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The Mystery of Mary Rogers (A Treasury of Victorian Murder)

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It is very unusual for antebellum New York to get any sort of treatment in popular culture, which is a shame, because the whole space between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War features dramatic changes in the city's popular landscape. Institutions for maintaining public order and safety that we take for granted today were less organized and often appropriated by the underworld for its own purposes.

Scorsese's upcoming movie, GANGS OF NEW YORK, looks like it will offer an interesting look into this time. Readers looking for a little less bombast can take in Rick Geary's tight little graphic exploration of THE MYSTERY OF MARY ROGERS. Geary tells the true tale of a corpse that captured the public imagination in a manner similar to any of today's celebrity victims. He renders useful maps and recreates the known facts of the case with haunting sillhouettes and faces that are remarkably expressive in their cartoonishness. Geary also tosses in a tidy little chunk of social history -- so that we understand the context -- and chronicles the sensationalism that followed this case. As a final service, he puts forth the prominent theories about the case, noting its inspiration of Poe's mystery.

Graphic (as in illustrated) non-fiction is somewhat of an oddity, often represented by simpering auto-bio. True crime stories tend to show up in the BIG BOOK OF ... series. This, however, is a neat and stylistic volume that would put Anne Rule to shame.

In 1841, Mary Rogers, a well-known resident of the city of New York, was found floating in the Hudson River, dead. The investigation was hampered by jurisdictional disputes and the primitive forensic science of the time, and is officially still unsolved. It was a great stir in its day, and everybody had opinions about it; Edgar Allen Poe based his "Mystery of Marie Roget" on it. Geary gives us the known facts, and proposes a solution in line with the modern thinking on the subject. His evocative artwork makes this book a visual treat. I'd love to see him tackle the alleged murder of Sarah M. Cornell by the Reverend Ephraim K. Avery; it occured at nearly the same time this case did, and is still officially unsolved.

Mary Rogers was a lovely cigar store clerk who was found dead and floating on the Hudson River. It was the month of July, 1841, a time before New York City had an official police department, only "freelance" officers living off fines and defending the populace from a proliferation of street gangs. All this is the highly recommended substance of The Mystery Of Mary Rogers, a superbly created graphic novel with absolutely accurate background detail that accurately showcases the an emerging city and the plight of a citizenry in the face of criminal activities. Rick Geary is a master storyteller and a gifted artist.

On 28 July, 1841 a woman's body is found floating in the Hudson, off the shore of Hoboken, New Jersey. She's been beaten and strangled and been dead for a few days. She is identified as Mary Rogers, the missing girl who worked in a popular cigar shop on Broadway. And so the strange story begins.

We meet the odd people in her life. The fiance who makes up an alibi different from his real story despite neither being incriminating; the mother who along with the fiance doesn't react to the news that her daughter is dead; the former lodger of her mother's house who had meetings with Mary in the days leading up to her death and then tried to have the investigation stopped for no reason.

Geary throws all theories into the book. A jealous ex lover returns from a sea voyage who becomes angry once his advances are repelled; an abortion gone wrong leads the abortionist to fake the girl's death; the fiance, once the abortion is complete, finds out that Mary wants to leave him and turns his anger onto her. In fact this last theory (and I've only mentioned three though there are more) is the most compelling, not least because the fiance drinks himself unconcious every day until he takes himself to the spot where she was supposedly murdered and takes a lethal dose of laudanum.

Even Edgar Allan Poe is a suspect (though unlikely) as his sequel to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" was based on the mysterious death of Mary Rogers - "The Mystery of Marie Roget". The story bears many resemblances to the real life case but of course Poe is never really seen as a suspect having barely known the girl years earlier when he lived in New York (he was in Philadelphia at the time of the murder).

It is a mystery though why this book is out of print. It might be because of the final page which shows the spirit of Mary Rogers floating above Manhattan, notably the World Trade Center (this book was published in 2001) so perhaps the publishers are waiting for Geary to redo the last page before reissuing it. Hopefully though the book will be back in print alongside the others in the fantastic "Treasury of Victorian Murder" series.

It's a testament to Geary's ability that he can make a long forgotten case of a dead young girl appearing on the Hudson River and turn it into a fascinating and vivid book. It's a very satisfying and interesting book told with detail, skill, and a swift pace that reads like a thriller.

