Life, Confession, and Letters of Courtship of Rev. Jacob S. Harden, of the M.E. Church, Mount Lebanon, Hunterdon Co., N.J. Executed for the Murder of His Wife, on the 6th of July, 1860, at Belvidere, Warren Co., N.J.

Hackettstown, NJ: E. Winton, Printer, 1860.

First Edition. 48 pp, in original illustrated wrappers. Some edgewear, stain to upper right corner of pages, still very good overall. McDade 438. Just a few months after having been roped into an unhappy marriage by his wife's parents, the Reverend Jacob Harden apparently decided that arsenic offered a good way out. Although he proclaimed his innocence, he did not act innocent (refusing to call a doctor when his wife took ill and fleeing after her death) and was convicted and sentenced to hang. Shortly before his execution, he gave the confession printed here. Although accepting full responsibility for his actions, he nonetheless closed with a jab at his mother-in-law: "My fate is a word of warning to professed Christians, and especially to the young, and to mothers who are seeking eligible marriages for their daughters."

Item #19817

Price: $400.00