The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison (Women in the West) [Hardcover]

Kathleen A. Cairns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007 | Series: Women in the West

“Crack shot.” “Enigma woman.” “Good with ponies and pistols.” “A much-married woman.”

 

What if such an unconventional woman—and the press unanimously agreed that Nellie May Madison was indeed unconventional—were to get away with murder? Shortly after her husband’s bullet-riddled body was found in the couple’s Burbank apartment, police issued an all-points bulletin for the “beautiful, dark-haired widow.” The ensuing drama unfolded with all the strange twists and turns of a noir crime novel.      

 

In this intriguing cultural history, Kathleen A. Cairns tells the true tale of the first woman sentenced to death in California, Nellie May Madison. Her story offers a glimpse into law and disorder in 1930s Los Angeles while bringing to life a remarkable character whose plight reflects on the status of woman, the workings of the media and the judiciary system, and the stratification of society in her time. An intriguing cultural history, Cairns’s re-creation of the case from murder to trial to aftermath casts an eye forward to our own love-hate affair with celebrity crimes and our abiding ambivalence about domestic violence abuse as a defense for murder.

(20080609)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nellie Madison might have been the first woman executed in California: in 1934, though she claimed innocence, she was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting her husband, Eric Madison, and sentenced to hang. After hiring a new lawyer for her appeal, though, Madison confessed to the crime, describing a marriage filled with emotional and physical abuse and an attempt by Eric to blackmail her after she found him in bed with a much younger woman. Her claim of abuse was supported by similar testimony by one of Eric's ex-wives. Eventually, her sentence was commuted and she was paroled after nine years in prison. Cairns (Front-Page Women Journalists, 1920–1950) wants not to exonerate Madison but to explore the complexity of a woman who she says was reduced to a caricature by the media of the time. Madison did not fit the traditional role of homemaker and mother. Having eloped at the age of 13, she had married several times, was familiar with guns and refused to speak publicly about the crime. Nellie was pegged by the media as a femme fatale, a character out of a noir tale. The author has done considerable research in this well-written true crime chronicle, but what happened in Nellie's bedroom in 1934 still remains an enigma. 15 photos. (May)
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Review

“A new book out this month finally tells us the entire tale of Nellie Madison for the first time, and it is so terrifically researched, so well put together, you might forget the story took place in 1934. . . . It’s a physically lovely, beautifully produced book. . . . The Enigma Woman is top-shelf stuff for votaries of high quality historic crime stories. Professor Cairns will keep you mesmerized in contemplation of a most curious murder case, one in which our recalcitrant heroine could not speak until she was within the shadows of the gallows, one in which the victim may well have had it coming in spades and by golly got it.”—Laura James, CLEWS, The Historic Crime Blog

(CLEWS, Historic Crime Blog )

“By charting Madison’s experiences from the 1910s to the 1940s, Cairns offers critical insight on the deeds and misdeeds of one remarkable woman, who in many regards was a victim herself. By framing events the way she does, Cairns gives Madison’s story the context it needs and deserves.”—Christina Eng, San Francisco Chronicle

(San Francisco Chronicle )

“Cairns tells her story with considerable sociological and psychological acuity. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this tale is how the cut-and-dried, seemingly heartless justice system of the 1930s ultimately produced a punishment that was just and enlightened and would generally satisfy today’s more liberal attitudes toward spousal abuse and homicide.”—The Atlantic Monthly

(The Atlantic Monthly )

"[The Enigma Woman] is a well-written account that will appeal to readers in history, women’s studies, journalism, and law."—Barbara G. Friedman, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

(Barbara G. Friedman Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication )

“This is an outstanding biography of a woman who challenged societal norms. . . . In this splendidly crafted narrative of Nellie’s life, Cairns explores the West as geography and a place of reinvention, the rise of mass popular culture and its impact upon the individual, Los Angeles as myth and reality, criminal prosecution as a force in social control, the media’s ability to elevate or destroy individuals, and intimate abuse as a legal defense to murder. . . . This book is a major contribution to our knowledge of women in the American West.”—Gordon Morris Bakken, Western Historical Quarterly

(Gordon Morris Bakken Western Historical Quarterly )

“Nellie was pegged by the media as a femme fatale, a character out of a noir tale. The author has done considerable research in this well-written true crime chronicle, but what happened in Nellie’s bedroom in 1934 still remains an enigma.”—Publishers Weekly

(Publishers Weekly )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press; Copyright 2007 edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803211414
• ISBN-13: 978-0803211414
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent research and writing and a fascinating story, May 5, 2007

By 

Laura James (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison (Women in the West) (Hardcover)

The doctrine of self-defense has always required an "imminent" danger. To a man, "retreat" involves a physical act. But a beaten woman who decides to get her man before he gets her often preemptively strikes while he's incapacitated.

