What was real?

The Hobart Porters were a REAL couple in New York in the 1890s.

According to his obituary in the New York Times published on February 10, 1947, Henry was born and raised in 20 Washington Square North - the location where you began the game.

The marriage announcement in the game was also 100% real - Henry Hobart Porter married Catherine Burr on June 18, 1891 in Boston, and it was featured on the front page of The New York Times the next day. Later in life, Catherine went by Delano Porter, instead of Burr Porter - we’re not sure why.

Right: These articles are real and were all on the front page, but we edited the layout to put the Wedding announcement right underneath the The New York Times banner.

The stone etching inside the Jefferson Market library that features Henry Hobart Porter’s name is of course real - but in 1875, when the Jefferson Market first opened as a court, Henry was only ten years old. We have not been able to confirm it, but we believe that stone carving is likely referring to his father, Henry Sr. Strangely, we haven’t been able to find much news about him, even though he seemed to be a New York commissioner and must have been a very wealthy man.

What was fake?

Robin Burr is a made up character. Henry Hobart Porter was never accused of any such crime. But we used real newspaper clippings of the day to inform our fictional story.

Above: This clipping is a real historical newspaper report of a person who committed suicide in 1892. We used this to model our fake newspaper notice of Robin Burr’s “suicide.”

Left: What we handed you in the game - the top article on the Weather Bureau is a real report from December 1891, while the bottom portion - “Suicide by Poison” - announcing Robin Burr’s death, is fake.