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Sketches of great crimes and outlaws that have marked various periods of American history from the foundation of the republic to the present including legal notes of celebrated trials and philosophical discussions concerning the causes, prevalence and prevention of crime. Notorious criminals, each with a section within the book, include: John A Murrell The Land Pirate Murrell is one instance of charlatans who apparently fleeced local flocks over the years. In the days when North Alabama's settlers had little chance to get together for religious meetings or gatherings of any kind, a preacher appeared and held a camp meeting. He was well spoken, convincing and seemingly genteel. He also was an infamous outlaw who used the guise of preaching the gospel to commit crimes. According to researchers, John A. Murrell "evangelized" his way through the South in the 1820s and 1830s on two extensive campaigns. Those trips included travels from his home in Tennessee through Alabama. In camp meetings and encounters with individuals, Murrell used the ministry as a ruse to steal, to pass counterfeit money and even to kill, according to published accounts, one written by a man who turned him in. Colonel Monroe Edwards Monroe Edwards, early Texas slave smuggler and forger, son of a once wealthy plantation owner, Moses Edwards, was born in Danville, Kentucky, about 1808. He moved to the Galveston Bay area of Texas about 1825 as a clerk for a prosperous merchant, James Morgan.qv Soon after his arrival, however, he found more lucrative, if less respectable, pursuits. He became involved in smuggling slaves to Brazil from Africa and soon made a profit of $50,000. Through his mistress's husband, a Mexican official, he obtained a large land grant in Brazoria County. He called his property Chenango Plantation (see CHENANGO, TEXAS) and used it as a base for continued slave smuggling to Texas from Cuba. His only claim to favorable historical recognition was his arrest and brief imprisonment, with others, by the Mexican garrison at Anahuac in 1832 The Mountain Meadows Massacre "The Mountain Meadows Massacre stands without a parallel amongst the crimes that stain the pages of American history. It was a crime committed without cause or justification of any kind to relieve it of its fearful character... When nearly exhausted from fatigue and thirst, [the men of the caravan] were approached by white men, with a flag of truce, and induced to surrender their arms, under the most solemn promises of protection. They were then murdered in cold blood." Edward H Ruloff The perpetrator of eight murders, numerous burglaries and other crimes. Ruloff, who had been imprisoned for the murder of his child, ran off with his jailer's son, to whom he had been teaching Latin and whom he later drowned. Ruloff purportedly expounded to a philological convention in Poughkeepsie, New York, a linguistic theory that he was willing to sell for a mere $500,000. Joseph Thompson Hare Gathering three companions, Joseph began following farmers and peddlers on their trek back north, from New Orleans to Natchez, along the Natchez Trace, with the intent to rob and steal the cash the peddlers had received from selling their wares and produce. Joseph and his gang of thieves did not simply pounce upon their victims. They disguised themselves by rubbing berry juices on their faces, giving themselves a grotesque appearance that frightened their victims even more. The gang continued traveling north along the Trace, robbing one victim after another along the way. Gibbs the Pirate The Ocean Scourge Gibbs confessed that within a few years he has participated in the murder of nearly 400 human beings! The Webster Parkman Murder The enormous popular attention to the Webster-Parkman murder owed much to the high social station of the two major participants, and to the grisly horror of dismemberment. But its strongest appeal concerned the mystery of the crime, with special attention to the Gothic precincts of the Harvard Medical College, with its basement laboratories and dissection vaults, its trapdoors and subterranean passageways, its mysteriously locked doors, roaring furnaces, and bottled blood used for experiments. The peculiarly spatial qualities of both the murder and its investigation were dramatized throughout the eleven-day trial, at which the prosecution--completely ignorant of Webster's method in killing Parkman--focused instead on the discovery of the dismembered body in an effort to induce jurors to reconstruct mentally just how his various body parts came to be deposited throughout the Medical College. It was a highly visual strategy. The Murder of Helen Jewett Helen Jewett, a high-priced prostitute was found dead, her head caved in by an axe, her bloody corpse smoldering in her bed in a high-class lower Manhattan brothel. Placed at the scene, with plenty of evidence to support charges of murder, was Jewett's young lover and sometime customer, Richard Robinson, the son of a respectable farming family. Cullen Montgomery Baker Although he began his killing long before that organization appeared, he abetted the Klu Klux Klan's rise to prominence. Writers have made much of Baker's prowess with a six-gun, his harassment of the United States Army, and his defense of "Southern honor" during and after the Civil War. Others see him as a mean, spiteful, alcoholic murderer. Louis L'Amour memorialized Baker in his novel The First Fast Draw Guiteau The Assassin On July 2, 1881, at a railroad station in Washington, Guiteau shot Garfield in the arm and in the back, maintaining that he was "Heaven's chosen instrument" and that Chester A. Arthur should be president. After Garfield's death on September 19th, a sensational trial, turning on an insanity defense, ensued. Although some argued that Guiteau was clearly insane and should not be held accountable for his actions, he was convicted and executed on June 30, 1882. Also:
The Jesse James and Cole Younger Bandits 9" X 6" full sheepskin leather hardcover. 4 raised bands and black morocco label with gilt title on spine. Hinges are all tight. 3/4" loss of leather (chip) in two places on the back cover. 2" x 1 1/2" stain to he bottom right of the back cover, extending slightly over to the spine. Dark stains to back cover. Heavily rubbed front edges on both covers. 659 pages with over 150 fine engravings representing scenes, incidents and personal portraits. 8vo. All pages are tight to the spine. Pages toned with no foxing. 1" x 1" stain to inside cover and 1st FFEP. No pen or pencil markings within the book.
Col. Frank Triplett was descended from the Pioneer Triplett who was himself intimate with the Daniel Boone family and went to Kentucky in 1775. He related David Morgan's encounter with the Indians in his "Conquering the Wilderness" first published in 1883. Colonel Triplett lived during the assassination of Jesse James and sought insite into the legendary gang. As family members mourned the loss of Jesse James, Frank Triplett was already compiling information on him and in 1882 wrote "The Life, Times, and Treacherous Death of Jesse James". Some of his other books include: The Authorized Pictorial Lives of Stephen Grover Cleveland and Thomas Andrew Hendricks (1884) Sketches of Western Adventure Plains and Mountain Men The World's Religions We will combine shipping on multiple purchases to save you money. Buyer pays all shipping and handling fees and is responsible for any duties, customs, and V. A. T. fees. Return Policy We guarantee the accuracy of our descriptions. We have a 100% return policy if notified within 14 days of receipt of item and the item is returned to us in the same condition shipped. return shipping costs will not be refunded. Buyer is responsible for insurance and accepts the risks if they choose not to insure their purchases. |
