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Review
"A detailed and very readable account" --The Crime Writers' Association 26 May 2011
Review
'An astonishing story and Colin Evans tells it with tremendous gusto ... he marshals all his research with great skill to produce a narrative as gripping and exciting as most thrillers.' Waterstones Books Quarterly 'A stunner ... a true crime story for people who don't read true crime stories - because it's not really about the crime at all, it's about justice and the legal system - and a number of individuals fighting to overcome corruption and petty parochial stupidity - which makes for a riveting read.' Brian Clegg
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Charlie Stielow was a German immigrant farmhand in New York State. 1915 saw him move his family into a small house across the road from his new employer, Phelps the farmer. Soon afterards Phelps and his housekeeper were killed, and, desperate to find the killer, the authorities first alighted on, and then fixed on, Charlie and his brother-in-law. The book describes the trials, shenanigans and death-row tribulations of Charlie, and the three-year struggle to save him.
The case was significant because it relied on expert firearms testimony (far from 'expert' as it transpired), and thus triggered the birth of forensic ballistics. It relied even more on bullying the suspect into confession and placing career interests before justice, though it probably had less positive influence on those matters... And it was unusual too in drawing huge public concern for the predicament of a poor and unknown man.
However, it is not only the legal milestones that hold the reader to the page; it is the gripping blow-by-blow account of the process and the close study of the many people involved. The author studiously avoids commentary on the story, even when there is ample cause to decry the abuses on display; instead he allows the facts to speak for themselves. Charlie himself stares glumly out from the photograph section, silently demanding justice. It's a great picture of a time and place, and a cautionary tale of how far we have, and haven't, come.
Apparatus includes 8 photographs, 2 maps, 3 appendices of 'confessions', a timeline, a 'cast of characters' and citations - though no index.
The case was significant because it relied on expert firearms testimony (far from 'expert' as it transpired), and thus triggered the birth of forensic ballistics. It relied even more on bullying the suspect into confession and placing career interests before justice, though it probably had less positive influence on those matters... And it was unusual too in drawing huge public concern for the predicament of a poor and unknown man.
However, it is not only the legal milestones that hold the reader to the page; it is the gripping blow-by-blow account of the process and the close study of the many people involved. The author studiously avoids commentary on the story, even when there is ample cause to decry the abuses on display; instead he allows the facts to speak for themselves. Charlie himself stares glumly out from the photograph section, silently demanding justice. It's a great picture of a time and place, and a cautionary tale of how far we have, and haven't, come.
Apparatus includes 8 photographs, 2 maps, 3 appendices of 'confessions', a timeline, a 'cast of characters' and citations - though no index.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is about the biggest miscarriage of justice in American history! It brings shame to some of the legal profession and politicians of the time and was the harbinger of ballistics and forensic science in America. Based of historical fact it tells the story of a somewhat slow witted farm hand , Goerge Stielow of German descent, who is accused and found guilty of the murder of his boss and his housekeeper in 1915, a difficult time as war with Germany was in full swing!
He was coerced into making a confession, by officials of the county, keen for a quick conviction to enhance their own political careers, evidence was hopelessly incorrect, witnesses were offered incentives to stretch the truth, and supposedly expert witnesses were absolutely useless at giving clear and accurate evidence.
The case went on for 3 long years, with Steilow, at risk of the electric chair for most of that time. He was reprieved 4 times! It cost Orleans County thousands of dollars and brought shame to many connected to the case.
A really fascinating read, which takes your breath away sometimes with the injustices brought to the fore. Although having said that there are a few heroes in the telling of the story who refused to give up and allow an innocent man to go to the electric chair, and who realized that a new system of forensic science was what was needed to stop this happening again.
I can highly recommend this to anyone interested in not only history, but the legal profession and who enjoys a story of the little man winning in the end!!
He was coerced into making a confession, by officials of the county, keen for a quick conviction to enhance their own political careers, evidence was hopelessly incorrect, witnesses were offered incentives to stretch the truth, and supposedly expert witnesses were absolutely useless at giving clear and accurate evidence.
