American Criminal Trials Important and Interesting Trial Reports (1659 to 1913) - Download

American Criminal Trials Important and Interesting Trial Reports (1659 to 1913)

15,700 pages of reports on important and interesting American trials from 1659 to 1913, contained in the 17 volumes of "American State Trials: a Collection of the Important and Interesting Criminal Trials which have taken place in the United States, from the Beginning of our Government to the Present Day, with Notes and Annotations, " (published 1914 - 1936).

"American State Trial" was compiled and edited by John D. Lawson. Lawson was a prolific writer on legal matters. His resume was long with many distinguished positions. He served as Dean of the Law Department of the University of Missouri, Editor of American Law Review, Associate Editor of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, and he was Special Commissioner from the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology to investigate the administration of criminal law in Great Britain and France.

The trials covered range from someone opening and publishing a letter addressed to someone else, to the assassinations of Presidents of the United States. They include trials for murder, assault and battery, libel, enticement to prostitution, witchcraft, dueling, kidnapping, espionage, blasphemy, embezzlement, rioting, corruption, breaking Sabbath, piracy, bigamy, arson, contempt, sedition, and more.

The first volume appeared after Lawson conducted twenty years of research. Lawson died in 1921 and the last three volumes were published in the 15 years after his death. In the introduction in the first volume of his masterwork that would consume the rest of his life, Lawson wrote: "The 'American State Trials' will be a welcome addition to the library of every lawyer and judge for the reason that it will duplicate nothing that is on his shelves and that it will never get out of date. The value of this series to him will be first in the principles of law laid down by the judge in the particular case and the rulings on evidence and procedure. Then the arguments of counsel and the orations of the advocate for the prisoner and for the State will give him a mine of eloquence from which to gather material for his own use. Then the investigation of facts is always more interesting and often more important than the investigation of abstract principles, and the Bar is required to do quite as much of the former as of the latter. Our most distinguished advocates have earned their highest honors by their addresses to the jury.

"But to others besides the judge and lawyer this work will have an almost equal value. The writer and the reader of history will find here abundant material for study and investigation. Just as in the 'State Trials' of England the English historian has found a never failing source of material in writing the history of his country, so the American historian of the future will find in this series a record of the lives, the customs and manners of the American people which has hitherto been closed to him.

"The sociologist and the criminologist will likewise find opened before him new phases of human life. Burke long ago spoke of a criminal trial as 'exhibiting human nature in a variety of positions, at once most striking, interesting and affecting.' The scientific investigator will note the contrast between the manners and customs of the people and the public opinion of the time in the days when witches were burned at the stake, and in the days when a woman can scarcely anywhere be convicted of a homicide even of the grossest character; in the days when a minister of the gospel was indicted and tried for saying in a sermon that slavery is contrary to the Bible and in the days when a contractor is tried for preventing a negro from breaking his contract and leaving his service; in the days when men were hanged for burning a house and the days when the same crime involves no greater punishment than to be, after conviction, paroled on good behavior. There is no better way for one who wishes to familiarize himself with the habits and customs of a particular epoch in the history of his country than to familiarize himself with the judicial trials of the time and place."


Review by the American Historical Review

The American Historical Review in its July 1914 issue reviewed the first volume of this work. Reviewer Roger Foster wrote, "The series of which this book is the beginning will be welcomed by all scholars. There are few writings more interesting than the reports of testimony and speeches at trials. There are none of more value to students of history, not only the history of politics, but constitutional history, the history of manners, and even the history of language. In the United States more than elsewhere are they needed; for many trials in the state courts, especially in cases of impeachment and those arising from the claims of powers by executives and by separate legislative houses, contain precedents of great value for national crises that may hereafter arise. There are none more hard to find. Originally published in pamphlets and newspapers, most copies of them are soon destroyed. Few libraries, public or private, contain collections, and no bookseller in the world, so far as careful inquiry can ascertain, makes a specialty of dealing in them. The chief merit of the book sent us for review is that the testimony and arguments are printed in full, without that condensation or rhetorical embellishment which we ordinarily find in such reports.

"The editor is well qualified for his task. The long list of appointments to positions of more or less importance that he has held was a superfluous addition to his preface. He is well known to the profession as the author of at least two valuable treatises upon subjects previously neglected and as the successor to Judge Thompson in the editorship of the American Law Review. His additions to the text are useful and upon the whole well executed. Although some of the platitudes in the introductions might have been spared the reader, the bibliographical and biographical notes show study and are useful. This is especially the case with the trial of Levi Weeks, where he collects a number of magazine articles, with which most readers, even most students, are not familiar, about the anecdote, with the hero sometimes Burr and at others Hamilton, of a case where both were counsel and one of them is said to have cleared the accused by placing a candle before the face of a leading witness for the prosecution and charging him with the murder."



