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.
