James M. Greiner – författare

A sensational murder, trial, and a young woman’s execution in Depression-era New YorkAt first glance, the 1932 Easter morning murder of Salvatore 'Sam' Antonio had all the trademarks of a gang-related murder. Shot five times, stabbed a dozen more, Antonio was left for dead. His body was rolled into a culvert on Castleton Road outside of Hudson, south of Albany, New York. It was only by chance that the mortally wounded Antonio was discovered and brought to the hospital. He died in the emergency room without ever naming his assailant.William H. Flubacher of the New York State Police arrived at the hospital minutes after Antonio succumbed and immediately began his investigation by questioning the victim’s wife, Anna Antonio. The vague details she offered, coupled with her utter lack of shock or grief upon hearing of her husband’s brutal murder, convinced Flubacher that something was amiss. Soon, as James M. Greiner tells us in this absorbing book, Anna was accused of hiring two drug dealers, Vincent Saetta and Sam Feraci, to kill her husband.In Greiner’s description of the trial itself, he seeks to show how flaws in the judicial system, poverty, and prejudice around the Italian American community in Albany all played a part in Anna’s conviction and death sentence. Perhaps no other woman on death row endured the mental anguish she experienced; her execution was postponed three times―once when walking to the electric chair.The first complete history of this historically significant case, A Woman Condemned draws upon newly discovered New York State Police records, volumes of court transcripts, and period newspapers, leading readers to wonder if justice was really served.

Presents the life of Captain John S. Kidder during the Civil War, as told through letters to his wife, Harriet, at home in rural New York.Drawing on previously unpublished letters written by John S. Kidder to his wife, Harriet, during the Civil War, James M. Greiner recounts the triumphs and tragedies endured by one New York family. Kidder, a carriage maker living in the rural village of Laurens, responded to President Lincoln's call in the summer of 1862 for more troops by personally recruiting over seventy men living nearby. Serving under Emory Upton, considered one of the most talented soldiers produced by the Union, Kidder was captain of Company I of the 121st New York Volunteers. The regiment saw action at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. Kidder's letters home contain rich details of camp life, the difficulties of commanding men who had only recently been his neighbors, and the highs and lows associated with soldiering during the Civil War. They also reveal Harriet's struggle to maintain the family home and business due to the uncertainties of army pay.