Killed Strangely is an engaging read that will entrance and inform readers who are at once murder mystery and history buffs.- Cornelia Hughes Dayton - Common-Place "It was Rebecca's son, Thomas, who first realized the victim's identity. His eyes were drawn to the victim's head, and aided by the flickering light of a candle, he 'clapt his hands and cryed out, Oh Lord, it is my mother.' James Moills, a servant of Cornell... described Rebecca 'lying on the floore, with fire about Her, from her Lower parts neare to the Armepits ...
Read More
Killed Strangely is an engaging read that will entrance and inform readers who are at once murder mystery and history buffs.- Cornelia Hughes Dayton - Common-Place "It was Rebecca's son, Thomas, who first realized the victim's identity. His eyes were drawn to the victim's head, and aided by the flickering light of a candle, he 'clapt his hands and cryed out, Oh Lord, it is my mother.' James Moills, a servant of Cornell... described Rebecca 'lying on the floore, with fire about Her, from her Lower parts neare to the Armepits.' He recognized her only 'by her shoes.'"-from Killed Strangely On a winter's evening in 1673, tragedy descended on the respectable Rhode Island household of Thomas Cornell. His 73-year-old mother, Rebecca, was found close to her bedroom's large fireplace, dead and badly burned. The legal owner of the Cornells' hundred acres along Narragansett Bay, Rebecca shared her home with Thomas and his family, a servant, and a lodger. A coroner's panel initially declared her death "an Unhappie Accident," but before summer arrived, a dark web of events-rumors of domestic abuse, allusions to witchcraft, even the testimony of Rebecca's ghost through her brother-resulted in Thomas's trial for matricide. Such were the ambiguities of the case that others would be tried for the murder as well. Rebecca is a direct ancestor of Cornell University's founder, Ezra Cornell. Elaine Forman Crane tells the compelling story of Rebecca's death and its aftermath, vividly depicting the world in which she lived. That world included a legal system where jurors were expected to be familiar with the defendant and case before the trial even began. Rebecca's strange death was an event of cataclysmic proportions, affecting not only her own community, but neighboring towns as well. The documents from Thomas's trial provide a rare glimpse into seventeenth-century life. Crane writes, "Instead of the harmony and respect that sermon literature, laws, and a hierarchical/patriarchal society attempted to impose, evidence illustrates filial insolence, generational conflict, disrespect toward the elderly, power plays between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, [and] adult dependence on (and resentment of) aging parents who clung to purse strings." Yet even at a distance of more than three hundred years, Rebecca Cornell's story is poignantly familiar. Her complaints of domestic abuse, Crane says, went largely unheeded by friends and neighbors until, at last, their complacency was shattered by her terrible death.
Read Less
Add this copy of Killed Strangely: the Death of Rebecca Cornell to cart. $20.10, fair condition, Sold by BookDrop rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Phoenix, AZ, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Cornell University Press.
Add this copy of Killed Strangely: the Death of Rebecca Cornell to cart. $26.23, very good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Cornell University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. Very Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.
Add this copy of Killed Strangely: the Death of Rebecca Cornell to cart. $29.50, like new condition, Sold by Archer's Used & Rare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Kent, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Cornell University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine Condition in Fine jacket. Dust Jacket is in fine condition without tears or chips or other damage. Dust Jack in mylar guard. Quantity Available: 1. Category: True Crime; Rhode Island. ISBN: 0801440025. ISBN/EAN: 9780801440021. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 11787.
Add this copy of Killed Strangely: The Death of Rebecca Cornell to cart. $73.37, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2002 by Cornell University Press.
Add this copy of Killed Strangely: the Death of Rebecca Cornell to cart. $57.31, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Cornell University Press.
Add this copy of Killed Strangely: the Death of Rebecca Cornell to cart. $134.09, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Cornell University Press.