This was the actress involved in the famous 1872 shooting of James Fisk, Jr., "king" of Wall Street, by Edward S. Stokes, his former partner, and the "handsomest man in town."Fisk accused Stokes of embezzlement. Stokes sued Fisk for libel. The publication of Fisk's love letters to Josie Mansfield was threatened. The shooting immediately followed a court decision granting Fisk an injunction restraining the publication of the letters.
Photographs of the day leave little to indicate her reputed beauty and the charm she was supposed to exersice over men.
Thanks to Boss Tweed's influence and New York politics, Stokes, received a four year sentence after three trials. Fisk died the morning after the shooting.
5 comments:
What a horror...kill someone over her!!
She was also said to have been a lover of Ella Wesner, the drag artist.
Chris
Frances Farmer played her in The Toast of NY in 1937. Frances WAs beautiful, not Josie !
How old was she when she died?
Some reports say 1888,
some say she lived to almost 90
in poverty
Anyone know the truth?
Josie Mansfield lived until 1931, or so. Around ninety, if not ninety. Died in abject poverty and had been paralyzed for many years before her death by a stroke.
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