Former senior litigation counsel to the Arizona Attorney general, professor of constitutional and international law, and clerk of the superior court for americas fourth largest county, maricopa. Chris sits on the board of directors for the Abraham Lincoln association and the board of scholarly advice is to president lincolns cottage. He and his wife reside in phoenix. Without further introduction at present to you chris derose. [applause] thank you for the introduction. Thanks to the Gettysburg Heritage Center for having us. All of you for being here. Pennsylvania cable tv cable to get cspans booktv. This appearance on cspans booktv. Think you for all you do to promote books ever book authors. So who here has heard the one about the company who killed his wife lover across in the white house . When i came across this story i knew it was too extraordinary not to share, says working on my last book called the president s were which is about the five former president to look live e the american civil war, and im reading through the letters and diaries as it abruptly focused on the great challenges facing the country 1859 as the country teeters towards the edge of civil war. All of a sudden all the want to talk or is the sickles affair. Whats the sickles of there . So had to stop what i was doing, fell into a Research Rabbit hole that happens once in a while and i said okay, thats a pretty good story. And so sickles did indeed kill his wifes lover across the street from white house in Lafayette Square. The victim was no ordinary victim. He was rpgs, training attorney, chief federal prosecutor for the Nations Capital consummately author of our National Anthem and what of americans, member of americas most prestigious and n american royalty. And this is just where the story starts. I do want to read what set all of this in motion. Sickles is flying high. Hes a congressman from new york. Hes an intimate of president James Buchanan. He is considered one of the most forceful and persuasive speakers in the house of representatives. He is talk about for big things in the future, and he and his wife teresa sits atop washington social scene. Until one night, thursday after the partners of this house had cleared out when theyre gone to the after party at Willard Hotel and yes, home to try to get some work done before going to bed, and he remembers that at his party was one event and messenger come to him a letter. He opens this letter and read the following. Dear sir, with deep regret i and close to address a few lines but an indispensable duty compels me to do so, seeing that you are greatly imposed upon. There is a fellow, i may say for is not a gentleman by any means, by the name of Philip Barton key. I believe the District Attorney who runs the house of a man by the name of john gray situate on 15th street, for no other purpose than to meet your wife, mrs. Sickles. He hangs a string out the window as a signal to her that he is in and leaves the door unfastened, and she walks in and, i do assure you, he has as much use of you are as you. I read the rest for you to imagine. Most respectfully most respectfully, your friend, rpg. No one asked me what i think the author meant by leaks imagine imagination. Sickles stranger to washington understands that gossip is the coin of the realm. You could waste of my time accrediting every bit of gossip, every story that corset to washington with a letter is awfully specific and so we realize hes going to have to verify one way or another and he will either be greatly relieved or this entire life that is built for himself is going to be completely upended. And so he goes to the house of representatives and he finds his friend george. If you look up hintzman in the dictionary you probably see someone like george. He was a black bowler hat, he has a big thick mustache. He has a huge upper body and he walks on crutches because of infantile paralysis. A man with a massive chest walking on crutches, big mustache, bowler hat and he first meets sickles when he was the doorkeeper of the new york assembly, ladies and old tammany person. He goes up to manage a brothel and a barroom, and use all kinds of great information in his capacity and decides that the real one is to start a newspaper and print the stories and rumors in the press. He realizes that as a newspaper editor its one thing to sell advertising but what you get a black male people who couldnt afford to see the names appear in his newspaper . And so this gets him into trouble. He ends up in prison. When he leaves he goes to europe for ten years as a manager of the first virginia serenade is and then reappears in albany where he makes a connection with state senator Daniel Sickles. When sickles was elected to congress he brings wooldridge within a gets him a job as a clerk in the map room at the house of representatives it is to wooldridge his old friend that he turns and confides about this awful that he is received. So they begin a stakeout in this neighborhood. Neighborhood north of the white house in this house where barton g and his wife are supposedly meeting. Everyone in they would want to talk about whats happening in the house. It is also exciting things going on. Agrees it is barton going into the house but they also say the woman who wears a veil. So theyre trying to catch these two going into the house trying to catch them in the act. What happens is they are able to match a clothing description of the woman seen going into the house to an outfit owned by teresa. So theres no hiding it or skipping get. As Daniel Sickles will say often over the next few days, i was the last person to know what was happening in my own family. Hes not far off the mark and, indeed, he tries to did not get to himself