Book Nook - A Soul on Trial: A Marine Corps Mystery at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

The grounds of Arlington National Cemetery are nearly deserted on this clear September afternoon in 1909. But just off McKinley Drive in the southwest corner of the officers’ section, eight laborers raise a casket from lot 2102. Rosa Sutton watches from a nearby carriage. For the first time in four years, she is about to see her son.

 

A Soul on Trial: A Marine Corps Mystery at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (2^nd Edition), by historian Robin Cutler, is the true story of Rosa Brant Sutton, who traveled 3,000 miles from Portland, Oregon, to Annapolis, Maryland, to challenge the Navy’s suicide finding after her oldest son died in a brawl. Inspired by her Catholic faith and alleged postmortem visits from her beloved son, Jimmie, she embarked on a crusade to save his soul from the stigma of a mortal sin — a sin that would keep him out of heaven.

 

“It’s an unforgettable story of a military mother desperate to learn what really happened to her son,” said Cutler, who is Rosa’s great-granddaughter. “Rosa was a private citizen taking on big government. She may have been the first mother to confront the armed forces in a military forum.”

 

Rosa’s spiritual journey soon became a political one that took her through the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., to a courtroom in Annapolis and finally face-to-face with Jimmie’s corpse in Arlington National Cemetery.

 

This unprecedented conflict between democratic values and military justice unfolded on a national stage thanks to Progressive Era journalists who found the story irresistible. By 1909, millions of citizens, attorneys, military officials and members of Congress had a stake in the fate of a patriotic mother who dared to challenge her own government.

 

To save her son’s reputation and defend her own sanity, Rosa ultimately enlisted the help of James Cardinal Gibbons, the highest official in the American Catholic Church, and Dr. James Hervey Hyslop, America’s foremost psychical researcher, who commissioned a detailed field study of Rosa’s paranormal experiences. With the press corps serving as a catalyst, these two men helped Rosa achieve an American brand of justice, as well as redemption for both Jimmie and herself.

 

A compelling murder mystery, ghost story and courtroom drama, A Soul on Trial is also, above all, a story of how the First Amendment equipped a mother to pursue justice over a century ago and continues to do so today. 

I had a chance to learn more in this interview.