With The Mystery of Mary Rogers, Writer/Illustrator Rick Geary continues his "Treasury of Victorian Murder" Graphic Novel series, this time exploring the facts in the death of Mary Rogers, a well-known "Segar (Cigar) Girl" (She worked in a large Manhattan Tobacco Shop).

Geary's books are laid out incredibly well; most "Mainstream" non-fiction writers could learn a thing or two from him. He presents THE FACTS in the case, and since the murder was nevr really solved (At least officially...), he avoids any supposition; At the end of the book, he gives the reader a few scenarios that MAY have happened, never presenting any one of them as the actual solution. Geary's writing style is very informative, and his illustrations have a depth and resonance that belie their "Cartoony" look.

Overall, this book is a pleasure to read! The hardcover is a very attractive package at a low price, the text is informative and illuminating, and the artwork is superb. In a perfect world, Geary would be a fixture on the best-seller lists.

Rick Geary's The Mystery of Mary Rogers is filled with his trademark illustrations, and has enough information to keep you interested start to finish. Its the right length to say everything it needs to but not so long as to get boring partway through. I read this book in about an hour's time, broken up over two evenings.

It has interesting commentary on social, political, and economical points, as well as some tidbits about E. A. Poe. As usual, Geary has delivered a fine story in a fun and easy to read package. If you've enjoyed his other installments in the Victorian Murder series, grab this one. It won't disappoint and its worth the ten or twelve bucks you'll pay for it.

It is a mystery though, so don't read this looking for a definitive answer to what actually happened to the unfortunate (?) Mary Rogers. There are many loose strings left lying about at the end of this telling.

As all the readers have noted, this is one of the best of the Geary Treasury (along with the Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden books). When I first read it, I thought, "Oh, is that all that that old mystery was about?" but then it stuck with me. I enjoyed pondering over it, and referring back to test my favorite theory, or to make sure I had one of the details right. In this story, there are points where it branches; where alternate explanations are explored, and Geary provides a few doodles showing the development and a possible explanation. It makes it a richer experience than some of the more straight-forward volumes. After I finish his books, there is stuff to think about, and missed chances to regret (especially in The Ripper book)

This is another in Geary's "Treasury of Victorian Murder" series of graphic documentaries, this time set in New York in 1841 and spilling over onto the rustic shore around Weehawken, New Jersey. Mary Rogers was a "cigar girl" whose mother kept a boardinghouse, and who was either a wide-eyed innocent . . . or a bit of a slut who got herself knocked up by one of her boyfriends. In any case, she turned up floating in the Hudson, apparently murdered -- or maybe the victim of a botched abortion. Virtually everyone she knew came under suspicion, and several she probably didn't know, but the investigation (what there was of it) was dilatory and pretty haphazard. Geary lays out the facts in his usual competent narrative manner, together with some of the prevalent theories. The crime itself was never really solved, but Edgar Allan Poe (who may have met the girl) built one of his Auguste Dupin mystery stories around it. Perhaps the fact that this murder isn't as well known today as the Lincoln assassination or the Jack the Ripper murders, Geary feels more free to wander wherever the story takes him -- but it works.

I'm addicted to Geary's true-crime series, "A Treasury of Victorian Murder" and this volume is probably one of the best I've read thus far. The story is that of the well-chronicled but mysterious death of a popular New York cigar seller, Mary Rogers. The circumstances of her death, the people involved and the evidence gathered all make for a seriously bizarre but fascinating true-crime tale. Rick Geary's meticulous black-and-white illustrations are tidy and convey the story wonderfully. An unusual use of the "graphic novel" medium, but an effective one. Highly recommended!

Rick Geary brings the 1840s back to life in this study of an unsolved murder. Mary Rogers was pretty and well known in New York City back then. Her brutal murder splashed across the tabloid pages until interest gradually waned. It never waned completely, though, because Edgar Allan Poe immortalized it in an analysis thinly veiled as fiction.

Geary illustrates this classic mystery in his unique style: black and white pen drawings with no shades of gray, and, static, isolated panels like loosely-related snapshots. It's enjoyable, but more for the afficiando of mysteries or unusual comic styles than for the fan of mainstream comics.

//wiredweird