The Alienist Supporting Characters - Caleb Carr & The Alienist Books

Included below is a list of the Alienist supporting characters that appear in The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness. For the main or the minor character pages of the Alienist character list, please use the menu.

Byrnes, Former Police Superintendent Thomas

Appears in The Alienist

Although Thomas Byrnes (1842-1910), former Police Superintendent and Chief Inspector of the Detective Bureau, only appears in The Alienist on one occasion, he plays a prominent role in the novel behind the scenes and is mentioned a number of times throughout the text. An Irish immigrant who arrived in New York City as a 10 year old when his family fled the Potato Famine, Thomas joined the Police Department as a patrolman at the age of 21 after serving two years in the Union Army. Making a name for himself through acts of valor and the solving of major cases such as the Manhattan Savings Institution heist, Byrnes rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming a Sergeant in 1869, Captain in 1870, Inspector and Chief of Detectives in 1880, and finally Superintendent in 1892. While his methods of investigation may appear out-dated today (for more information, see 17th Street’s history blog about Thomas), they were considered successful at the time and his reputation as New York’s premier detective was undisputed.

Unfortunately for Byrnes, the Reverend Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst’s allegations of police corruption and the Lexow Committee investigation that followed, spelled the end of his career. He finally tendered his resignation in 1895 when the crusading Theodore Roosevelt, who was determined to stamp out corruption on the force, was placed on the board of police commissioners by the new reform-minded Mayor William L. Strong. The Alienist, which is set in 1896, takes place approximately one year after the events that had led to Byrnes’ resignation.

Click here to read more. Warning: Contains spoilers for The Alienist

While Byrnes is mentioned several times in reference to the scandal that led to his departure as well as his methods of detection, we don’t meet him until John Moore and Dr. Kreizler are taken at gunpoint to the meeting with church officials and anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock at financier J. P. Morgan’s mansion on Madison Avenue. It is at this meeting that we discover Byrnes’ opposition to the investigation which led him to place former Detective Sergeant Patrick Connor on the team’s tail, as well as attempting–in collaboration with church officials who fear an uprising of the immigrant population–to pay off the families of the victims. Byrnes does not believe this spate of murders is solvable by his or Dr. Kreizler’s “ass-backwards” methods, and he is of the view that so long as the public believe the case to be unsolvable “no one can be blamed for not solving it.”

Even though J. P. Morgan is convinced by Dr. Kreizler’s arguments in favour of continuing the investigation, he explains to Kreizler and John that he believes, “Byrnes will continue to harass you, in an effort to preserve the methods and organization he has spent so many years establishing. And he will have Comstock’s support.” True to this prediction, Connor and his associates continue to track the team as they go on with the investigation. However, it quickly becomes apparent that although Byrnes had originally placed Connor on the team’s tail, neither he nor Comstock may be calling all the shots. Even John is surprised by an attack they receive while on the road; as he explains to Kreizler, “Long-range assassins don’t really seem like Comstock’s style, though. Or Byrnes’s, for that matter.” How much blame can therefore be attributed to Byrnes for the events that follow in the novel is unclear. He makes no further appearances, and Connor appears willing to act in ways that would not please his “bosses.”

Want to know more? See 17th Street’s history blog about Thomas Byrnes.

Sources and further reading: J. North Conway, “The Big Policeman: The Rise and Fall of America’s First, Most Ruthless, and Greatest Detective” (2010), Richard Zacks, “Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York” (2012), and Wilbur R. Miller (Ed.), “The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia” (2012).

Comstock, Anthony

Appears in The Alienist

The fanatical moral reformer Anthony Comstock (1844-1915) only appears in The Alienist on one occasion, but he plays an important role in the novel behind the scenes. Born in Connecticut and raised in a devout Congregationalist home, Comstock served two years in the Union Army before moving to New York City where he married and found work in a dry-goods establishment. Appalled by the city’s rampant vice, Comstock helped to form the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1872. The following year, he came to prominence for convincing legislators that abortion and birth control was as much of a threat to public morality as the “obscene” material (i.e., pornography and indecent literature) targeted by existing legislation. He argued that the consumption of such material resulted from increasing promiscuity among younger generations that was concealed through contraceptive use and abortifacients. Until this point, there had been no federal restrictions on abortion or birth control.

