Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Gaslight Lawyers
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1948
WEBSITE:
CITY: Lexington
STATE: KY
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
Phone: (859) 257-1678
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 88247625
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n88247625
HEADING: Underwood, Richard H.
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373 __ |a University of Kentucky |2 naf
374 __ |a Lawyers |a Law teachers |2 lcsh
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670 __ |a His Trial ethics, c1988: |b title page (Richard H. Underwood, prof. of law, U of Kentucky)
670 __ |a Modern litigation and professional responsibility handbook, 2000 |b title page (Richard H. Underwood) data sheet (b. 1948)
670 __ |a Modern litigation and professional responsibility handbook, 1996 |b title page (Richard H. Underwood, Professor of Law, University of Kentucky)
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PERSONAL
Born 1948, in Columbus, OH.
EDUCATION:Ohio State University, B.S. (summa cum laude), 1969, J.D., 1976.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Legal scholar, educator, and writer. Clerk for U.S. District Judge David S. Porter, 1976-78; Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, Columbus, OH, attorney; University of Kentucky College of Law, Lexington, KY, instructor, 1980—, Edward T. Breathitt Professor of Law. Member of Kentucky Supreme Court Evidence Rules Review Commission.
MIILITARY:U.S. Army, served in Vietnam and Germany, 1969-73; earned rank of captain; awarded Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star.
AVOCATIONS:Folk music.
MEMBER:American Bar Association (fellow; standing committee on ethics and professional responsibility, 2011-14), Kentucky Bar Association (chair of ethics committee, 1984-98; chair of unauthorized practice committee, 1984-96; chair of model rules committee, 1988-89), Kentucky Bar Foundation (life fellow).
AWARDS:Special award, Kentucky Supreme Court, 1989, for work on Kentucky Rules of Professional Conduct; special award, Kentucky Bar Association Ethics and Unauthorized Practice Committees, 1998; IPPY Book of the Year Awards (two), and Indie Book of the Year Award, Foreword Reviews, both for CrimeSong.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Richard H. Underwood is a legal scholar, educator, and writer based in Lexington, Kentucky. Born in Columbus, Ohio, he earned a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in 1969. Shortly after, he joined the U.S. Army, serving in Vietnam and Germany. Underwood ended his service in 1973, having earned the rank of captain. He received the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star for his service. Underwood then returned to The Ohio State University, from which he obtained a law degree. After clerking for a a U.S. District Court judge and working at a Columbus law firm, Underwood joined the University of Kentucky College of Law. He is the Edward T. Breathitt Professor of Law at the institution. Underwood has cowritten legal textbooks, including Trial Ethics and Modern Litigation and Professional Responsibility Handbook: The Limits of Zealous Advocacy.
CrimeSong
In 2016, Underwood released CrimeSong: True Crime Stories from Southern Murder Ballads. In an interview with Ashley Ritchie and Whitney Harder, contributors to the University of Kentucky’s UKnow website, Underwood explained that he has had a longtime interest in American folk music and has researched murder ballads over the years. He stated: “I had written some of the material for CrimeSong in article form before, and the research was in one of my many stacks on the floor of my office—and at home. I felt like it was finally time to turn the stacks into books.” Among the songs whose stories he analyzes in the book are “Tom Dooley” (also known as “Tom Dula”), “Arch and Gordon,” “The Ballad of Mary Phagan,” and “Frankie and Johnny.” The true story behind “Frankie and Johnny” involves a prostitute from St. Louis named Frankie Baker and Albert Britt, her pimp and boyfriend. There is no Johnny in the real story. Frankie was deeply in love with Albert, but when she discovered he was running around with another prostitute called Nelly Bly, she confronted him. Albert threatened Frankie with a knife, so Frankie shot him. The bullet went through his liver, killing him. Frankie was tried for his murder, but she was released, as her case was ruled a self-defense situation. Frankie moved to Portland, Oregon and opened a shoe-shine parlor. Another ballad tells the true story of Pearl Drew, who killed her husband for cheating on her. The real events behind “The Ballad of Mary Phagan” involve the eponymous Phagan, who was killed by her boss, Leo Frank, when she was just thirteen years old. Frank was ultimately lynched in 1915. Underwood groups the songs into themes that are used to structure the book. He also discusses the music connected to the songs and explains how some have come to remain popular through the years.
