Things are not always as they seem

In the weeks leading up to Christmas 1898, a highly anticipated legal case got underway in New York’s Supreme Court. The case of Mahon v Moore was one which met all the criteria of a classic Victorian high-society scandal, setting tabloid gossip columns across North America ablaze with every detail of "the most sensational trial of the decade".

It was a story of mystery and intrigue, crime and passion, money and betrayal. The trio at the centre of the case were alleged conman William A. Moore, his beautiful young wife and accomplice Fayne Shrahan Moore, and a Mayo-born millionaire hotelier named Martin Mahon.

The Moores were accused of perpetrating a crime of ‘badgering’ against their victim, Mahon. Badgering, or ‘a badger game’ as it was often called, was a term coined to describe an extortion scheme in which an unsuspecting target was duped into a compromising position. The victim was subsequently blackmailed in return for silence.

Born in Ballinrobe in 1846, Martin Mahon’s rise to the highest echelons of New York polite society was a rags-to-riches fairytale. A child of the Great Famine with no formal education, he emigrated to New York as a young man and found work as a coachman and blacksmith. As the lucrative post-Civil War construction industry boomed in the city, Mahon made his fortune as a building contractor.

Before long he had acquired an impressive property portfolio, buying up buildings in up-and-coming districts of the city. His success and prosperity were reported at intervals in the pages of the Western People, who told readers of Mahon’s tenacity, keen business instincts, and amiable personality. He was noted as being a generous employer of young men from his home county who were eager to carve out their own slice of the American Dream. Mahon was also involved with New York Mayomen’s Association, whose charitable endeavours raised much-needed funds for the less fortunate at home.

In the Spring of 1890, Martin Mahon engaged in a new business enterprise which would ultimately set him on course to his fateful encounter with William and Fayne Shrahan Moore. Mahon purchased the New Amsterdam Hotel, situated on the fashionable corner of Park Avenue and 21st Street, Manhattan. The prestigious address and palatial surroundings drew a select clientele of locals and visitors to the city. 

At first, Mahon leased the New Amsterdam to well-known businessmen brothers Alonzo and Agustus Foster. When their four-year lease ended, Mahon decided to take the reins himself. 

“They say a hotel man, like an actor is born, not made," remarked the Western People in April 1894, “but if energy and….a happy and pleasant nature amount to anything, Mr Mahon will make an admirable host.” 

Mahon was indeed free to focus much of his energies on his new venture, as it was at this time that his wife and two children returned to Mayo for a time. In early 1894, Mahon had travelled to Ballinrobe and secured a house for his family in the vicinity of the town, so that his two children might be educated locally.

Back in Manhattan, Mahon set about revitalising the New Amsterdam Hotel, hosting extravagant parties and galas, where the champagne and Ragtime music flowed into the small hours of the night. It was at one such party, in early 1897, that he was introduced to a charming young socialite from Atlanta named Ms Fayne Shrahan, and her fiance William Moore, who presented himself as a respected US consulate and businessman.

The encounter was brief but the following day, the soon-to-be Mrs Moore returned to the New Amsterdam Hotel alone and asked to speak with Martin Mahon. She explained that she had lost a decorative brooch the night before, and hoped that Mahon might be able to assist her. It was the beginning of an entanglement that Mahon would live to regret: he could scarcely have imagined that in a few short months, he would be held at gunpoint by William Moore, forced to sign a confession of ‘criminal adultery’ and pledge to hand over a handsome chunk of his fortune.

When the authorities became involved, the scene was set for the dramatic trial of December 1898, at which two wildly different versions of what passed between Martin Mahon and Mrs Moore were put before a jury, and all of New York, to judge for themselves.

The arrival at court of Mrs Fayne Moore, accused of knowingly conspiring with her husband to ‘badger’ and blackmail Martin Mahon, was nothing short of theatrical. Members of the press and throngs of spectators clamoured in the packed courtroom to catch a glimpse of the glamorous defendant, whose beauty and charm had captured the imagination of the public. Dressed in a gown of deepest green, she wore a hat trimmed with a dozen black ostrich feathers. The eye-catching ensemble was set off with a diamond necklace, rings and earrings.

