Commonwealth of Massachusetts, By Indictment, Vs. Thomas W Piper..

1876. A Rare McDade Title [Trial]. Piper, Thomas W., Defendant. Brown, Edward P. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, By Indictment, Vs. Thomas W. Piper, For the Murder of Mabel H. Young. Closing Argument for the Defence, By Edward P. Brown, Esq. Delivered February 9, 1876. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, Printers, 1876. 112 pp. Octavo (9-1/4" x 6"). Stab-stitched pamphlet in printed wrappers. Faint vertical crease through center, light soiling and edgewear to wrappers, spine worn away at ends, front wrapper partially detached. Light toning to interior, small embossed library stamp to head of leaf 7 (pp. 49-50), another to head of title page, small deaccession inkstamp to its verso. $350. * Only edition. Piper was the sexton of the Warren Avenue Baptist Church in Boston. He lured a five-year-old girl into the church tower, then beat her to death with a cricket bat. Circumstantial evidence linked him to the earlier murder of another girl and attacks on several others. Found guilty, he was hanged on the scaffold that was used for another notable Boston murderer: Professor John W. Webster. This is a rare title. OCLC locates 7 copies, 3 in law libraries (Harvard, Social Law, University of Missouri). McDade, The Annals of Murder 752.