It
has been awhile, but Earl is back today with his latest guest post…..
HISTORY’S RICH WITH MYSTERIES
When I look at the past, I find
stories about people which fascinate me, particularly those in which there is a
curious mixture of fact, legend, and mysterious uncertainty. In this series of
articles, I want to explore some of those stories. I think of them as mysteries
swaddled in legend. While truth is always desired in most things, truth easily
becomes staid and boring. Legend, on the other hand, forever holds a hint of
romanticism and an aura of excitement borne of adventure, imagination and, of
course, mystery.
SHE CRIED FOR HELP. . .And No One Came by Earl Staggs
Two
weeks after it happened, the New York Times published an article with the
headline, "Thirty-Seven Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police.” (That
number soon and inexplicably became “thirty-eight” rather than “thirty-seven.”)
Author
Harlan Ellison later wrote that thirty-eight witnesses stood by and watched a
woman “get knifed to death right in front of them and wouldn’t make a move.”
The
story raised a fury nationally and internationally, and New York City gained a
reputation of “an urban hell where no one
would lift a finger to help a neighbor.” The story is often featured in
psychology textbooks as an illustration of onlookers failing to help someone in
distress.
That’s how
the horrific murder of Catherine Susan "Kitty" Genovese came down
to us through legend and urban myth. Her story has become a notorious and
appalling example of citizens who could have saved a life but chose not to get
involved. The story as reported led to what has become known as the “Bystander Effect
or “Genovese Syndrome.”
But
that’s not exactly what happened. Let’s take a look at the facts.
In Queens, New
York, at approximately 3:25 a.m. on March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a
twenty-eight-year-old bar manager, arrived home after work, parked her car and
walked toward her apartment building a hundred feet away. Frightened by a
strange man approaching her, she began to run. He overtook her and stabbed her
twice in the back. She screamed, "Oh my God, he stabbed me! Help me!"
A man in the neighborhood shouted, "Let that girl alone!" and the
attacker ran away.
Seriously
wounded, Kitty tried to make it home. The attacker waited until he was sure no
one was coming to her aid and, wanting to finish her off, returned a few minutes
later and searched until he found her. Kitty had managed to make her way into
an alleyway leading to the entrance to her building, which put her out of view
of anyone who might have looked out their windows and further out of hearing
distance. At that time, she was barely
conscious and unable to cry out. The attacker stabbed her several more times,
raped her, stole $49 from her, and left her for dead. The two attacks spanned a
time period of about thirty minutes.
The
incident occurred in the Kew Gardens area of Queens, primarily a quiet
residential area where it is highly unlikely thirty-eight people were outside
on the street to witness the attack. At 3:25 a.m., those “witnesses” would have
been inside the buildings, probably sleeping. The only sounds to be heard
during the initial attack were a man chasing a woman on foot for a short
distance, a brief scuffle, stab wounds, and her crying, "Oh my God, he
stabbed me! Help me!" In March, it is not normally warm enough in Queens
to leave windows open at night. How many people inside the buildings would have
been awakened by that and be able to comprehend what was going on?
The furor about the incident was based on erroneous
information. There weren’t thirty-eight people watching Kitty get stabbed to
death and doing nothing. There were no actual “eye” witnesses to the stabbings.
An
investigation later revealed that approximately a dozen people were aware an
attack was taking place. Calls were made to the police, but were not given high
priority. The last visible sight of her was her
staggering toward her home after the first attack, and at that point, no one
knew she had been stabbed. While some who were aware she was being attacked might
have decided not to get involved in someone else’s business, some of them did
make calls to the police.
One caller
reported after the initial attack that a woman was "beat up, but got up
and was staggering around." Nothing was said about her being stabbed. The
caller and the police apparently considered it an altercation between a man and
a woman who would kiss and make up the next day.
The
police and an ambulance arrived at 4:15 a.m., fifty minutes after the attacks
began. Kitty Genovese died on the way to the hospital.
Could Kitty Genovese have been saved that night? Possibly.
Perhaps if the police and the ambulance had arrived sooner. The story might
have had a different ending if the callers could have dialed 9-1-1, but that
system was not in place until four years later.
The Man Who
Killed Kitty Genovese
The attacker, Winston Moseley, a twenty-nine-year-old man
with no criminal record, married with two children, was arrested
as he burglarized a house six days later, and he confessed to the murder. His
motive? He wanted to “kill a woman.” He
said he got up at two a.m., left his wife asleep at home, and drove around
until he found a victim. He further confessed to raping and killing two other
women and to as many as forty burglaries. He was sentenced to death on June 15, l964. His sentence was reduced to life
imprisonment on the grounds he had not been allowed to argue at his trial that
he was medically insane when he killed Kitty. He escaped from prison in 1968
and committed more crimes before surrendering to police. He received two
additional fifteen-year sentences.
