Nan Patterson and The Death of Frank "Caesar" Young

In the early morning hours of June 4, 1904, New York City police were called to Lower Manhattan for what they were told was the death of Frank “Ceasar” Young from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest. When they arrived at the scene, they found Young’s body in the back of a Hansom cab, slumped over into the lap of a young actress named Nan Patterson, with whom he’d been having an affair. Nan claimed Young had shot himself when she refused to accompany him back to England, where he was headed to meet his wife that morning, but the police believed otherwise, and Nan was arrested and charged with Young’s murder. What followed was not one, but three sensational murder trials that commanded the attention of New Yorkers across all five boroughs, and all of them had an opinion about Nan Patterson and her relationship with Caesar Young. Thank you to the fantastical David White, of Bring me the Axe podcast, for research assistance :) References Allen, Oliver. 2017. When today's Tribeca was the site of a most sensational murder. November 15. Accessed August 30, 2023.