As a result of Comstock’s lobbying, Congress passed An Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use, better known as the Comstock Law, in 1873. The act strengthened existing legislation as well as banning the importation, sale, or distribution of any materials relating to abortion or contraception. Penalties for breaking the law included fines of up to $5,000, or jail and hard labor for a maximum of 10 years. Following the passage of the act, Comstock was appointed as a “special agent” of the United States Postal Service, a role he maintained from 1873 to 1915. During his time as Postal Censor, Comstock’s zealous enforcement of the law resulted in more than 3,600 arrests, and drove at least sixteen people to suicide, including the well-known abortionist Ann Lohman.

Although originally concerned with birth control and abortion, Comstock’s moral crusade had expanded to such a point by the time The Alienist was set in 1896 that he was even attempting to suppress nudity in artwork and medical anatomy textbooks, resulting in indiscriminate raids on art galleries and art schools. By this time, he had also written several books to educate the public about moral dangers in the urban environment.

Click here to read more. Warning: Contains spoilers for The Alienist

We don’t meet Anthony Comstock in The Alienist until John Moore and Dr. Kreizler are taken at gunpoint to the meeting with church officials and former Police Superintendent Thomas Byrnes at the financier J. P. Morgan’s mansion. At this meeting we discover that Comstock has been among those trying to hinder progress in the investigation. While Byrnes’ opposition related to a concern that the team’s methods may threaten his legacy, and church officials feared an uprising of the immigrant population, Comstock’s opposition was rooted in his fear that through becoming “actively involved in civic affairs,” Dr. Kreizler would “spread unrest by discrediting the values of the American family and society.” Specifically, he believed that Dr. Kreizler’s theory of context “speaks against freedom, against responsibility,” and is ultimately “un-American.” In Comstock’s view, the investigation therefore needed to be stopped because if the team were to succeed, Dr. Kreizler’s dangerous ideas “might gain greater credence.” (For more on this, see Part Two of the 17th Street blog about the themes of The Alienist.)

Even though J. P. Morgan is convinced by Dr. Kreizler’s arguments in favour of continuing the investigation, he explains to Kreizler and John that he believes, “Byrnes will continue to harass you, in an effort to preserve the methods and organization he has spent so many years establishing. And he will have Comstock’s support.” True to this prediction, the team continues to be tailed as they go on with the investigation. However, it quickly becomes apparent that although Byrnes and Comstock may have originally been responsible for having the team followed, neither individual may now be calling all the shots. Even John is surprised by an attack they receive while on the road. Kreizler is convinced that Comstock is behind the attack, but John disagrees: “Long-range assassins don’t really seem like Comstock’s style, though.” How much blame can therefore be attributed to Comstock for the events that follow in the novel is unclear.

Sources and further reading: Kenneth T. Jackson (Ed.), “The Encyclopaedia of New York City” (1995), Wilbur R. Miller (Ed.), “The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia” (2012), and Luc Sante, “Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York” (1991).

Connor, Detective Sergeant Patrick

Appears in The Alienist

John Moore, journalist and narrator of The Alienist, first meets Detective Sergeant Patrick Connor when he views the body of Giorgio Santorelli atop the Manhattan-side anchor of the Williamsburg Bridge in the opening chapters of the novel. Described only as slit-eyed and bearded, Connor is an adherent of the policing practices and attitudes that prevailed under Thomas Byrnes, the former police superintendent who had been forced into retirement the preceding year as a result of the wave of reform that followed the Lexow Committee’s investigation into police corruption. After initially causing Dr. Laszlo Kreizler consternation for spreading false information about the identity of Giorgio’s murderer to members of the press, it does not take long before Connor is expelled from the force after it is discovered that he had also beaten Giorgio Santorelli’s father unconscious for refusing a bribe from a mysterious group attempting to hush the murder up.

