A little bit about the speaker. We are excited tode have chris derose. We just got the call last week so we are thrilled that he took time away to reach out to us for his appearance. But he is a New York Times best selling author for the starspangled scandal. Former senior litigation counsel to the Arizona Attorney general. They constitutional and International Law and clerk of superior court for americas fourthlargest county maricopa. On the board of directors of the Abraham Lincoln association and the board of scholarly advisers toto president lincolns cottag. He and his wife reside in phoenixgh. Without further introduction, i present to you, chris derose. And i am reading and to be absolutely focused as the country teetered toward civil war. But then i was doing Research Going down that rabbit hole. And so in did one indeed he did go to Lafayette Square. United states attorney for the Nations Capital and one of most prestigious and important families. So to set all of this in motion with James Buchanan is persuasive speaker and is talked about for big things in the futures and the washington social scene. And the thursday after when they had gone to the after party at Willards Hotel and then for the messenger waiting for him to come to him with a letter as follows. Dear sir, with deep regret this indispensable duty compels me to do so so he is not a gentleman by any means and i believe the District Attorney by the man john gray and for no other purpose as a signal to her to leave the door unfastened to walk in and i do assure you and for you to iimagine rpg nobody knows what the offer is that was left to the imagination that was a shocking clarity. And that gossip is the coin of the realm and every story but then to realize he will have to verify one or another. And then to be completely offended going to the house of representatives and in the dictionary he wears a black bowlerer hat with a huge upper body walking on crutches because of paralysis. Walking with crutches and a bowler hat he first meetsts sickles and an old tammany person he manages a brothel and hears all kinds of things in that capacity and then to print the stories and rumors in the press and he realizes as a newspaper editor and to blackmail people to see the names in the newspaper or so then before he leaves so the manager of the show and then makes a connection with senators sick all. To be a clerk in the house of representatives so his oldns friend that he confides in so they begin a stakeout in the neighborhood to go north of the white house where they are supposedly meeting. Everybody talks about what is happening the most exciting thing going on. To see martin key going into the house. So they try to catch these two going into the house to catch them in the t act. They could match o the clothing description with an outfit owned by teresa. And Daniel Sickles over the next few days will follow what was happening and hes not far off the mark. Indeed he tries to deny that if he could build the evidence any further. And then to get to the construction about what happened in this house or at the house that was rented for that specific purpose with a man that he believed to be his earnest friend and then trying to figure out what he would do about it. So he sends nathaniel butterworth and with those democratic administrations to test the theory of american coins and with that tammany style and butterworth was in the room with those congressionalit sessions and nobody will knowce what happened that is pretty great advice nebut that route closed off for me and inter barton key who shows up in Lafayette Square and in the westside and is known as the you will house. And owned by the fathers general view will. And then to come to the Nations Capital and to have big dreams to open a hospital with alcoholism or some financial mismanagement so he lives west of Lafayette Square and key walks into Lafayette Park that is the prearranged signal to go meet him at the rendezvous house. s everything he has built up his entire life is aspirations, the assembly man and state senator and congressman with his beautiful wife that has betrayed him with one of his best friends and trying to figure out what to do and Lafayette Park waving a handkerchief. And so butterworth actually reads try to go to Lafayette Square it is a private members club and with the civil war its the home of the occupied and then they giggle at the conclusion of the civil war so butterworth goes and they have a conversation then you see Daniel Sickles and he says you have dishonored and brings three guns to the fight and a trenchcoat on an unseasonably warm day and then to kill the usan attorney then they go to the home of the attorney general. So wordofmouth spreads that sickles is the killer people leave the boarding houses and they all try to get a look at what is happening so they show up at the clubhouse with one witness after another. People going to sickles house to come and get arrested to go and say goodbye to his wife and the promise for the Police Officers who just killed the attorney for dc and says i have killed him. So this is just the beginning it gets crazier from here. And then to create a Media Firestorm thisll be the most covered event in Human History up to this point with newspaper articles from hawaii, bermuda and almost every newspaper in the United Kingdom i found a booklet and the entire world is paying attention to this fantastic case and that we as americans all follow together and so people find out about this story up to this point and so friends are finding out about it that evening so to get it out on the wire to hit the morning n newspaper. So to talktl about how news was changing with that concept the very expensive commercial newspapers they were very expensive. Nothing exciting. With the Political Parties and then the Printing Press with the 1930s to talk about fires or animal stories and tragedies and true crime. And they made money by selling advertising. Then theyea have to rely on businessmen and then the Lightning Press was introduced the number of newspapers that could be printed, you could get a story like this hours after it happened and they were shockingly detailed. And then to verify things. And then there is all kinds of false information. And intimate about these reporters that yes it really was the last to know what was happening so that was very familiar to us today and its never been more relevant. So sickles to survive the hangman snooze and after with