“Overall, Underwood has written a delightful book about a gruesome subject. Even when he delves into the cases and their legal issues, he employs a light touch, sprinkling his accounts with humor,” asserted a contributor to Kirkus Reviews. Jayne Moore Waldrop, reviewer on the Lexington Courier-Journal website, commented: “CrimeSong … is a unique book that goes behind the words of well-known music to tell about the bad acts that inspired the songs.” Writing on the Lexington Herald-Leader website, Tom Eblen remarked: “Although a few of the ballads remain famous, most are long forgotten. But the stories behind them are as fresh as yesterday’s headlines: jealous lovers, illicit sex, love triangles and other dark corners of human nature.”
Gaslight Lawyers
In Gaslight Lawyers: Criminal Trials & Exploits in Gilded Age New York, Underwood highlights nefarious figures and notorious cases from the late-1800s in New York. Among those he profiles is William “Big Bill” Howe, a defense attorney who often employed melodrama in the courtroom. He paid journalists to write about his cases. Howe was also known for using the insanity defense regularly. Another figure in the book is William Travers Jerome, a prosecutor dedicated to cleaning up corruption in the system. He argued cases against crooked lawyers and often won. Underwood also chronicles the case of Ameer Ben Ali, a convicted killer, who was pardoned for murdering a woman. During Ben Ali’s trial, corrupt prosecutors attempted to convince the jury that he could have also committed the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper in London.
In an assessment of the book in Kirkus Reviews, a critic suggested: “Underwood is a masterful researcher, and he combs diligently through newspapers and trial transcripts to reconstruct these historical snapshots.” The same critic described Gaslight Lawyers as “an accessible, marvelously rigorous account of a bygone legal era.” “The book keeps a riveting pace throughout,” asserted Lillian Brown on the Foreword Reviews website. Brown concluded: “Gaslight Lawyers is a comprehensive and compelling addition to the true crime genre, offering a template for balancing characterization with content. Richard H. Underwood’s knowledge of law and order combined with his research into the underbelly of New York City’s Gaslight Era make for an exhilarating, informative read.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2016, review of CrimeSong:True Crime Stories from Southern Murder Ballads; September 15, 2017, review of Gaslight Lawyers: Criminal Trials & Exploits in Gilded Age New York.
ONLINE
Foreword Reviews Online, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (October 16, 2017), Lillian Brown, review of Gaslight Lawyers.
Lexington Courier-Journal Online, https://www.courier-journal.com/ (September 30, 2016), Jayne Moore Waldrop, review of CrimeSong.
Lexington Herald-Leader Online, http://www.kentucky.com/ (October 1, 2016), Tom Eblen, review of CrimeSong.
University of Kentucky College of Law website, http://law.uky.edu/ (June 6, 2018), author faculty profile.
University of Kentucky, UKnow website, http://uknow.uky.edu/ (September 2, 2016), Ashley Ritchie and Whitney Harder, review of CrimeSong.
Richard H. Underwood, American legal scholar and legal nonfiction and true crime writer, is the Edward T. Breathitt Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. His most recent book is Gaslight Lawyers: Criminal Trials & Exploits in Gilded Age New York (September 19, 2017). He is also the award-winning author of CrimeSong: True Crime Stories from Southern Murder Ballads (August 2016). CrimeSong received two IPPY Book of the Year Awards and was selected a Foreword Reviews INDIE Book of the Year (Bronze, True Crime). You can now enjoy Richard Underwood’s entertaining talk on his award-winning book CrimeSong: True Stories from Southern Murder Ballads from the comfort of your own home! There are also some traditional murder ballads interspersed throughout the hour-long recording, which adds a nice touch you are sure to enjoy. You can listen to the podcast on Soundcloud, or visit iTunes to listen to Underwood and subscribe to Mountain Talk Monday – every Tuesday!
Underwood was born in Columbus, Ohio, where he spent his early years. He graduated summa cum laude from The Ohio State University in 1969 and then entered the army. He served four years, with tours of duty in Germany and Vietnam, and later served as the security officer at the Presidio of San Francisco. Underwood left the army with the rank of captain, and he received a number of decorations, including the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star. He then attended the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. During his youth and college years, he developed an interest in American folk music.
