Who Killed Jane Stanford?: A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University

by Richard White

Overview

Named One of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 by the Los Angeles Times

A premier historian penetrates the fog of corruption and cover-up still surrounding the murder of a Stanford University founder to establish who did it, how, and why.

In 1885 Jane and Leland Stanford cofounded a university to honor their recently deceased young son. After her husband’s death in 1893, Jane Stanford, a devoted spiritualist who expected the university to inculcate her values, steered Stanford into eccentricity and public controversy for more than a decade. In 1905 she was murdered in Hawaii, a victim, according to the Honolulu coroner’s jury, of strychnine poisoning. With her vast fortune the university’s lifeline, the Stanford president and his allies quickly sought to foreclose challenges to her bequests by constructing a story of death by natural causes. The cover-up gained traction in the murky labyrinths of power, wealth, and corruption of Gilded Age San Francisco. The murderer walked.

Deftly sifting the scattered evidence and conflicting stories of suspects and witnesses, Richard White gives us the first full account of Jane Stanford’s murder and its cover-up. Against a backdrop of the city’s machine politics, rogue policing, tong wars, and heated newspaper rivalries, White’s search for the murderer draws us into Jane Stanford’s imperious household and the academic enmities of the university. Although Stanford officials claimed that no one could have wanted to murder Jane, we meet several people who had the motives and the opportunity to do so. One of these, we discover, also had the means.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324064428
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/04/2023
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	245,881
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Richard White is the author of many acclaimed histories, including the groundbreaking study of the transcontinentals, Railroaded, winner of the LA Times Book Prize and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is Margaret Byrne Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

Section 1 Poland Spring Water

Chapter 1 The first poisoning 3

Chapter 2 Strychnine 10

Chapter 3 Watching the detectives 13

Chapter 4 AH wing and Wong toy wong 18

Chapter 5 The way to san jose 23

Section 2 Founding a University

Chapter 6 Bertha Berner writes a life 33

Chapter 7 Leland Stanford Jr. 37

Chapter 8 Ghosts and money 41

Chapter 9 Leland Stanford junior university 49

Chapter 10 David Starr Jordan 55

Chapter 11 Independence 61

Chapter 12 Surrogates 66

Section 3 Quarrels

Chapter 13 Follow the money 75

Chapter 14 Comings and goings 80

Chapter 15 Edward Ross 86

Chapter 16 The Ross affair 92

Chapter 17 Ross strikes back 98

Chapter 18 "He told it nice" 107

Section 4 A System of Absolutism

Chapter 19 The despot 115

Chapter 20 The breach 122

Chapter 21 The surrogate son 129

Section 5 Travels Toward a Poisoning

Chapter 22 My man beverly 139

Chapter 23 Thomas Welton stanford 143

Chapter 24 Homecoming 147

Chapter 25 Downstairs 152

Chapter 26 The walls close in 156

Chapter 27 Resurrectsons and suicides 162

Section 6 Death Comes for Mrs. Stanford

Chapter 28 Moana hotel 167

Chapter 29 When she met death, she called it by name 170

Chapter 30 George Crothers comes home 175

Section 7 The Investigation Begins

Chapter 31 The high sheriff 179

Chapter 32 The case in san francisco 184

Chapter 33 The medicine bottle 188

Section 8 The Investigation

Chapter 34 Suspects 195

Chapter 35 Jordan and Hopkins cross the pacific 201

Chapter 36 The coroner's jury 205

Section 9 The Cover-Up

Chapter 37 Past is prologue 215

Chapter 38 Everyone was lying 217

Chapter 39 Jules Callundan and Harry reynolds 221

Chapter 40 Reframing the investigation 228

Chapter 41 Jordan and waterhouse 234

Chapter 42 A melodramatic detective story 240

Section 10 Jane Stanford Comes Home

Chapter 43 Tay Wang and chief of police wittman 247

Chapter 44 Death of an investigation 255

Chapter 45 The funeral 261

Chapter 46 Covering up the cover-up 269

Chapter 47 Almost an act of just retribution 279

Epilogue Who killed her? 287

Acknowledgments 301

Notes 303

Index 351

Illustrations follow page 192

Editorial Reviews

"[A] rollicking account of Jane Stanford’s final years and violent death, all set against the seamy San Francisco carnival culture of the era."

New York Times - Meryl Gordon

"Superb…White writes with clarity, precision and a bone-dry sense of humor….Who Killed Jane Stanford? shows that the fealty great wealth demands is an enduring cog in history’s gears. And the fact that Stanford University rose from this swamp of murder and conspiracy to become today’s renowned institution? That is perhaps the strangest plot twist of all."

