Reading/signing
7 p.m. Thursday, April 16
Schwitzer Student Center, Rm 004

Newly published author G. Jordan Lyons has realistic expectations for his literary debut.

“I’m sure it will have all the mistakes of a first novel,” he says. “I think I’ll get better – I’m only 19.”

Otherwise occupied with the typical concerns of freshman life at the University of Indianapolis, Lyons has written a work of historical fiction, which he’ll begin rolling out this month with a series of readings and signings.

The Philadelphia First Ward Horror is based on the true story of the largest mass murder in Philadelphia history. On April 7, 1866, eight members of the Deering family, Irish immigrant cattle farmers, were brutally slain by a hired hand. The aftermath became a huge public spectacle, with the city selling 10,000 tickets to the funeral at $10 a head. After a three-day trial, German immigrant Anton Probst was found guilty and executed, the subject of the last public hanging in the city.

Over the years, however, the killings have been largely forgotten. Lyons is not aware of any previous books on the killings, aside from the occasional mention in a true crime collection. Even historians in the Philadelphia area were surprised to learn of the topic.

“They didn’t even know anything about this,” the Cathedral High School graduate says. “This is really a lost piece of history.”

The book is published by KL Media Inc., a local partnership that includes members of the author’s family as well as relatives of Deering descendants. Family documents and period newspaper clippings provided the basic material for Lyons’ fictionalized retelling. The cover was designed by fellow UIndy student Ryan Shrum.

The promotional effort begins this month, with readings and signings at UIndy, Cathedral and a local Barnes & Noble store. More events are planned around the state, and later in the Philadelphia area.

Lyons’ goal in writing was to flesh out the personal relationships among the Deerings and their ill-fated association with Probst, the troubled man who lived and worked among them.

“It’s a story about a family,” says Lyons, a history major. “I tried to imagine how they would have been, not just as victims.”

Another goal of the project is to generate support for a memorial marker for the victims, whose remains were moved to a mass grave as the city of Philadelphia developed.

Lyons’ sympathy for the characters made it difficult to write the story’s climax, when Probst – in a confused effort to steal the family’s savings – dispatched them one by one using an ax, a hatchet and a hammer. The account is based on the killer’s confession.

“It’s very graphic,” Lyons says. “I didn’t want to sugarcoat that.”

A fan of Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe, Lyons has written poetry and short stories since age 12. Writing a novel, however, required much of 2008. Eventually, to finish the manuscript, “I just locked myself in a room,” he says.

But with this first novel under his belt, Lyons already is mapping out his next project: a collection of short stories that will introduce a protagonist for a series of novels.

Author events
The Philadelphia First Ward Horror by G. Jordan Lyons
April 15: Cathedral High School, 5225 E. 56th St.: reading 2:15 p.m., signing 3:30-6:30 p.m.
April 16: University of Indianapolis, 1400 E. Hanna Ave.; reading and signing 7-9 p.m., Schwitzer Student Center, Room 004
April 28: Barnes & Noble at IUPUI, 420 University Blvd.; signing 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Information and book sales: www.gjlyons.wordpress.com