Professor Underwood has made many presentations, including a Musicology lecture, “Murdered Girls,” dealing with legal cases memorialized in Southern murder ballads, at the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music (2011), in addition to lectures at the Second World Conference on New Trends in Criminal Investigation and Evidence (1999) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Worldwide Advocacy Conference (1998) at the Inns of Court School of Law, in London, England. In 2011, Underwood presented at the Bob Dylan and the Law Symposium, co-sponsored by the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, Touro Law Center, and the Fordham Urban Law Journal, in New York City.
He has taught a variety of courses, including Evidence, Scientific and Forensic Evidence, Litigation Skills (Trial Advocacy), Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, Insurance Law, Remedies, Law and Medicine, Bioethics, and Professional Responsibility (Legal Ethics). His legal publications include many law review articles, and he is the co-author of three legal practice books. Professor Richard Underwood has received special awards from the Kentucky Supreme Court for his work on the Kentucky Rules of Professional Conduct (1989) and for his service as the chairman of the Kentucky Bar Association Ethics and Unauthorized Practice Committees (1998).
Richard H. Underwood
Underwood
Edward T. Breathitt Professor of Law
215 Mandrell Hall
runderwo@uky.edu
(859) 257-1678
Department
Faculty
Bio(active tab)
Expertise
Scholarship
News
Professor Underwood began teaching at the University of Kentucky in 1980. Prior to that he clerked for U.S. District Judge David S. Porter (1976-78) and practiced at the Columbus, Ohio firm of Vorys, Sater Seymour and Pease. Professor Underwood served as the Chairman of the Kentucky Bar Associations Ethics Committee (1984-1998), Chairman of the Unauthorized Practice Committee (1984-1996), and Chairman of the KBA Model Rules Committee (1988-1989). He was a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2011-2014). He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Life Fellow of the Kentucky Bar Foundation. Professor Underwood is currently a member of the Kentucky Supreme Court Evidence Rules Review Commission. He served in the Army from 1969 to 1973, and he is a Viet Nam War Veteran.
Education
B.S., summa cum laude, The Ohio State University (1969)
J.D., summa cum laude, The Ohio State University (1976)
QUOTED: "Underwood is a masterful researcher, and he combs diligently through newspapers and trial transcripts to reconstruct these historical snapshots."
"an accessible, marvelously rigorous account of a bygone legal era."
Print Marked Items
Underwood, Richard H.: GASLIGHT
LAWYERS
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Underwood, Richard H. GASLIGHT LAWYERS Shadelandhouse Modern Press (Indie Nonfiction) $28.00
9, 19 ISBN: 978-1-945049-01-9
A historical study of the often dysfunctional judicial system in late-19th-century New York City. In the last
third of the 1800s, Manhattan was a hotbed of crime, and its courts were often hamstrung by a toxic
combination of unscrupulous law enforcement personnel and crude investigative techniques. In this book,
Underwood (Law/Univ. of Kentucky; Crimesong, 2016) furnishes a series of journalistically rendered
vignettes meant to capture the essence of that legal milieu. Much of the work is devoted to larger-than-life
legal figures: William "Big Bill" Howe, for instance, was a cinematically dramatic defense lawyer known
for his courtroom histrionics; he kept reporters on the payroll to advertise his triumphs and was among the
first to rely upon a client's claim of insanity as a defense. William Travers Jerome, known as "The
Reformer," was a prosecutor who made his reputation sending corrupt attorneys to jail. But he was no angel;
he once used an affidavit in a case from a crooked lawyer he'd once prosecuted for suborning perjured
affidavits. Over the course of two chapters, the author follows the case of Ameer Ben Ali, nicknamed
"Frenchy," who was tried and convicted for the murder of a woman in 1891. The prosecution was
particularly devious and suggested that Ali might also be London's Jack the Ripper, but he was eventually
pardoned. Underwood is a masterful researcher, and he combs diligently through newspapers and trial
transcripts to reconstruct these historical snapshots. He meticulously describes a judicial cosmos that's
largely unfamiliar now--one without Miranda warnings or scientifically sophisticated forensic tools. Trials
instead relied heavily on eyewitness testimony and lawyerly skill, which generated unequal outcomes:
"Because crime science was in its infancy, the guilty actually had a shot at acquittal with the right lawyer;
but the innocent were often at the mercy of unscrupulous prosecutors, corrupt police, and hanging judges."
An accessible, marvelously rigorous account of a bygone legal era.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Underwood, Richard H.: GASLIGHT LAWYERS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A504217535/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e0da40f5.