Los Angeles Times - Mary Ann Gwinn

"Something was rotten in the kingdom that would become Silicon Valley, that hydra sprung from the loins of Stanford University. Stanford itself was built with plundered public money, eccentric ideas, and endless hubris by railroad baron and baroness Leland and Jane Stanford. Then someone poisoned Jane. This delightfully sordid story of malice and mendacity is a triumph of historical detective work."

Rebecca Solnit

"White…is a formidable detective. Others have examined pieces of this mystery, but White solves it by unearthing evidence of motive and opportunity and means….White picks apart differing recollections and testimonies, rules out potential suspects, tracks down potential accomplices, and makes connections no one did at the time."

The American Scholar - Susan Berfield

"Offering a detective story with more twists and turns than a Dashiell Hammett novel, Mr. White leads us through his research into the labyrinth. Along the way, [he] uncovers a century-long campaign kicked off by the university’s first president to cloud the circumstances of Jane Stanford’s death.…[A] brilliant, acerbic guide into a world that resonates with the present,…Mr. White has done an astonishing job of sifting through the available clues—and turning up an impressive array of new details. In this fascinating 'whydunit,' he makes a convincing case for why Jane Stanford’s murder was covered up for so long."

Wall Street Journal - Julia Flynn Siler

"An absorbing history and murder mystery, laced with envy, greed, corruption, vengeance, mysticism—and strychnine. Stranger than fiction, Who Killed Jane Stanford? will have you guessing and wondering to the last page."

Kevin Baker

"Our finest chronicler of the Gilded Age has produced another masterpiece—a riveting true crime tale set in the gaudy era he knows better than anyone else. Not to be missed."

Geoffrey C. Ward

"A brilliant historian turns detective to unravel a Gilded Age crime and cover-up that recasts the origin story of one of the world’s preeminent universities. These characters will stay with you for a long time."

Miriam Pawel

"Who Killed Jane Stanford? is a true-crime thriller, revivifying a very cold case and portraying the early decades of the university…as more tenuous than one might imagine. It’s astonishing that Jane Stanford’s murder went unacknowledged for so long."

San Francisco Chronicle - L.A. Taggart

"Jane Stanford’s death was one of the most sensational of the 20th century….Luckily for readers, White has solved the mystery and the record can finally be set straight on this century-old cold case."

New York Post - Susannah Calahan

★ 03/28/2022

True crime doesn’t come more stranger than fiction than the unsolved murder of Jane Stanford (1828–1905), the widow of robber baron Leland Stanford, who died in Hawaii of strychnine poisoning a month after a previous attempt to kill her the same way in San Francisco. Despite her wealth and power (among other things, she and her husband founded Stanford University), her murder was covered up; the true cause of death was concealed from the public for years; and it was reported that she’d died from heart failure. White (Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America), an emeritus professor of American history at Stanford who has taught an undergraduate seminar on the mystery, provides the fruits of decades of research and analysis, in what is likely to be the last word on the case, including a plausible solution. He examines multiple suspects, including Stanford’s private secretary, Bertha Berner, who was present during both poisoning episodes; a Chinese servant; and university president and noted member of the university’s science faculty, David Starr Jordan, who both had access to strychnine and motive, because Stanford threatened his position after a series of disputes about the direction of the academic institution. This is an instant genre classic. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"White, a retired Stanford history professor, is the perfect guide to sorting out the feuds, competing agendas, and byzantine plots at play, not only at the university but within the corruption-filled political and business circles of San Francisco at the dawn of the twentieth century."

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - Dean Jobb

"A page-turner that explores the class divides of Gilded Age California and the sordid history of a great university. This is micro-history at its best."

Martha A. Sandweiss

"Irresistibly fascinating.… Richard White has brought Jane Stanford and her peculiar entourage vividly to life—and also has persuasively figured out who killed her."

Nicholas Lemann

"Combining a prosecutor’s zeal for uncovering evidence with a crime novelist’s flair for suspense, White shows that Stanford died from ingesting strychnine…. Exactly who gave her the lethal dose is the book’s central mystery, but far from its only revelation. The unsolved murder of the college’s founding matriarch, it turns out, is integral to understanding how Stanford eventually became one of the world’s great universities."

Air Mail - Romesh Ratnesar

"Richard White delivers a masterpiece that captivates as he unravels the long-hidden truth behind a perplexing murder."

Harry N. MacLean

"[I]n his engaging new book…White uses his historian’s rigor to answer a detective’s question."

The New Yorker - Maia Silber

[An] account of Jane Stanford’s final years and violent death, all set against the seamy San Francisco carnival culture of the era.”

