The Enduring Enigma of the First Woman Executed by the U.S. Federal Government

[Jim Garrett]

Unfortunately, this is an example of the non fact checking in journalism. It's difficult to try to read a book written by a journalist, who writes very well but doesn't have the book proofed by a historian. "The Madman and the Assassin" is well written, but the author has a number of errors. On page 9 in the prologue, Scott Martelle writes, "They had spun a lie to the Garretts about being two Rebel brothers trying to make their way home at the end of the war. The family had let the two men sleep in the house the first night but then became increasingly suspicious: they ordered them to the tobacco barn at bedtime on this night." Numerous errors are in the book which makes the reader who is educated in the history of the assassination, question much of his material.