Accessed 20 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A504217535
QUOTED: "Overall, Underwood has written a delightful book about a gruesome subject. Even when he delves into the cases and their legal issues, he employs a light touch, sprinkling his accounts with humor."
Underwood, Richard H.: CrimeSong
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 1, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Underwood, Richard H. CRIMESONG Shadelandhouse Modern Press (Indie Nonfiction)
A law professor explores the real-life events behind old American murder ballads. Underwood (co-author:
Kentucky Evidence Courtroom Manual, 2016, etc.) delves into court records, newspaper accounts, and other
primary sources to find the facts underlying popular songs about grisly murders and crimes in the South in
the 1800s and early 1900s. Most readers will be unfamiliar with many of these ballads, although a few, such
as "Frankie and Johnnie" and "Tom Dula" (aka "Tom Dooley"), are still well-known due to having inspired
later musicians such as Bob Dylan and the Kingston Trio. Underwood explores several genres, including the
" 'murdered girl' ballad"--often about a man drowning his female lover--as well as songs in which women
kill men for revenge, whole families are slaughtered, or bystanders lose their lives. In addition to tracing the
history behind each song, Underwood comments on the actual cases' legal aspects, such as hearsay,
circumstantial evidence, or the " 'SODI' defense"--short for "some other dude did it." In all, he draws a
macabre historical portrait of America, its sensationalist press, and its frequent miscarriages of justice,
suggesting that things haven't changed all that much in the modern era. The book includes each of the songs'
original lyrics along with a rich lode of grainy images and references to further readings and recordings.
Overall, Underwood has written a delightful book about a gruesome subject. Even when he delves into the
cases and their legal issues, he employs a light touch, sprinkling his accounts with humor: "Oh hell, don't
bother with him; he ain't nothing but a lawyer," one defendant advises. Besides providing a revealing look at
the quirky history of U.S. criminal law, the book also serves as a testament to the sheer weirdness of
American culture; in one ballad, for instance, the murder of a family in Missouri is set to the sweet,
sentimental tune of "Home Sweet Home." Underwood does have an unfortunate tendency to assert that
certain topics are "interesting"--a judgment best left to readers--but such lapses are rare. A sometimes-sad,
sometimes-humorous look at ballads that have preserved a part of America's crazed, violent history.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Underwood, Richard H.: CrimeSong." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2016. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A468388975/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=03cf628d.
Accessed 20 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468388975
QUOTED: "CrimeSong ... is a unique book that goes behind the words of well-known music to tell about the bad acts that inspired the songs."
Book fair will bring 170 authors to Frankfort
Jayne Moore Waldrop, Contributing Columnist Published 9:29 a.m. ET Sept. 29, 2016 | Updated 5:07 p.m. ET Sept. 30, 2016
jayne moore waldrop.jpg
(Photo: Jayne Moore Waldrop)
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Kentucky’s premier literary event is set for Nov. 5 when readers and writers come together in celebration of books at the 35th annual Kentucky Book Fair at the Frankfort Convention Center. The event runs from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. with books signings, readings and panel discussions scheduled throughout the day.
In addition, the sixth annual KBF Kids Day is scheduled for Nov. 4 from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., also at the convention center. More than 500 elementary and middle school students from 13 schools will meet and talk with several authors of children’s and young adults books.
This year 170 local and national authors are scheduled to attend the book fair. About 3,500 readers come each year, too. Scheduled to appear are bestselling Kentucky writers Wendell Berry, Kim Edwards, Bobbie Ann Mason, Gurney Norman, Tiffany Reisz, Frank X Walker, J. R. Ward, Crystal Wilkinson and others. National authors include Craig Johnson, Juan F. Thompson (son of the late Hunter S. Thompson), Sharyn McCrumb, marriage equality advocate Jim Obergefell, Mark Wilkerson, and former U. S. Rep. Barney Frank.
The public can attend presentations and panel discussions with authors and guest scholars. Panel discussion topics include the role of food in southern identity, geek culture’s move into mainstream entertainment, and a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Affrilachian Poets.
This is the first year of a new management arrangement for the event. Previously operated by a nonprofit independent board of volunteers, the Kentucky Book Fair is now presented by the Kentucky Humanities Council, in partnership with the Kentucky Book Fair board. A complete list of events and authors may be found at http://www.kyhumanities.org/kentuckybookfair.html.
