12/29/1881 A Tragic Mystery occurs

December 29, 1881.  On the evening of this day four members of a New York City gang called the Whyos entered a bar in Hell's Kitchen.  A few hours later the bar closed, the owner Louis Hanier, went down to investigate a noise and was shot dead.  Famous policeman Thomas F. Byrnes led the investigation that led to convictions of three men.  The leader of the Whyos, Mike McGloin, was hanged for the crime.

Connection to crime fiction?  Julian Hawthorne, son of Nathaniel and a very popular author in his own right at the time, wrote A Tragic Mystery, based on the events.  It was one of five books he co-authored with Byrnes, who supplied the plots.

Interestingly enough, Hawthorne  got to experience another side of the justice system in 1913 when he was sent to prison for selling three million shares in a mine that, alas, did not actually exist.