Local histories identify two nests of vice and corruption in Arlington during the early years of the 20th century: Rosslyn at the foot of the Aqueduct Bridge, and Jackson City on the County side of the Long Bridge. Both areas were marked by drinking, gambling, sex workers, political corruption, and murder – murder so frequent that corpses were found nearly every week in Rosslyn’s Dead Man’s Hollow and Jackson City’s Hell’s Bottom. As the story goes, it would take crusading Commonwealth’s Attorney Crandall Mackey’s closure of these dens of iniquity for Arlington take off as a desirable location for suburban development – and residents who would come to relish a deliciously scandalous past as much as they enjoy a more prosperous and peaceful present.
Join the Arlington historical Society in welcoming local historian M. A. Schaffner for an examination of contemporary news reports of the actual crimes associated with Dead Man’s Hollow, a side trip into Jackson City, a look at Dead Man’s Hollow today, and a glance at a common feature of the suburbs Mackey allegedly paved the way for.