The Trial of Jane Butterfield for the Wilful Murder of William...
Accused of Poisoning Her Elderly Paramour [Trial]. Butterfield, Jane, Defendant. The Trial of Jane Butterfield for the Wilful Murder of William Scawen, Esq; At the Assizes Held at Croydon for the County of Surry on Saturday the 19th of August, 1775, Before the Right Honourable Sir Sidney Stafford Smythe, Knt. Lord Chief Baron of His Majesty's Court of Exchequer. London: Printed for W. Owen and G. Kearsly, 1775. [iv], 53, [1] pp. Folio (13-1/4" x 8-1/2"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound into recent quarter calf over marbled boards, blind fillets to calf edge, lettering piece and blind fillets to spine. Moderate toning to interior, occasional light foxing, light soiling and cellotape repairs to edges of a few leaves without loss to text, light browning to first and final leaves. $750. * Only edition. Butterfield met Scawen, an elderly gentleman, when she was fourteen and was persuaded by a female accomplice to live with him as a kind of housekeeper-cum-mistress. When her father disowned her as a result, Scawen apparently had something of a crisis of conscience and promised to act as a new father to her. The two lived together quite happily, and when he grew ill, she became his devoted caretaker. When he died, his doctor, egged on by a suspicious maid, accused her of poisoning him in order to gain the inheritance he had supposedly left. The jury deliberated only ten minutes before acquitting Butterfield. English Short-Title Catalogue T93407.
Price: $750.00
Book number 72839