CLEWS Your Home for Historic True Crime

Happy 400th Birthday, True Crime! 1621-2021

The first book-length work of true murder stories was published in English in 1621! I had to use an exclamation point because it took me decades to find enough clews to answer the question.

I spent part of the Covid lockdown doing obscure genre research on sites like Google Books and HathiTrust and WorldCat and Early English Books Online and Public Domain Review. I lost track of the hours I spent in this delightful task but it was enough for me to say with confidence that -- 

The first true crime book published in English was written by John Reynolds, a native of Exeter, England, published in 1621 - The Triumph of God’s Revenge Against the Crying and Execrable Sinne of Murder. Execrable is an old word that is hard to say. Which might explain why it’s dead.  It means extremely unpleasant.

Let’s call his book the Triumph. It was an immediate triumph. It is impossible to overstate how immensely popular this book was. King James loved it. Everyone did, from the kitchen to the front parlor.

There was a second edition. Sixth edition. Eleventh edition. Everyone in England read this book. Folio edition. Special edition. Limited edition. Pocket size edition. Abridged edition. The abridged edition went into five editions. The last edition was printed in Belfast in 1842. Meaning this book actually stayed in print for two hundred twenty-one years. Now that's a hell of a press run.

My favorite edition of this book is the 1635 deluxe edition fit for royal reading, It has woodcuts of scaffold scenes and cover art that shows justice, unmoveable, limbs firm, legs of stone and arms of steel, sword in one hand, scales in the other. Smaller woodcuts around the margins show hangings and duels. These were done by a famous engraver, John Payne, one of the earliest line engravers in England, and this attests to how important and popular the Triumph was.

One little caveat. The author was challenged on the truth of the stories. He adamantly insisted they were true, but he did not vouchsafe his documentary evidence. That said, the public believed they were true murder stories and it was labeled and sold and read as a true crime book. Does this make them true crime stories? If a million readers believe it to be true, but one person, alright the author secretly knows he invented them, are they true? In the popular mind, the first true crime book was God’s Revenge. Thus I think it fair and appropriate the declare that true crime was born in 1621* and never mind the asterisk.

We have a lot of reading to catch up on. A lot can happen in four hundred years.

Art via Public Domain Review

Add'l sources: Joan Walmsley, John Reynolds, merchant of Exeter. 1991. Albert Borowitz, Blood and ink. 2002. Kathy Roberts Forde, Literary journalism on trial. 2008. Louis B. Wright, Middle class culture in Elizabethan England, 1935.   #clews #truecrime 

Some Southern Broadsides

Crime broadsides, those one-page ditties churned out by countless printers for centuries, were huge bestsellers throughout the 19th century especially. Crime stories approaching 100 to 200 years in age are easy to find in the UK and as rare as dandelions in New England, whose citizenry has always loved to read murder stories, sometimes to their detriment.

But I have not encountered many crime broadsides from south of the Mason-Dixon line. In fact until I came across a website that included some Southern broadsides, I wasn't sure any still existed, if they ever did. Now the librarians at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have put some of them online. How dare I doubt the universal taste in true crime?

The very old crime stories that the university has now digitized and put online seem to have a theme, and it reflects on their collector. They're dated 1768, 1790, 1794, 1795, 1797, and 1841.

One broadside concerns a 1794 rape-murder in Massachusetts and the conviction and execution of Edmund Fortis, A Negro Man. Was it bought in New England soon after the hanging? Was it passed down in the family to end up in the South? Or did someone send away for it? I'd love to know where it came from, its provenance.

The second murder broadside in this collection tells the story of Pomp, A Negro Man, executed in 1795 for murdering a captain -- again, in Massachusetts. Others tell of the 1790 hanging of a "Negro man" in New Haven, the 1797 execution in Boston of "Stephen Smith, a Black Man," and the 1768 execution of "a Negro Man" in Worcester for raping and murdering one Deborah Metcalfe.

The newest broadside -- actually it is a multi-page pamphlet -- is a Southern murder - a double murder for which four "Negro men" were legally hanged in Missouri in 1841. Their shocking crime was the midnight robbery of a bank -- and the bloody murders of two banking clerks who lived on the premises.

The tale begins:

MURDER, BURGLARY AND ARSON.

From the Missouri Republican of April 19th, 1841.

We have never before had occasion to record such a complication of crimes in a single transaction, as was presented to our appalled citizens on the night of Saturday last. About one o'clock the alarm of fire was given by the flames bursting out of the windows and various parts of the large stone store on the corner of Pine and Water sts.; the front on Water street occupied by Messrs. Simonds & Morrison, and the rear by Mr. Pettus as a banking house, formerly Collier & Pettus.

At the time of the discovery, it was evident that the building had been fired in several parts, and the flames had made such progress that it was impossible to save either the house or any of its contents. That it was the work of an incendiary was soon apparent.

Several gentlemen who arrived early, after some difficulty forced open the door of the banking house, and through the smoke discovered a body lying on the floor near the stove....

