Content warning: This story contains mentions of suicide and violence.
After over a year of investigation, UT journalism professor Kate Winkler Dawson published her fourth historical true crime hardcover book, “The Sinners All Bow” on Jan. 7. The USA Today bestseller and an Amazon’s Best History Books of January, tells Sarah Maria Cornell’s story. Cornell died in 1832 under the assumption of suicide until they saw “rash violence” all over her body. The Daily Texan spoke with Dawson to learn more about the book and her writing process.
DT: Why did you decide to write a book about Sarah’s story?
KD: For my first podcast, “Tenfold More Wicked,” … a listener emailed me and said, ‘You should do a story on “The Haystack Murders.”’ When I looked it up, Sarah’s story popped up … I thought it would be compelling. It had a lot of marks of the #MeToo movement — someone who was pregnant and fighting for her rights and ended up dead and that (still) happens now.
DT: What was the research like for this book to tell the story in an objective and accurate way?
KD: My main source was an author named Catherine Williams. She picked up the story of Sarah Cornell and wrote America’s first true crime book (in 1833). She had all these sources I couldn’t have. I feel like she’s a co-author, so I talked to my editor and said that this woman and I could write at the same time.
DT: How were you able to ensure all the information in your book was fact?
KD: There’s two parts of writing. One is the reporting and (research) and the other is how you take that reporting and make it into a story that people want to read. When I started seeing (how) Catherine was crafting the story part of it, I realized that she was doing something sneaky. There’s a point where Sarah goes to her doctor and states clearly that she wants to terminate her pregnancy, which Catherine completely skips over because it did not serve her purpose. But you can’t do that as a journalist, you have to look at all the facts.