1801 Report of the Trial of Jason Fairbanks, on an Indictment For the Murder of Elizabeth Fales

Description

First Edition, Leather Binding, Very Scarce

The first edition of this very scarce work, an interesting association copy.

A fascinating work on the trial of Jason Fairbanks. 

In 1801, Fairbanks murdered his girlfriend, Elizabeth Fales, in Dedham. Fales' parents disapproved of their relationship, leading to her telling Fairbanks that they could not marry. In a rage, Fairbank murdered Fales, and tried to stage her death as a suicide; however he was not believed, and was arrested and put on trial, an incredibly popular trial which attracted a lot of interest. He was found guilty, then, nine days later, escaped from the jail, eventually being captured in New York, brought back to Dedham, and hanged. It was reported that 10,000 people showed up to witness the execution, which was five times the town's population at the time. 

A copy, from the Dedham Historical Society. The society was founded in 1859 with the aim to "preserving and transmitting to posterity all possible memorials of past and present times."

From the library of John Doggett, with his name in gilt to the front board, and his name in ink to the title page. Doggett was a looking-glass maker and picture framer based in Boston. An interesting association copy, as Fairbanks was born in Dedham in 1780, and spent his whole life in the Boston area, thus was a local to the area during this cause celebre. He was the first gilder in Roxbury, and opened a shop in Boston, and an exhibition gallery in the city, called Doggett's Repository of Arts. The ink inscription of his daughter, Mrs. Sophia Doggett Cobb, to the title page. Born in 1805, she was born, lived, and is buried in Dedham. Her husband, Jonathan Holmes Cobb, was one of the founding members of the Dedham Historical Society, and was a curator there.

Additionally from the library of George Austin Guild, with the pencil inscription of his wife, Abby (as Mrs. George A. Guild) to the recto of the front free endpaper, who gifted this volume to the Dedham Historical Society. Guild was a firefighter and jeweler born in Dedham in 1836. He spent his whole life in Dedham, and by his retirement in 1901, he was the longest serving tradesman in town. His uncle, Calvin Guild, was one of the founding members of the Dedham Historical Society, and was selected as secretary, treasurer, and librarian.