Among the 275 trials covered in the seventeen volumes are:

1659 - Trials of the Quakers, William Robinson, Marmaduke Stephenson, Dyer and others, Massachusetts

1692 - Trials of Bridget Bishop and George Burroughs for witchcraft, Salem, Massachusetts

1741 - Trial of John Ury for inciting Negroes to crime and for being a Romish priest, New York City

1770 - Boston Massacre Trial of William Weems and seven other British soldiers for the murder of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell and Partick Carr, Boston, Massachusetts

1718 - Trials of Major Stede Bonnet "The Gentleman Pirate" and thirty-three others for piracy, Charleston, South Carolina,

1779 - Trial of Major General Benedict Arnold for certain misdemeanors, Raritan, New Jersey

1800 - Trial of Levi Weeks for the murder of Gulielma Sands, New York City

1805 - Trial of Judge Samuel Chase for "High crimes and misdemeanors", Washington, D.C.

1819 - Trial of the Rev. Jacob Gruber for inciting slaves to insurrection and rebellion, Frederick County, Maryland

1830 - Trial of William Lloyd Garrison for libel, Baltimore, Maryland

1835 - Trial of Richard Lawrence for shooting at President Andrew Jackson, Washington

1847 - Trial of the action of Dred Scott, a slave, against Irene Emerson for false imprisonment and assault, St. Louis, Missouri

1853 - Trial of Mrs. Margaret Douglas for teaching colored children to read, Norfolk, Virginia

1854 - Trial of Anthony Burns for escaping from slavery, Boston, Massachusetts

1859 - Trial of John Brown for treason and insurrection, Charlestown, Virginia

1863 - Trial of Clement L. Vallandigham for sedition and rebellion, Cincinnati, Ohio

Trials of the conspirators to assassinate President Lincoln:

David E. Herold for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865

George A. Atzerodt for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865

Lewis Payne for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865

Mrs. Mary E. Surratt for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865

Michael O'Laughlin for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865

Samuel Arnold for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865

Edward Spangler for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865

Samuel A. Mudd for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865

1865 - Trial of Captain Henry Wirz for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C.

1867 - Trial of John H. Surratt for conspiracy and murder, Washington, District of Columbia

1871 - Trials of members of the Ku Klux Klan organization for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina

1873 - Trial of Susan B. Anthony for voting at a Congressional Election, New York

1881 - Trial of Charles J. Guiteau for the murder of President Garfield, Washington, D.C.

1883 - Trial of Frank James for train robbery and murder, Gallatin, Missouri

1901 - Trial of Leon F. Czolgosz for the murder of President McKinley, Buffalo, N.Y.

1913 - Trial of Leo M. Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan, Atlanta, Georgia


Some trials have largely been forgotten even though they were the "trial of the century" of their day. Notable trials include:

The Boston Martyrs Trial - Trials of the Quakers, William Robinson, Marmaduke Stephenson, Dyer and others, Massachusetts, 1659

The Boston martyrs refers to four members of the Society of Friends, Marmaduke Stephenson, William Robinson, Mary Dyer, and William Leddra, who were condemned to death and executed by public hanging for their religious beliefs under the legislature of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1659, 1660 and 1661. Several other Friends lay under sentence of death at Boston in the same period, but had their punishments commuted to that of being whipped out of the colony from town to town.


Trial of John Ury for inciting Negroes to crime and for being a Romish priest, New York City, 1741

John Ury was a white itinerant teacher who was suspected of being a Roman Catholic priest and a Spanish spy during the New York Slave Insurrection of 1741. His ability to read Latin was cited as proof of this. Which denomination he actually belonged to is uncertain. The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions him as "a Catholic priest, who had exercised unostentatiously his sacred ministry in New Jersey, and had been engaged for about twelve months in teaching at Burlington, New Jersey." Ury was named by Mary Burton, the prosecution's main witness, as "the real power behind the slave conspiracy", he was taken into custody on 24 June 1741. He was arraigned on 15 and 22 July. Having no lawyer willing to defend him, he defended himself at the trial. Throughout, Ury expressed his innocence. The chief prosecutor was Attorney General Richard Bradley. He was officially found guilty of conspiracy on 29 July 1741 and hanged in New York City on 29 August 1741.


Trial of Bathsheba Spooner, William Brooks, James Buchanan and Ezra Ross for the murder of Joshua Spooner, Massachusetts, 1778

Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner was the first woman to be executed in the United States by Americans rather than the British. The daughter of a prominent Colonial American lawyer, justice and military officer, Bathsheba Ruggles had an arranged marriage to a wealthy farmer, Joshua Spooner, prior to her father's banishment from Massachusetts in 1774, due to his British Loyalist stance. Reportedly growing unhappy in the marriage, she confessed to an "aversion" to her husband. After having an affair with a young soldier from the Continental Army, Ezra Ross, Spooner became pregnant and attempted to involve her reluctant lover and two servants in a plan to murder her husband. Finally she enlisted the assistance of two escaped British soldiers. On the night of March 1, 1778, one of the soldiers beat Joshua Spooner to death in his dooryard, and the body was put in the Spooner well. Bathsheba Spooner and the three men were tried and convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. Subsequent issues arose concerning Spooner's petition for a delay in sentence because of her pregnancy, which was first denied and then supported by some members of a group of "examiners." The four were executed anyway, and a post-mortem examination requested by Spooner revealed that she was, indeed, five months pregnant. Historians have pointed out that the trial and speedy execution may have been hastened by anti-Loyalist sentiment, and also that the person who signed Spooner's death warrant was Joshua Spooner's stepbrother.


