Dead Move: Kate Morgan and the Haunting Mystery of Coronado

by John T. Cullen

The tragic and fascinating story of the Beautiful Stranger is uncovered for the first time since her mysterious and violent death. It’s a noir 1892 San Diego gaslamp true crime involving blackmail, the Gilded Age, and ‘men in powerful places’ as the Yellow Press hinted. Her demise led to the famous ghost legend - a Coronado Mystery finally explained by John T. Cullen, a San Diego author. The story was a national sensation across the United States that year, powered with rumors and titillations. The truth, as finally uncovered by the author, is far stranger and more fascinating than the scandalous news stories of the time, or even the muddled ghost legend that endures to this day. In her shocking and heart-wrenching death, Lizzie (age 24) became that quintessential Victorian ideal of womanhood - the Innocent but Fallen Angel, epitomized in Thomas Hardy’s tragic and sentimental novel Tess, A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented (1891). Both Tess and Lizzie were beautiful young women brought low by an evil world - only Lizzie was the real deal. Because so much was at stake, the true crime at the Hotel del Coronado led to a nefarious cover-up - and one of the USA’s most famous ghost legends. Lizzie was the dead woman - not Kate Morgan. Lizzie still famously haunts the Hotel del Coronado, for those who believe in ghosts. Against a vast backdrop of true historical context, this real story comes to life as a human study of two women - Kate Morgan and Lizzie Wyllie - along with their lover John Longfield (a married Detroit bookbindery foreman, Lizzie’s boss, who ‘ruined’ Lizzie in Victorian terms. We also learn as background about kings and queens, moguls and presidents, and a tragic crown princess who move in Hotel del Coronado owner John Spreckels’ circles. Dead Move is a detailed scholarly analysis that solves an amazing puzzle of many moving parts - and the author is able to shine light on each of the tantalizing clues, dead ends, and false leads - many of them deliberately planted. Why? To save the reputation of one of the nation’s wealthiest men, John Spreckels, at a critical moment in history. John Spreckels owned virtually all of San Diego and Coronado in 1892, including the newspapers. There was no effective police department - so his security agents covered for him at a critical time. He was in Washington, D.C. with family friend President Benjamin Harrison, trying to stave off rival corporations’ overthrow of the monarchy in Honolulu with the loss of Spreckels sugar plantations in Hawai’i. The Spreckels Machine could not afford any breath of scandal. The author has concluded that Spreckels’ agents were all over the doomed blackmail plot from the beginning. The monarchy was overthrown six weeks after the Beautiful Stranger episode at Spreckels’ hotel in Coronado, long after Lizzie’s mysterious death. The last word was had by John Longfield, who spread the final false rumor as he returned to his wife and children in Detroit, having rid himself of the girl he ruined. Lizzie (not Kate Morgan) lay dead at the hotel. Longfield closed the loop by covering for Kate and the Spreckels Machine, saying Lizzie had fled to Canada - a complete lie. The fortune promised by Kate Morgan did not materialize - but John Longfield went scot-free and Kate Morgan evaporated into history, leaving her name and identity attached to the dead girl. Today, San Diego author John T. Cullen has lifted the veil on this engaging story and set the record straight. Readers can enjoy the (nonfiction) analysis in Dead Move, or the noir 1892 period thriller (Lethal Journey, fiction) closely based on the true crime analysis - or get both books in one volume titled Coronado Mystery.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[JennanneJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would I recommend this as a novel or even a historical dramatization? No.

However, as a bit of local lore, involving our neighborhood ghost here on the island at the Hotel Del Coronado, I enjoyed the local tie-in. The writing was engaging, if a bit over-the-top (which works with this noir type novel). It was a quick read. However, there were scenes that were unnecessarily pornographic. Once we got to the second half of the novel though, those disappeared.

The author has done his own research and has his own view of who the ghost is in the Hotel Del and the events that led to her death in Coronado. Fun as a local read.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. Dead Move has a lot of redundancies. Which drove me a little bit crazy. You basically memorize the facts. I really enjoyed the historical information. John T. Cullen really put a lot into the end notes and his story line. I'm going to look up the history behind the story. I believe his story. I'm from San Diego. I worked in the flower shop at the Hotel Del Coranado. I never saw any ghosts. I can see where John Spreckle's wouldn't want his family knowing what had happened. It's pretty hard to solve a murder/suicide mystery from 1892 in the present day.

[Ilene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of questions

This book is very history loaded, a little too much for me. I am fascinated with the story of the Beautiful Stranger. This book left me utterly confused. There is no smoking gun. This book brought up a lot of great points. Unfortunately, I am even more confused though.

[Jennifer Colley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be more about the haunting of the Del. I found this to be very poorly written, and extremely repetitive.

[Lynnda · Rating 4 out of 5]

As my husband and I stayed at the Del, I can attest to the fact that it is, indeed, haunted. We stayed in the room next to 3327 and my husband, who never believed in the supernatural, was rattled to his core. This book delves deeper into the mystery of Kate and Lizzie. It's a must read for history and supernatural buffs.

[Katie Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun look at the Hotel Del Coronado ghost story but the author spends most of the book repeating the same hypothesis without much supporting evidence. Also some offensive portrayl of women as sex crazed and hormonal.

[Shawn Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually about a another ghost in San Diego, California

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love history and ghost sightings!