134:
372:
248:, and the trial seemed to confirm their worst fears. Another was the 19th-century American industrialists whose cotton mills relied on the labor of young, newly independent women. The case of Sarah Cornell cast into doubt the industrialists' assertion that women would be as safe in the factories as they were working at home with their families.
343:
family, but had fallen on hard times after her father, a successful paper cutter, had abandoned them. In her late teens and twenties, Cornell went back and forth between factory work and skilled employment as a seamstress. She acquired a reputation for petty theft and general "bad character". She
362:
A medical debate centered around whether the unborn child was in fact conceived in August, although
Puritan standards of propriety regarding the female body sometimes made it difficult to elicit factual information. One female witness, when questioned as to the state of Cornell's body, absolutely
142:
Cornell's pregnancy led another
Methodist minister to reject the responsibility of burying her the second time (she already once been exhumed for autopsy). He claimed that she had only been a "probationary" member of his congregation. Responsibility for her burial was assumed by the Fall River
259:
wanted to earn respectability and make converts, and wanted to avoid at all costs a criminal and sexual scandal involving one of its own ministers. Consequently, both of these groups contributed a great deal of effort, money and publicity to the trial, for either the prosecution's side or the
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in capital cases were not permitted to offer testimony in their own defense, so Avery did not get the opportunity to speak. However, both the prosecution and the defense called a large number of witnesses to testify, 68 for the prosecution, and 128 for the defense.
178:
to take one hundred men from Fall River to
Bristol. They surrounded Avery's home and demanded he come out. Avery declined, but did send a friend outside to try to placate the crowd. The men eventually left when the steamship signaled its return to Fall River.
137:
An 1833 print illustrating the widely held belief that Avery was guilty despite his acquittal. One demon asks, "How will this be managed if it should go to a jury?" Another replies, "A Jury, ye young fools, is nothing. What's to be done with Public
186:
found there to be insufficient evidence to try Avery for the crime of murder. The people of Fall River were outraged, and there were rumors that one of the justices was a
Methodist, and was looking to quell the scandal. The
406:
Avery later embarked on a speaking tour to vindicate himself in the eyes of the public, but his efforts were largely unsuccessful. In 1836, Avery left the
Methodist ministry, and took his family first to
83:
Other suspicious and incriminating letters came to light, as well as a conversation she had had with a doctor indicating the married Avery was the father of her unborn child. A
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240:
There were a great deal of external concerns interested in the case of the young
Methodist girl who had been employed at the Fall River Manufactory. For one, New England
379:
On June 2, 1833, after deliberating for 16 hours, the jury found
Ephraim Kingsbury Avery "not guilty". The minister was set free and returned to his position in the
440:
63:, discovered a woman's corpse hanging by her neck from a rope tied to a stackpole used to dry hay. Investigators identified the woman as 30-year-old factory worker
399:. A great deal of anger was also directed at the Methodist Church. To ease tensions, the church's New England Conference convened a trial of its own, chaired by
110:
was performed, however, it was discovered that
Cornell had been four months pregnant at the time of her death. A second coroner's jury was convened, this time in
684:
A Report of the Trial of the Rev. Ephraim K. Avery, Before the
Supreme Judicial Court of Rhode Island, on an indictment for the murder of Sarah Maria Cornell
317:
Sarah
Cornell's morals. The defense characterized her as "utterly abandoned, unprincipled, profligate," and brought forth many witnesses to testify to her
71:. The family from whom Sarah Cornell rented a room discovered among her personal effects a note written by Cornell and dated the same day as her death:
209:. Avery later claimed he had fled because he feared for his life, particularly at the hands of the mob that had surrounded his house. Harnden
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114:. This jury overruled the earlier finding of suicide and accused Ephraim Kingsbury Avery, a married Methodist minister, as the "
155:, money was raised and two committees pledged to assist the officials of Tiverton with the murder investigation. The next day (
292:
403:, in which Avery was again acquitted. This did little, if anything, to quell public antipathy toward Avery or the church.
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maintained that Avery had not been present when the murder occurred, the larger part of the defense strategy was to
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for Avery's arrest. When a Rhode Island sheriff went to serve it, he discovered that Avery had already fled.
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herself upon a stake ... and was influenced to commit said crime by the wicked conduct of a married man."
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60:
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76:
791:
786:
724:
The Terrible Haystack Murder: The Moral Paradox of Hypocrisy, Prudery and Piety in Antebellum America
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Without Benefit of Clergy: Women and the Pastoral Relationship in Nineteenth Century American Culture
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280:
183:
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The trial began on May 6, 1833, and was heard by the Supreme Judicial Council (what is today the
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Wicked Conduct: The Minister, the Mill Girl, and the Murder That Captivated Old Rhode Island
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412:
276:
419:, where he lived out the rest of his days as a farmer. Avery also wrote a pamphlet called
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in the press, and to push for the arrest and conviction of her murderer. Conversely, the
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The prosecution largely attempted to portray the Methodist clergy as a dangerous, almost
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241:
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359:, willing to defend their minister and the good name of their church at any cost.
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It was therefore in the interest of the factory-owners to keep Cornell from being
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510:
470:
47:. Avery is often cited as "the first", although it is thought there is at least
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and mental instability. Much was made of how Cornell had been cast out of the
225:
218:
695:
Fall River Outrage: Life, Murder, and Justice in Early Industrial New England
578:
A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, from Its Discovery to the Present
421:
The correct, full and impartial report of the trial of Rev. Ephraim K. Avery
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349:
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171:
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36:
32:
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The correct, full and impartial report of the trial of Rev. Ephraim K. Avery
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refused to answer, saying, "I never heard such questions asked of nobody."
