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The killing of John Sharpless : the pursuit of justice in Delaware County / Stephanie Hoover.
Van Pelt Library HV6533.P4 H66 2013
By Request
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Hoover, Stephanie.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Murder--Pennsylvania--Delaware County.
- Murder.
- Trials (Murder)--Pennsylvania--Delaware County.
- Trials (Murder).
- Sharpless, John, 1824-1885.
- Sharpless, John.
- Johnson, Samuel, approximately 1849-1900--Trials, litigation, etc.
- Johnson, Samuel.
- Murder victims--Pennsylvania--Delaware County--Biography.
- Murder victims.
- Pennsylvania--Delaware County.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- Physical Description:
- pages cm
- Place of Publication:
- Charleston, SC : The History Press, 2013.
- Summary:
- On A Stormy November Evening In 1885, John Sharpless answered a knock on his door. Less than an hour later, he was found dead in his barn from blow to the back of the head; his bloodstained hat lay next to him on the ground. A $3,000 reward for the killer sparked an overzealous bounty hunt across southeastern Pennsylvania, and numerous innocent men were arrested. Samuel Johnson-a local African American man with a criminal record-was charged. Despite the Widow Sharpless's insistence that Johnson was not the man who had come to their door, he was tried and sentenced to hang. Author Stephanie Hoover offers an in-depth investigation of the crime. From the events of that night and the mishandling of the investigation by a corrupt police force to the trial and conviction of Johnson and the efforts of the Quaker community to appeal the sentence, Hoover profiles a miscarriage of justice in Delaware County. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- 1 Delaware County Before and at the Time of the Murder 15
- 2 The Sharpless Family 21
- 3 Samuel Johnson 33
- 4 The Murder 37
- 5 The Investigation 43
- 6 The Arrest 53
- 7 The Trial 59
- 8 The Verdict 77
- 9 Appeals and Petitions 83
- 10 Other Suspects 89
- 11 From Death to Life 97
- 12 Ten Years, Six Months, Nine Days 107
- 13 Her Beloved Husband 115.
- Notes:
- Includes index.
- ISBN:
- 1626190232
- 9781626190238
- OCLC:
- 827261422
- Publisher Number:
- 99954159921
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