Click here to read more. Warning: Contains spoilers for The Alienist

Despite his removal from the police force, Connor reappears later in the investigation when he forces John Moore and Dr. Kreizler into an ambulance at gunpoint in order to transport them to a meeting with the mysterious group composed of church officials, anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, and even the former police superintendent who have been covering up the murders and are opposed to the team’s investigation. Although the moderator for this meeting, the powerful financier J. P. Morgan, gives his approval for the investigation to continue after hearing Dr. Kreizler’s arguments in its favor, it soon becomes apparent that Connor and his associates—working under orders from others in the group who remain steadfastly opposed to the investigation—are determined to continue tracking Dr. Kreizler and the rest of the team as they perform their investigation, with tragic consequences.

When Dr. Kreizler and John leave New York City to follow a promising lead toward the conclusion of the investigation, Connor and his men lose track of their quarry and invade Dr. Kreizler’s house to establish his whereabouts from his household staff. Employing their usual strong-arm tactics, Connor and his associates attempt to beat the answer out of Dr. Kreizler’s young ward, Stevie Taggert; however, they are thwarted in this attempt by Mary Palmer, the Doctor’s housekeeper and love interest, who attempts to fight them off with a kitchen knife. Although she is successful in scaring them off—with her knife ending up in Connor’s side—she is knocked to the bottom of a flight of stairs during this altercation, and breaks her neck.

Even though Dr. Kreizler removes himself from the investigation at this point in order to care for Stevie and grieve the loss of Mary, it eventually transpires that Connor and his men have continued to track Dr. Kreizler’s movements. On the night Dr. Kreizler agrees to rejoin the investigation—a night when he knows the murderer, John Beecham, will strike—Connor follows Dr. Kreizler to the site of the final confrontation with Beecham, and intervenes with the intention of ensuring that Beecham is killed once and for all. Although Dr. Kreizler foresees this eventuality and takes steps to ensure their safety by hiring additional protection in the form of gangster Jack McManus, Connor still manages to kill Beecham before Sara Howard arrives on the scene and finally stops the former Detective Sergeant with a fatal shot from her revolver.

Corrigan, Michael

Appears in The Alienist

Archbishop Corrigan is of the Catholic Church and worked with Bishop Potter of the Episcopal Church to try to put a stop to the investigation into the Beecham case within The Alienist.

Darrow, Clarence

Appears in The Angel of Darkness

Clarence Darrow is a famous attorney who the team come up against in The Angel of Darkness when he defends Libby Hatch during the murder trial at Ballston Spa.

Want to know more? See 17th Street’s prominent figures page.

Devlin, Katharine (“Kat”)

Appears in The Angel of Darkness

Kat is a close friend and love interest of Stevie Taggert. She was originally a country girl who came into the city with her father. In order to make ends meet, she began working in New York as a prostitute in Frankie’s dive where she subsequently became addicted to cocaine (“burny”). Within The Angel of Darkness she is working for Ding Dong, who is with a gang known as the Hudson Dusters. She helps out the team but tragically is murdered by Libby Hatch toward the end of the investigation.

Dury, Japheth (also known as John Beecham)

Appears in The Alienist

Midway through The Alienist, the investigative team send enquiries to a number of hospitals looking for former patients who may fit the profile they have developed for the killer they have been hunting. A promising response from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington D.C. about a discharged soldier with a facial tick prompts Dr. Kreizler and John Moore to visit the city in search of further information. While there, John also visits the Bureau of Indian Affairs to search for cases of disputes between natives and white settlers that may relate to the investigation.

While John is searching the records at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he comes across an interesting case relating to the violent killing of a minister named Victor Dury and his wife at their New Paltz, New York home sixteen years earlier; a murder that had been attributed to embittered Indians at the time. The only survivor of the attack was their youngest son, Japheth Dury, who was said to have been kidnapped by his parents’ killers.

Click here to read more. Warning: Contains major spoilers for The Alienist

Dr. Kreizler, meanwhile, obtains further details about the soldier who had been treated at St. Elizabeth’s for unstable and violent behaviour before being discharged from the Army, an officer known as John Beecham. Seeing that Beecham had listed his birth place as New Paltz, New York, Kreizler and John decide to follow the lead by visiting the home of Adam Dury, the elder brother of Japheth, to learn more about his parents’ murder and his brother’s kidnapping.

