The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century New York

The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century New York. By Patricia Cline Cohen. (New York: Knopf, 1998. viii, 432 pp. $27.50, ISBN 0-679-41291-3.)

In 1835, a prostitute wrote to one of her customers: "There is so much sweetness in that voice, so much intelligence in that eye, and so much luxuriance in that form, I cannot fail to love you." In reply, the man wrote that the warmth of love "causes our sparkling blood to o'erflow and mingle in holy delight." It was to be a passionate and stormy relationship, and the following year Helen Jewett was murdered at the age of twenty-three. Richard Robinson, a nineteen-year-old with fine prospects, was brought to trial. The crime became a national sensation.

Helen Jewett's elite clientele courted her...