Killed Strangely

Forman Crane Elaine

Description

Killed Strangely is an engaging read that will entrance and inform readers who are at once murder mystery and history buffs.- Cornelia Hughes Dayton Common-Place"It was Rebecca's son, Thomas, who first realized the victim's identity. His eyes were drawn to the victim's head, and aided by the flickering light of a candle, he 'clapt his hands and cryed out, Oh Lord, it is my mother.' James Moills, a servant of Cornell... described Rebecca 'lying on the floore, with fire about Her, from her Lower parts neare to the Armepits.' He recognized her only 'by her shoes.'"from Killed Strangely On a winter's evening in 1673, tragedy descended on the respectable Rhode Island household of Thomas Cornell. His 73-year-old mother, Rebecca, was found close to her bedroom's large fireplace, dead and badly burned. The legal owner of the Cornells' hundred acres along Narragansett Bay, Rebecca shared her home with Thomas and his family, a servant, and a lodger. A coroner's panel initially declared her death "an Unhappie Accident," but before summer arrived, a dark web of eventsrumors of domestic abuse, allusions to witchcraft, even the testimony of Rebecca's ghost through her brotherresulted in Thomas's trial for matricide.Such were the ambiguities of the case that others would be tried for the murder as well. Rebecca is a direct ancestor of Cornell University's founder, Ezra Cornell. Elaine Forman Crane tells the compelling story of Rebecca's death and its aftermath, vividly depicting the world in which she lived. That world included a legal system where jurors were expected to be familiar with the defendant and case before the trial even began. Rebecca's strange death was an event of cataclysmic proportions, affecting not only her own community, but neighboring towns as well.The documents from Thomas's trial provide a rare glimpse into seventeenth-century life. Crane writes, "Instead of the harmony and respect that sermon literature, laws, and a hierarchical/patriarchal society attempted to impose, evidence illustrates filial insolence, generational conflict, disrespect toward the elderly, power plays between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, [and] adult dependence on (and resentment of) aging parents who clung to purse strings." Yet even at a distance of more than three hundred years, Rebecca Cornell's story is poignantly familiar. Her complaints of domestic abuse, Crane says, went largely unheeded by friends and neighbors until, at last, their complacency was shattered by her terrible death.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• United States of America
• True crime
• History of the Americas
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 14 avril 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801471452
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Killed Strangely

The house in which Rebecca Cornell died. Situated on West Main Road in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the structure was modernized in the late 1830s and subsequently destroyed by fire on December 21, 1889. Her room was on the first floor to the left of the entry. Old Cornell House,Americana(New York, Feb. 1911), p. opp. 111. Milstein Division of United States History, Local History & Genealogy, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Founda- tions.

Killed Strangely

t h e d e a t h o f r e b e c c a c o r n e l l

E L A I N E F O R M A N C R A N E

c o r n e l l u n i v e r s i t y p r e s sIthaca & London

Copyright©2002 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, 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.

First published 2002 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2009

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Crane, Elaine Forman. Killed strangely : the death of Rebecca Cornell / Elaine Forman Crane.

p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-4002-1 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8014-7527-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Cornell, Rebecca, 1600–1673. 2. Cornell, Thomas, 1627?–1673. 3. Homicide—Rhode Island—Portsmouth—History—17th century— Case studies. 4. Trials (Murder)—Rhode Island—Portsmouth—History— 17th century—Case studies. 5. Portsmouth (R.I.)—History—17th century. I. Title. HV6534.P68 C73 2002 364.15'23'097456—dc21 2002004077

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Cloth printing Paperback printing

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For Stephen

Rebecka Cornell widdow was killed Strangely at Portsmouth in her own Dwelling House, was twice Viewed By the Crowners Inquest digged up and buried again by her Husbands Grave in their own Land upon the 8th day of the 12 Mo 1672.

—Society of Friends records, Newport, Rhode Island

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c o n t e n t s

Acknowledgments, xi

Introduction, 1

A Death in the Family, 8

The Background of a Tragedy, 59

The Contentious World of Thomas Cornell, 87

Doubting Thomas: Or, Considering the Alternatives, 105

A Community Renders a Verdict, 145

Life after Death, 174 Notes, 191 Index, 227