long as he can until he cant ignore the evidence any further. He confronts his wife and he gets her to sign a confession about what she did. What happened in his house while he was gone, what happened at the house that was rented for the specific purpose of carrying on this affair with barton key, amanda sickles believed should be his earnest friend. And sickles now needs to get what is going to do about this. And so he sent for his friend samuel, another old tammany mn who had a variety postings under various democratic administrations use turning in mississippi now hes the head of the office in york city that test the purity of american coins, and he is in d. C. In business. Yes two of his old tammany stallworth in George Woolworth and Samuel Butterworth in the room with him. Butterworth advises that its almost the end of the congressional session, send to trace back to new york, go to europe, super divorce, no one will know what happened. Sickles says thats pretty good advice but it sounds like likel intent on windows about it so that out closed off for me. He tried to get what to do. Enter barton key. Barton key shows up in Lafayette Square as sickles is in his house. Sickles lives lives in a home e west side of Lafayette Square and what might be of particular interest to this audience, its not as though youll house. It was built and originally owned by the father general you will. He was a doctor, child a physician who came to the Nations Capital when it was a new city and ended up, big dreams, built up a hospital, fell into alcoholism, fell into mismanagement and had to sell the house. And so sickles was on the west side of Lafayette Square in the home built by general gules father. Key walks into Lafayette Park and to start waving his handkerchief at sickles house which was a prearranged signal for sickles wife to go meet him at the rendezvous house your a while sickles is losing his mind everything hes built up his entire life is, his aspirations at the mucus amendment and a state senator and that the congressman, perhaps the future senator and maybe a future president can looks like its all going up in smoke. His beautiful wife that he had come the most popular woman in washington betrayed with one of his best friends, the mother of his child. And hes trying to figure out what to do, and there is key walking in Lafayette Park waving the handkerchief at his house. And so butterworth leaves to go visit a sick friend on the side of Lafayette Square in the building. And magically known as the clubhouse, a private members club on the east side of locket square, i a particular interest this is a home that would be occupied by William Seward and a home where he is attacked and nearly fatally killed at the conclusion of the civil war. But at this time its a private members club. But its worth goes to go visit a friend of his sick in the club picky encounters key, they hae a conversation acs Daniel Sickles show up he tells key your dishonor my home, prepare to die. He brings three guns to the fight. He brings them in a trench coat in an unseasonably warm february day. Of course where to go if youre congressman who just kill u. S. Attorney . Where to go to jerusalem in . They go to the home of the attorney general. And so word of mouth spread throughout washington, d. C. That key has been killed, that sickles is the killer. People leave their homes, leave their boarding houses, leave the bars and restaurants and all try to get a look at what happened. Yet over 100 people show up for the inquest of the clubhouse with the body right there on the ground with one witness after another being summoned to testify what happened. You have people going into sickles house instead of standing out on the lawn waiting for them to get arrested. He is allowed to go and say goodbye to his wife. His promised that he will not armor is good enough for the police officers, even though we just killed a u. S. Attorney for d. C. Walks into his wifes room, triumphal in ounces i have killed him. And so this is just the beginning of where the story starts. It all gets crazier from here. It was a media firestorm, unlike anything anyone had ever seen. This would be the most covered event in Human History up until this point. I found newspaper articles from hawaii, from bermuda. It was daily coverage in almost every newspaper in the United Kingdom. That was regular coverage in france. I found a book written about it in german. The entire world was paying attention to this fantastic case, and it is the first story we as americans all follow together because you just had the telegraph. Some people find out about this story in f this close to reale as had ever happened up to this point. And so you and people in new york finding out about it that he dinkum sickles family and friends in near a funny but that meeting. New york. Your newspaper corresponds running all of its kind in elective effects as he can try to get out on the wire so it can hit the morning newspapers. I should back up a little bit and talk about how news was changing at this time. Originally the concept of news were these very expensive commercial newspapers where you learned the price of cotton and copper and other commodities. Business intelligence, a very expensive. What ship is leaving, what ship is going. Nothing exciting. Angela political newspapers, they were financed by Political Parties to either promote the candidate or put down a candidate or party. Any other injury of the penny press starting with new york central 1830. We want do want to talk about politics. We dont want to talk about the shipping news. Lets talk about fires, animal stories, tragedies, and yes, some true crime. The real Human Interest stories. They make money by selling