Trial of Levi Weeks for the Murder of Gulielma Sands, New York City, 1800

Levi Weeks was the accused in the infamous Manhattan Well Murder trial of 1800. At the time of the murder, Weeks was a young carpenter in New York City. He was the brother of Ezra Weeks, one of New York's more successful builders of the time. Weeks was accused of murdering Gulielma "Elma" Sands, a young woman whom he had been courting. Elma disappeared on the evening of December 22, 1799. Some of her possessions were found two days later near the recently created Manhattan Well in Lispenard Meadows, located in today's SoHo area on Manhattan, near the intersection of Greene and Spring Streets. Her body was recovered from the well on January 2, 1800. Before leaving her boarding house on the 22nd, Elma told her cousin Catherine Sands that she and Levi were to be secretly married that night. The trial, which took place on March 31 and April 1, 1800, was sensational. Through his brother's connections and wealth, Weeks retained three of New York's most prominent attorneys, Henry Brockholst Livingston, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton. Chief Justice John Lansing, Jr. presided on the bench, and future Mayor of New York Cadwallader David Colden was the prosecutor. Although Elma was seen leaving with Weeks and a witness claimed to have seen Weeks making measurements at the well the Sunday before the murder. Weeks was acquitted after only 5 minutes of jury deliberation. The public strongly disagreed with the verdict, and Weeks was ostracized by the citizens of the New York City, forcing him to leave the city.


Trial of Abner Kneeland for blasphemy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1834, Second trial of Abner Kneeland for blasphemy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1834, and Third and fourth trials of Abner Kneeland for blasphemy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1835

Abner Kneeland was an American evangelist and theologian who advocated many views, religious and social, which were considered extremely radical for his day. Due to his very public stance on these issues, Kneeland became the last man jailed in the United States for blasphemy. Under the colonial charter of Massachusetts, blasphemy was still a crime, albeit one punished extremely rarely. However, perhaps because his other views inflamed the judiciary, Kneeland was charged with having violated the law. The final trial was held in 1838, five years after he had published the statements that caused the upset in the first place. Kneeland was convicted and served sixty days in prison. He was described by the judge as "a cantankerous and inflexible heretic."


Trial of John C. Colt for the Murder of Samuel Adams, New York City, 1842

John Caldwell Colt was the brother of Samuel Colt of Colt firearm fame. John was a fur-trader, book keeper, law clerk, and teacher. He briefly served as a Marine, forging a letter to get himself discharged after 3 months. After numerous business ventures he became an authority on double-entry bookkeeping and published a textbook on the subject which went through 45 editions and remained in continuous publication years after his death. In 1842 Colt was charged with the murder of a printer named Samuel Adams, to whom Colt owed money over the publication of a bookkeeping textbook. Colt was accused of killing Adams with a hatchet the previous year in what he claimed was self-defense, but afterwards covered up the crime by disposing of the body. When the body was discovered, Colt was the first suspect. The trial became a sensation in the New York press, because of his family connections, the manner of disposal and his somewhat arrogant demeanor in the courtroom. Colt was found guilty and sentenced to hang in 1842, but committed suicide on the morning of his execution.


Trial of Clement L. Vallandigham for sedition and rebellion, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1863

Clement Vallandigham was an Ohio politician and leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats during the American Civil War. He served two terms in the United States House of Representatives. After General Ambrose Burnside issued General Order Number 38, warning that the "habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy" would not be tolerated in the Military District of Ohio, Vallandigham gave a major speech on May 1, 1863, charging that the war was being fought not to save the Union but to free the slaves by sacrificing the liberty of all Americans to "King Lincoln".


Contents by Volume

Volume 1

-- Trial of Levi Weeks for the murder of Gulielma Sands, New York City, 1800
-- Trial of Samuel Tulley and John Dalton for piracy and murder, Boston, Massachusetts, 1812
-- Trial of Francis Mezzars for libel, New York City, 1817
-- Trial of the Rev. Jacob Gruber for inciting slaves to insurrection and rebellion, Frederick County, Maryland, 1819
-- Trial of George Bowen for the murder of Jonathan Jewett, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1816
-- Trial of John Ury for inciting Negroes to crime and for being a Romish priest, New York City, 1741
-- Trial of Judge Wilkinson, Dr. Wilkinson and John Murdaugh for the murder of John Rothwell and Alexander H. Meeks, Kentucky, 1839
-- Trial of Francis Wittenburgh for procurement, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Alexander W. Holmes for the manslaughter of Francis Askin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1842
-- Trial of Simeon L. Crockett for arson, Boston, Massachusetts, 1835
-- Trial of John C. Colt for the murder of Samuel Adams, New York City, 1842
-- Trials of Bridget Bishop and George Burroughs for witchcraft, Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
-- Trial of Commander Alexander S. Mackenzie for murder, before a Naval Court of Inquiry, Brooklyn, New York, 1842
-- Trial of Oscar T. Caldwell for embezzlement, Chicago, Illinois, 1855
-- Trial of Mordecai M. Noah for breaking open and publishing a letter, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Alden Spooner for libel, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Mordecai M. Noah and Alden Spooner for contempt, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Clement L. Vallandigham for sedition and rebellion, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1863
-- Trial of Moses Simons for assault and battery, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Joel Clough for the murder of Mary W. Hamilton, New Jersey, 1833
-- Trial of Christian Smith for the murder of Bornt Lake, New York, 1817
-- Action of John M. Trumbull against Thomas Gibbons for libel, New York City, 1818
-- Trials of the Quakers, William Robinson, Marmaduke Stephenson, Dyer and others, Massachusetts, 1659
-- Trial of Paterick Blake for the murder of his wife, New York City, 1816


