Paroxysm: Love, Murder and Justice in Post Civil War Washington, DC

In a hallway of the U. S. Treasury Building in 1865, Mary Harris has shot and killed Adoniram Judson Burroughs, the man who had abandoned her and married another. Mary capitalizes on the sympathy of many influential visitors to put pressure on Joseph H. Bradley, a prominent Washington attorney, to take her case. Bradley manages to assemble a distinguished group of lawyers and politicians to defend the young Irish farm girl from Iowa. With great skill and cunning, the attorneys for the defense argue that the accused suffers from "paroxysmal insanity," augmented by painful dysmenhorrea (now called premenstrual syndrome). At the same time, they imply that she is but the instrument of divine retribution for the deceased's own depravity and the complicity of his famous brother, the president of the University of Chicago.

The trial is closely followed throughout the nation, even by President Lincoln's wife - herself mentally troubled - who sends Mary a bouquet of flowers while she is confined in her jail cell. Lawyers jockey to frame the debate to favor their respective sides, the defense presenting some of the most eloquent and moving speeches ever heard in an American courtroom while the prosecution presents incisive arguments that cut to the heart of the legal issues. Psychologically, the contest is a battle between two types of judgment process: feeling and thinking. Members of the jury in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia debate the case for just five minutes before arriving at a verdict. But second thoughts arise when public sentiment reverses course and newspapers and the national psychiatric association criticize the decision made by the jury, the judge, and the behavior of the lawyers involved in the case. Subsequent troubles that arise for the defendant and her counsel meet with unexpected resolutions.

Based on a true story, the author uncovers many historical facts in the case, some of which were not available to the jury or the attorneys involved, and presents in dramatic form what he believes to be the true story of this amazing crime and the surprising romance which emerged from it.