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was suspicious of the encroachment of the comparatively new sect of
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Illustrated portrait of Ephraim Kingsbury Avery, from Avery's book,
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348:, engaging in several affairs along the way, and once contracting
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15:
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had been performed. This jury found that Cornell had "committed
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199:
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1833 print depicting Avery being transported to hell by demons.
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The trial lasted 27 days. Under Rhode Island law at the time,
217:, where Avery was put in jail. On March 8, 1833, Avery was
122:" in her death. Avery was quickly arrested on a charge of
75:"If I should be missing, enquire of the Rev. Mr. Avery of
730:. 41 American Journal of Legal History. pp. 25–60.
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of Avery, and he himself was once almost lynched in
681:Avery, Ephraim Kingsbury; Richard Hildreth (1833).
31:(December 18, 1799 – October 23, 1869) was a
182:In Bristol, an inquest was convened, in which two
283:. The six lawyers for the defense, hired by the
143:Congregationalists, and Cornell was buried as an
339:had come from a fairly prosperous and prominent
191:of Fall River, Harvey Harnden, obtained from a
205:On January 20, 1833, Harnden tracked Avery to
509:Gedge, Karin Erdevig; Harry S. Stout (2003).
8:
59:On December 21, 1832, farmer John Durfee of
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462:
126:, but just as quickly set free on his own
802:19th-century American Methodist ministers
687:. David H. Ela Press. pp. 143 pages.
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502:
500:
272:). The lawyers for the prosecution were
441:"Letter to the editor: Not "the First""
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546:
544:
542:
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439:McLoughlin, William C. (1984-05-13).
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387:was that Avery had been wrongfully
757:Fall River, An Authentic Narrative
14:
754:Williams, Catherine Read (1833).
739:. Charleston, SC: . p. 128.
692:Kasserman, David Richard (1986).
35:minister who was among the first
704:University of Pennsylvania Press
472:Methodism: Empire of the Spirit
415:. They ultimately settled in
293:New Hampshire Attorney General
1:
585:: Bradstreet Press. pp.
274:Rhode Island Attorney General
812:19th-century American clergy
391:. Rallies hanged or burned
279:and former attorney general
344:moved from town to town in
79:, he will know where I am."
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721:Pilarczyk, Ian C. (1997).
270:Rhode Island Supreme Court
797:American Methodist clergy
556:"Did the Minister Do It?"
69:Fall River, Massachusetts
87:'s jury was convened in
766:Oxford University Press
644:The Tragedy at Tiverton
552:Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth
521:Oxford University Press
469:Hempton, David (2005).
367:Acquittal and aftermath
51:that precedes Avery's.
29:Ephraim Kingsbury Avery
706:. pp. 296 pages.
641:Paul, Raymond (1984).
575:Sabin, Joseph (1867).
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236:War for public opinion
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81:
61:Tiverton, Rhode Island
25:
481:Yale University Press
374:
289:United States Senator
287:, were led by former
215:Newport, Rhode Island
207:Rindge, New Hampshire
184:Justices of the Peace
161:not widely celebrated
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112:Bristol, Rhode Island
73:
19:
735:Raven, Rory (2009).
608:Cable, Mary (1981).
281:Dutee Jerauld Pearce
620:G. P. Putnam's Sons
337:Sarah Maria Cornell
65:Sarah Maria Cornell
561:The New York Times
523:. pp. 26–32.
483:. pp. 94–95.
446:The New York Times
377:
315:call into question
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26:
746:978-1-59629-802-6
323:suicidal ideation
151:. That night in
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381:Methodist Church
327:Methodist Church
285:Methodist Church
277:Albert C. Greene
257:Methodist Church
221:for murder by a
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597:Further reading
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554:(1986-08-10).
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385:public opinion
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357:secret society
311:Jeremiah Mason
296:Jeremiah Mason
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232:"not guilty".
223:Newport County
196:superior court
189:deputy sheriff
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450:. Retrieved
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193:Rhode Island
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128:recognizance
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792:1869 deaths
787:1799 births
768:. pp.
675:Non-fiction
655:. pp.
622:. pp.
409:Connecticut
401:Wilbur Fisk
346:New England
341:Connecticut
331:fornication
319:promiscuity
168:New England
163:in largely
91:before any
781:Categories
452:2005-05-07
427:References
383:, but the
303:defendants
226:grand jury
211:extradited
153:Fall River
106:After the
55:The murder
39:tried for
657:303 pages
624:238 pages
477:New Haven
389:acquitted
350:gonorrhea
309:Although
260:defense.
246:Methodism
213:Avery to
176:chartered
172:steamship
157:Christmas
138:Opinion."
120:accessory
116:principal
37:clergymen
33:Methodist
583:New York
413:New York
393:effigies
219:indicted
198:judge a
145:indigent
89:Tiverton
49:one case
602:Fiction
253:smeared
230:pleaded
200:warrant
165:Puritan
108:autopsy
101:hanging
97:suicide
93:autopsy
85:coroner
77:Bristol
43:in the
24:, 1833.
772:pages.
762:Oxford
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710:
663:
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517:Oxford
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397:Boston
228:. He
159:being
124:murder
41:murder
728:(PDF)
264:Trial
170:), a
147:, on
67:, of
741:ISBN
708:ISBN
661:ISBN
628:ISBN
525:ISBN
485:ISBN
417:Ohio
329:for
291:and
174:was
770:192
587:332
118:or
99:by
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
