REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF JOHN WADE, FOR ARSON, BEFORE THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT. HOLDEN AT DEDHAM, OCT. TERM, 1835.
Dedham: Dedham Patriot Office, 1835. 40pp. Stitched, mild toning, occasional light foxing, Very Good.
Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw presided. His eight-page charge to the jury, and his three-page address to the prisoner are printed. Names of jurors and counsel are listed. Wade had been indicted earlier "for the same burning, but was acquitted; because the right owners of the barn had not been set out in the indictment." Wade's claim of double jeopardy was rejected, and his new trial went forward.
This, the only separately published account of the trial, summarizes the arguments of counsel and the testimony of witnesses on direct and cross-examination. On October 30, 1832, Wade torched a barn; the fire spread to nearby properties. The trial occurred on October 28, 1835. The jury found him guilty. Chief Justice Shaw sentenced him to "be hanged by the neck, until you are DEAD. And may the God of all justice and grace, in his infinite goodness, have mercy on your soul."
Cohen 12152. II Harv. Law Cat. 1217. Item #35148
Price: $750.00