New books at the fair
"Victuals" book cover
"Victuals" book cover (Photo: Clarkson Potter)
Several authors previously mentioned in this column will sign their books at the Kentucky Book Fair. Among very recent releases, be sure to look for these.
Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes by Ronni Lundy (Clarkson Potter) is one of 2016’s best books with local connections. It’s also one of the most beautiful with amazing photographs by Johnny Autry of food, people and places throughout Appalachia. Lundy, a former Courier-Journal food critic and southern food authority, writes about food in a manner that recalls the past traditions but demonstrates a vibrant present within the local food movement. Most good food in the Mountain South has long been farm-to-table.
Lundy emphasizes the common threads of Appalachian food and gives recipes for new cooks wanting to discover the correct way to make cornbread (no sugar or flour) or shuck beans. But she also includes new twists on old favorites, like eggs with morels and ramps, or potato kale cakes, as well as the region’s diverse population. The author’s storytelling ability on the subject of food is what makes Victuals an outstanding book. By the way, there’s even a tutorial on how the title is pronounced.
Books | Celebrate freedom with these reads
Light Fantastic by Sarah Combs (Candlewick Press) is a young adult novel (grades 7 and above) that explores the pain and pathos of a generation of teenagers on the brink of a cross-country terror plot hatched on an anonymous Internet forum. The book is set on April Donovan’s eighteenth birthday – April 19 – which also happens to be senior skip day. It’s four days after the Boston Marathon bombing; the nation is on edge.
The tense and shocking story interweaves seven narratives over a period of three hours on one fateful day. Combs lives in Lexington and her debut novel was Breakfast Served Anytime.
"Animals at Full Moon" book cover.
"Animals at Full Moon" book cover. (Photo: Larkspur Press)
Erik Reece has had a prolific year as an author, so he will be signing multiple books at the fair including his widely acclaimed Utopia Drive. An earlier review is at http://cjky.it/utopia-drive . Reece’s newest is a slender book of poetry called Animals at Full Moon illustrated with wood engravings by Lexington artist John Lackey. Reece mixes his beautiful descriptions of the natural world with classical literary imagery.
The book is published by Kentucky’s Larkspur Press with handset type on a hand-fed press on nice paper and then bound by hand. No surprise the book feels right in the hand. Larkspur also will have a booth at the book fair.
University Press of Kentucky is a sponsor of the fair and usually has a remarkable crop of fresh books for sale. Among its newest is Amphibians and Reptiles of Land Between the Lakes by David H. Snyder, A. Flood Scott, Edmund J. Zimmerer, and David Frymire, all experts and academics in the area.
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is the largest inland peninsula in the United States. Situated between Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River) and Lake Barkley (Cumberland River), LBL has a unique ecosystem. This resource documents its salamanders, snakes, toads, lizards and frogs with color photographs and details for identification.
True stories behind infamous crime ballads
"CrimeSong" book cover.
"CrimeSong" book cover. (Photo: Shadelandhouse Modern Press)
CrimeSong: True Crime Stories from Southern Murder Ballads by Richard H. Underwood (Shadelandhouse Modern Press) is a unique book that goes behind the words of well-known music to tell about the bad acts that inspired the songs.
For generations, American ballads have told stories of murder and mayhem. Underwood is well known in legal circles as a law professor at the University of Kentucky. His meticulous research and expertise in trial procedure combine to recount the details of criminal acts that became the basis for songs.
The book is published by a new small publisher in Lexington committed to publishing compelling nonfiction and fiction from established and emerging writers. Shadelandhouse produces high quality, artistic books, and acts as its own book distributor under a model that sells and distributes directly to consumers, retail stores, and libraries. Information about the press and its submission process is at smpbooks.com.
Warming up for basketball season
"Strong Inside" book cover.
"Strong Inside" book cover. (Photo: Vanderbilt University Press)
Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South by Andrew Maraniss (Vanderbilt University Press), an award-winning biography and New York Times bestseller in both sports and civil rights categories, was recently released in paperback. The author will read and sign books at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at Carmichael’s Books on Frankfort Avenue.
The acclaimed book tells the story of Vanderbilt’s Perry Wallace, the first African-American basketball player in the SEC. Strong Inside is not just the story of a trailblazing athlete, but of civil rights, race in America, a campus in transition during the tumultuous 1960s, the emotional toll of pioneering, decades of ostracism, and eventual reconciliation and healing.
