The suspense is killing me. What happened to poor Vieve Van Buren? Did she survive her plunge into the East River? Did she live happily ever after? I guess I will never know. This story appeared in weekly installments in Street And Smith's New York Weekly, a pulp fiction newspaper which was first published at 79 Seventh Avenue, New York, in 1858. I can only imagine that the story of Vieve and the reasons for her jump kept young ladies spellbound and impatient for the next "episode."
From Stanford University Libraries
In this May 16, 1881 issue of the New York Weekly, Vieve Van Buren, a poor New York girl, jumps to her death from one of towers of the Brooklyn Bridge (shown here under construction) after she is caught pawning a stolen watch. At 278 feet, the dizzying height of the bridge was a source of fascination for the public, and the illustration sensationalizes this interest. The weekly installment of the story ends just as the young woman plunges head first toward the water, with arms outstretched and petticoats whirling. Readers eager to know the fate of Vieve Van Buren had to wait in suspense until the next installment appeared at the newsstands.
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