Reviewer: Sharon Brunner
Michael Nyquist’s The Iron Queen’s Revenge offers a well-researched study of a woman’s scorn that led to the possible murders of many unfortunate individuals. The true story was based on wealth, power, greed, lust, adultery, attempted murder and murder. The story took place in many locations, starting in Germany and then in Chicago, Marquette, Detroit, Ishpeming, New York, Santiago, Arizona, but mainly in Negaunee, a town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.). The main characters were Mary Paulin Breiung, Edward Breitung and Edward Breitung Jr., Bertha Zuleger and her family, William Christopher (Bertha’s husband), Frank Perce (Edward’s secretary) and William Healy (Edward’s business partner). Other characters were mentioned throughout the book. Mary Josephine Paulin married Edward Breitung, a man with future prominent status. He served as a member of Congress and became the owner of a multitude of mines primarily located in the U.P. Mary became a millionaire and very powerful after Edward’s death. Mary and Nathan Kaufman, Mary’s second husband, took control of all the mines that were under Edward’s management at a stockholders’ meeting of the Negaunee Iron Company on June 28, 1887 and she was granted the role as president of the companies. The role Mary played in the death of a multitude of men was brought into question by Nyquist.
Mary and Edward, their son, remained in Arizona one winter while Edward returned to Negaunee. He made the unfortunate mistake of having an affair with a younger woman while he was in Negaunee that winter by the name of Bertha Zuleger. She became pregnant. Fearful of his wife’s reaction , he had to whisk her off to another man, under the pretense that the baby was the dutiful suitor’s. Mary did find out about the affair and spent the majority of the rest of her life seeking revenge. Bertha’s poor brothers were some of Mary’s target.
One of the main themes was revenge as stated in the title. On page 245, Nyquist gave 16 names of Mary’s possible murder victims. According to the author she never came under suspicion. Her first possible victim was her first husband Edward. She went after Bertha’s brothers. She could not find Bertha because she kept moving. Some of her victims seemed fine one day and then died all of a sudden of a specific ailment. Peter White was also claimed to be one of her victims because he served as a threat to her banking business. Nyquist provided a picture of her poison bottle in this book. Mary was wealthy and powerful, untouchable. Nyquist gave information about how when people were poisoned their deaths may appear to have natural causes. On his listing of deaths, he gave the possible poison or cause of the death.
The book that came to mind while reading this book was The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell. The book contained powerful women who marched to protect the rights of the miners against the wealthy mine owners. Mary in this book was one of those wealthy mine owners who probably took advantage of the miners. The aforementioned book took place in Calumet, which is a community in the U.P.
I struggled to come up with ways this book relates to me. Here goes. I lived in the U.P. all my life. I have visited mines when I was a child and approximately 15 years ago, my husband and I visited a mine at Copper Harbor in the U.P. I am aware of a woman who spent a lot of time using another woman to get her way and then ended up treating that same women terribly afterwards and then blaming her for the problems she, the abuser, personally caused. I really do not like it when people hurt and use other people.
In The Iron Queen’s Revenge, Nyquist portrays in a well-documented format the progression of the building of a prominent lifestyle which included opulent travel opportunities and immense land ownership. Mary served as a reminder of a black widow spider as she drew the unsuspecting victims into her web, even her betrothed. Spiders are predators. A strange twist occurred concerning her son Edward and Mary. Edward Breitung, Jr. married Charlotte Kaufman on November 16, 1892. Widow Mary Breitung at the age of 43 married Nathan Kaufman, age 30, barely two months after her son’s wedding. Charlotte and Nathan were siblings. Nyquist paints an elaborate story of possible murders by an unrelenting Iron Queen as told by some of the main characters’ great-grandson.
Title: The Iron Queen’s Revenge
Author; Michael S. Nyquist