There are many Kentucky connections to Wallace’s story. His coach at Vanderbilt was Roy Skinner, who was from Paducah. Wallace was recruited by Louisville and Kentucky, and after college he was drafted by the Kentucky Colonels of the old American Basketball Association. He signed instead with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Greenwell longlisted for National Book Award
Former Louisvillian Garth Greenwell’s debut novel, What Belongs to You, is one of 10 new books longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award in fiction. Winners will be announced November 16. The Courier-Journal book review of What Belongs to You and an interview with the author is found at http://cjky.it/what-belongs
Established in 1950, the National Book Award is a major American literary prize administered by the National Book Foundation. Past winners include William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, Walker Percy, John Updike, Katherine Anne Porter, Norman Mailer, Flannery O’Connor, Adrienne Rich, and Alice Walker.
Books for young readers
Applesauce Weather by Helen Frost (Candlewick Press) is a lovely poetic novel for ages 8-12 with illustrations by Amy June Bates. Frost, an award-winning poet from Indiana, has written a tender story about the strength of love as a family faces annual traditions during apple season for the first time since the loss of a beloved family member.
"Applesause Weather" book cover.
"Applesause Weather" book cover. (Photo: Candlewick Press)
Little Silver Charm by Dan Rhema (Old Friends Press) is a sweet tale of Little Silver Charm, a miniature horse that actually lives at Old Friends Farm, a home for retired Thoroughbred horses in Lexington. The book is a charming introduction to the work being done on equine retirement farms.
Public readings at U of L
Fiction writers Lauren Groff and Merritt Tierce will read from their work and teach master classes at the University of Louisville this fall. The university’s creative writing program offers the public readings and classes through the Anne and William Axton Reading Series.
Tierce, a Texas-based writer, will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in the Bingham Poetry Room of Ekstrom Library. She will also lead a two-hour master class at 10 a.m. Oct. 21 in Room 300 in the Bingham Humanities Building. Her novel Love Me Back was named a best book of 2014 by the Chicago Tribune. Her first published story was anthologized in the 2008 New Stories from the South, and her work has appeared in the New York Times and other publications.
Groff will deliver a public keynote reading at 5 p.m. November 5 at the Tim Faulkner Gallery, 1512 Portland Avenue, in conjunction with the Louisville Literary Arts Writer’s Block Festival. She was a 2015 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for her third novel Fates and Furies. Her other books include Arcadia, The Monsters of Templeton, and Delicate Edible Birds.
For more information, check http://louisville.edu/english/creative-writing/axton-reading-series
Jayne Moore Waldrop is a Lexington writer and attorney. She received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Murray State University. Her monthly book column appears in Forum the first Sunday of every month. Share local literary news with her at kyliterature101@gmail.com.
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QUOTED: "Although a few of the ballads remain famous, most are long forgotten. But the stories behind them are as fresh as yesterday’s headlines: jealous lovers, illicit sex, love triangles and other dark corners of human nature."
Murder set to music: Professor reveals true stories of sex, betrayal that inspired old ballads
BY TOM EBLEN
teblen@herald-leader.com
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October 01, 2016 10:37 AM
Updated October 03, 2016 12:19 PM
Before there were true-crime movies and TV shows, people wrote and sang ballads about murder and mayhem that captured the public’s imagination.
Richard Underwood learned some of these ballads as a teenage guitarist and banjo player during the folk music revival of the 1960s. Many years later, as a University of Kentucky law professor, he started wondering about the cases that inspired them.
Underwood spent more than a dozen years searching for old court records and newspaper accounts of the grisly deeds that produced these ballads.
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He tells the stories in a new book, “CrimeSong: True Crime Stories from Southern Murder Ballads” (Shadelandhouse Modern Press, smpbooks.com, $35). Ron Pen, a UK professor and author famous for his study of American music, wrote the foreword.
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Underwood’s book covers 24 bizarre crimes set to music between the early 1800s and mid-1900s. Ten of them occurred in Kentucky.
Although a few of the ballads remain famous, most are long forgotten. But the stories behind them are as fresh as yesterday’s headlines: jealous lovers, illicit sex, love triangles and other dark corners of human nature.
“Many of these seem to be stories that keep repeating themselves,” Underwood said.
The ballad of “Frankie and Johnny” might be the best known. Jimmie Rodgers, the yodeling 1920s country music star, recorded a famous version. Filmmaker John Huston told the story in a stage play. Thomas Hart Benton painted it in a 1936 mural.