“Every pair of eyes in the big courtroom was turned upon her, but this did not seem either to surprise or disconcert her”, remarked the Boston Daily Globe. “Her expression was one of amused interest, as though the proceedings did not concern her personally in the slightest”.

Taking her seat next to her lawyer Mr Levy, Mrs Moore smiled in turn at the opposing counsel, judge, court recorder, and members of the jury. Several of those who met the gaze of her “bewildering orbs of blue” were said to have “blushed like schoolboys''. As a result, the prosecuting lawyer, Assistant District Attorney Mr McIntyre, was compelled to approach the bench and insist that Mrs Moore be seated elsewhere out of view of the jury. Remarkably, the judge agreed and the co-accused was assigned a new seat in a far-off corner to avoid the risk of the jury being swayed by her “hypnotic” stare.

When proceedings got underway, Mrs Moore spoke of how her marriage to Mr Moore, whom she described as an erratic and violent drunkard, had been most difficult, and that his brutish and cruel manner had caused her to live in fear of him. Her only respite came when her spouse travelled on business out of town, which he did frequently. This ‘business’, the prosecution alleged, was in fact a life of professional conmanship. Mr McIntyre asked if Mrs Moore knew any details of her husband's involvement in a string of crimes - a theft at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, jewellery bought with bad cheques in London, and the working of a ‘short card trick’ on passengers aboard steamships to Europe, to name but a few.

It was put to Mrs Moore that she was well aware that her extravagant New York lifestyle was funded by ill-gotten gains and that she had “marked’ Martin Mahon as a target for her and her husband to extort money from. She vehemently denied the charges, insisting that she had been led to believe that her husband ran a legitimate business office in Cleveland, Ohio. When McIntyre pressed further, Mrs Moore wept openly, and exclaimed: “Oh, can’t you be more kind." 

Her lawyer Mr Levy scolded McIntryre, telling him he ought to learn how to be more of a gentleman. McIntrye swung around and shouted: “You don’t know what a gentleman is… how dare you speak to me in that fashion!”, at which point there was a call for silence in the courtroom.

The nature of Mrs Moore’s relationship with Martin Mahon was next examined. Mrs Moore recounted that she had struck up a friendship with Mahon following their first meeting at his hotel, the New Amsterdam. He began to send her flowers and gifts and escort her on carriage rides to dinner and the theatre. He had been persistent in his advances and even sought out her address to call on her in person. Asked if she knew he was a married man with children, Moore replied matter-of-factly: “He told me was not living with his family." She then added: “I appreciated his kindness."

The questioning next centred on dramatic events which unfolded on the night of November 2nd, 1898, at the Grenoble Hotel, where Mrs Moore had taken up residence. Her version of events were relayed. Believing her husband to be en route to Washington, she arranged to meet Mahon for dinner. When she became upset about her ongoing marital strife, Mahon suggested they return to her apartments at the Grenoble. They did so. Once inside the suite, Mrs. Moore went into the bedroom to “change from a street gown into a house gown”.

“Did you lock the door?” interjected McIntrye. 

“I believed I had locked it," replied the defendant. 

Within a matter of moments, the suite door burst open and Mrs Moore’s incensed husband entered, brandishing a pistol. He lunged at Martin Mahon, grabbing him and striking him on the forehead with the butt of the weapon before pointing it at his wife. He struck her and forced her to write a detailed letter of confession, admitting to an illicit affair with the Mayoman. Mahon was compelled to co-sign the document, all the while begging that his life be spared for the sake of his family. Mrs Moore claimed she then became “comatose”, and could not say what happened next. 

“Did your husband rob Mr Mahon?” McIntye asked. 

“No, he did not," replied Mrs Moore. 

“I thought you were in comatose condition?” retorted McIntyre. 

“I could not see but I could hear… and I heard no conversation about robbery," came Mrs Moore’s reply.

