Historian Robin R. Cutler’s book about a century-old mystery that stirred the nation is now available online from Rowman & Littlefield and many other sites. 400 pp. $26.95. Cloth. ISBN 0-7425-4849-X Support your local bookstore! Or call 1 800-462-6420. EST 8-5. Discounts available.
A Soul on Trial: A Marine Corps Mystery at the Turn of the Twentieth Century is the true story of an unprecedented conflict between democratic values and military justice in the age when the modern mass media was born. In 1907 an Oregon mother, Rosa Brant Sutton, challenged the Navy’s suicide verdict after her son, Lt. James Sutton, died following a brawl with his fellow marines. Inspired by several postmortem visits from “Jimmie,” and by her Catholic faith, Rosa embarked on a three-year crusade to save her son’s soul from the stigma of a mortal sin.
Her spiritual journey soon became a political one that would take her from Portland, 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 Cemetery. A ghost story, murder mystery, and courtroom drama, this book also explores the values of a proud and honorable Marine Corps forced into the center of public discourse by Rosa’s uninhibited pursuit of justice. The Corps’ brilliant judge advocate, Harry Leonard, already a war hero at thirty-three, was the perfect foil for Mrs. Sutton, her renowned attorney, and America’s relentless reporters.
By 1909, millions of Americans had a stake in this confrontation between a patriotic mother and her own government in a military forum. Rosa’s story was irresistible to Progressive Era journalists and high-ranking military officials who joined with members of Congress in a search for verifiable truth that played out on a national stage. In order to save her son’s reputation and defend her own sanity, Rosa ultimately turned to James Cardinal Gibbons, the highest official in the American Catholic Church, and Dr. James Hervey Hyslop, America’s foremost psychical researcher. Hyslop commissioned a detailed field study of her paranormal experiences as part of his research on whether or not the dead communicate with the living. With the press corps as a catalyst, these two men helped Rosa achieve an American brand of justice, as well as redemption both for Jimmie and for herself.
Ten years ago, Robin Cutler discovered the extraordinary primary sources that make it possible to reconstruct the Sutton case for the first time. Among them are hundreds of newspaper articles and thousands of pages of government documents, including the court transcripts of both naval investigations into Sutton’s death. The record of the 1909 inquiry provides a unique window into military justice, society, and the power of the press in the decade before World War I.