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The book “The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield” by H.W Brand tells about the real life murder of Jim Fisk by Josie Mansfield’s lover, Edwin Stokes. In 1867 Josie was an unemployed actress who made her way in the world by using her looks and charm. This set her apart from most other women who were wives and mothers by Josie’s age. She had a penchant for playing the victim and getting men to “save” her. She had previously lied about her parents using her in a blackmail scheme. This led to her first marriage to actor Frank Lawton, who believed that he was saving her from her family.
Later after she meets Jim Fisk he too will want to “save” her, paying her rent and buying her new dresses within hours of meeting her. Despite the fact that Josie probably had limited education she seemed to have an understanding of business. According to Brands, “Josie knows that if Vanderbilt joins the Erie to his New York Central Railroad he will possess a monopoly of freight and passenger traffic between New York City and the Great Lakes and will become even wealthier, more prideful, and more powerful than he already is” (pg.27). This sense of business acumen would have been rather unique for a women living in the “gilded age”.
After meeting Fisk, Josie quickly becomes his mistress and he furnishes her with a new place, along with jewels and the finest gowns. Although she has the security and wealth she desires she is not attracted to Fisk and when “she looks around her house, at her dresses and diamonds and furniture and paintings, and concludes that she has done well for herself. And yet, as her eye falls on Fisk, slumped in an armchair with his coat thrown off, his stomach bulging over his belt, his jowls hiding his cravat, his snores shaking the paintings and the silver, she wonders if there isn’t more to a young woman’s life” (pg. 51). This makes her a typical woman for the time, since like nearly all women her security comes from being in the good graces of a man. This was because women were limited in their rights to own property, obtain education, and work.
Even though she was financially dependent on men. Josie was different from other women in the “Gilded Age”. This was because while most women during this period had little to no say in their lives. Josie had some agency in that she seemed that she wanted more than being a wife and mother. She also seemed to cause things to happen, rather than just allowing things to happen to her. You see this when she decides to blackmail her parents and later Fisk. She blackmails Fisk with the letters he wrote her because she wants the money she earned in the stock market. Josie even sues him, which was not something most women would have done at the time. This was because it was a patriarchal society and women had very few rights. I think that Josie would have been either a successful business woman or she would have just continued to play the stocks. I could see her doing either or both no matter what century she lived in. She seemed to be quite successful at it earning $25,000, this would amount to over $403, 000 in 2016 (Manuel). Unfortunately for Josie her obvious will and intelligence was tempered by societal norms. These norms made it so it was almost impossible for a woman not to have to rely on men for financial support.
Work Cited
Brands, H. W. The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age. New York: Anchor, 2011. Print.
Manuel, Dave. "Inflation Calculator". DaveManuel.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.