Volume 2

-- Trial of Robert Stakes for cruelty to animals, New York City, 1822
-- Trial of Thomas Wilson Dorr for treason, Rhode Island, 1844
-- Trial of John Degey for disturbing divine worship, New York City, 1823
-- Trial of Bathsheba Spooner, William Brooks, James Buchanan and Ezra Ross for the murder of Joshua Spooner, Massachusetts, 1778
-- Trial of Teunis Van Pelt for bigamy, New York City, 1816
-- Trial of Nathaniel Childs, Jr., for embezzlement, St. Louis, Missouri
-- Trial of John Johnson for the murder of James Murray, New York City, 1824
-- Action of George Spence and wife against Barney Duffy for false imprisonment, New York City, 1816
-- Trial of Thomas O. Selfridge for the killing of Charles Auston, Boston, Massachusetts, 1806
-- Trial of John Morris for assault and battery, New York City, 1816
-- Trial of Dr. John W. Hughes for the murder of Tamzen Parsons, Cleveland, Ohio, 1865
-- Trial of Alfred S. Pell for assault and battery, New York City, 1816
-- Trial of David F. Mayberry for the murder of Andrew Alger, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1855
-- Trial of Diana Sellick for the murder of Hetty Johnson, New York City, 1816
-- Trial of Charles Gill for opening another person's letter, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Thaddeus P. French for larceny, Boston, Massachusetts, 1827
-- Trial of Alexander Arbuthnot for inciting Indians to war, Florida, 1818
-- Trial of Robert C. Ambrister for inciting Indians to war, Florida, 1818
-- Action of Patrick Duffey against George E. Matthewson and others for assault and battery, New York City, 1816
-- Trial of Elizabeth Southard for the murder of William P. Walker, Richmond, Virginia, 1851
-- Trial of John Dayton and Thomas Dyer for larceny, New York City, 1817


Volume 3.

-- Trial of Susan B. Anthony for voting at a Congressional Election, New York, 1873
-- Trial of Beverly W. Jones, Edwin P. Marsh and William B. Hall for permitting women to vote, New York, 1873
-- Trial of Matthews F. Ward for the murder of William H.G. Butler, Kentucky, 1854
-- Trial of Archibald McArdle for assault and battery, New York City, 1822
-- Trial of John Hanlon for the murder of Mary Mohrman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1870
-- Trial of William Boott for delivering a challenge to a duel, Boston, Massachusetts, 1834
-- Trial of Robert C. Hooper for sending a challenge to a duel, Boston, Massachusetts, 1834
-- Trial of Harris Seymour, Moses Roberts, Holloway Hayward, Henry Howard and James Ganson for the abduction of William Morgan, New York, 1827
-- Trial of William Dandridge Epes for the murder of Francis Adolphus Muir, Petersburg, Virginia, 1848
-- Trial of Berthina Tucker for grand larceny, New York City, 1820
-- Trial of Richard Lawrence for shooting at President Andrew Jackson, Washington, 1835
-- Trial of Cyrus B. Dean for the murder of Jonathan Ormsby and Asa March, Burlington, Vermont, 1808
-- Trial of Jared W. Bell for blasphemy, New York City, 1821
-- Trial of Noah Cherry, Robert Thompson and Harris Atkinson for the murder of Appie Jane Worley, Goldsboro, North Carolina, 1873
-- Action of James Maurice against Samuel Judd for a penalty, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Ebenezer Clough for embracery, Boston, Massachusetts, 1833
-- Trial of Dr. Valorus P. Coolidge for the murder of Edward Mathews, Maine, 1848
-- Trial of Raymer C. Wertendyke and James Pike for false imprisonment and of Robert R. Browne fo assault and battery, New York City, 1822
-- Trial of Colonel David Henley for improper conduct as an officer of the American Army, Massachusetts, 1778
-- Trial of Jonathan Walker for aiding slaves to escape, Florida, 1844
-- Trial of Antonio Ancarola for kidnapping, New York City, 1879


Volume 4.

