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cover of episode Episode 535: Florence Burns and the Murder of Walter Brooks

Episode 535: Florence Burns and the Murder of Walter Brooks

2024/2/5
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Ash: 本期节目讲述了20世纪初美国社会变革背景下发生的Florence Burns与Walter Brooks案。科技和交通运输的进步催生了新的青年文化，富有的年轻人摆脱了家庭的束缚，追求自由和刺激，也因此引发了一系列的冲突和悲剧。Florence Burns出身富裕家庭，却行为放荡，加入了名为“贝福德大道帮”的富家子弟帮派，与Walter Brooks发展了充满冲突和暴力威胁的恋情。Walter Brooks虽然来自相对不富裕的家庭，但他同样放荡不羁，与帮派成员为伍，最终被Florence Burns杀害。本案中，警方掌握了部分证据，但由于证据不足以及“不成文法”的影响，Florence Burns最终未被定罪。 Cell: 本案中，Florence Burns与Walter Brooks的爱情关系充满暴力和威胁，Florence Burns多次威胁要杀害Walter Brooks。Walter Brooks也对感情不专一，与其他女性交往，最终导致了悲剧的发生。本案的审判过程也暴露出当时社会存在的阶级偏见和法律漏洞，最终Florence Burns逍遥法外，引发了公众的广泛关注和争议。

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Florence Burns, a young woman from a prominent family, began a tumultuous relationship with Walter Brooks, a member of the Bedford Avenue Gang. Both were rebellious and engaged in a troubled and intense relationship.
  • Florence was born to strict German immigrant parents and was often perceived as rebellious.
  • Walter Brooks was part of a wealthy, influential gang known for its troublemaking.
  • Florence had a history of extreme behavior, including stalking a former boyfriend.
  • Walter and Florence's relationship was turbulent, with Florence pressuring Walter to marry her.

Shownotes Transcript

When twenty-year-old Walter Brooks was found dead from a bullet to the head on Valentine’s Day 1902, suspicion immediately fell on Brooks’ nineteen-year-old sometimes-girlfriend, Florence Burns. The two were known to have a tumultuous relationship and had fought violently on the morning of his death, and there was considerable evidence indicating that Burns had been in the hotel room at the time of Brooks’ murder. However, despite all the evidence indicating guilt, Florence Burns was never brought to trial for Brooks’ murder or even formally charged with a crime, and Walter Brooks murder officially remains an unsolved case in New York.

While the story of Walter Brooks and Florence Burns is relatively uncomplicated in terms of the crime around which the story is built, the story is a remarkable illustration of the ways in which things like class, gender, and technological advances can influence and even shape how the law is applied in the United States. Indeed, at the time of the murder, the nation was undergoing incredibly social and cultural changes as a result of dramatically expanded transportation and communication technology, giving rise to a youth culture the likes of which had never been seen in the nation prior. That youth culture and the rebelliousness it produced in many young wealthy Americans played a direct role, not only in Walter’s life and death, but also in the socio-cultural perspectives and Victorian beliefs that allowed Florence to get away with murder.

Thank you to the wondrous Dave White of Bring me the Axe Podcast & 99 Cent Rental for Research!

References

Evening World. 1902. "Denised she shot broker in hotel." Evening World, February 15: 1.

Ferranti, Seth. 2019. The Affluenza Murder Case That Shocked America 100 Years Ago. March 15. Accessed December 11, 2023. https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3meyv/the-affluenza-murder-case-that-shocked-america-100-years-ago.

McConnell, Virginia A. 2019. The Belle of Bedford Avenue: The Sensational Brooks-Burns Murder in Turn-of-the-Century New York. Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press.

New York Times. 1902. "Brooks murder case ends." New York Times, May 21: 5.

—. 1903. "Florence Burns on the stage." New York Times, February 15: 10.

—. 1902. "Jerome on Burns case." New York Times, March 25: 7.

—. 1902. "Man shot, girl arrested ." New York Times, February 16: 3.

New York Tribune. 1910. "Florence Burns again in hands of police." New York Tribune, September 21: 1.

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