advertising which meant they didnt have to rely on a particular Political Party or rely on businessmen to underwrite the cost of the paper. Also, the Lightning Press have been introduced. The length of the broadsheet, the number of newspapers that could be printed in any given day, the lateness of the hour it could be printed. You could get a story like this out on the street hours after it happened and thats what happened all over the country. And they were, reporter shock of detailed and, of course, you got some fake news in the period you got People Racing too quickly to try to verify things. People say things like butterworth had been arrested as an economist. Teresa been arrested. Teresa was pregnant. All kinds of false information but a lot of really Accurate Information included in these first reports and intimated by all the supporters is that yes, this is not a surprise to us necessarily. Sickles really was the last note of what was happening pic you have this baby media feeding frenzy which is very familiar to us today. We are blurring the lines between jews and entertainment, and i think its never been more relevant by jeff to look back to this incident to see what happens. So sickles if hes going to have any hope of surviving the hangmans noose, it just killed a chief prosecutor in broad daylight in front of many witnesses, he has to put together the best possible legal team. Each our heart, johnny cochran. This is the first legal train that the Legal Dream Team and it looks like it was chosen to liberally. You just pick all the best lotion new york city d. C. And virginia but it happened quite haphazard. Once the news of his being arrested hits the streets, his family members and friends for hiring lawyers. By the end end of the first dae already had four lawyers representing including most famously Edwin Stanton who of course a short time away from his glory as her secretary of war during the american civil war. But at this time is a prominent lawyer in washington, d. C. And is one of the first people retained to represent Daniel Sickles. The prosecution in this case, no slouches either. Your James Carlisle who was one of sickles first choices represented. He happens to be a very close friend of barton key, no interest in helping the murderer escape justice. And you robert who will become assistant secretary in the Confederate States of america and in charge of hostage of prisoner of war swaps for the confederacy. Also we will go on who will go on to be Jefferson Davises lawyer. But at the time robert is a deputy u. S. Attorney. Key wasnt actually the best u. S. Attorney. He is there basically because of his family name, because of his political connections. Robert is a lot of the work. Key is also intermittently sick and the travel and put a lot of the most important responsibility on robert. I thought is interesting he really vexed robert about by putting all this work on it and now i dine he is given him the hardest case under the biggest microscope in the history of the world. Robert will be appointed by resident buchanan to replace key as used attorney. Might be a singular phenomena in American History where you actually to wait for new your surfing to be a point a murder case because the other one has been killed. You got this incredible lineup as are trying this case of the judge crawford whos been appointed by president polk and news present over almost every major trial in washington, d. C. Up to that point. One of the things that struck me about this book was the confluence of all these fascinating people who either were witnesses in the telco with her in a courtroom who participate in some way in this extraordinary story over the would rule over the life of Daniel Sickles. Sickles met his wife when he was very young. He was a border in the house of her grandfather and here preparing him for entry for the university of new york which is now new york university. The mans name is lorenzo and it mips million into some of you. Hes most famous as mozart liver test but he start off as a young man in finnegan becomes a priest, decides that life is a for him. He is ultimately expelled from the city of venice because of his possible resident in a brothel and his chart success with public concubines. He finds his way to the court of Emperor Joseph the second reconnects with mozart were the ads the words to famous shows like figaro, operas we probably all seen or heard of. And then finds find his way bao new york city restarts the first Opera Company on the island one of his daughters which he treats as an adopted daughter but was suspected be very much a biological daughter of his due to a liaison in his 60s, thats going to be the mother of teresa. Shes just a little girl when sickles moves in as a border, but he will stay in touch with the family as his career progresses, as it enters the law, becomes a new york the sentiment and he continues to visit the family. Ask teresa goes up he decides hes in love with that or the fan was a post at first because of the age difference. Shes still in the equivalent of high school. So they marry secret with the mayor of new york performing the ceremony. Let it never be said that Daniel Sickles was not one for grand gestures. Eventually the famine will be reconciled to the idea of this marriage when youre married a second time in a public ceremony for the archbishop of new york. Its a pretty good start to your marriage. Your cup of blessing of the mayor of new york city and highs ecclesiastical officer of sin city. They shouldve portended good things for the sickles. So sickles will end up going off to the United Kingdom when James Buchanan is hacked off by president pierce. President pierce wants to be the first president since A