the federal prosecutor in broad daylight with a possible legal team eat your heart out Johnny Cochran the first legal dream teamea assembled to defend nathaniel sickles. And then to represent them but in with family members and friends and by the end of the first day including most famously the bandit and with his eternal glory and now a prominent lawyer in washington dc. So the prosecution is based on James Carlisle who was one of the first choice to represent him. And then to be assistant secretary to be in charge of pow for the confederacy with a Jefferson Davis lawyer. But at the time the deputy he actually wasnt the best us attorney that basically because of his family and political connection and with those important responsibilities to put all the work off on him. To have the biggest microscope in the history of the world and then appointed by president buchanan to be key of the us attorney as a phenomenon of American History and thenin to be appointed in a murder case. And then with judge crawford presided by president polk almost every major trial in washington dc up to that point. So one thing that struck me about the book is all the fascinatingg people who participated in some way who were part of the life of Daniel Sickles and meets his wife teresa when she is very young and in the house of her grandfather they are preparing him for entry to the university of new york. His name is lorenzo most famous but starts off as a young man and becomes a priest he decides that life is not for him. Ultimately he is expelled from the city of venice because of his residence inhi a brothel. So he finds his way to where he connects with mozart going to operas. And then find his way back to new york city with the first opera company. Previously she was adopted that thought to be very biological. And could be the mother of teresa but she is just a little girl when sickles moved in as a border but he stayed in touch with the family as his career progresses and enters into law and a new york assemblyman then as teresa grows up because of the age difference so then they marry in secret and they never said that one was for grand gestures but with that archbishop of new york then you have the mayor of new york city and should have portended good things. So sickles will go off when James Buchanan and wants to be the first from andrew jackson. And with that stature and confirm with jamesr buchanan now former secretary of state a long time senator and congressman he says hes not interested in the appointmentnt but makes every concession and meets every demand so he is a really good aid and then to make the connection he hitches his wagon of alaska rear Public Service and in the end of going to the United Kingdom together and then with those multiple languages and then to promote the United States like in victorias court so the prohibition of statehood because then he will come back to make a way for James Buchanan to run for president. But he tried to put an end to his career in fact with the missouri compromise and with Election Fraud in kansas with the hope of winning the presidency as someone who was untainted in any way. So that is what they ensure would be the next president of the United States so he laid the groundwork and then to be in line with the administration but not about that recurring theme but his own man in fact let me read something to you which that talks about his general life and rights think of him at gettysburg. I cannot play to the multitudes much less individuals i know all the consequences in many years i have resolved to enjoy it and made this inevitably be paid i cannot prove it or recommend it to any friend but it is mine and i will follow it come what may. That is sickles at his home in Lafayette Square wanting to kill the chief federal prosecutor of the District Of Columbia a crowd out of washington dc. Sickles will run for congress. So he immediately distinguishes himself and becomes renowned as an expert of Foreign Affairs and military policy. Speaker of the house was the most capable member and everything is going well. But then what we can see is to throw the best parties its also they best way of the legislator journalist and the cabinet so those constant salaries that doesnt pay four months worth of activities. That means is also been away from washington and he was so glad to escort her to events but they were introduced through a mutual friend. When he was hoping to hold onto his job that was taken over from a fellow democrat and then hes trying to send out the appointees packing and so the us marshall makes the connection and then he says here on behalf of my dear friendnd sickles is happy to do it. So now what friendship was launched. But teresa had a stalker by the name of stephen and in the process of stalking her he would hang around in dc and he sees she is going out writing on her own and then sees they have disappeared into a hotel for a short time then they come out together. He finds himself summoned to their home i would never want to be summoned to the home of Daniel Sickles he demands he tells him what he has been saying about him but he denies what he says. And thats enough for sickles to goha back to his obliviousness so then key and teresa were concerned about being discovered then two weeks later they were together at the most popular bar in washington run by the wife of a senator and known for its opulence but for the fact many people there like Jefferson DavisWilliam Seward they will meet on unfriendly terms everyone is washington is there and it is a stimulus for the costume acres sickles is indisposed and his wife shows up as little Red Riding Hood and key shows up as the huntsman and they ended up leavinguo together. So if discretion w was really called for then that could be found. And then with the situation to say i dont have anything but father the feeling she is like one of my daughters. Eventuallys daniels is a yankee he will not do anything about it but i am prepared and then he pats the coat where he has a firearm and says that is a subject of a lot of contention and rumor and speculation. But he is wrong in his estimate of sickles to go about it. Of course this leads to the most incredible 20 day trial were normally they get resolved in an afternoon as a former prosecutor former courtroom criminal lawyer really the most extraordinary case i have ever come across but the template for every scandal that follows everyone acwas outlined for entertainment and news to edify and