During their visit to his farm in Massachusetts, Adam Dury reveals that he and his brother had been raised in an unhappy home. His father, a zealous minister, had dreamed of raising a large family to send to the west for missionary work. While Mrs. Dury had been proud of her husband’s ministry work and performed her housekeeping duties as a wife without complaint, she disliked sexual intercourse and only endured her husband’s physical advances reluctantly, preventing her husband from raising the large family he had dreamed of. When her husband lost his post, the couple drifted further apart and rarely spoke or touched. Finally, under the influence of alcohol, the frustrated Victor Dury raped his wife. The terrible incident resulted in an unwanted pregnancy that led to the birth of the couple’s youngest son, Japheth.

As a living reminder of her husband’s violent actions that night, Japheth became an object of loathing for his mother. She blamed him for every unpleasant moment of motherhood, even when he was only in his infancy and had no control over his bodily functions, and took delight in telling him that he was really the son of “dirty, man-eating savages who’d left him in a bundle at [their] door” (A 348). Adam Dury went on to explain that as a result of these experiences Japheth grew up to be an odd boy with a disturbing interest in torturing small animals he trapped during the mountaineering and hunting trips the two brothers enjoyed taking together. He also developed a facial tick that was only absent while trapping. Adding to Japheth’s traumatic youth, he was also violently raped by a farmhand named George Beecham who his older brother had mistakenly entrusted to care for him while on one of their hunting trips when he was only eleven years old.

Upon hearing this story, it becomes clear to Dr. Kreizler and John Moore that Japheth Dury was likely the murderer of his own parents, and that he and John Beecham were really the same person, with Japheth having taken the surname of his abuser after fleeing his parents’ murder scene. Once back in New York, the team discover that following Japheth’s brief career as a soldier, he had moved to the city where he lived with a landlady in Greenwich Village while working for the Census Bureau, a job that would allow him to come in contact with children and research his victims. After being dismissed from the Bureau for “paying excessive and disturbing attention to a child” (A 419), he took a job as a debt collector and moved to his final residence in a dilapidated tenement flat on the Lower East Side, the location where the team obtain definitive proof that he is the killer they are chasing along with evidence of where he intends to commit his final murder.

El Niño

Appears in The Angel of Darkness

A Filipino aborigine pygmy who, prior to the investigation within The Angel of Darkness, worked for the Linares family as a servant for many years. However, when he finds out Ana has been abducted and Señora Linares has gone behind her husband’s back to find her daughter, he joins the team in the hunt for Libby Hatch.

Ellison, James T. “Biff”

Appears in The Alienist

Biff runs Paresis Hall and is a member of the Five Pointers gang. Like the other members of the Five Pointers, he plays a moderate sized role within The Alienist.

Hatch, Clara

Appears in The Angel of Darkness

Clara is the only living child of Libby Hatch. She survived her mother’s attempt at murder and after this traumatic experience, in which she got shot through the chest, Clara was fostered by the Weston family who have given her a loving home. Despite this, she has never completely recovered and by the events of The Angel of Darkness, she is no longer able to speak. Dr. Kreizler works extensively with her and amazingly she begins to speak again, finally able to tell her story.

Hatch, Libby (Elspeth Fraser/Franklin/Hunter)

Appears in The Angel of Darkness

Libby Hatch is the child abductor and murderer that the investigative team are chasing in The Angel of Darkness. She was born Elspeth Franklin but through different marriages has also had the surnames Fraser, Hunter, and Hatch.

Kelly, Paul

Appears in The Alienist

Kelly is a famous gangster whose gang, the Five Pointers, has the territory “between Broadway and the Bowrey and from Fourteenth Street to City Hall”. He also runs the New Brighton Dance Hall on Great Jones Street. He is quite influential during the investigation within The Alienist.

McManus, “Eat-‘Em-Up” Jack

Appears in The Alienist

Member of the Five Pointers gang who looks after Paul Kelly’s New Brighton Dance Hall. Plays a moderate sized role within The Alienist and comes to Dr. Kreizler’s aid when he and John confront John Beecham.