Some other lines in this brief tome are truly striking. My favorite so far:

The character and high standing of the counsel whom the court have assingned [sic] for the criminals, embracing the head of the profession, and all being gentlemen of distinguished worth as citizens, should be to all a sufficient evidence that the accused will have a fair trial and the full benefit of the law.

Amazing to think that in Missouri, in 1841, this sentence would be deemed necessary to this particular work.

And from the closing pages:

Confessions of Charlie Brown.

A Man of Color.

With my trial and its incidents I am fully satisfied. My counsel, Mr. Darby, has my thanks for his exertions in my behalf. I have bid farewell to life and all its hopes and joys. I go to meet my doom in another world.

In leaving this, which I have so deeply injured, I have but one request to make. My wife, I understand, was confined three days after I left her, and delivered of a daughter child. I commit her and my offsping [sic] to the mercies of the world.

I trust I leave her a competency to live upon; but what I would ask of community is, that they shall not impute to her and her child, the offences of the husband and father[.] Let not the brand of infamy or the finger of scorn be pointed at them. They have in no wise offended; and if I had listened to a loving wife's council I would now be free from crime.

God grant that we may all meet in that world where there is no more trouble nor death. Adieu!

Free Roughead!

Yes, Free Roughead!

No, he's not a correctional institute inmate wrongfully incarcerated for some horror he didn't commit, you ninny!

He's one of the greatest true crime writers Of All Time.

In addition to Google Books, a few other outfits are putting full-text classic historic crime titles online for one and all for free. The University of Texas' Tarlton Law Library has amassed a decent shelf's-worth that it calls "The Law in Popular Culture Collection," and the crowning jewel is 12 Scots Trials by William Roughead.

The book was originally published in 1913 and includes such gems as the Arran Murder and the Ordeal of Philip Stanfield.

Alas and alack, Roughead seems to have been underappreciated in the U.S. of A. even while alive. The Associated Press once reduced the nearly peerless Scottish student of aesthetic murders to a point of trivia, written up as filler copy in 1951.

His name thus pops up in the Kerrville (Texas) Times, courtesy NewspaperArchive.com:

Even while trivialized in some quarters, Roughead was revered in others. His name occasionally appears in old issues of the Kingsport Times-News of Tennessee, which apparently once had an editor with impeccable taste in murder literature; that newspaper described Roughead in 1945 as one of "the finest writing artists of the British Isles... an erudite Scot who is the present kingpin of the clan."

That's more like it!

But there's one even better in the NewspaperArchive. The legendary California true crime writer Nancy Barr Mavity -- I'll have to properly introduce you some time -- once wrote a review of Roughead's Classic Crimes (still in print) that was worthy of his genius. Here it is, a bit fuzzy, sorry, from her Oakland Tribune, from 1953.

   

More Free Classic True Crime Cases Courtesy Google Books

Steve Huff is turning into a historic true crime junkie. It's official -- he sent me this link to a terrific new addition to Google's Complete Classic True Crime Library.

The latest book to appear magically on our top shelf is Celebrated Criminal Cases of America by Thomas Samuel Duke. Until now, you'd pay $50 - $250 plus shipping or more to lay your hands on it.

http://snipurl.com/celebratedcrimcases

Coincidently, I once read this exact book in a glorious afternoon long ago at the University of Michigan's historic crime library. My notes are lost. Silly me! I only had to wait a bit and save myself the trip. A lot of Google's crime classics are coming from U of M and from the New York Public Library, where Edmund Pearson donated his personal crime library.

Celebrated Criminal Cases was a bestseller then and is a classic in this genre now. Dashiell Hammett was famously in love with this book. It was his enchiridion, his vade mecum.

In Celebrated Criminal Cases of America, the author claims the book is "the first history published of the celebrated criminal cases in America, [and] includes the most important cases during the past eighty years." Well. Considering it was published in 1910, that claim can be completely disregarded.

But this book is chock full of 110 of the most shocking, sensational, mesmerizing duels, stranglings, lynchings and murder mysteries of the stated period, concentrating on San Francisco and California particularly.

The student of true crime will recognize many of the dozens of cases described and illustrated in this one volume. Ones you might recognize from the index -- Alfred Packer, the Dalton Brothers, Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Bender's Tavern, Quantrill, James Gang (with photo of the bandits), Haymarket Riot, Belle Gunness, Dr. Holmes, the kidnapping of Charley Ross, the Harry Thaw-Stanford White case, the McFarland-Richardson Trial, Dr. Parkman & Dr. Webster, Jesse Pomeroy, Helen Jewett, Mary Rogers, the murders of Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams in a Church by Durrant (San Francisco), and Cordelia Botkin, "Who Murdered Mrs. Dunning and Mrs. Deane in Delaware With Poisoned Candy Sent Through the Mail."

Some others are new to me and sound interesting as well: Jacob Oppenheimer, the "Human Tiger," and "The Remarkable Case of Circumstantial Evidence Against Charles Mortimer, Who Murdered Mrs. Gibson in Sacramento, Cal. And I can't wait to read "Mysterious Murder of Dr. Burdell in New York and Mrs. Cunningham's Remarkable Scheme to Procure the Estate." And this sounds like a good one: "The Killing of Harry Poole by Truly Shattuck's Mother" -- something tells me Harry Poole had it coming.

