In Tragic almanac 1843 (New York, 1842), p. [25]., According to the accompanying article, Thomas Topping beat his wife Elizabeth for five hours before she died. He also threatened to kill Catharine Kelly, who was in the room, if she made any effort to sound an alarm., Probably fictitious characters., Full-length portrait of the victim on the ground with her left hand raised to avert a blow; a woman lies in a bed in the background.
In Tragic almanac 1843 (New York, 1842), p. [30]., According to the accompanying article, James Adams, a street sweeper, quarreled with a servant girl named Ann Gorman. “During the dispute he seized a plate ... and threw it at the girl’s head, when his wife expostulated with him.” He killed his wife after she threatened to call an officer., Probably fictitious characters.
In Serious almanac, 1845 & '46 (New York, 1845), p. [25]., According to the accompanying article, Julian Gardner answered the door when her husband was not at home. A black man wielding a lighted torch pushed his way in and “with one blow split open the head of Mrs. G. with an axe.”, Probably a fictitious character., The same image appears in Tragic almanac. 18-46 (1845), p. [13].
In Trial of Mrs. Margaret Howard, for the murder of Miss Mary Ellen Smith (Cincinnati, 1849), p. [4]., Mary Ellen Smith was stabbed to death by her lover’s wife., Bust-length portrait of the murder victim, wearing a bonnet.
In Serious almanac, 1845-’46 (1845), p. [15]., James Bishop was hanged on March 17, 1843, in Essex County, New York., Full-length portraits of the four figures in a bedroom., This image also appears in Confessions, trials, and biographical sketches of the most cold-blooded murderers (Hartford, 1854), p. 417, and the later edition of this work, The trail of blood (New York, 1860), p. 417.
In Rockafield, H. A. The Manheim tragedy (Lancaster, 1858), back wrapper., Anderson and Richards were hanged at Lancaster, Pa., April 9, 1858., Full-length view of the women struggling with their assailant, one of whom holds a pistol and the other an axe.
In Tingley, H.F. Incidents in the life of Milton W. Streeter, the jealous and infatuated murderer, who murdered his young and beautiful wife, Elvira W. Streeter (Pawtucket, R.I., 1850), p. [3]., Full-length portrait of the woman, prostrate on the floor, with a man holding her by the hair to position her on his knee while he wields a razor high above his head; the woman has her right arm raised toward the razor.
In Serious almanac, 1845-’46 (1845), p. [18]., Mrs. Bacon was killed in her home in Middletown, Connecticut, one Sunday while her family was at church; cf. McDade. Annals of murder., The same image appears in Tragic almanac. 18-46 (1845), p. [4]; in Confessions, trials, and biographical sketches of the most cold-blooded murderers (Hartford, 1854), p. 418, and the later edition of this work, The trail of blood (New York, 1860), p. 418.
In Trial of John Hendrickson, Jr. (Albany, 1853), detail from frontispiece., Three-quarter length portrait of the murder victim, whose husband was convicted of poisoning her with aconite (more popularly known as wolf’s bane).
In J.A.B. Mary Bean: the factory girl / a domestic story, illustrative of the trials and temptations of factory life (Boston, 1850), front wrapper., Waist-length portrait of Bean, wearing a bracelet., Miss Caswell, also known as Mary Bean, was a factory girl who became the subject of popular fiction after her body was discovered in a stream, following her death by a botched abortion., "Not unfrequently impatient of restraint, and indisposed to listen to the voice of counsel, the unthinking female is ensnared in the toils of the destroyer, and being insidiously led onward, step by step, she awakes from her dream of fancied happiness, but to mourn over her dishonor, and the destruction of her cherished hopes. Such was the case with Mary Bean. Her life, her sufferings, and her death, are but a picture of the life, the sufferings, and the death of many others. Let those of her sex, then, who may chance to read these pages, be admonished in season, and not turn a deaf ear to those counsels, which, if regarded, would save them from misery and dishonor."--P. 40.
In Wilkes, G. The lives of Helen Jewett, and Richard P. Robinson (New York, 1849), frontispiece., Portrait caption: Helen Jewett at her childhood's home., Helen (sometimes known as Ellen) Jewett, a prostitute, was brutally murdered, presumably by her jealous lover. Her death caused a media sensation., "She was early cast alone upon the world, and her recollections of those who should have been the patterns for her guidance, were the recollections of a false example. In the next place, she had too much education for her condition in life, and her ambition, made unmanageable by its alliance with a fervid temperament, betrayed her, by too short a cut, to the society for which she yearned. The result was a sudden but hollow exaltation; a crazy revel; a brief career, and a shocking end."--P. 132., More illustrations depicting Jewett appear in Wilkes, G. The lives of Helen Jewett, and Richard P. Robinson (New York, 1849), p. 11, p. 29, p. 39, p. 43, p. 72, p. 81, p. 87, p. 118., Full-length portrait of Jewett, carrying a basket, with a cottage in a rural scene in the background.
In Serious almanac, 1845-’46 (1845), p. [16]., Andrew Hellman (1792-1843), also known as Adam Horn, was convicted of killing and then dismembering his wife in November 1843., Full-length portraits of the pair struggling, with the husband holding the wife down on the floor., The same image appears in The Tragic almanac 1850 (New York, 1849), p. [5].
In “Trial of Joel Clough,” in The trail of blood (New York, 1860), p. 304., In June 1833, Mary Hamilton, resisted the sexual advances of Joel Clough, who lived in a boarding house which her mother Elizabeth Longstreth kept in Mount Holly, New Jersey. The young widow died after Clough stabbed her three times., Full-length portrait of Mary W. Hamilton on the landing of a stairway, gesturing for help. Joel Hough is visible at the top of the stairs, holding a knife., This image also appears in the earlier edition of this work, Confessions, trials, and biographical sketches of the most cold-blooded murderers (Hartford, 1854), p. 304.
In Tragic almanac 1843 (New York, 1842), p. [21]., According to the accompanying article, Mary C. Rogers left her job in a cigar store on Broadway in New York City after customers started a rumor that she had been seduced. “The Beautiful Segar Girl” returned home to live with her mother. One Sunday, she set out to visit her cousins, but did not arrive. The following Wednesday her body was found floating in the North River, with “a rope tied around her neck in a way which ... created the suspicion that the persons who committed the act must have been seamen.”, The character of Marie Rogêt in Edgar Allan Poe's The Mystery of Marie Rogêt (the first installment of which appeared in the Ladies companion, v. 18, no. 1 (Nov. 1842)) is based on Mary Cecilia Rogers (1820-1841)., Full-length portrait of the victim struggling to escape the grasp of two men in top hats.
In: The trial and a sketch of the life of Oliver Watkins (Providence, 1830), p. [2]., Full-length portrait of a man bending over a woman lying on a bed, with his arms outstretched. Oliver Watkins strangled his wife Roxana with a horsewhip, so the item in the man's right hand may be the handle of a horsewhip. A child gestures from a smaller bed in the background. The clock on the back wall indicates that the time is 1:45.