The case went on for 3 long years, with Steilow, at risk of the electric chair for most of that time. He was reprieved 4 times! It cost Orleans County thousands of dollars and brought shame to many connected to the case.
A really fascinating read, which takes your breath away sometimes with the injustices brought to the fore. Although having said that there are a few heroes in the telling of the story who refused to give up and allow an innocent man to go to the electric chair, and who realized that a new system of forensic science was what was needed to stop this happening again.
I can highly recommend this to anyone interested in not only history, but the legal profession and who enjoys a story of the little man winning in the end!!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Slaughter On A Snowy Morn is the true story of Charles Steilow, the itinerant farm worker who was charged with the double murder of his employer and their aide, imprisoned, and sentenced to death.
The book follows the 1900s murder case as it unfolds, from the sketchy first hand reports of gunshots and a woman begging for help at Charlie Steilow's door, through the authorities' determination to execute Steilow for the crimes, to the equal determination of lawyers and detectives to prove that in fact, he was not the murderer and to rescue him from the chair at the eleventh hour.
It's a tale of prejudice, power and crass injustice; Steilow, with what would nowadays be termed 'special educational needs', was believed to be an easy target - and a populist one, as his German background proved, as America entered the First World War.
But those who would see him executed had their own agenda for framing him. In regional and national power politics the life or death of one man could win or lose an election, and those seeking power were intent on getting the outstanding murder case out of their way.
Evans writes extremely well, with a prose that has the ability to captivate and to stir up powerful emotions, as the sheer outrageousness of the authorities' behaviour - the lies, blackmail, beatings and ultimately a genuinely nasty desire to see an innocent man executed - hits home on the reader.
It's a powerful story that while ostensibly looks at the first use of forensics in revealing the truth (and also perhaps one of the first examples of pseudo-science being used to obscure it), is possibly much more about the depths that human beings can sink to in their own quest for personal power.
An historical murder mystery that documents not only a milestone in forensic science, but exposes the dark side of human nature and political ambition.
The book follows the 1900s murder case as it unfolds, from the sketchy first hand reports of gunshots and a woman begging for help at Charlie Steilow's door, through the authorities' determination to execute Steilow for the crimes, to the equal determination of lawyers and detectives to prove that in fact, he was not the murderer and to rescue him from the chair at the eleventh hour.
It's a tale of prejudice, power and crass injustice; Steilow, with what would nowadays be termed 'special educational needs', was believed to be an easy target - and a populist one, as his German background proved, as America entered the First World War.
But those who would see him executed had their own agenda for framing him. In regional and national power politics the life or death of one man could win or lose an election, and those seeking power were intent on getting the outstanding murder case out of their way.
Evans writes extremely well, with a prose that has the ability to captivate and to stir up powerful emotions, as the sheer outrageousness of the authorities' behaviour - the lies, blackmail, beatings and ultimately a genuinely nasty desire to see an innocent man executed - hits home on the reader.
It's a powerful story that while ostensibly looks at the first use of forensics in revealing the truth (and also perhaps one of the first examples of pseudo-science being used to obscure it), is possibly much more about the depths that human beings can sink to in their own quest for personal power.
An historical murder mystery that documents not only a milestone in forensic science, but exposes the dark side of human nature and political ambition.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A very thorough and factual account of a miscarriage of justice
I chose this book because I'm interested in people, human psychology - those things that make us tick. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alison McVey
Great book, but too much given away
This is a very good read and very well written. It is testament to the skill of the author that although we know a lot about the story by reading the blurb on the back, he still... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. A. Brooke
murder in america
slaughter on a snowy morn by colin evans the story of the stielow murder case and the crooked testimony and phoney forensics that nearly sent a man to the electric chair in... Read more
Published 5 months ago by mark1000
True crime writer of note.
Colin Evans, who wrote The Father of Forensics, an interesting biography of Sir Bernard Spilsbury that was positive yet not blind to his subject's character flaws, has a new true... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr Creepy
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