The public's fascination with crime as reflected in news accounts, reality TV and, now, true crime podcasts, might seem like a recent phenomenon. But crime stories have commanded the public's attention for hundreds of years. In its latest exhibition, the Maine Historical Society in Portland chronicles this trend over two-and-a-half centuries, and explores what's behind the fascination in "Notorious, Maine Crime in the Public Eye, 1690 - 1940."
The exhibition is designed to show how the coverage of crime has changed over the centuries, from mentions in poetry, to early American newspapers, and, eventually, newsreels.
"What we found was, it's usually the more lurid things: the murders the multiple murders, the more gory the details the better," said Collections Curator Tiffany Link.
She said the photographic images from a newsreel in the exhibit illustrate one of the exhibition's themes: that the most popular crime reports didn't pull any punches.
"We think that society today is more voyeuristic or interested in all of the exceptional details, but they were just as interested in it back then, and they didn't hold back," she said.
And Link said the coverage sometimes carried a social message. "The Mill Girl" books of the 19th century told the stories of crimes against women who worked in textile factories, with titles such as: "Mary Bean, or The Mysterious Murder," and "Lowell Factory Girl And Other Tales." Link said the stories could be seen as a way to discourage women from seeking economic independence, by sensationalizing the dangers they faced in society.
"If you go too far down that road, you're going to end up pregnant, and unmarried, and maybe dead at the hands of an abortionist and, it's a lot about women's movements, controlling women's movements. Crime has a lot to do with women. Most of the victims in the cases are women," Link said.
The publicizing of crime, and its consequences, also had the power to shape public policy. Historical Society Deputy Director Jamie Rice said 19th century newspaper coverage reflected a growing public unease with the practice of capital punishment:
"You can really see society's response to these executions," Rice said. "The public is aware of the death penalty being implemented and how it's being implemented and the outcry really, drives the legislation as it comes to the death penalty in Maine.
The 1835 hanging of Joseph Sager in Kennebec County was Maine's last public execution. The exhibition includes a grim artifact from that event: the wooden trap door that was part of the gallows.
"We kind of got a tip about where that door might be, and that led us to another tip and we were able to find it at Kennebec Historical Society and they still had it," Link said. "And that was really incredible; we were able to get it here and get it on display."
Maine would completely abolish the death penalty in 1887, following the botched hanging of Daniel Wilkinson two years earlier. With the emergence of modern crime coverage in the first half of the 20th century, newspapers sensationalized their coverage with big headlines, just as photojournalism came of age. At movie theaters across the country, newsreels urgently described the shootout that left two gang members dead on a street in downtown Bangor.
"Amid a rain of bullets Brady met death....pedestrians ducked for cover in this drama of death," said a newscaster from a newsreel covering the shootout.
"I don't think true crime is going anywhere. It's certainly one of the most popular hobbies or pastimes for a lot of people, where they do books or podcasts or documentaries," Link said. "We're hoping as you walk through this, you, sort of, realize that these are all real people."
"Notorious: Maine Crime in the Public Eye, 1690 - 1940" will be on display for the rest of this year at the Maine Historical Society headquarters in downtown Portland.
