It was 1883 in the village of Eagle, Wisconsin, and Clarissa Wood had a rock. Well, it was slightly more than a rock - it was a 12-sided stone, of a “warm sunny color”. She brought it to a jeweler in Milwaukee, who examined briefly before agreeing that it was probably topaz. He bought it for $1.
The “Murder at the Regatta” was a story of jealousy, passion, and some say even madness that shocked and fascinated the nation, and changed the very nature of how murder was seen and prosecuted in the United States.