Accusation of Adultery in the Wisconsin Territory. 1845
"Public Whore?" [Manuscript]. [Wisconsin]. [Acker, James, Defendant]. [Accusation of Adultery]. Walworth County, Wisconsin Territory, 1845. 12-1/2" x 7-3/4" sheet. Moderate toning, two horizontal fold lines, light edgewear. Content in neat hand, docketed on verso. $450. * The document pertains to suit filed against James Acker by Dyes Read for William and Lorna Smith. "The said James Acker falsely and maliciously charged the said Lorna Smith, then being the wife of the said William Smith, with being a public whore, and falsely and maliciously stated in the presence of a number of persons that the said Lona Smith was a public whore, thereby imputing to her the crime of adultery to by reason of which the said plaintiffs have been greatly damaged and they claim damages to the amount of one thousand dollars." The case was brought before Supreme Court Commissioner George Gale [1816-1868]. Gale served in the Wisconsin state senate and was the founder of both Gale College and the town of Galesville. The defendant in this action may have been early Wisconsin pioneer James C. "J.C." Acker [1819-1892], who moved to Wisconsin from New York in 1842 and purchased 160 acres in La Fayette Township, where he operated a farm and established a stone quarry. We do not know how this case was decided.
Price: $450.00
Book number 71720