-- Trial of Francis Burke for the manslaughter of Benjamin M. Hazlip, Baltimore, Maryland, 1832
-- Trial of Charles Sprague for robbery, Brooklyn, New York, 1849
-- Trial of Professor John W. Webster for the murder of Dr. George Parkman, Boston, Massachusetts, 1850
-- Trial of Thomas Hoag for bigamy, New York City, 1804
-- Trial of Henry B. Allison, and others, for larceny, Richmond, Virginia, 1851
-- Trial of Thomas Lafon, Jr., for the killing of Joseph Hebring, Newark, New Jersey, 1869
-- Trial of James W. Lent for assault and battery, New York City, 1819
-- Action of John Trevett against John Wheeden for refusing paper money, Rhode Island, 1786
-- Proceedings of the General Assembly of Rhode Island against the judges of the Supreme Court for their judgment in the case of Trevett against Wheeden, Newport, Rhode Island, 1786
-- Case of breach of neutrality by citizens of the United States, Richmond, Virginia, 1793
-- Trial of Gideon Henfield for enlisting in a French privateer, Philadelphia, 1793
-- Trial of John Etienne Guinet for fitting out and arming a warship for a belligerent, Philadelphia, 1795
-- Trial of James Williamson for assault and battery, New York City, 1819
-- Trials of Major Stede Bonnet and thirty-three others for piracy, Charleston, South Carolina, 1718
-- Trial of Tucker, Robinson, Paterson, Scot and Bayley for piracy, Charleston, South Caroline, 1718
-- Trial of Smith, Carman, Thomas, Morrison, Livers, Booth, Hewet and Levit for piracy, Charleston, South Carolina, 1718
-- Trial of Eddy, Annand, Ross, Dunkin, Nichols, RIdge, King, Perry and Virgin for piracy, Charleston, South Caroline, 1718
-- Trial of Robbins, Mullet, Price, Lopez and Long for piracy, Charleston, South Carolina, 1718
-- Trial of Robinson, Tucker, Scot, Bayley, Paterson, Smith, Carman and Thomas for piracy, South Carolina, 1718
-- Trial of Morrison, Livers, Booth, Hewet, Levit, Eddy, Annand, Ross, Dunkin and Nichols for piracy, South Carolina, 1718
-- Trial of Brierly, Boyd, Sharp, Clarke, and Gerrard for piracy, South Carolina, 1718
-- Trial of Major Stede Bonnet for piracy, South Carolina, 1718
-- Trial of John and Sarah Robinson for kidnapping, Boston, Massachusetts, 1837
-- Trial of John R. Kelly for the murder of David W. Oxford, Dawson, Georgia, 1871
-- Trial of Thomas Ward for the killing of Albert Robinson, New York City, 1823


Volume 5

-- Trial of William Arrison for the murder of Isaac Allison, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1854
-- Trial of Thomas Maule for slander and blasphemy, Salem, Massachusetts, 1696
-- Trial of Emma Augusta Cunningham for the murder of Dr. Harvey Burdell, New York City, 1857
-- Trial of Charles H. Grasty, Thomas K. Worthington and John M. Carter, Jr., for libel, Baltimore, Maryland, 1893
-- Trial of Captain John Quelch and others, for piracy, Boston Massachusetts, 1704
-- Trial of John Lambert and Charles James for piracy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1704
-- Trial of Christopher Scudamore and the rest of Captain Quelch's crew, for piracy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1704
-- Trial of Lawrence Pienovi for assault and battery, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Ann K. Simpson for the murder of Alexander C. Simpson, Fayetteville, North Carolina, 1850
-- Trial of Winthop S. Gilman and others for riot, Alton, Illinois, 1838
-- Trial of John Solomon and others for riot, Alton Illinois, 1838
-- Trial of Anthony Burns for escaping from slavery, Boston, Massachusetts, 1854
-- Trial of Charlotte Greenwault and Sarah Moody as common scolds, New York City, 1819
-- Trial of Richard Smith for the murder of John Carson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1816
-- Trial of Abraham Bogart for misdemeanor in office, New York City, 1856
-- Trial of Abraham Prescott for the murder of Mrs. Sally Cochran, Concord, New Hampshire, 1834
-- Trial of Eli H. Hall for robbery, Geneseo, New York, 1865
-- Trial of Gerald Eaton for the murder of TImothy Heenan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1868
-- Trial of Joseph Pulford for kidnapping, New York City, 1819


Volume 6

-- Trial of George S. Twitchell for the murder of Mary E. Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1868
-- Trial of John Wood for sending a challenge to a duel, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Stephen and Jesse Boorn for the murder of Russel Colvin, Bennington, Vermont, 1819
-- Trial of William Farquhar and John H. Clark for assault and battery, New York City, 1816
-- Trial of Lucretia Chapman for the murder of William Chapman, Andalusia, Pennsyvania, 1832
-- Trial of Carolino de Mina for the muirder of William Chapman, Andalusia, Pennsylvania, 1832
-- Trial of Major General Benedict Arnold for certain misdemeanors, Raritan, New Jersey, 1779
-- Trial of Major John André for being a spy, Tappan, New York, 1789
-- Trial of Joshua H. Smith for assisting the enemy, Tappan, New York, 1780
-- Trial of Reverend George W. Carawan for the murder of Clement H. Lassiter, Washington, North Carolina, 1853
-- Trial of Stephen Merrill Clark for arson, Salem, Massachusetts, 1821
-- Trial of Stephen Russell for arson, Boston, Massachusetts, 1835
-- Trial of William Cobbett for libel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1797
-- Trial of Matthew Lyon for a seditious libel, Vergennes, Vermont, 1798
-- Trial of Anthony Haswell for a seditious libel, Windson, Vermont, 1800
-- Trial of John Brown for treason and insurrection, Charlestown, Virginia, 1859
-- Trial of Edwin Coppoc for treason, insurrection and murder, Charlestown, Virginia, 1859
-- Trial of John Anthony Copeland and Shields Green for insurrection and murder, Charlestown, Virginia, 1859
-- Trial of John E. Cook for treason, insurrection and murder, Charlestown, Virginia, 1859
-- Trial of David D. How for the murder of Othello Church, Angelica, New York, 1824