Alas, the law has always shaken a finger at slaying a sleeping drunk.

Nellie Madison woman shot her sleeping husband in the back, and the lawyers and the press didn't know what to make of it. Indeed, her lawyer kicked women off the jury and refused to put on the evidence that would explain why she did it, and the puzzled jurors contemplated the bloody bed set up in the courtroom and sentenced her to hang.

This book finally tells us the entire tale of Nellie Madison for the first time, and it is so terrifically researched, so well put together, you might forget the story took place in 1934. It's supposed to be an "academic" book, and was published by The University of Nebraska Press, yet it's anything but a stuffy academic treatment, and it's a physically lovely, beautifully produced book.

The crime rags were quick to put a moniker on Mrs. Madison, referring to her as "a real-life Roxie Hart," among other names, and dubbed her crime one of the most mysterious in the annals. An investigator called her "the coolest woman I have ever questioned."

Purple prose never fades, and the author couldn't help but quote some of the press accounts. My favorite, courtesy the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express:

"Like the opening of a detective mystery will be the prosecution's evidence in the trial of the comely 'enigma woman.' There will be told in court the screams of a woman at midnight, excited footfalls in dim halls. Then, like the closing chapters of a 'thriller,' in which the mystery is solved, the story of Mrs. Madison will unroll before the jury, providing, it is hoped by the defendant and her counsel, an adequate excuse for blasting Eric Madison into eternity as he lay on his bed that fateful night."

She was an unusual woman; she began her marital adventures at 13 and was divorced several times -- this when divorce rates were in the single digits -- and yet she never had children.

Then she bought a handgun and made herself a widow. Witnesses originally thought the gunshots came from the adjacent Warner Brothers Studio. Despite the Hollywood backdrop, Nellie May missed her cue; she didn't weep into her handkerchief for the press. Indeed she refused to say anything at all about the murder until she was behind bars and sentenced to swing.

Then she told a story of rib-cracking abuse -- and it was backed up by the dead man's other loves, who told virtually identical stories of stranglings and beatings and humiliations that the flashpoint-tempered Eric Madison heaped upon the many women in his shortened life.

The Enigma Woman is a wonderful piece of storytelling, masterfully constructed, and the author obviously put many miles on her car getting the full story. I wish I'd written it, and I stand in awe of anyone who can glean so many fascinating details from a case that's coated in decades of dust.

I also noticed Amazon is pairing it for sale with The Good-Bye Door, the book out last fall about electrocuted 1930s serial killer Anna Hahn, another I enjoyed very much for the same qualities.

The Enigma Woman is top-shelf stuff for votaries of high quality historic crime stories. Professor Cairns will keep you mesmerized in contemplation of a most curious murder case, one in which our recalcitrant heroine could not speak until she was within the shadows of the gallows, one in which the victim may well have had it coming in spades and by golly got it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book-well researched, great topic!, April 20, 2007

By 

J. Walker (So Cal.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison (Women in the West) (Hardcover)

I first became aware of Nellie Madison in the summer of 2006 when I was told that she was buried at the historic Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernadino, CA. Well, I was told that a "woman who was on death row" was buried there, but no further information was given. A few months later I located Nellie's victim, her husband Erik Madison, at Vallhala Cemetery in North Hollywood and the pieces of the puzzle all came together. Then I heard that Proferssor Cairns was about to publish a book about the entire case! Talk about it being a small world.

The book is excellent. Sources are cited throughout, no tabloid style writing, no sensational prose. A welcome relief from most true crime stories. She did an amazing amount of research, interviewing people connected to Nellie, obtaining archival photos, everything you would hope to see but rarely do.

Nellie Madison's story deserved to be told, and Ms. Cairns did an excellent job sharing it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling!, March 3, 2007

By 

David "David" (Lancashire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison (Women in the West) (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it. Ms Cairns has managed to achieve a perfect balance between academic quality and readability. Personally I always think that a well written biography or history book should fire the interest of the reader into wanting to find out more about peripheral characters mentioned in the book or the historical period in general, once you have read this book you will want to do both. "The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison" would appeal not only to those interested in true crime but also to anyone interested in the history of California or the 1930's generally. The main focus of the book is obviously the trial of Nellie Madison which was fascinating however Ms Cairns does her best to provide a good overview of Nellie Madison's life which is extremely interesting and unconventional, especially for the period in which she lived.

The author now has a web page which includes different pictures of Nellie Madison after she left prison and remarried. If you are interested it is called Inside Info on Uncle John's Nellie.