| Arsenic Under the Elms: Murder in Victorian New Haven Contributor(s): McConnell, Virginia a. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0803283091 ISBN-13: 9780803283091 Publisher: Bison Books OUR PRICE: $19.76 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: December 2005 Annotation: The attorney Virginia A. McConnell provides a riveting view of Connecticut in the late 1800s as revealed through the unrelated but disturbingly similar murders of two young women. The first, Mary Stannard, was an unmarried mother who worked as a domestic and believed herself to be pregnant for a second time. The man accused of her murder, Reverend Herbert Hayden, was a married lay minister whose seduction of Mary was common knowledge. Three years later, Jennie Cramer, another woman of low social status, was found floating facedown in Long Island Sound off West Haven. The characters involved in the commission, investigation, and prosecution of these crimes emerge as vibrant individuals, and their stories shed light on many aspects of the Victorian world: sex and marriage; drugs, from arsenic to aphrodisiacs; forensic medicine; and courtroom procedures. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - True Crime | Murder - General - History | United States - 19th Century - History | United States - State & Local - New England (ct, Ma, Me, Nh, Ri, Vt) |
| Dewey: 364.152 |
| LCCN: 2005014684 |
| Lexile Measure: 1290 |
| Physical Information: 0.58" H x 6.08" W x 8.94" (0.85 lbs) 262 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Cultural Region - New England - Cultural Region - Northeast U.S. - Geographic Orientation - Connecticut |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The attorney Virginia A. McConnell provides a riveting view of Connecticut in the late 1800s as revealed through the unrelated but disturbingly similar murders of two young women. The first, Mary Stannard, was an unmarried mother who worked as a domestic and believed herself to be pregnant for a second time. The man accused of her murder, Reverend Herbert Hayden, was a married lay minister whose seduction of Mary was common knowledge. Three years later, Jennie Cramer, another woman of low social status, was found floating facedown in Long Island Sound off West Haven. The characters involved in the commission, investigation, and prosecution of these crimes emerge as vibrant individuals, and their stories shed light on many aspects of the Victorian world: sex and marriage; drugs, from arsenic to aphrodisiacs; forensic medicine; and courtroom procedures. Virginia A. McConnell teaches English, literature, speech, and criminal justice at Walla Walla Community College's Clarkson Center in Washington and lives on thirty acres of land in Idaho. |