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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Bones of Contention

1. COUNTER CULTURE

In which Alexander Turney Stewart, New York City’s “Merchant Prince of Manhattan,” dies, leaving his widow, Cornelia, a forty-million-dollar fortune and naming Judge Henry Hilton as the executor of his estate. From his humble beginnings in Ireland, Stewart rises to wealth and power, and constructs a series of landmark buildings, including his two retail outlets—the Marble Palace and the Cast Iron Palace—and his lavish domicile, the Marble Mansion.

2. THE CAST IRON PALACE

In which A. T. Stewart expands his wholesale, retail, and manufacturing businesses, employing two thousand people and earning himself approximately two million dollars a year. Stewart undertakes one of his grandest philanthropic gestures by planning a “Working Women’s Hotel” in New York City, so working women will be able to find safe, comfortable, and reasonably priced accommodations. He buys more than seven thousand acres of land in Hempstead, Long Island, where he intends to build a model community—Garden City.

3. CAVEAT EMPTOR

In which vast tributes are paid to the life of the “Merchant Prince” upon Stewart’s death, lavish funeral, and interment in St. Mark’s Cemetery. Although Stewart bequeaths all his assets to his wife, Cornelia, and names his friend and confidant, Judge Henry Hilton, only as executor of his estate, Hilton seizes upon the opportunity, incorporating a new firm to run Stewart’s wholesale, retail, and manufacturing concerns. The new head of all operations: Henry Hilton.

4. A PROBLEM WITH HOTELS

In which Henry Hilton, as head of the A. T. Stewart business empire, commits the first of his many public relations blunders by refusing accommodations to Jewish banker Joseph Seligman and subsequently banning all members of the Jewish community from the Grand Union Hotel, the Stewart estate’s resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. Hilton’s actions lead to a boycott of Stewart’s stores by the Jewish community. Hilton also reneges on building the “Working Women’s Hotel,” causing a furor among New York City women, who also threaten a boycott.

5. THE GHOULS STRIKE

In which ghouls steal the body of A. T. Stewart from its grave at St. Mark’s Cemetery in November 1878. Despite several clues, a twenty-five-thousand-dollar reward offered by Henry Hilton, and an extensive investigation by the New York City Police Department, no leads are found in the mystifying case. Hilton does not immediately inform Mrs. Stewart of the ghastly deed for fear that it might send her into shock. He subsequently accuses the church sextons of the appalling crime in an effort to close the unnerving case.

6. THE BEST DETECTIVE TALENT

In which the theft of A. T. Stewart’s remains causes a national media sensation and expends the resources of the entire New York City Police Department, as well as private detectives hired by Henry Hilton. While several suspects are apprehended and then released, new clues in the case are uncovered and followed but only lead to a series of dead-ends. Hilton receives hundreds of letters from unnamed sources claiming to be in possession of the body and demanding ransom payment for its return.

7. THE SEARCH CONTINUES

In which the motive for the theft continues to elude the police while clues suggest it is the handiwork of professional grave robbers, most notably George Christian, a notorious “resurrectionist” who steals bodies for medical research. Yet, neither Christian nor the flood of mysterious letters claiming to know the location of A. T. Stewart’s body lead the police to the culprits. Stewart’s body remains missing.

8. VREELAND AND BURKE

In which the noted investigator, New York City Police Captain Thomas Byrnes, makes a breakthrough in the sensational case and arrests two men, Henry Vreeland and William Burke, charging them with the heinous crime. The two men lead the police on a merry chase through parts of New Jersey where they claim the body is buried.

9. KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

In which, by early 1879, it appears that all leads in the A. T. Stewart grave robbery have been exhausted and the story fades from the front pages until Patrick Jones, a lawyer and former New York postmaster, reports to the press that he has been in contact with Stewart’s grave robbers, who demand more than two hundred thousand dollars for the return of the body. Despite New York City police officials verifying the authenticity of the demand, Henry Hilton refuses to negotiate with the unnamed criminals and dismisses Jones’s evidence as another elaborate ploy to squeeze money from the Stewart estate.

10. THE MYSTERIOUS PACKAGE

In which Italian sculptor Giuseppe F. Sala makes a startling claim that he was involved with men who stole Stewart’s body. Sala had previously been mixed up in the infamous Cardiff Giant hoax, in which a giant was reportedly discovered on a farm in upstate New York. The “giant” turns out to be a body carved out of gypsum by Sala. His claim regarding the body of A. T. Stewart turns out to be merely another hoax. In August 1881, new leads come to light when New York City private detective J. M. Fuller reports he has received a mysterious package that includes a painting showing where Stewart’s body is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery.

11. THE CYPRESS HILLS CEMETERY INCIDENT

In which J. M. Fuller begins excavation of a section of Cypress Hills Cemetery in his quest to locate the remains of A. T. Stewart. As word leaks out of Fuller’s search, hundreds of curiosity seekers converge on the excavation site, hampering the investigation. Despite digging up a huge section of the cemetery, Fuller and his men uncover nothing. The excavation is abandoned.

12. GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

In which, in early April 1882, it is announced that A. T. Stewart & Co., the once prosperous retail empire, is going out of business. Although surprising to the general public, it comes as no surprise to New York City’s mercantile community and bankers, or even to Wall Street. Many agree that Henry Hilton’s lack of business savvy, his imperious management style, and a series of egregious public relations blunders ultimately led to the liquidation of the company. Hilton refuses to accept any blame for the company’s demise.

13. BAG OF BONES

In which, in 1881, Mrs. Stewart, without Henry Hilton’s approval, makes arrangements with men claiming to be the grave robbers for the return of her husband’s remains. On a deserted road in New York’s Westchester County, two wagons cross paths, one containing an emissary from Mrs. Stewart with a twenty-thousand-dollar ransom and the other driven by unidentified men who exchange a burlap bag of bones for the ransom money and ride off. The bones are taken by train to Garden City, where they are placed in the crypt at the Cathedral of the Incarnation.

14. MEMORIAL TO THE MERCHANT PRINCE

In which one thousand people travel to Garden City, Long Island, to take part in the April 1885 dedication ceremony of the Gothic-style Cathedral of the Incarnation—the huge, ornate, and costly memorial Cornelia Stewart has built for her husband. Construction of the cathedral takes nine years and costs approximately three million dollars. On May 22, 1885, Cornelia Stewart signs over the deed of the great cathedral and all of its adjacent buildings and schools to the Episcopal church for one dollar.

15. EXPIRATION DATE

In which Cornelia Stewart dies on October 25, 1886, leaving behind a will that bequeaths nearly half of the remaining Stewart estate to Judge Henry Hilton. Stewart heirs seek to have the will voided, claiming fraud by Hilton. The case lingers in the courts for the next seven years before being resolved. In the end, Hilton’s attempts at replicating his benefactor’s retail business success all fail. Hilton dies, and the once great Stewart fortune is gone.

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