KILLED STRANGELY The Death of Rebecca Cornell

Hardback. On a winter's evening in 1673, tragedy descended on the respectable Rhode Island household of Thomas Cornell. His 73yr old mother, Rebecca, was found close to her bedroom's large fireplace, dead and badly burned. The legal owner of the Cornell's 100 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 events - rumours of domestic abuse; allusions to witchcraft; even the testimony of Rebecca's ghost, who visited her brother - resulted 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. The author 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 neighbouring towns as well. The documents from Thomas's trial provide a rare glimpse into 17th century life in colonial New England. Illus., Notes and Index. 236pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in F. dw.