You might remember the basics: Frankie and Johnny were lovers. Oh, Lordy, how they did love. He was her man, but he done her wrong. So she plugged him.
Underwood pulls together his own research and other scholarship to tell the story. Frankie Baker was a St. Louis prostitute in her 20s at the turn of the previous century. Her boyfriend and pimp, the flashy-dressing Albert (not Johnny) Britt, was 17.
He was doing her wrong with Alice Pryar, a prostitute also known as Nelly Bly. That led to an argument in Frankie’s bedroom. He pulled a knife. She pulled a gun and fatally shot him in the liver. A coroner’s jury and judge ruled it self-defense. But the notoriety forced Frankie to leave St. Louis for Portland, Ore., where she ended up running a shoe-shine parlor.
Frankie’s story is part of “The Girls Fight Back” chapter, which also tells the story behind the ballad of Pearl Drew, who murdered her philandering husband in 1929 and then conspired with her young daughter to put the blame on her own father.
In many ballads, a man kills one lover so he can marry another. Such was the case of Omie Wise of North Carolina in the early 1800s and Lula Viers of Eastern Kentucky in the early 1900s. In both cases, the women thought their lovers were taking them away to elope. Instead, they each ended up dead in a river.
Murdered girls were popular ballad subjects, and Underwood recounts the tragic ends of Ellen Smith, Stella Kenney, Pearl Bryan and Louise Beattie.
Other love-triangle ballads include “Arch and Gordon” based on the 1895 Louisville murders that include this refrain: “You see what careless love has done; it killed the governor’s only son.”
Underwood explores ballads about the murders of entire families, as well as “The Ballad of Mary Phagan,” about the infamous lynching of Leo Frank in 1915. Frank was convicted of killing Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old girl who worked in the Atlanta pencil factory he managed, but the case involved more anti-Semitism than evidence.
The book is a mixture of thorough research and dry humor. In addition to offering various versions of ballads and exploring the facts according to newspaper accounts and long-forgotten trial transcripts, the law professor offers legal commentary.
“I just wanted to write something fun,” said Underwood, whose 36-year career as a law professor involved writing a lot of journal articles and textbooks. He first wrote about murder ballads in a 2004 law journal article, which led to another and another.
During a sabbatical two years ago, Underwood wrote the first draft of this book and two more. All three are being published by Shadelandhouse Modern Press LLC, a company his wife, Virginia, started after retiring from Eastern Kentucky University.
One of the other books recounts a 1909 Connecticut murder in which the victim was shot and had his throat slashed, but survived long enough to make a statement. “The little piano teacher did it, of course,” Underwood said.
The other book, “Gaslight Lawyers” is about famous New York murder trials in the 1890s. “I thought the lawyers were interesting,” he said. “But the crooks were even more interesting.”
Tom Eblen: 859-231-1415, teblen@herald-leader.com, @tomeblen
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article105382981.html#storylink=cpy
QUOTED: "I had written some of the material for CrimeSong in article form before, and the research was in one of my many stacks on the floor of my office—and at home. I felt like it was finally time to turn the stacks into books."
UK Law Professor Gives Inside Look at True Crimes Behind American Ballads
By Ashley Ritchie and Whitney Harder Sept. 2, 2016
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 2, 2016) — Richard H. Underwood, the William L. Matthews Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law, has published a new book, "CrimeSong: True Crime Stories From Southern Murder Ballads." The 328-page book plunges readers into the riveting true crimes behind 24 southern murder ballads.
"CrimeSong" brings to life a series of stories filled with jump-off-the-page real and memorable characters, shadowy history, courtroom dramas, murders, mayhem and music. Professor Underwood presents his case studies, documented through contemporary news accounts and court records, which show universal themes of love, betrayal, jealousy and madness through true-life tales that are both terrifying and familiar.
“I am excited about the book,” Professor Underwood said. “It is different. It’s not a law book, strictly speaking, but there is a lot of evidence and trial law in it. It is about murder ballads, but from a lawyer’s perspective!”
Professor Underwood began teaching at the University of Kentucky in 1980. He has taught a variety of courses, including Evidence, Scientific and Forensic Evidence, Litigation Skills (Trial Advocacy), Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, Insurance Law, Remedies, Law and Medicine, Bioethics, and Professional Responsibility (Legal Ethics). He is the co-author of several books on evidence, trial technique and legal ethics, and he has published numerous articles on the law, legal history, perjury, famous trials and true crime.