New York Times

A detective story with more twists and turns than a Dashiell Hammett novel…White has done an astonishing job of sifting through the available clues―and turning up an impressive array of new details. In this fascinating ‘whydunit,’ he makes a convincing case for why Jane Stanford’s murder was covered up for so long.”

Wall Street Journal

White uses his historian’s rigor to answer a detective’s question.”

New Yorker

09/01/2022

Christopher P. Brown delivers this fascinating Gilded Age true-crime story in an academic but conversational lecture style well suited for historian White's (emeritus, Stanford; California Exposures) latest work, especially since the award-winning historian often writes in the first person. Stanford campus tours for prospective students convey the university's origin story of its founders, railroad magnate Leland Stanford and his wife Jane, as grieving parents who founded Stanford to memorialize their deceased son. However, White says the truth involves "a dubious and insecure fortune, laundered into a monument to the founding family, and a school rejuvenated through the blood of one of its founders." White and his students combed through university archives for clues to Jane's death, ruled at the 1905 inquest as strychnine poisoning, and sought reasons why university administrators adamantly insisted that her death was from natural causes. Brown's smooth delivery and excellent pacing glides listeners through the often-bizarre events of Jane's final years, as well as the interesting background details about how robber baron Leland secured his fortune and the incredible levels of corruption at the university and San Francisco government and business sectors. VERDICT A must-listen for history buffs and true crime fans.—Beth Farrell

Library Journal - Audio

Christopher Brown delivers a straightforward narration of this audiobook, which is subtitled “A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University.” The story features Jane Stanford, a most eccentric woman who was cofounder of Stanford University (1885) with her husband and who steered the institution after his death in 1893. Jane Stanford was murdered in Hawaii in 1905, just months after she escaped strychnine poisoning at home. Brown’s performance is rapid-fire and barely inflected while reciting scary, often conflicting facts; memos; newspaper articles; court and medical reports; and secondhand conversations revolving around Jane and her household before and after her death. Eschewing accent and emotion, Brown’s performance challenges listeners’ to remain attentive to this intriguing, very cold, murder investigation. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2022 - AudioFile

Christopher Brown delivers a straightforward narration of this audiobook, which is subtitled “A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University.” The story features Jane Stanford, a most eccentric woman who was cofounder of Stanford University (1885) with her husband and who steered the institution after his death in 1893. Jane Stanford was murdered in Hawaii in 1905, just months after she escaped strychnine poisoning at home. Brown’s performance is rapid-fire and barely inflected while reciting scary, often conflicting facts; memos; newspaper articles; court and medical reports; and secondhand conversations revolving around Jane and her household before and after her death. Eschewing accent and emotion, Brown’s performance challenges listeners’ to remain attentive to this intriguing, very cold, murder investigation. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2022 - AudioFile

2022-03-16
Historical true-crime tale involving an unsolved murder and the tumultuous early years of a prestigious university.

An award-winning historian and MacArthur and Guggenheim fellow, White became intrigued by the unsolved mystery of the death of Jane Stanford (1828-1905), who, with her husband, railroad magnate Leland Stanford, founded a university to memorialize their dead son. When Jane died suddenly in Honolulu, witness statements and an autopsy indicated poisoning, but by the time her body arrived in San Francisco, the notion of a crime had been quashed. White uses the coverup to create a lively detective story exposing “the politics, power struggles, and scandals of Gilded Age San Francisco,” including those that roiled the Palo Alto campus. Jane was wealthy, impetuous, and domineering. The university, intellectually mediocre and struggling financially, “was for all practical purposes” whatever the Stanford family wanted it to be, and its faculty and administration were harassed by Jane’s “whims, convictions, resentments,” and her ardent belief in spiritualism. She was surrounded by bickering servants, duplicitous lawyers, and rivalrous family members, but university trustee George Crothers, Jane’s confidant and legal adviser, worked assiduously to prevent her from undermining her own interests and the future of the university. He agreed with others that a murder trial “could reveal the controversies within the university, resurrect old scandals, and reveal new ones. All this would embarrass and threaten important people and institutions.” Indeed, White believes that Stanford’s death may have saved the university and certainly the job of its president, David Starr Jordan, whom Jane wanted to fire. “Jordan never mastered Jane Stanford while she lived,” writes the author, “but death made her malleable.” He eulogized her with praise. White identifies many individuals with a motive to poison Jane; advised by his brother, Stephen, a writer of crime fiction, he homes in on one culprit. Although at times White’s impressive findings slow the pace, he fashions an engaging narrative.

An entertaining tale of money, power, and malfeasance.

Kirkus Reviews