The Hanging of Ephraim Wheeler: A Story of Rape, Incest, and Justice in Early America
by Irene Quenzler Brown, Richard D. Brown
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In 1806 an anxious crowd of thousands descended upon Lenox, Massachusetts, for the public hanging of Ephraim Wheeler, condemned for the rape of his thirteen-year-old daughter, Betsy. Not all witnesses believed justice had triumphed. The death penalty had become controversial; no one had been executed for rape in Massachusetts in more than a quarter century. Wheeler maintained his innocence. Over one hundred local citizens petitioned for his pardon--including, most remarkably, Betsy and her show more mother. Impoverished, illiterate, a failed farmer who married into a mixed-race family and clashed routinely with his wife, Wheeler existed on the margins of society. Using the trial report to reconstruct the tragic crime and drawing on Wheeler's jailhouse autobiography to unravel his troubled family history, Irene Quenzler Brown and Richard D. Brown illuminate a rarely seen slice of early America. They imaginatively and sensitively explore issues of family violence, poverty, gender, race and class, religion, and capital punishment, revealing similarities between death penalty politics in America today and two hundred years ago. Beautifully crafted, engagingly written, this unforgettable story probes deeply held beliefs about morality and about the nature of justice. show lessTags
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An exemplary microhistory, this one of an 1806 execution in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Ephraim Wheeler, a poor farmer, was convicted and hanged for committing rape against his own 13-year-old daughter, and the Browns reconstruct the trial and its aftermath ably. They use the case as a jumping-off point to explore the use of capital punishment in early national Massachusetts, the crime of incestuous rape, and the political swirlings around the case (though they might, perhaps, have done a bit more with this last).
Difficult to read in places, but very clearly written and excellently researched.
Difficult to read in places, but very clearly written and excellently researched.
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Author Information
1 Work 65 Members
16+ Works 543 Members
Richard D. Brown is Professor of History at The University of Connecticut.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government, Sociology, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 364.15 — Society, government, & culture Social problems and social services Crime Criminal offenses Offenses against the person
- LCC
- HV6565 .M4 .B76 — Social sciences Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Crimes and offenses
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 65
- Popularity
- 472,591
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