learn about what is sensational and exciting and that is where we find ourselves today. So i am delighted to spend this time withth you to tell this story about sickles momentous time so now i will open the floor to questions. Thank you for being here and your attention its an honor to set here as part of the anniversary celebration. [applause] so what was your take temporary insanity quick. You have the insanity defense brought over from the United Kingdom. It is relatively new. You dont know what you are doing is wrong or you dont understand what it is you ares doing so it is a relatively neww defense but if you plead insanityty to be in conversations with people and then after the incident you can have all kinds of conversation and then to encounter the former us senator who had forgotten to wipe the mud off of his boots knowing that sickles was packing a hot pistol to keel the chief federal prosecutor but he asked questions about pennsylvania politics so their avenue is to say at some point before putting on the trenchcoatoang and when he hits the ground and then with the pistol misfires but it was quite a brutal killing and shots were fired and that was the avenue but that was for the temporary insanity plea but also they said it was an argument about the straight justification so he had an affair with his wife and sickles is justified to gun him down and make that case to the drawer on the estuary although contrary to the instructions they go for the nullification argument if you dont buyar that than the gun that we found on the ground that was keith gun so how do you know that isnt that is part of selfdefense argument if you dont buy that then Daniel Sickles is temporarily insane for a few minutes. So what you have is the jury getting advanced pseudoscience that you are entitled and they are convinced that you are justified to kill the seducer of your wife and this will start a trend in the United States it is called the unwritten law. So for almost a century in america the most rigidly adhere to live in the United States that youll never find in any statute or in any case it was absently followed and what you see juries will acquit people who commit murder to avenge their own or their families honor or the honor of a female relation and even a female would successfully invoke the wall one invoke the law there were a thousand cases never chargedus and judges would issue direct verdicts if it could get to the jury they would often acquit if they found the circumstances that somebody had killed to avenge the families honor and if the jury is convicted it would be a nominal sentence and the judge did issue a serious sentence that governor would pardon it. As an example, in kentucky with a classic unwritten law scenario scenario, he kills the man, the governor announces and charges him and mconvict him doesnt even bother. But even remarkable is the governors son as an elected official you are expected to pardon the killer of your own unson. And another in South Carolina, carolina, 1890, post reconstruction black and finds his wife in bed with a white man. And he kills him for go the governor of South Carolina pardoned the black man because thats a Public Opinion dictate that was even more powerful than jim crow or statesponsored segregation in South Carolina. Were not talking about ancient history but also pop possible to punishd someone from this one or a female relation from that responsibility to marry them and a number of scenarios like that and as a lawyer i had no idea about this until i started to research the case but really becoming a conversation in the living room in the United States and under those claims but afterwords and that was a century. So he had been found guilty was the option there would not be executed cracks. The only option of the judges command i am pretty confidentfi judge crawford but really he plays the away game. But they also mistakingly think they run washington. So congress and everyone has gone home and those who are in charge of the trial it is southern and unapologetic and he is part of the firmament of the city they come and go congressmen come and go. So he had the Polk Administration and also under multiple president s. And the bar of washington dc in particular would be on a death sentence to avenge the friends through the us attorney that would have happened if he convicted sickles. But there was aly time it looks like that may happen because you dont want he wanted to have an affair with his wife but then you have a few weeks to consider it. Even if that person has done somethingg wrong. So the delay to bring this to trial but then not facing trial until april. So to have time to think about it that if i made on the jury i would have voted to convict. So the one thing that i would say is that president buchanan were to pardonn him im not sure but buchanan got his own problems at the time hes thinking about another term and from that Democratic Party will know what would have happened but that would be the option for the judge. Can you share. And fannie white is an incredible character. You cannot make these people up. People are novel about this. You would not find these characters to be too much so sickles and what is called at the academy he has been kicked out of school and back in new york working as a printer and then start is patronizing her establishment it is a higher and brothel were a lot of big names like to hang out so then he falls in love with sickles the only man in history to show up night after night at the most highpriced brothel at the city because even though he was making a lot off money in his career to move on to become a very successful lawyer then probably the Richest Woman in new york city and she likes expansive and fancy things but then to know that they sent a high price profit on brothel womens were not allowed in bars at the time but they would go to bars together. And one night they end up in jail and then sickles will not marry fanny fay. And then to introduce her that is the indifferent move that he will not marry fanny white. Is up for the mobile so fanny white finds out and from the hotel in new york city and i assume a singular event in history. Thanks for asking about fanny nys a lot of fun to read about her and any figure in American History. Any other questions . Thank you for being here. [applause] [inaudible conversations] again the associate director for the sentra biography supported by a generous grant and then to be arduous and those of