In December, 2013, Moseley was denied parole for the
seventeenth time. Now eighty years old, he is one of the longest-serving
inmates in the state of New York.
The brutal and senseless murder of a young woman with a
lot of life ahead of her is a gut-wrenching tragedy under any circumstances. The
circumstances surrounding Kitty Genovese’s death leave me wondering about the
moral responsibility of bystanders. In a deadly situation, should they step up
and try to save a life at the risk of their own?
Perhaps Kitty would have been saved if some of the people
aware of her plight had gone out to help her. Suppose the man who shouted
during the first attack for the attacker to “Let that girl alone” had instead
gone out to intervene. Maybe he could have saved Kitty. It’s possible, however,
that the man with the knife would have turned on him and there might have been
two victims that night.
One woman bravely went outside to investigate after the
second attack and found Kitty barely alive. Fortunately for her, the attacker
had driven away by then. The woman cradled Kitty in her arms until the
ambulance arrived. Suppose that woman had gone out a minute earlier. The
attacker might have still been there, and she might have been a victim also.
I don’t know what I would have done if I’d been there
that night.
Earl Staggs ©2015
Earl Staggs earned all Five Star reviews for his novels MEMORY OF A MURDER and JUSTIFIED ACTION and has twice received a Derringer Award for Best Short Story of the Year. He served as Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Magazine, as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars. He invites any comments via email at earlstaggs@sbcglobal.net He also invites you to visit his blog site at http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com
17 comments:
Earl provides an excellent clarification of a case which has become an urban legend. Another in an interesting series of essays.
I'm so glad you posted the truth about this! From your analysis, I agree there might have been another victim or two if the first man and the last woman had tried to intervene. The killer seems to have a particularly dark soul. I'm also very glad he's still locked up and hope he stays that way. Thanks!
I remember that case and the media attention it got. I'd like to think I would have tried to help, but you never know. Fear can hold us back sometimes, especially when we're not sure what's really going on. Excellent post, Earl!
Thanks for dropping by, John. I'm glad you find these articles interesting.
That guy had a dark soul, for sure, Kaye. We don't have to worry about him ever getting out of prison. He's eighty years old and has been rejected for parole seventeen times, the last time in 2013. The only way he'll get out is in a pine box. The sad thing is, he left behind a wife and two kids.
I'm with you, Marja. We never know what we'd do in a situation like that. Let's hope we never have to find out.
Thanks for this, Earl. I remember when the incident occurred, but never knew so many aspects of it had been mythologized or that the killer had been caught and imprisoned. That noted, the first piece of fiction I ever had published outside of a junior high or high school school literary magazine drew on the Genovese case as its basis. Should anyone care to have a look, it's called "Slow and Quiet, Drift Away," and is available for free at Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/23417
This is fascinating. I am one who remembers the case, too. How did anyone find out a man yelled for the killer to "leave that girl alone?" Did the killer mention him, or did he come forward, or? Thanks for clearing up the facts. Everyone should read this, especially those writing sociology texts. LOL
I remember hearing about that crime. I'm glad you posted the truth.
Hi, Barry. A lot of people know about the case, but most remember the incorrect reporting that 38 people watched Kitty get stabbed to death and did nothing. I'm reading your "Slow and Quiet, Drift Away" and enjoying it. Great characters! Harry Bronson and his wife jump off the page.
A good question, Jan. The killer made a full confession in detail. He may have told about the man who shouted and drove him away after the first attack or the police may have gotten it from interviewing the people in the neighborhood. Probably both.
Caroline, this is another example of stories coming to us through legend and urban myth which are not the true story. No matter how you look at it, Kitty's death was a senseless horrific tragedy.
I remember the event, and how appalled people were. I think someone made a movie or TV show about it, in which tenants in her building shouted out a window while watching the Late, Late, Late Show, and a few other incidents. I don't know what I would have done in the same situation, but the question is a good one. In France and some other European countries, the law requires a bystander to step in and give assistance if such action doesn't endanger his or her life. But how do you know if it's safe or not? Good post, very stimulating.
Susan, there have been several movies and books about this. And I agree with you. Most people are decent enough to help someone in distress, but how can you be sure you're not putting your life in jeopardy if you do? It's a judgment call, I suppose, and one I hope I never have to make.
Well, since I was about three at the time I don't remember this case. I do remember hearing about it in the early 80s when I was taking college classes.
My thanks to Earl who has once again given us another enlightening post. Wonder what will be in store for next month?
I remember this incident. I was a child living in Queens at the time.
I recall thinking, "What is wrong with people who live here?"
I think we all felt that way, Debbi, when we heard the early version of what happened. The facts simply don't support the story that "38 people watched Kitty get stabbed to death and did nothing." Even so, we'd like to think a young woman could not be brutally murdered on the streets of a major city. The sad and sobering fact is that it did happen and it could happen again.
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