Item #35518 THE TRIAL OF MOSES ADAMS, HIGH-SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY OF HANCOCK, BEFORE THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON AN INDICTMENT FOR THE MURDER OF HIS WIFE. [FROM MINUTES TAKEN AT THE TRIAL BY JOHN BULFINCH.] SECOND EDITION. John Bulfinch.

THE TRIAL OF MOSES ADAMS, HIGH-SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY OF HANCOCK, BEFORE THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON AN INDICTMENT FOR THE MURDER OF HIS WIFE. [FROM MINUTES TAKEN AT THE TRIAL BY JOHN BULFINCH.] SECOND EDITION.

Boston: Printed and Published by E.B. Tileston, 1815. 32pp. Stitched, title page lightly foxed, a few other scattered fox spots. Untrimmed. Very Good.

"Dr. Adams was acquitted of the murder of his wife, who had been killed with an ax in her kitchen at Ellsworth, Maine" [McDade]. "There was evidence that the house had been robbed, and the defense indicated that the murderer was probably a thief. The defendant, a physician as well as sheriff of the county, did not testify in his own defense" [Cohen]. This second edition, like the first, was published in 1815 with "no apparent change from the first edition" [Cohen].
The only contemporary record of the Trial, the pamphlet prints the names of the jurors [noting that twenty-one veniremen had been peremptorily challenged], summaries of the testimony, the Charge of Judge Jackson to the Jury, and the Jury's verdict -- Not Guilty-- after only two hours' deliberation. Judge Jackson's charge forcefully reminded the jurors that conviction required "a violent presumption of his guilt," and the question was "not whether they were entirely satisfied of the innocence of the prisoner; but whether he was proved to be guilty."
FIRST EDITION. McDade 4 [recording only the first edition]. Cohen 12272. Item #35518

Price: $650.00

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