Volume 7

-- Trial of Israel Thayer, Jr., Isaac Thayer, and Nelson Thayer for the murder of John Love, Buffalo, New York, 1825
-- Trial of Mrs. Margaret Douglas for teaching colored children to read, Norfolk, Virginia, 1853
-- Trial of Alexander McLeod for the burning of the steamboat Caroline and the murder of Amos Durfee, Utica, New York, 1841
-- Trial of Stephen M. Ballew for the murder of James P. Golden, McKinney, Texas, 1871
-- Trial of John Stuyvesant for false pretenses, New York City, 1879
-- Trial of John Francis Knapp for the murder of Joseph White, Salem, massachusetts, 1830
-- Trial of Joseph Jenkins Knapp, Jr., as an accessory in the murder of Joseph White, Salem, Massachusetts, 1830
-- Trial of Richard Crowninshield, Jr., as an accessory in the murder of Joseph White, Salem, Massachusetts, 1930
-- Trial of John Ball for setting fire to his own house, New York City, 1817
-- Trial of William Duane, James Reynolds, Robert Moore and Samuel Cuming for riot, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1799
-- Trial of John Langley for larceny and embezzlement, New York City, 1819
-- Trial of John Joyce nad Peter Mathias for the murder of Sarah Cross, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1808
-- Trial of Ephraim Gilman for the murder of Harriet B. Swan, Paris, Maine, 1862
-- Trial of John Scott, Jewitt Prime, Samuel Wynant, Oliver Bancroft, Jacob Miles and Patrick Hildreth for riot and assault, New York City, 1817
-- Trial of Jonathan Robbins for extradition under a treaty with Great Britain, Charleston, South Carolina, 1799
-- Trial of the action of William Wilmar against B.W. Williams for libel, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1845
-- Trial of William Landon for breach of the prohibition law of the state, Albany, New York, 1865


Volume 8

-- Trial of Josiah Burnham for the murder of Captain Joseph Starkweather, Plymouth, New Hampshire, 1806
-- Trial of the conspirators to assassinate President Lincoln, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of David E. Herold for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of George A. Atzerodt for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Lewis Payne for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Michael O'Laughlin for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Samuel Arnold for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Edward Spangler for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of the conspirators to assassinate President Lincoln: the argument of Judge Advocate Bingham for the government, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of the conspirators to assassinate President Lincoln: the verdict, the sentences and the executions, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Captain Henry Wirz for conspiracy and murder, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Leonard Simons and Eber Wheaton for libel, New York City, 1823


Volume 9

-- Trial of John H. Surratt for conspiracy and murder, Washington, District of Columbia, 1867
-- Trial of Emil A. Meysenburg for bribery, St. Louis, Missouri, 1902
-- Trial of Julius Lehman for perjury, St. Louis, Missouri, 1902
-- Trial of Robert M. Snyder for bribery, St. Louis, Missouri, 1902
-- Trial of Edward Butler for bribery, Columbia, Missouri, November 1902
-- Trials of members of the Ku Klux Klan organization for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina, 1871
-- Trial of Sherod Childers, Evans Murphy, William Montgomery, and Hezekiah Porter for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina, 1871
-- Trial of Robert Hayes Mitchell for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina, 1871
-- Trial of John W. Mitchell and Thomas B. Whitesides for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina, 1871
-- Trial of John S. Millar for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina, 1871
-- Trial of Edward T. Avery for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina, 1871
-- Trial of Sylvanus, William, Hugh H. and James B. Shearer, for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina, 1871
-- Trial of Henry C. Warlick and others for conspiracy, Columbia, South Carolina, 1872
-- Trial of F.W. McMaster for contempt of court, Columbia, South Carolina, 1872
-- Case of John Merryman on habeas corpus, Baltimore, Maryland, 1861


