Chapter 1 THE CASE OF JACK THE RIPPER (Chief Detective Thomas Byrnes solved the case of the brutal slaying that prompted the press to speculate that London's Jack the Ripper had struck in New York City.)American Almanac 1854 (A selection of social, political, cultural and historical details depicting the tenor of the times are presented in this intercalary chapter.)Chapter 2 NO IRISH NEED APPLY (The Byrnes family immigrated from Ireland during the Potato Famine and settled into one of New York City's worst slums, Five Points.)American Almanac 1863 Chapter 3 NEW YORK CITY UNDER SEIGE (Byrnes distinguished himself as a brave and fearless police officer during the infamous New York City draft riots in the summer of 1863.)American Almanac 1872 Chapter 4 THE MURDER OF MAUDE MERRILL (Byrnes solved the sensational murder involving a fashionable courtesan, Maude Merrill, who was brutally killed in an upscale house of prostitution.)Chapter 5 THE MURDER OF JUBILEE JIM (Byrnes apprehended the murderer of James Fisk Jr., one the country's most successful Wall Street financiers.)American Almanac 1878Chapter 6 THE GREATEST BANK ROBBERY IN AMERICA (Using gritty detective work, Byrnes tracked down the criminals responsible for robbing close to $3 million from the Manhattan Savings Institution.) Chapter 7 BAG OF BONES (Byrnes tracked down the grave-robbers who stole the body of millionaire department store magnate, A.T. Stewart.) American Almanac 1880-1884 Chapter 8 CHIEF OF DETECTIVES (In 1880 Byrnes was promoted to Inspector and took command of New York City's detective bureau. He instituted a series of protocols that modernized the detective bureau including the use of mug shots, police line-ups and the use of undercover detectives to infiltrate criminal gangs.)Chapter 9 THE CASE OF THE MURDERED WINE MERCHANT (Byrnes tracked down and apprehended the murderer of New York City wine merchant, Louis Hanier.)American Almanac 1892-1895 Chapter 10 AN UNSPEAKABLE ROTTENESS (After being appointed Superintendent of the New York City Police Department in 1892, Byrnes faced a series of legislative investigations into police corruption. Although Byrnes was never directly implicated in any corrupt practices, he was forced into retirement in 1895 by Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt when it was revealed that he had amassed a small fortune on his meager $5,000 yearly salary. Byrnes became an insurance investigator, opening a detective agency on Wall Street and died in 1910.)