The idea for "CrimeSong" came from an article Professor Underwood wrote years ago with research help from Carol Paris, a former UK law librarian. He dedicates this book to her.
“I had written some of the material for 'CrimeSong' in article form before, and the research was in one of my many stacks on the floor of my office — and at home. I felt like it was finally time to turn the stacks into books,” he said.
What’s next? Professor Underwood currently has two additional books in the production process — one about lawyers and criminal trials in the Gilded Age in New York City, the other about an old murder in Connecticut. He is in the middle of finishing a fourth book, about perjury, that he has been working on for years.
"CrimeSong: True Crime Stories From Southern Murder Ballads" is available for purchase through Shadelandhouse Modern Press LLC at http://smpbooks.com/.
UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Harder, 859-323-2396, whitney.harder@uky.edu
QUOTED: "The book keeps a riveting pace throughout."
"Gaslight Lawyers is a comprehensive and compelling addition to the true crime genre, offering a template for balancing characterization with content. Richard H. Underwood’s knowledge of law and order combined with his research into the underbelly of New York City’s Gaslight Era make for an exhilarating, informative read."
CRIMINAL TRIALS AND EXPLOITS IN GILDED AGE NEW YORK
Richard H. Underwood
Shadelandhouse Modern Press (Sep 19, 2017)
Hardcover $28.00 (284pp)
978-1-945049-01-9
2017 INDIES Finalist
Finalist, True Crime (Adult Nonfiction)
Clarion Rating: 5 out of 5
The true allure of the book is in its artfully chosen details, taken from sources ranging from court transcripts to personal memoirs.
Richard H. Underwood’s Gaslight Lawyers is an intriguing collection of stories profiling some of New York City’s most influential lawyers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as their law enforcement counterparts and the diverse set of cases they handled.
In a time when criminal lawyers were elevated to celebrity status, cases were often defined—and their outcomes determined—by the characters at trial, rather than by the nature of the crimes themselves. The time period often referred to as the Gaslight Era was marked by an often corrupt criminal justice system, “when the field of scientific, forensic evidence was only beginning to emerge and when guilt or innocence usually turned on eyewitnesses in testimony.” Throughout the book, this corruption is made abundantly clear.
Gaslight Lawyers is divided into ten chapters, each of which covers either a lawyer’s career or a specific case. Three chapters are devoted to notorious defense attorney William “Big Bill” Howe, the man behind the Hackensack Mad Monster, the Man-Killing Racetrack Girl, and the case of femme fatale Augusta Nack. Prosecutor William “The Reformer” Travers Jerome is the focus of the final chapter, which details his career as a DA known for convicting corrupt attorneys.
Within the book, these attorneys are revered as often as they’re criticized, and despite occasional editorializing, stories are kept objective and in context. The book’s greatest service to the field of true crime is its focus on cases in the grand scheme of criminal justice. It still takes into account the often nefarious ethics of the era, when shady tactics were the norm and smooth-talking defense attorneys swayed entire juries.
The two chapters devoted to “Frenchy,” the killer who was thought to be New York’s Jack the Ripper, are a highlight of the book. The pages are filled with vivid yet conscientious descriptions of the crime scene, with lines like “a gash extended from the base of the spine, carried upward across her abdomen and reaching a point halfway up her right side.” These chapters are flooded with evidence of how much input came from those inside the criminal justice field and also from the media, who sensationalized an already considerable spree of murders.
The book keeps a riveting pace throughout, maintaining interest even in dense, history-packed sections, thanks to accessible language and interpretation. Cases and characters are depicted in rich, anecdotal narrative form, while still providing a comprehensive history of criminal justice.
The true allure of the book is in its artfully chosen details. Combining research ranging from court transcripts to personal memoirs, it reconstructs scenes with the kind of particulars that usually come from firsthand experiences. Fascination with the law and with criminal proceedings imbues the pages, imparting a delightful sense of suspense, even though the book often deals in cases with known outcomes.
Gaslight Lawyers is a comprehensive and compelling addition to the true crime genre, offering a template for balancing characterization with content. Richard H. Underwood’s knowledge of law and order combined with his research into the underbelly of New York City’s Gaslight Era make for an exhilarating, informative read.
Reviewed by Lillian Brown
October 16, 2017