AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO "MY DEAR ALFRED," HIS PRINCETON CLASSMATE, VIVIDLY DESCRIBING MURDERS, LAWLESSNESS, AND MOB VIOLENCE IN CINCINNATI. "THE CITY HAS NOT BEEN STIRRED UP SO SINCE THE WAR."
Wyoming, Ohio: March 30, 1882. [7], [1- docket] pp. Unbound. Written in neat ink manuscript, Very Good.
"Judge Hurin was a native of Hamilton County, Ohio, and a graduate of Princeton University in 1882... He began his career teaching near Cincinnati, but entered law school in 1885. He practiced law in Hancock County for twenty years and served on the Circuit bench for six years, having been elected in 1904" [18 Northwest Ohio Quarterly 106, July 1946].
He writes in dismay to his friend that, "We have been having a fearful time in Cincinnati lately. Murders have become common." Despite the jailing of about forty murderers "we have been unable to get any of them hanged." A recent manslaughter conviction, rather than first degree murder, launched a firestorm of anger. "The jury have been mobbed and some have barely escaped with their lives... Last night the excitement culminated in a mob which stormed the jail." The militia prevented them "from reaching the prisoners," but "about half a dozen had been killed and many others wounded. It is said that twenty thousand people were surrounding the jail... The murderer who caused all the excitement was allowed to escape." Item #36917
Price: $450.00