Tag: Alienist Characters

Thomas Byrnes, New York’s Premier Detective

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Last year I began the slow process of completing the supporting character profiles for the historical figures that appear in The Alienist. To do this, I have aimed to read at least one biography for each of these figures to aid me in completing their profile. While this proved to be a fascinating process for the first figure on my list, Police Superintendent Thomas Byrnes, it has resulted in my putting together a considerably longer profile than I had originally intended! As a result, I have only posted a summary of Byrnes’ role in the novel on the supporting characters list, and have decided to post his full character profile here instead as a history blog. So, if you are interested in learning more about this complex and interesting character, please read on. For any interested visitors, you can find the sources used in putting together this profile at the conclusion of the blog.

Early Life and Career

Although Thomas Byrnes, 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. Born in Ireland in 1842, Thomas arrived in New York City as a 10 year old when his family fled the Potato Famine, and grew up in the notorious Five Points district. When his father began drinking heavily and walked out on the family following the death of Thomas’ younger brother, Thomas and his mother were left to fend for themselves. To help them get by, Father Coogan of St. Patrick’s Cathedral managed to obtain a position for Thomas as helper in a firehouse, while his mother worked as a seamstress and his two sisters found employment as house maids. Even though Thomas had never been formally schooled, Father Coogan helped in this as well by providing his young charge with books for self-education.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, 19 year old Thomas joined Ellsworth’s Zouaves, the Eleventh New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and served during the Battle of Bull Run. He did not otherwise see much combat during his two years in the Union Army, and returned to New York following his discharge from the service in 1863. Shortly after this, he joined the New York City Police Department as a patrolman, and saw his first major action when the draft riots broke out. During the riots, in which a mob of Irish immigrants caused nearly $3 million of damage to the city and killed eighteen men during a week long spree following the first military draft, Thomas was recognised for his valiant efforts to protect the 233 children in the Orphan Asylum for Coloured Children, as well as assisting Police Superintendent John A. Kennedy who had been violently attacked and was lucky to escape with his life. Byrnes quickly rose through the ranks during the period that followed, becoming a Sergeant in 1869 and Captain of the Fifteenth Precinct in 1870 at only 28 years of age.

Byrnes’ posting in the Fifteenth Precinct undoubtedly helped his remarkable rise from Captain to Chief Inspector of the Detective Bureau during the ten years that followed. During his time as Captain, Byrnes investigated a myriad of cases ranging from petty theft to murder, and his name appeared in newspaper crime reports on an almost weekly basis. None of his cases, however, were was as well-publicised as the Manhattan Savings Institution heist of 1878. The robbery remains one of the greatest in New York’s history, with $3 million in bonds and cash (over $50 million in today’s dollars) stolen from the bank’s vault. During the long and complex investigation that followed, Byrnes successfully identified most of the culprits but there was a frustrating lack of convictions in the case due to the suspected bribery of jurors. Even so, the case helped to cement Byrnes’ reputation as an unrelenting crime fighter willing to go to any lengths to protect the interests of New York’s wealthiest citizens.

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Patrick Connor Character Profile

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It has long bothered me that The Alienist’s supporting characters do not yet have completed character profiles here on 17th Street, particularly the historical figures. In order to correct this, I have decided to devote the next several months to finally completing the profiles once and for all. By way of beginning, you can find the newly completed character profile for Detective Sergeant Patrick Connor below as well as on the supporting characters list.

I cannot predict how long it will take me to complete the rest of the profiles given that most are historical figures, and I will be aiming to read at least one biography for each figure to aid me in completing their profile. I apologise for the lack of updates this will undoubtedly produce, but I’m sure you would agree with me that completed profiles for all the supporting characters are long overdue, and I hope you will understand why I’m taking the time away from the blog in order to finally complete this section of the site.

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 the 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 <em>The Alienist</em>

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.

Theodore Roosevelt on Film (1898-1919)

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While I continue to work on new content for 17th Street, I am featuring another collection of short films today that were collated by the Library of Congress into a playlist entitled Theodore Roosevelt – His Life and Times on Film. The films in this collection were described by the Library of Congress as follows:

Theodore Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to have his career and life chronicled on a large scale by motion picture companies (even though his predecessors, Grover Cleveland and William McKinley, were the first to be filmed). This presentation features films which record events in Roosevelt’s life from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to his death in 1919. The majority of films are from the Theodore Roosevelt Association Collection, while the remainder are from the Paper Print Collection. Besides containing scenes of Roosevelt, these films include views of world figures, politicians, monarchs, and friends and family members of Roosevelt who influenced his life and the era in which he lived. Commemorative events up to 1921 are also included as well as silent documentaries compiled from earlier footage by the Theodore Roosevelt Association between 1919 and 1928.

As with the New York early films playlist featured last week, you can view all the films in this playlist by clicking “Play”. Alternatively, you can view individual films by clicking the word “Playlist” in the top left hand corner of the film box and selecting a specific film after clicking the “Play” button.

Mary Palmer Character Profile

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She was “the only woman he ever loved” and she now has a character profile on 17th Street. Following from Japheth Dury’s character profile being added to the supporting characters page of the full character list earlier this month, Mary Palmer’s character profile has now been completed and can also be found on the supporting characters page. In addition, the spoiler warning feature has been added to the profiles that appear on the main characters page of the full character list.

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 <em>The Alienist</em>

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.