Morgan, John Pierpont

Appears in The Alienist

J.P. Morgan is one of the greatest financial powers of the late 1800s. Within The Alienist he backs Bishop Potter, Archbishop Corrigan, ex-Inspector Byrnes, and Anthony Comstock’s group opposition to the investigation into John Beecham. After a private meeting with Dr. Kreizler and John Moore, however, he decides allow the investigation to continue provided that a quick conclusion is able to be reached.

Want to know more? See 17th Street’s prominent figures page.

Palmer, Mary

Appears in The Alienist

Mary Palmer, an attractive young woman afflicted with classic motor aphasia (characterised by the extreme difficulty speaking even though comprehension abilities are preserved) and agraphia (an inability to express thoughts in writing), is employed as Dr. Laszlo Kreizler’s housekeeper for the duration of The Alienist. We learn early in the novel that Dr. Kreizler had first discovered Mary at the Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island where she had been involuntarily committed following the murder of her father in which she had chained him to his bed and set the house alight. Although Mary had been considered idiotic from early childhood due to her communication deficits, she appeared to have been cared for adequately by her family and had been taught to perform menial household duties as she was growing up. The murder of her father, a respectable schoolteacher, when she was only seventeen years old had therefore been considered an act of insanity, and she had been committed to the asylum as a result.

During his early consultations with Mary, Dr. Kreizler was struck by the lack of the symptoms she displayed for the only psychological disorder he felt constituted true insanity (dementia praecox, now known as schizophrenia), and he quickly determined her true diagnosis of motor aphasia and agraphia. After spending a number of weeks gaining Mary’s trust and developing a means of rudimentary communication with her, he went on to discover the shocking truth that her father had been sexually assaulting her for years prior to his murder. When the subsequent legal review of her case resulted in Mary walking free from the asylum, she managed to communicate to Dr. Kreizler that she would make a good employee for his household staff, and as her communication deficits would make it difficult for her to find employment elsewhere, the doctor agreed to take her on.

Click here to read more. Warning: Contains major spoilers for The Alienist

Unlike Dr. Kreizler’s other household staff who play an active part in the investigation, Mary’s role in The Alienist is relatively small as her employer makes it clear from the outset that he doesn’t want her to be involved in the case. Instead, John Moore suspects there is a love triangle between Dr. Kreizler, Sara Howard, and Mary, with Sara assumed to have captured the doctor’s heart and Mary feeling unrequited love for her employer. It is not until Dr. Kreizler’s life is threatened while searching for information about the team’s primary suspect in Massachusetts that he reveals to John that he is not in love with Sara; rather, he has been experiencing reciprocal feelings for Mary for quite some time, but the “complicated” nature of their relationship (first as patient and doctor, then as employee and employer) has made it difficult for him to acknowledge his feelings. Tragically, Dr. Kreizler and Mary’s relationship is never able to progress beyond employee and employer as Mary is killed when a group opposed to the investigation try to obtain information about the doctor’s whereabouts while he is out of the city and invade his home.

Picton, Rupert

Appears in The Angel of Darkness

Mr. Picton is an old friend of John Moore and a lawyer in the town of Ballston Spa. He suffers from a condition known as pressured speech but despite this, he is still able to perform well as the investigative team’s lawyer in the court case against Libby Hatch. Tragically, he is murdered by Libby at the conclusion of the trial.

Potter, Henry

Appears in The Alienist

Bishop Potter is of the Episcopal Church. He is works with Archbishop Corrigan of the Catholic Church to try and put a stop to the investigation into the Beecham case within The Alienist.

Riley, “Razor”

Appears in The Alienist

One of Biff Ellison’s men who uses a knife to do his killing (hence the nickname “Razor”). He plays a small role within The Alienist.

Roosevelt, Theodore

Appears in The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness

Theodore is a major character in The Alienist as the New York City Police Commissioner. He also plays a minor role in The Angel of Darkness as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He is a friend of both Dr. Kreizler and John Moore.

Want to know more? See 17th Street’s prominent figures page.

Strong, William L.

Appears in The Alienist

Colonel Strong is the mayor of New York City during the events of The Alienist and is against the involvement of Dr. Kreizler in any investigation into the Beecham murders.