Prologue: the Kutztown Folk Festival -- Reading and the Oley Valley -- Fingers of guilt -- Middling stiff -- When law and humanity had but faint connection -- Twelve honest men -- A distraction from grim tidings -- As innocent as a child -- The last melancholy resource -- Ten o'clock to two o'clock and fifty minutes -- Slinking off anonymously -- A last hope -- Seduced by the devil -- Confession -- I poor wretch -- A final jolt -- Peace be to her -- The printers of Exeter Township -- The sad, sad song of Susanna Cox -- Advice from the dead to the living -- Her exit--infamy -- Epilogue: back to the festival.
Summary
The unfortunate Susanna Cox gained notoriety for killing her illegitimate infant son. The fatal episode led to her hanging in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1809, the last public execution of a woman in the commonwealth. But was Susanna really the culprit? The legend of her fate, repeated in Pennsylvania German broadsides by the generations that followed, suggests she herself was a victim. Now, in this first full-length investigation into the tragedy, new evidence reveals some startling facts about how indifference, an undeveloped court system, and the inexact science of nineteenth-century forensics combined to determine Susanna's tragic fate. A full look at how Susanna's "sad song" became romanticized through broadside ballads follows, complete with illustrations.
Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society ; ser. 2, v. 46
Notes
Illustrated lining papers.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 285) and indexes.
Contents
Berks County: the center of it all -- Daniel Schumacher: a Fraktur artist of some note -- Henrich Otto, 1784 -- Friederich Krebs, August 4, 1790 -- Johann Valentin Schuller -- The greatest development of Fraktur writing, 1800-1835 -- Johann Ritter: a century of influence -- Conclusion: The last flickering -- Appendix 1. Fraktur artist who routinely made Taussscheine for Berks County families -- Appendix 2. Scriveners who routinely infilled Taussscheine for Berks County families -- Appendix 3. Berks Couny printers of Taussscheine in order by active dates -- Appendix 4. Translations.