Must stop blogging and find my box of paper.

More Free True Crime from Google

Clews already mentioned some very old, free true crime books now available from Google's new book site, and the folks at Google really liked that post a lot.

Google's nod to Clews inspired your correspondent to go poking around some more to see what else is now online that I paid 85 clams to lay hands on only a few years ago. I'm sure -- I hope, for the sake of my private library -- that there will always be a value to the paper-and-ink version of books.

Art: Madeline Smith on trial for poisoning her lover.

And what I found! Not only is Google's crime collection continuing to expand, it includes some of the best, the most sought, the most highly recommended true crime books of all time. And not only that, but the exact copies digitized by Google include books that were once on the shelves of Pearson, the greatest crime writer of all time. They bear his stamp and his notes and more.

While searching for free true crime books, I discovered a crime committed against Edmund L. Pearson. Google's online library includes a copy of The Trial of Madeline Smith, which is the Notable Scottish Trials report of the trial of the infamously beautiful poisoner, edited by one of the attorneys involved in the case, A. Duncan Smith. The flyleaf of this book is stamped: FROM THE LIBRARY OF EDMUND LESTER PEARSON. A note typed by Pearson summarizing the case of Madeline Smith is glued into the book. Another page has a New York Public Library stamp (where ELP once worked). Now here's the crime: the next page says "1.50" in the upper right in pencil -- a bookseller's mark. To think that Edmund L. Pearson's personal crime library was sold off to a bookseller who junked his books for a buck fifty!

Now I would very much like to know how Edmund Pearson's copy of The Trial of Madeline Smith came to be digitized for Google. It is not the only book in the Google collection that bears his private library stamp. I found the same was true of Google's copy of Celebrated Trials of All Countries, and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence, written in 1847 by J. Harding. With the real Edmund Pearson stamp of approval, this is a book worth downloading and reading. The table of contents of Celebrated Trials of All Countries includes several famous cases I've read of before, including Eliza Fenning, Sir Walter Raleigh's trial, Lucretia Chapman, Jenny Diver, Robert and Daniel Perreau, John Bellingham, Earl of Strafford, Rob Roy Macgregor, Ann Broadric, William Corder/Maria Marten, plus many cases that are new to me. The ones I've never heard of before and can't wait to read include --

• Anna Schonleben (Germany), for Poisoning, 1808
• Martha Alden, for Murder, 1807
• Castaing, the Physician, for Murder, at Paris, November, 1817
• Sarah Malcolm, for the Murder of Ann Price, 1733
• Abraham Thornton, for the Murder of Mary Ashford, 1817
• Alexis Petrowitz Czarowitz, presumptive Heir to the Crown of Russia, condemned to Death by his Father, 1715

There are many more stories from all across the world in this book. What a find. Well, I know what I'll do with the rest of my free time today.

Google's Free True Crime Library

A riddle from Merrye Olde England:

10 tongues in one head,

9 living and one dead,

I flew forth to fetch some bread,

To feed the living and the dead.

The answer -- "The tomtit [bird] that built [a nest] in Tommy Otter's head." (Mr. Otter was hanged in chains.) From Hanging in Chains.

Google has endeared itself to many by embarking on an effort to digitize some very old books. Your correspondent recently had a chance to peruse the collection to see what is on offer in the vein of historic crime and found some remarkable books already fully digitized and available for free.

So far, the gem of the Google crime collection is Hanging in Chains, a book by Albert Hartshorne published in 1891. The book details severe punishments through time and cultures, covering everything from the disposal of murderers in ancient Egypt all the way up through various European manifestations of severe punishments like gibbeting or hanging in chains -- a punishment not solely reserved for pirates, and one used until well into the nineteenth century. Until Google digitized the book, you'd be hard-pressed to find a copy for less than a hundred bucks. Now it's free.

I can hardly believe our collective luck at having these amazing old books, all of them out of print for generations, free, online, and text-searchable. Wow. Enjoy!

• A copy of the Newgate Calendar, this one an 1824 edition.
• From 1826, a copy of A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors from the Earliest Period to the Year 1783, with Notes and Other Illustrations. 
• From 1827: A copy of Rationale of judicial evidence, specially applied to English practice, from the MSS. of Jeremy Bentham [ed. by J.S. Mill].
• From 1860: A copy of Involuntary Confessions; A monograph by Francis Wharton.
• From 1872: A copy of Traditions, Superstitions, and Folklore (chiefly Lancashire and the North of England) by Charles Hardwick. 
• From 1896: A copy of The Collected Writings of Thomas De Quincey. 
• From 1898: A copy of Mysteries of Police and Crime: A General Survey of Wrongdoing and Its Pursuit by Arthur Griffiths.

"Where-as before time there was extraordinary torture, as hanging wilfull murderers alive in chaines; she having compassion... said their death satisfied for death."

--Chettle, on the mercy of Queen Elizabeth, in Hanging in Chains