1854 antique STAMPLESS COVER LETTER ALS cutchogue ny Wm WICKHAM Jr re:MARY WILL

Description: 1854 antique STAMPLESS COVER LETTER ALS cutchogue ny Wm WICKHAM Jr re:MARY WILLSCROLL DOWN for MORE PHOTOS in DESCRIPTION Click HERE to view or search ANTIQUE.COTTAGE listings. This listing is for the letter shown: Wickham Murders Long Island District Attorney Cutchogue NY 1838William Wickham was D.A. at the time of his brother's murder. This letter concerns the matter of husband's will for client Mary Ann Rose. William's brother James was the largest farmer in Suffolk County, who moved to Brooklyn while in his twenties, where he owned and operated a successful grocery store called Wickham and Convin. By his early forties, James was quite wealthy, and purchased at auction in 1850 the Albertson estate in Cutchogue, which included a mansion and eighty acres of farmland. James and his wife Frances hired a number of servants and field-workers to operate the farm, but after four years he got in an argument with one of his field hands, a burly Irish immigrant named Nicholas Behan, who was hustling a house servant named Ellen Holland, after his proposal for marriage to her was rejected. (Holland, also an Irish native, later confessed to being "intimate" with Behan but turned down his marriage proposal three times because she found him to be ill-tempered.) Behan was fired for his misconduct, but at about midnight several days later, on June 3, 1854, he crept into the house with an axe, and headed for the bedroom where James and Frances were sleeping. He had previously boarded at the large Wickham home, so be knew the floor plan, and the family dog, a huge, ferocious animal with a reputation for biting strangers. His first stop though, was the bedroom of Stephen Winston, a young black servant who had been friends with Behan. Behan brutally struck him in the head with the ax several times, severing his ear, fracturing his skull, and leaving him for dead in a bloodsoaked bed. (Winston would make an amazing recovery from his injuries.) Behan then headed down the hall, where he encountered Frances, who let out a scream. Holland and another servant named Catherine Dowd, who were in a bedroom in the attic, heard cries of "Murder!" and "Spare our lives!" followed by primal groans. They immediately suspected that Behan was on a rampage and feared they were next, so Dowd exited from a third story window, climbed down the roof, and raced to spread the alarm. Holland hesitated for a few moments, wondering if she should go downstairs, but then she too fled through the window. Would-be rescuers soon arrived to find the horribly gashed Wickham couple laying in vast pools of blood, with a bloody trail leaving the scene. Frances, just 33 years old, died almost immediately, while James lingered on for severnl more hours before dying of his severe wounds, which included many direct blows to the head and face. A straw hat Jell at the scene confirmed that Behan was responsible for this grotesque crime, but his whereubouts were not immedlately known, He traveled to Greenport, about 10 miles to the east, but as authorities begun senrching for him, h tti •ti t.o move weBt again, but WUH blocked by a containment perimeter established by the townsmen, ...... William ended up taking over James' farm and he moved to Culchogue late in the summer of 1854, declining to seek re-election for public office for several years. Excellent original early family and/or town genealogy, history, antique, collectible heirloom and/or ephemera. autographCONDITION: See listing description and photos.- International buyers are responsible to pay VAT or other Taxes to their countries as required.- eBAY collects and remits sales tax on behalf of several states. If you are a dealer, you can write to eBay to file a form to become tax exempt. LOC: LOC2: PAPERBOX12-TMKTT-F240714BTA500G Powered by SixBit's eCommerce Solution

Price: 124.95 USD

Location: Avondale, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-09-30T11:47:46.000Z

Shipping Cost: 8.95 USD