairly obscure historical footnote and stretched it over 200 pages - at best this is a two paragraph story on a slow news day.

[Jeffrey Bloomfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mystery stories frequently deal with the murder or strange death of a prominent figure, and many of them deal with multi-millionaires. It is true that criminal history records the odd deaths of business tycoons: Sir Harry Oakes in the Bahamas in 1943 is one, as is Stanford White, the great Gilded Age architect of the "400" who was killed by Harry Thaw (the millionaire killer) over Thaw's wife Evelyn Nesbit ("the Girl in the Red Velvet Swing") inside the original Madison Square Garden (that White designed and built - and lived in) in 1906. But the White-Thaw-Nesbit triangle tragedy was a repeat of another Manhattan melodrama involving the death of a millionaire some thirty four years earlier. This was the killing of "Julilee Jim" Fisk, prototype of the slick Wall Street operator (with his partner Jay Gould) and an early "robber baron of the Gilded Age. Fisk and Gould were known (I could say notorious) for their depredations on Wall Street of railroads (most notably the "Erie Railroad" in a series of confrontations with Commodore Vanderbilt in the 1860s) and for their setting off a minor panic in 1869 when (with cooperation of some members of the Grant Administration) they tried to corner the Gold Market on "Black Friday". Fisk was a colorful figure in the time - he dressed well, to the point of having his mustache and hair pomaded and plastered down, and he threw money about with great dispatch and some degree of enjoyment. Why shouldn't he - he stole enough from others on the Street? Curiously his partner Gould was not liked as much as Jim, as Jay was actually a good family man who (a rarity in the age of the Robber Barons) did not have a mistress. But Jay did seem to be more heartless at times (one of Jim's better actions was - in the wake of the 1871 Chicago Fire - sending food and supplies by the trainload to the citizens of that city at his own expense. Fisk also loved titles and uniforms. He bought the Fall River Line of steamers between Manhattan and New England, and suddenly wore a uniform and became "Admiral Fisk". He purchased the Colonelcy (which was still allowed in 1869) of a New York regiment, and became "Col. Fisk" - indeed by the time of his premature demise the public referred to him as Col. James or Jim Fisk Jr.

Fisk's full career has been the subject of other books, most notably W. A. Swanberg's, "Jim Fisk: The Career of an Improbable Rascal", written back in the 1950s. He even was the subject of a sanitized biography, "The Toast of New York" made by Paramount in 1937 with Edward Arnold as Jim, Cary Grant as his friend and rival "Ned Boyd", Jack Oakie, Francis Farmer as "Josie Mansfield", Donald Meek as "Daniel Drew", and Clarence Kolb as "Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt". I said sanitized because the tragedy that led to Fisk's violent death was the triangle over Josie between him and his friend "Ned Stokes" (not "Boyd", as the film changed it). The film pegged Fisk's death on the Gold scheme of 1869 too, but failed to mention the involvement of Jay Gould, or President Grant's administration. Still it was a good movie, though it's follow-up "Come and Get It!" (based on one of Edna Ferber's novels) starring Arnold in arguably his best film performance (as "Barney Glasgow"), again with Farmer, Walter Brennan (winning his first Oscar for best supporting actor), and Joel McCrea, was a far better film.

The story of Fisk's falling for Mansfield, and finding his friendship (and business partnership) with Ned Stokes collapsing as a result has elements of real tragedy involved. Fisk was married, but his wife lived in Vermont, and never came to share the limelight of his career in New York City. At close to 300 pounds, Fisk enjoyed the good life his business acumen led him to. One day he met a woman named Josie Mansfield, who was an "actress"/ "dancer" officially, but closer to a prostitute. In the style of women in 1872. Josie from her pictures was about 240 or so pounds herself, but this was an age where men liked curvy and fat women (in 1877, William S. Gilbert would create the character of "Little Buttercup" in "HMS Pinafore", and the character she is paired with, "Captain Corcoran" of that ship, refers to her as "a plump and pleasing person"). However, Josie was younger than Fisk - and closer in age to the strikingly handsome, and socially well connected Stokes. Fisk showed his infatuation by purchasing a theater for Josie to perform in as the star, and since he bought it with money from the treasury of the Erie Railroad, he made the upper floors of the theater the New York City headquarters of that railroad (Gould accepted this odd situation). But such a gift did not necessarily make the recipient totally grateful to the gift giver. Josie craved excitement from her men, and frequently (after a grueling day on Wall Street or in the Erie Railroad offices) the middle aged Fisk would come to his home, collapse into an easy chair in the parlor opposite the still lively Josie, and fall asleep as he was exhausted. His loud snoring did not ingratiate Fisk anymore with Josie than gifts like the opera house.