Volume 10

-- Trial of Edward D. Worrell for the murder of Basil H. Gordon, Union, Missouri, 1857
-- Trial of John Hodges for treason, Baltimore, Maryland, 1815
-- Trial of Leo M. Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan, Atlanta, Georgia, 1913
-- Trial of William Weems and seven other British soldiers for the murder of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell and Partick Carr, Boston, Massachusetts, 1770
-- Trial of Captain Thomas Preston for the murder of Crispus Attucks and others, Boston, Massachusetts, 1770
-- Trial of Edward Manwaring, John Munro, Hammond Green and Thomas Greenwood for murder, Boston, Massachusetts, 1770
-- Trial of Jacob Leisler for high treason, New York, 1691
-- Trial of Nicholas Bayard for high treason, New York City, 1702
-- Trial of Orrin de Wolf for the murder of William Stiles, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1845
-- Trial of Alexander Whistelo for bastardy, New York City, 1808
-- Trial of Robert McConaghy for the murder of Rosanna Brown and her five children: John, Elizabeth, George, Jacob and David, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, 1840
-- Trial of W.J. Cook for blackmail, Atlanta, Georgia, 1918
-- Trial of Mrs. Herman H. Hirsch for blackmail, Atlanta, Georgia,
-- Trial of Pedro Gibert, Bernardo de Soto, Francisco Ruiz, Nicola Costa, Antonio Ferrer, Manuel Boyga, Domingo de Guzman, Juan Antonio Portana, Manuel Castillo, Angel Garcia, Jose Velazquez and Juan Montenegro for piracy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1834
-- Trial of Thomas Cooper for seditious libel, Phildelphia, Pennsylvania, 1800
-- Trial of James Thomas Callender for seditious libel, Richmond, Virginia, 1800


Volume 11

-- Trial of John Fries for treason, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1799
-- Second trial of John Fries for treason, Phildephia, Pennsylvania, 1800
-- Trial of Conrad Marks for treason, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1800
-- Trial of Henry Shiffert, Christian Ruth, Henry Stahler, Daniel Schwartz, Sr., Daniel Schwartz, Jr., and George Schaeffer, for conspiracy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1800
-- Trial of Jacob Eyerman for breaking prison and conspiracy, Norristown, Pennsylvania, 1799
-- Trial of Judge Samuel Chase for "High crimes and misdemeanors", Washington, D.C., 1805
-- Trial of James Philips for larceny, New York City, 1819
-- Trial of Mark and Phillis (Negro slaves), for petit treason in the murder of Captain John Codman, their master, Cambridge,Massachusetts, 1755
-- Trial of Henrietta Robinson for the murder of Timothy Langdon, Troy, New York, 1854
-- Trial of the Western Insurgents for treason, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1795
-- Trial of John Mitchell for treason, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1795
-- Trial of William Vigol for treason, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1795
-- Trial of Charles Hazeltine for exhibiting in public an antique statute, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1873
-- Trial of Frank James for train robbery and murder, Gallatin, Missouri, 1883
-- Trial of Isaac Roget for conspiracy to defraud, New York City, 1817
-- Trial of Samuel Thompson for the murder of Ezra Lovett, Jr., Salem, Massachusetts, 1809


Volume 12

-- Trial of the Chicago Anarchists, August Spies, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, Albert R. Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, and Oscar Neebe, for conspiracy and murder, Chicago. Illinois, 1886
-- Trial of john Weeks for larceny, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Theodore Lyman for a libel on Daniel Webster, Boston, Massachusetts, 1828
-- Trial of Richard P. Robinson for the murder of Helen Jewett, New York City, 1836
-- Trial of Ezekiel de Coster, Andrew Horton, Hosea Sargent, and others for riot, Boston, Massachusetts, 1825
-- Trial of Daniel E. Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key, Washington, D.C., 1859
-- Trial of John Hart for obstructing the United States mail, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1817
-- Trial of James Gallaher and James McElroy for passing counterfeit money, New York City, 1820
-- Trial of Robert Worrall for attempting to bribe a public officer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1798
-- Trial of Isaac Williams for accepting a commission on an armed vessel in time of war, Hartford, Connecticut, 1799
-- Trial of Daniel K. Allen for false pretenses, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Frederick Eberle and others for conspiracy fo prevent the use of the English language, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1816
-- Trial of John Fontana for disloyalty, Bismarck, North Dakota, 1918


Volume. 13

-- Trial of Kate O'Hare for disloyalty, Birmarck, North Dakota, 1917
-- Trial of William Worcester for driving horses on a trot, Boston, Massachusetts, 1824
-- Trial of Benjamin F. Hunter for the murder of John M. Armstrong, Camden, New Jersey, 1878
-- Trial of John Moore and others for assault and battery, New York City, 1824
-- Trial of Hugh M'Evoy and others for assault and battery, New York City, 1824
-- Trial of the action of Dred Scott, a slave, against Irene Emerson for false imprisonment and assault, St. Louis, Missouri, 1847
-- Second trial of the action of Dred Scott, a slave, against Irene Emerson for false imprisonment and assault, St. Louis, Missouri, 1850
-- Trial of the action of Dred Scott, a slave, against John F.A. Sanford, for false imprisonment and assault, St. Louis, Missouri, 1854
-- Trial of Dr. Thomas Thatcher Graves for the murder of Josephine A. Barnaby, Denver, Colorado, 1891
-- Trial of Abner Kneeland for blasphemy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1834
-- Second trial of Abner Kneeland for blasphemy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1834
-- Third and fourth trials of Abner Kneeland for blasphemy, Boston, Massachusetts, 1835
-- Trial of James Melvin and others, for conspiracy to raise wages, New York City, 1810
-- Trial of Hugh M. Brooks alias Maxwell for the murder of Charles A. Preller, St. Louis, Missouri, 1886
-- Trial of Franz von Ritter on habeas corpus for false imprisonment, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1816
-- Trial of Rose Pastor Stokes for disloyalty, Kansas City, Missouri, 1918


