The Navy Lieutenant’s Wife
Passion, Murder and American Justice in 1892 Yokohama
$39.95
In stock
About the Book
She was young, beautiful, and vulnerable. In 1892, Bessie Hewes Hetherington was an American navy wife awaiting the arrival of her husband, Lieutenant James Henry Hetherington, in his ship’s home port in Japan. George Gower Robinson, Yokohama’s most eligible bachelor, saw Bessie and knew he had to possess her. She fell victim to his scandalous advances. Unable to stop them, her husband killed Gower, setting the stage for an unprecedented trial in the American consular court. The court delivered a vigorously debated verdict, and then the story disappeared.
This book tells for the first time the story of this love triangle and murder trial and explores broader aspects of professional and personal, societal and international life in the late nineteenth century world. Life as a navy wife, the private and public life of an American naval officer, and the elite expatriate life in Japan’s most prosperous and internationally diverse treaty port are featured. Also discussed is the media’s transformative power to deliver the story of “the tragedy in Yokohama” across oceans and continents.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Roger Dingman
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 273
Bibliographic Info: 14 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9522-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5456-0
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Preface: Bessie’s Coffee 1
1. Iowa Sailor 5
2. School of the Sea 13
3. Delaware Belle 24
4. Marriage in Crisis 32
5. Fateful Journeys 40
6. Propriety and Passion 52
7. Escalation 62
8. Death 73
9. Murder 81
10. Unquiet Rest 92
11. Celebrity 99
12. Opening Day 110
13. Guilty! 120
14. Innocent! 129
15. Shipmates 138
16. Friends and Accomplices 151
17. Servants’ Tales 164
18. Suspicion 174
19. Rage and Remorse 179
20. Confessions 187
21. Summing Up 194
22. Verdicts 202
23. Departures 213
24. Reconciliation? 219
25. Afterlives 233
Chapter Notes 241
Bibliography 255
Index 261
