The first story I reviewed for Short Story Monday, back in January 2010, was a very clever story by Susan Glaspell. It was A Jury of Her Peers. I still remember how the story carefully unfolded and how the truth was only known by two of the women in the story and, of course, the reader.
Another of Susan Glaspell’s stories was offered this week as The Short Story of the Week from Library of America. This one is The Hossack Murder. There’s a very interesting tie-in between these two pieces of work from Ms. Glaspell. I just learned it and I thought I would share it with you.
Early in Susan Glaspell’s career she was a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News. She wrote a series of newspaper articles about a true crime that occurred on a farm outside of Indianola, Iowa in December 1900. This week’s “short story” is a collection of those newspaper articles.
John Hossack was killed with two blows to the head while he slept in his bed. Their sons and daughters were also in the house. Ms. Glaspell reported on the initial event and then the inquest and subsequent arrest of the victim’s wife. She also covered the trial of Mrs. Hossack in April 1901.
The articles on the events and then the trial were very interesting. At first Ms. Glaspell was very concise in her reporting – just the facts are given. But, as the trial progressed, I saw subtle changes. She never editorialized on the guilt or innocence of Mrs. Hossack, but she gradually reported more sympathetically on her observations of the defendant. By the end of the trial I felt Ms. Gaspell’s doubt about the outcome, although she never gave her opinion outright.
The trial seemed odd and not just from today’s standards. The prosecution established, via several witnesses, that Mrs. Hossack felt she would be better off if her husband were dead. There was no information given as to why she wanted him dead. The motive was never established. In addition, the defense attorneys seem to have presented a very weak case.
All of this leads me back to the short story I mentioned above, A Jury of Her Peers. After the trial Ms. Glaspell went on to write plays and manage a theater company. One of the plays she is most well known for is Trifles. Ms. Glaspell later turned the play into the story, A Jury of Her Peers. It’s been suggested that she wrote the play/story based on her observations and thinking about The Hossack Murder. Having read both, I now tend to agree. I can definitely see the connection.
If you haven’t read either one of these pieces, I’d suggest reading both of them. Together it’s about an hour’s reading. They are both available online. Here are the two links:
A Jury of Her Peers HERE
The Hossack Murder HERE
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