Report of the Trial of B W Williams and Others, Editor and Printers..

1846. Taunton, Mass., 1846. Verdict Not Guilty. Taunton, Mass., 1846. Verdict Not Guilty. "A House of Human Slaughter" [Trial]. Williams, B[enjamin] W., Principal Defendant. Report of the Trial of B.W. Williams and Others, Editors and Printers of the Dew Drop, A Temperance Paper Published at Taunton, Mass., For an Alleged Libel Upon William Wilbar, A Rumseller of Taunton, Before the Supreme Judicial Court at New Bedford, At the November Term, 1845, His Honor, Judge Hubbard, on the Bench. Taunton [Mass.]: Hack & King, Printers, Dew Drop Office, 1846. 60 pp. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/4"). Disbound stab stitched pamphlet. Moderate toning, light soiling to exterior, some rubbing to extremities. Light browning to text, faint tick marks in light pencil to margins in a few places, light foxing to a few leaves. $450. * First edition. In January, 1845, the defendant published an article in his temperance paper The Dew Drop that referred to Mr. Wilbar as "the incarnate Devil" with a mouth that emitted "flames of fire" that "withered and scorched all the deluded wretches" who entered his shop, "a house of human slaughter." The defendants were acquitted after 45 minutes of deliberation. Although there are many reprint editions available, the original 1846 printing is scarce in the marketplace. OCLC locates 7 copies in North American law libraries (Harvard, Library of Congress, Social Law, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, University of Pennsylvania, York University). Not in McCoy, Freedom of the Press. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 12078.