Murder at the Brown Palace: A True Story of Seduction and Betrayal

by Dick Kreck

Book Overview

On May 24, 1911, one of the most notorious murders in Denver's history occurred. The riveting tale involves high society, adultery, drugs, multiple murder, and more, all set in Denver's grand old... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555914632
• ISBN13: 9781555914639
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press - Fulcrum
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Great Book Club Idea

Attention Book Clubs: This book is very interesting, and if your are able.... travel to Denver, have a guided tour of the Brown Palace Hotel, and meet with the local author for dinner and a discussion of the book. You can see the rooms where the murder took place and where the main characters lived in the hotel. It brings the book to life. It was a wonderful adventure for our book club.

What Were They Thinking?

As I read Murder in the Brown Palace, I found myself muttering again and again, "What were they thinking?" This ill-starred love quadrangle: Isabel and John Springer, Frank Henwood, and "Tony" von Phul - through incredible naiveté or lack of common sense - could only have ended in tragedy. The author sticks to the meticulously researched facts and resists "filling in" or extrapolating when the historical record is silent or lost. The attorneys, the judges and the old Brown Palace herself have riveting roles that might seem outrageous today, but maybe not when compared to the shenanigans of the O.J. Simpson trial. And to think all of this happened in Denver at a time when she thought she had outgrown her wild frontier reputation. Not so!

Sex, Lies, and Stationary.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. With the seemingly disproportionate amount of salacious news stemming from Colorado over the past few years (see CU, JonBenet, Columbine, AFA, Kobe...), each with their corresponding legal and journalistic blunders, it's perhaps equal parts refreshing and frustrating to know that this isn't new. Denver Post columnist Dick Kreck paints a rich and detailed picture of the `scene' in Denver and the West during the otts and teens of the last century. That scene included media obsession with scandal, a rouge legal system, DA improprieties, criminal celebrity, right wing 'values' politics, adultery, murder, money.... Sound like that could be the otts of this century in Colorado? This is a great read, and Kreck has left no stone unturned in his quest for accuracy and detail. Anyone interested in knowing what Denver was like 100 years ago, and in many ways how we got to where we are today, should read this book- or just anyone who loves good murder mystery or courtroom drama!

An excellent read!

Senior columnist Dick Kreck is a journalist with the Denver Post. He has also worked with the San Francisco Examiner and the Los Angeles Times. He has two previous books to his credit, Colorado's Scenic Railroads and Denver in Flames.Murder at the Brown Palace chronicles one of the most famous high society murders of the twentieth century. The Brown Palace is one of Denver's grand old hotels, and the principals of the case were all of a free-wheeling social set. In the middle, and probably the cause of the murder was Isabelle Springer, who was married to would-be politician and wealthy Denver businessman John W. Springer. Not content to be a proper social wife, the narcissistic Isabelle enticed two men, and then set up a showdown which ended in two tragic deaths. Unfortunately for Frank Henwood, the killer, Denver was trying to gain a dignified reputation and had no sympathy for the cause of the shooting:"That the said Sylvester L. von Phul came to his death by gunshot wounds having been fired by Frank H. Henwood in the City and Country of Denver in the state of Colorado about 11:35 p.m. on Wednesday, May 24, 1911, in the barroom of the Brown Palace Hotel at Seventeenth and Broadway; and we further find the said Sylvester L. von Phul died at St. Luke's Hospital about 11:30 a.m. May 25, 1911, and we further find that said shots were fired with felonious intent."Dick Kreck, no doubt, went to great lengths to reenact the events leading up to the shooting. Although he presents the facts in an impartial vein, Frank Henwood was obviously led on by Isabelle Springer, as was Sylvester L. von Phul. The irony of the situation is that neither man really wanted to murder the other...but both men acted and reacted passionately to create a chain of events from which both of their lives, and two innocent bystanders' would be ruined. Kreck gives a wonderful historical overview of the politics at that time which would prove to be rigid and unforgiving towards Henwood. Another twist to the story is that John W. Springer really did not blame Henwood for what happened, although the public was not as forgiving. Kreck not only is a dogged historian, but he is faithful to the attitudes and trends of the time, giving the reader a unique perspective on this woeful tale. An excellent read!Shelley GlodowskiReviewer

a great story of betrayal and truth

i found this book intresting. it shows a side of denver that is not seen sometimes. this book gives a look at a man who believe he was innocent and tries with two trials to prove it and recieves a unthinkable twist when he recieves a worse sentence. this book is wonderful for anyone intrested in colorado and murders.