True Case · 1897
The Woodside Cottage
Queens County, summer 1897. William Guldensuppe, a Turkish-bath rubber who kept late hours, vanished after going toward a rented Woodside cottage with Augusta Nack. The cottage had been taken under the name Braun. Oilcloth and paper parcels surfaced afterward, and two companions—Nack and Martin Thorn, a barber once lodging in her house—stand at the heart of the matter. Your task is to sort rumor from record before the case is laid before a jury: who killed Guldensuppe, and what ties each step to the guilty hand?
Built from public-domain records. Documents marked “reconstructed” restate facts from the record in period form; nothing is invented.