Fall River Outrage: Life, Murder, and Justice in Early Industrial New England 9780812200881

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Chdl 'River Outrage

Cfrdl cRtver Outrage Life, Murder, and Justice in Early Industrial New England ^D avid Richard Kasserman PENN University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia

Frontispiece. The note found in Sarah Cornell's bandbox, which aroused suspicions against the Reverend Ephrairn Kingsbury Avery. From David Melvill, A Fac-simile of the Letters Produced at the Trial of the Rev. Ephraim K. Avery (Boston: Pendleton's Lithography, 1833). Short passages from the following documents in the collections of the New England Methodist Historical Society, Boston, are reprinted with permission: Asa Kent, 19 July 1836 letter to the Members of the New England Conference; Timothy Merritt, 6 July 1833 letter to Ephraim K. Avery and Charles True. Short passages from the following documents in the Avery Trial Papers in the Papers of Albert Collins Greene are reprinted with permission of the Rhode Island Historical Society, Manuscript Collections: Grindall Rawson, 19 March 1833 letter to William R. Staples; Dutee J. Pearce, 14 March 1833 letter to Albert C. Greene; Samuel Eddy, trial notes, unsigned and unnumbered booklet, 1833; William Lawless, 27 May 1833 letter to Albert C. Greene; Elihu Greene, 24 June 1833 letter to Mrs. D. Greene (Greene Papers). Copyright © 1986 by the University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kasserman, David Richard. Fall River outrage. Bibliography: p. Includes index. i. Avery, Ephraim K., d. 1869—Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Trials (Murder)—Rhode Island—Newport. 3. Labor and laboring classes—Massachusetts—Fall River—History. 4. Cornell, Sarah Maria, 1802—1832. I. Title. KF223.A94K37 1986 345-73'°2523 85-26454 347-3°52523 ISBN 0-8122-8002-4 (alk. paper) ISBN 0-8122-1222-3 (pbk.: alk. paper) Printed in the United States of America 4th paperback printing 1996

For Elizabeth J'. Kasserman

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Contents

ix

List of Illustrations

xi

Acknowledgments Introduction

1 5

1. The Outrage

2. Beginning a Life in the Mills 3. Ending a Life in the Mills 5. Preliminary Engagements 6. 7he Prosecution

133

7. The Defense

159

5. The Verdict

187

9. Public Justice

Index

213

247

Bibliography

51

75

4. The Minister

Conclusion

29

255

273

99

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List of Illustrations

1. The Durfee farm, near Fall River 6 2. Site of Sarah Cornell's death

10

3, David Anthony, known as Deacon Anthony

22

4. Map showing primary locations in the lives of Sarah Cornell and Ephraim Avery 39 5. Lowell, Massachusetts

47

6. Ephraim Avery's letter to George Starrs revoking his signature on Sarah Cornell's certificate of forgiveness 59 7. Ephraim Kingsbury Avery

77

8. North Main Street, Fall River 93 9. Bristol County Courthouse, Bristol, Massachusetts

100

10. Letter delivered to Sarah Cornell by John Orswell

106

11. Sarah Cornell's unsent letter to Ira Bidwell 12. Colony House, Newport, Rhode Island 13. Dr. Foster Hooper

140

116 134

x • List of Illustrations

14. Avery's alleged path from Gifford's ferry to Howland's stone bridge, December 20, 1832 147 15. Bristol-Fall River area, 1832

179

16. Unsigned letter to Sarah Cornell, December 8, 1832

195

17. New England Conference Group, Boston's Bromfield Street Chapel, 1833 214 18. Idealized version of a New England Methodist camp meeting 19. Fall River from across Mount Hope Bay

249

238

Acknowledgments

Work on this book was materially assisted by three grants from Glassboro State College and by three grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which allowed me to attend NEH summer seminars directed by Solon Kimball (University of Florida, 1976), David Fischer (Brandeis University, 1979), and Ruth Butler (University of Massachusetts, Boston, 1982) where I pursued research related to the case of Ephraim Avery and Sarah Cornell. I received unfailingly kind and helpful assistance at all the historical societies and libraries in Massachusetts and Rhode Island that I visited while completing this book. Particular thanks are due to the Fall River Historical Society, the New England Methodist Historical Society Library (School of Theology, Boston University), the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Rhode Island Historical Society for permission to quote manuscripts and reproduce photographs and diagrams in their possession. I also wish to thank Cornell University Press for permission to quote Harold W. Thompson's A Pioneer Songster.

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