Poison Plot

Forman Crane Elaine

Description

An accusation of attempted murder rudely interrupted Mary Arnold's dalliances with working men and her extensive shopping sprees. When her husband Benedict fell deathly ill and then asserted she had tried to kill him with poison, the result was a dramatic petition for divorce. The case before the Rhode Island General Assembly and its tumultuous aftermath, during which Benedict died, made Mary a cause celebre in Newport through the winter of 1738 and 1739.Elaine Forman Crane invites readers into the salacious domestic life of Mary and Benedict Arnold and reveals the seamy side of colonial Newport. The surprise of The Poison Plot, however, is not the outrageous acts of Mary or the peculiar fact that attempted murder was not a convictable offense in Rhode Island. As Crane shows with style, Mary's case was remarkable precisely because adultery, criminality and theft, and even spousal homicide were well known in the New England colonies. Assumptions of Puritan propriety are overturned by the facts of rough and tumble life in a port city: money was to be made, pleasure was to be had, and if marriage became an obstacle to those pursuits a woman had means to set things right.The Poison Plot is an intimate drama constructed from historical documents and informed by Crane's deep knowledge of elite and common life in Newport. Her keen eye for telling details and her sense of story bring Mary, Benedict, and a host of other characters-including her partner in adultery, Walter Motley, and John Tweedy the apothecary who sold Mary toxic drugs-to life in the homes, streets, and shops of the port city. The result is a vivid tale that will change minds about life in supposedly prim and proper New England.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• True crime
• Legal history
• History of the Americas
• États-Unis
• Rhode Island

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501721335
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

ThePoisonPlot

ThePoisonPlot

ATaleofAdulteryandMurder in Colonial Newport

ElaineFormanCrane

CornellUniversityPress Ithaca and London

Copyright©2018byCornellUniversity

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

Firstpublished2018byCornellUniversityPress

PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica

LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData

Names: Crane, Elaine Forman. Title: The poison plot : a tale of adultery and murder in colonial Newport / Elaine Forman Crane. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identiers: LCCN 2017052061 (print) | LCCN 2017052952 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501721328 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501721335 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501721311 | ISBN 9781501721311 (cloth : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Arnold, Mary, 17021769. | Arnold, Benedict, 16831739. | PoisoningRhode IslandNewportHistory 18th centuryCase studies. | AdulteryRhode IslandNewport History18th centuryCase studies. | Newport (R.I.)Social conditions18th century. | Rhode IslandHistoryColonial period, ca. 16001775. Classication: LCC HV6555.U52 (ebook) | LCC HV6555.U52 N491 2018 (print) | DDC 364.152/3092dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052061 CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentallyresponsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood bers. For further information, visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

ForWil

TheAuthorsTaleix

Prologue

PartI.TheStory

C

o

nt

1.ATownonNarragansettBay17

2.ACaseofPoison34

PartII.ThePeople

3.MarysTale67

4.BenedictsTale89

5.ThePhysiciansTale106

6.TheApothecarysTale125

PartIII.CulturalCoordinates

7. Age149

8.Adultery156

e

n

t

s

1

13

63

145

vi i i

Contents

9.Arsenic172

Epilogue181

Acknowledgments197

Notes201

Index243

TheAuthor’sTale

It is a chance encounter at the Rhode Island State Archives, where aged characters, detained for decades, congregate and clamor for attention. Some of those conned in the record boxes and leather-bound volumes have commanding stories to tell, although few can spin tales compelling enough to capture a historians attention. Yet the saga of Benedict and Mary Arnold has such an appeal. In some ways the couples narrative evokesThe Canterbury Tales,stories told by voyagers that still echo more than six hundred years after their pilgrimage. As the medieval travelers trudge toward their destination, they while away the time by sharing sto- ries that capture the underside of human nature. In just such a way, the drama surrounding Mary Arnolds alleged attempt to poison her husband in 1738 invites a modern raconteur to share the Arnolds foibles with a contemporary audience. BenedictArnoldsunexpectedintrusionintothepresentisfollowedby an introduction of sorts, in which he urgently bares his soul to a stranger