Volume 14

-- Trial of Charles J. Guiteau for the murder of President Garfield, Washington, D.C., 1881
-- Trial of Leon F. Czolgosz for the murder of President McKinley, Buffalo, N.Y., 1901
-- Trial of Thomas Bird and Hans Hansen for piracy and murder, Portland, Maine, 1790
-- Trial of Levi and Laban Kenniston for robbery, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1817
-- Trial of William Lloyd Garrison for libel, Baltimore, Maryland, 1830
-- Trial of Ruggles Hubbard and James L. Bell, sheriff and jailor, for preventing an attorney from entering the jail to see a client, New York City, 1815
-- Trial of Grace A. Lusk for the murder of Mrs. Newman Roberts, Waukesha, WIsconsin, 1918
-- Trial of James Dalton for false pretense, New York City, 1823
-- Trial of Joseph T. Buckingham for libel, Boston, Massachusetts, 1824
-- Second trial of Joseph T. Buckingham for libel, Boston, Massachusetts, 1824
-- Trial of Isaac Cotteral and Peter Crannel for arson, Troy, N.Y. [1820]
-- Trial of John Ward for the murder of Mrs. Ephriam Griswold, Burlington, Vermont, 1866
-- Trial of Joseph Neet and others for Sabbath breaking, Lexington, Missouri, 1899
-- Trial of Henry B. Hagerman for assault with intent to murder, New York City, 1818
-- Trial of Albert H. Hicks for piracy, New York City, 1860
-- Trial of Benjamin Shaw, John Alley, Jr., Jonothan Buffum and Preserved Sprague for disturbance of public worship and riot, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1822
-- Trial of John Y. Beall for violation of the rules of war and acting as a spy, New York City, 1865


Volume 15

-- Trial of various criminals by the First Vigilance Committee, San Francisco, California, 1851
-- Trial of Charles Cora for the murder of William H. Richardson, San Francisco, California, 1856
-- Trial of various criminals by the Second Vigilance Committee, San Francisco, California, 1856
-- Trial of James P. Casey for the murder of James King of William, and the trial of Charles Cora for the murder of William H. Richardson by the Second Vigilance Committee, San Francisco, California, 1856
-- Trial of Judge David S. Terry for an attempt to murder and for other crimes, San Francisco, California, 1856
-- Trial of Edward McGowan for the murder of James King of William, Napa City, California, 1857
-- Trial of Laura D. Fair for the murder of Alexander P. Crittenden, San Francisco, California, 1871
-- Trials of the actions between Sarah Althea Hill and Senator William Sharon and the proceedings against David S. Terry and his wife, 1883-1888. First trial: for fraud and perjury; Second trial: for divorce and alimony; Third trial: for fraud and forgery; Fourth trial: for Contempt of court
-- Trial on habeas corpus of David Neagle for the murder of Judge David S. Terry, San Francisco, California, 1889
-- Trial of William Henry Theodore Durrant for the murder of Blanche Lamont, San Francisco, California, 1895


Volume 16

-- Trial of John Peter Zenger for libel, New York City, 1735
-- Trial of Harry Crosswell for libel, Hudson, New York, 1803
-- Trial of William P. Darnes for the killing of Andrew J. Davis, St. Louis, Missouri, 1840
-- Trial of William Freeman for the murder of John Van Nest, Auburn, New York, 1846
-- Trail of Edward Ol Coburn and Benjamin F. Dalton for the manslaughter of William Sumner, Boston, Massachusetts, 1856
-- Trial of Benjamin F. Dalton against Helen M. Dalton for divorce, Boston, Massachusetts, 1857
-- Trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy, Morristown, New Jersey, 1887


Volume 17

-- Trial of Harry E. Wootton for kidnapping, Tombstone, Arizona, 1920
-- Trial of Wiliam H. Westervelt for the abduction of Charley Ross, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1875
-- Trial of Mary Harris for the murder of Adoniram J. Burroughs, Washington, D.C., 1865
-- Trial of Nathaniel Jennison for assault and false imprisonment, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1783
-- Trial of Thomas J. Cluverius for the murder of Fannie Lillian Madison, Richmond, Vitigina, 1885
-- Trial of Martha Bradstreet for libel, New York City, 1817
-- Trial of Hannah Kinney for the murder of George T. Kinney, Boston, Massachusetts, 1840
-- Trial of Lieutenant James Renshaw for oppressive and unbecoming conduct, New York, 1808
-- Trial of Lieutenant James Renshaw for sending a challenge to a duel, New York City, 1809
-- Trial of Henry G. Green for the murder of his wife, Troy, New York, 1845