So Josie and Stokes were soon meeting surreptitiously about the city, and (inevitably) Fisk learned about these meetings. He did not take well to it. Stokes owed money to Fisk on some business partnerships, and suddenly Fisk swooped down on Stokes and ruined him by demanding payments on his debts. Stokes naturally did not take kindly to this treatment. Neither did Josie, who sided with Ned. It turned out Josie knew how to strike back at Jim - she found letters he had written that detailed (for some reason) some of his financial buccaneering exploits on Wall Street. The two lovers sent word to Fisk that unless he paid a huge sum of cash to them these letters would be sent to the newspapers.

Fisk did not like being blackmailed. He went to one of the men whom he and Gould put onto the board of directors of Erie Railroad for aid - Boss William Magear Tweed of New York City. Tweed told Fisk to go to State Supreme Court Justice George Barnard for assistance. Fisk and Gould had made use of Tweed and Justice Barnard in the previously mentioned Erie War with Commodore Vanderbilt, so Fisk soon got what he wanted - Stokes and Josie were arrested and brought into court in January 1872 before Barnard, where a grand jury found them guilty of extortion, and set up a trial date. Furious, Stokes went out of the court - carrying a loaded gun. He knew Fisk (who left the court earlier) was going to the Grand Union Hotel in midtown Manhattan, so he took a cab there. Waiting in the shadows at the top of a staircase, Stokes appeared when Fisk was walking upstairs, and shot the financier.

Shot in the belly, Fisk would die in two days time, but he was able to identify Stokes as the man who shot him in front of witnesses. Stokes would now face trial for the murder of Fisk, but although convicted in his first trial, his lawyers got a second trial. This time Stokes was convicted but of only manslaughter - it seems that Fisk had been carrying a pistol too, so an argument was possible that Stokes was defending himself. Instead of being hanged he got four years in prison. By the time he left prison he and Josie were no longer interested in their passionate (probably overly passionate) love affair - indeed Josie would move to Paris, and died there around 1930. Stokes family got him the ownership and management of the popular Hoffman House hotel/restaurant/bar in Manhattan, which he ran until his death in 1901. Of the others in the case, Gould would die in 1892 the richest, most powerful multi-millionaire in the U.S., Tweed would be exposed for his "ring's" corruption in 1873, flee to Cuba and Spain, but get recaptured, and would die in prison in 1878. Justice Barnard would be impeached and removed from the bench in the wake of the Tweed Ring revelations.

Brand usually on more important themes in his histories, but in this case he chose to discuss a rather violent and garish incident of 1872 which is more interesting in showing the interactions of big business, politics, and social conventions of that day. As such it is a fascinating miniature of that world and well worth reading up on .

[Brett's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend, interesting account of the meteoric rise of New York railroad magnate Jim Fisk and his subsequent murder by his girlfriend's lover in the late 1880's. I picked this book up on a lark and thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I was not familiar with Jim Fisk or the Erie Railroad, it was the fascinating account of 19th century politics, fame and fortune in the NYC environs and the murder of a jilted lover when a trial over failed blackmail erupts. Also a positive, H.W. Brand's account of the flamboyant Fisk's is fairly modest, and is easily read in a few sittings.

[Lauren Bull · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book only deserves one star, but I do like Brands as a professor, so I am being nice and giving it two instead.

[Ben Denison · Rating 3 out of 5]

BOOK #1 on Africa Trip.

Meh, a little interesting from a period and information about the American tycoons , but this story really didn’t
Do it for me.

[Nightwitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the present tense and structured like a true crime narrative rather than a work of history, this book was a fairly easy read but bogged down considerably towards the end, which was essentially a present-tense recap of various court proceedings. And then this person testified, and they said that, tearfully. It's less than compelling. I really enjoy when these kinds of books have historical background - and this certainly had some, but some of it definitely seemed like a teaser for the author's other, more complete book on the history of the era. As other reviewers have said, this was kind of a historical footnote, which got inflated into a full book. Brands didn't seem interested in pursuing other avenues, either - was Jim Fisk really killed "for love of Josie" or was that the tabloid gloss, for example? Was it possible that Josie and her lover genuinely believed that Fisk meant them harm? There's almost not enough speculation, because it's stuck on being a straight historical fact. Similarly, I'd have been interested to know how much of the endless court cycle was common for the era. Were they still "hanging 'em high" all the time or was there genuine concern over sentencing someone to death? What was going on? I don't feel like I really know, or that Brands was interested in investigating.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, concise book about a now, lesser known scandal.

The book not only describes the death of the robber baron Jim Fisk and Fisk's career as a high profile speculator in the gold market and his battles with Cornelius Vanderbilt over the Erie railroad, but also it describes a changed America following the Civil War, much of which stays with us today from economic speculation to the movement from subsistence farming to everything depending on industrialization (panic of 1873 having an impact on farmers via commodities prices) to how the wealthy attempt to navigate the justice system.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. Whenever an author can transport you to a bygone time and insert you into it, then that is a great start. H.W. Brands is a great historian and this is a great book. He chronicles the murder of Jim Fisk, who was for his time of the richest and most powerful men in the post-civil war United States.

The book is enjoyable, read well, and is well worth anyone's time.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This scandalous story was told using language common to its time, the 1860's-1870's, which made it less interesting for me than I thought it would be. I do not regret having read it, especially since it's quite short. The most interesting points relate to the power brokers of the time including Vanderbilt.

[Plantgrrl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads quickly and has a good way of making the storyline flow together as you will find in the best historical narratives (like "Seabiscuit" or "A Perfect Storm"). It does an excellent job of describing the persons involved and their motivations without delving into the quagmire of speculation too much or getting bogged down in the minutia of the case and case laws. Excellent.

[Jeramey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it, but I knew who Jim Fisk was going into the book. I would think if you have some vague idea of who he was, you'll enjoy this book. I could have used a bit more on his relationships with Gould, Tweed, Vanderbilt, and Tweed.

Fun quick history read on the Gilded Age in New York.

[Katherine Addison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and entertaining "popular history" account of the murder of Jim Fisk by the lover of one of his former mistresses. Not the place to go for in-depth analysis of anything, but gives a good portrait of the Gilded Age.

[Calvin]

Fascinating and well told story

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book was a really quick read, but the part for the trial seemed to bog down a bit. I don't regret any of the time I spent on it though.

[Jordan Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

In order to enjoy The Murder of Jim Fisk one must have a bent for history or no less than an appreciation for the ephemeral setting that was New York in the Gilded Age.
The story can be safely consumed over a five hour flight from Austin, TX to Boston, MA. The fascinating and devilish history of the characters must be gulped down. They are simply too unique to be works of fiction.
The historical narrative does not get bogged down with citations or quotes from exhaustive texts, relying solely on the wealth of information provided by New York newspapers.
A time often lost or neglected in American history classes, H.W. Brands illustrates that the Gilded Age was as cutthroat, suspenseful, and compelling as any in American history. While the focus flits around larger names such as Grant, Roosevelt, and Vanderbilt, it centers on the more anonymous lives of stockbroker Jim Fisk and industrialist Ned Stokes. While they have been lost to history, they no less rode the precipitous and familiar rollercoaster of the American Dream.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of this short book covers some notorious NYC characters of the 19th century. Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Boss Tweed are remembered for their greed, corruption and ruthlessness. There is a reason the term robber baron came into the culture at this time. What fascinated me was how they were all intertwined.

Josie Mansfield was pretty woman, a “loose” woman who becomes a “kept” woman by Fisk. He was a married man and in a position of power at the Erie Railroad. Fisk foolishly introduced Josie to Ned Stokes, a younger dashing man and sparks fly. What could go wrong?

