Life and Trial of Dr Abner Baker, Jr, (A Monomaniac) Who Was...
"More a Struggle Between Two Families Than an Affair of the State": McDade 60 [Trial]. Baker, Abner, Defendant. Life and Trial of Dr. Abner Baker, Jr., (A Monomaniac) Who Was Executed October 3, 1845, For the Alleged Murder of His Brother-In-Law, Daniel Bates; Including Letters and Petitions in Favor of a Pardon, And Narrative of the Circumstances Attending His Execution, Etc. Etc. Trial And Evidence by A.R. M'Kee. Louisville, KY: Prentice and Weissinger, 1846. [iv], xiii, [1] 152 pp. Frontispiece (diagram of murder scene) and additional portrait frontispiece (of Baker). Octavo (8-1/2" x 5"). Modern period-style three-quarter calf over marbled boards, gilt title and fillets to spine, endpapers renewed. Light fading to spine, moderate toning and foxing, faint dampstaining to most of text. $1,500. * Only edition. "Dr. Baker thought Bates was having an affair with his wife. On a street in Cumberland, Kentucky, he shot Bates in the back, but was released as insane. The Bates family published an award for his capture, and Baker family pride, stung by the publication, produced the doctor, who was convicted and hanged. Like many Clay County cases, this was more a struggle between two families than an affair of the state" (McDade). OCLC locates 2 copies (at Yale Law School and Los Angeles County Law Library). McDade, The Annals of Murder 60.
Price: $1,500.00
Book number 71593