Martin Mahon’s tailored suit, neatly-combed hair and thick moustache could not hide his fraught demeanour and weary expression as he took the witness stand on Friday, December 16th, 1898. 

“He was so nervous he merely chattered in reply to the opening question," noted the New York World. 

The 52-year-old hotelier admitted that he had socialised with Mrs Moore, saying he enjoyed her company and was encouraging her interest in music. He had believed she was in need of protection from her wicked new husband. He claimed that on the night of  November 2nd, he had accompanied Mrs Moore to her Grenoble apartment to play cards. As the room was warm he removed his coat and waistcoat. When he was about to leave, Mrs Moore suddenly embraced him. At this exact moment, Mr Moore came barging into the room, armed with a deadly weapon.

It was then that he was violently assaulted by Mr Moore, who held him at gunpoint on his knees, stole a diamond pin and $175 cash off his person, and insisted that he promise to hand over $50,000 in return for the false "confession" and his reputation intact. Mahon told him that amount was not possible, and eventually they settled on a sum of $5,000. Mahon scrawled his signature on a promissory note and agreed to produce the sum the next day. 

Mr Moore did not lay a finger on his wife, Mahon told the court, and it was clear to him that the duo were, in fact, accomplices in the devious act of trickery. Far from being comatose, he claimed Mrs Moore conversed freely with her husband, and even counted out the cash they stole from him. Together they had cleaned his bloodied forehead and given him a fresh collar and tie (which were dramatically produced in the courtroom) to wear. Mr Moore brought Mahon downstairs to the hotel bar, giving him two whiskeys and sending him on his way. In a bold move, which clearly his perpetrators had not anticipated, Mahon alerted the police. There were further dramatic scenes at the Grenoble when Mr Moore brawled with his arresting officer - and Mrs Moore was nowhere to be found for some time.

Under cross-examination by Mr Levy, Mahon, visibly uncomfortable, was quizzed about his personal and family life at length. In relation to that night at the Grenoble Hotel, Levy observed: “You went to your hotel afterwards. You did not go home to your wife.” 

Mahon was enraged by the comment. Springing to his feet in the witness box, the Ballinrobe native leaned forward, shook his fist at Levy, and bellowed: “You shall not bring my wife into this! She is as good a woman as your wife is and I will not let you do what you are doing.” 

Levy simply smiled and in the direction of the jury remarked: “This is all done for effect." 

Mahon made a parting shot, his deep voice still tinged with a distinct South Mayo accent: “I am not a murderer or a thief like the man you are defending!”

It was the end of January 1899 before the jury reached its verdict in the trial which had dominated the headlines for over eight weeks.

William A. Moore was found guilty on charges of larceny, assault and blackmail. He was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment, to be served at New York’s notorious ‘Sing Sing’ Correctional Facility.

As for his Mrs Fayne Moore, she was acquitted on all charges.

“The jury was so moved by her beauty that one juryman, interviewed after she was acquitted, declared that no judge or jury in the world would believe anything ill of such a wide-eyed innocent looking girl," reported the New York Herald.

Within a year she had divorced her convict husband and set sail for Europe. Sightings of the elusive divorceê were reported in the tabloid newspapers and pictorial magazines continued to print sketches of her likeness. She was spotted in the finest cafes of Paris and next in London where she had begun a new romance and a new career. It was a job that some might speculate she was well prepared for; she became a West End actress.

Martin Mahon’s health fell into decline after the trial came to an end. On the advice of his physicians, he travelled 3,000 miles from New York to California in the hope the warm west coast air would ease his failing lungs. On March 4th, 1900, without his family at his side, at Redlands, San Bernardino County, Martin Mahon died. He was 54 years old. His passing was noted quietly in the press - his association with the scandalous trial somewhat overshadowing the prior accomplishments of the son of Ballinrobe.

Is there anything to be learned from the remarkable case of Mahon v Moore?

A seanfhocal of old that we all learned at school springs to mind: “Ni mar a shíltear a bhítear" (Things are not always as they seem!)

Sources: Western People, Boston Globe, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, New York Journal and Advertiser, New York Herald, New York World, New York Legal Review 1900