Reddit reviews The slaying of Joseph Bowne Elwell

Awesome! I thought I knew most of Ogden Nash's more famous poems but I've never heard of this one. Since Nash wrote in the 1930's I wasn't familiar with all of the names and thought others might appreciate reference links. We like to think that sensationalistic murder cases are something of a recent phenomenon. This proves otherwise. Basically, this reads as a "who's who" of US murderers during the first parts of the twentieth century.

terms:

Crinoline on wikipedia.

Walpurgis Night on wikipedia

Cases:

Dr. Waite (see THE WAITE CASE further down the page). Convicted of double homicide and executed. Married the daughter of a wealthy couple then set up an expensive practice in a very posh section of New York. Mother-in-law dies and is transferred back to Michigan for burial. Father-in-law asked to stay until he overcomes his bereavement. He dies suddenly as well. Suspicion is aroused and both bodies exhumed. Both were found to contain large does of arsenic.

Ruth and Judd may reference the murder trial of Winnie Ruth Judd who killed, then dismembered a former roommate in an apparent love triangle.

Nan, the floradorra girl and Cesar Young She was acquitted of charges of shooting to death her married lover while riding in a handsome cab in broad daylight in New York in 1905.

Mad Dog Coll earned the name after a failed kidnapping of an opposing mob boss's underling caused him to kill several children.

Becker and Rosenthal Corrupt cop who paid to have illegal casino owner hit after he went to the press discussing how Becker's extortion payments were hurting his business.

Legs and Dutch are Legs Diamond and Dutch Schultz, also mob related people.

The "Double Damned" are those with unsolved murder cases:

Dorothy "Dot" King murder - found cholorformed to death in her apartment.

Elwell Murder Case - textbook "locked room" murder mystery.

Arnold Rothstein's murder. He was widely considered the organizer behind the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal; paying off players to throw the World Series so he and his crew could win on fixed bets. He was conscious for days after he was shot but refused to give up the name of his assailant to the police.

Starr Faithful's murder scandal and her relationship to Andrew Peters.

Edit: Added all names.

Edit edit: Nash doesn't name any names but I'm inclined to believe this is the hotel referenced in the poem.