At the title tells us, Jim Fisk will be murdered. The second half of the book focuses on the trial of his murderer. This part relies too much on trial testimony and I found it much less interesting.

I definitely want to read more about this era in NYC.

[Ellen Rozsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast-moving, colorful read about a Gilded Age New York love triangle that concluded with a murder trial and the beginning of the downfall of the jim Tweed-Tammany Hall political machine. The author is a history prof at the U of Texas who has written acclaimed biographies and histories (American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism 1865-1900, Pulitzer finalist for biographies of Benjamin Franklin and FDR). There was no Twitter or FaceBook back in the early 1870s but New York City had multiple daily newspapers that covered the story of the Erie railroad director and bon-vivant jim Fisk and his show-girl mistress, Josie Mansfield, and the man who came between them, Ned Stokes. This is a history tome that reads like a novel.

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover and title intrigued me, so I picked this book up at the library. I'd never heard of Jim Fisk or Josie Mansfield, but I enjoy reading about the Gilded Age and true crime stories interest me...

Fisk was a wealthy financier who was notorious for shady dealings in the stock market and other ventures. Josie was his mistress -- until she met someone else.

I liked Brands' writing style--he introduces the major players and describes their financial and political dealings, personalities, and relationships in a relaxed, conversational way without lingering on some areas overlong like some other authors do. I would like to try reading some of his other history books.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a nice read, succinct and touches on history that is otherwise glossed over. It’s pretty easy to get through and has nice intrigue throughout almost the entire book.

The writing is of decent quality and has some nice lines, but I wouldn’t say it has beautiful prose. It’s good enough to not be noticed, and occasionally rises above this.


Within its scope, it’s hard to point out any flaws in this book. It’s just difficult to say it’s a 5-star read. Nothing particularly stands out as great, but I feel comfortable saying there are no outright bad qualities. Aggressively solid.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age by H.W. Brands is the in depth telling of the life of someone, who know one knows and most likely, no one really wants to know. Yes, he was murdered, and yes there was a sensational trial. But there must be more notable people to tell their stories to than this individual. I suppose the real tragedy is that the author could not find better material to write about. So much of the book seemed to be documents directly from the court case. Not overly interesting.

[Stewart Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fascinating Story

Most people have heard the name of Jim Fisk, but really don't know very much about him. I was among them. This book educated me about what a despicable character he really was. It also educated me about Josie Mansfield, who if anything, might be an even more despicable person.

I must admit that I was on pins and needles throughout most of the book.

As usual, an excellent story by Professor Brands!

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It reads more like a cross between an old-school dime store novel and a 19th century movie-of-the-week. The most valuable thing about this little slice of Gilded-Age life is the atmosphere and style of the period, as opposed to the players. It's a delightful, if ephemeral, taster of New York in an earlier, more romantic, and more corrupt age.

[John O'reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breezy and unusual tale of robber barons in the 1870s. Written almost as a newspaper style recount of a tawdry affair, murder of passion, and scandalous trial, Brands creates an entertaining and quick read.

He is a very good writer and this is a vignette worthy of a read for social historians.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note for self: Eh, ok, did a decent job running through what happened to a Gilded Age player who got dumped by his "girl" and murdered by her new man.

Didn't much care about any of the characters, which took away some of my interest.

[Barbara V. Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truth Stranger Than Fiction

The story of Jim Fisk rises and falls on his attraction to Josie. Ned Stokes the would be hero falls to his own weakness. After shooting Fisk three trials finally determined his fate. Mr Brand weaves the complex tapestry from real records.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look into the corruption of the Victorian Era. I reviewed it on my blog...
https://wineandhistory.wordpress.com/...

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Transcript book

Basically a trial transcript mocked up as a book. I’m a fan of Brands’ writing but his tendency to copy-paste long quotations into his books makes it read like a term paper due tomorrow. Audiobook was well produced.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange little snippet of history to write about. Love triangle that leads to murder in the upper classes of New York. Engaging style and big personalities so hallmarks of Brands work but surprising topic to build whole book around.

[Chris Doelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was much better than I expected - an enthralling story. Full review --> http://www.ridingwiththewindowdown.co...