Matthew Parron Honors English Ms.

Johnsmeyer A Murder in Salem Response

In the article called A Murder in Salem, written by E.J Wagner, a well respected crime historian and author of The Science of Sherlock Holmes, the author talks about the murder of Captain White, a retiree living in Salem. Salem, as a 1830 editorial in the Rhode Island American, put it, was foreverstained with blood, blood, blood because of it being the setting for both the Salem Witch trials where many innocent men and women we killed and the Murder of 82 year old Captain White. E.J also talks about the influence of this case upon society and how it was the base for stories from famous authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. E.J Wagner described the chapter on Captain Whites killing, which he found in a coverless anthology of famous crimes compiled by San Francisco police captain Thomas Duke, as something evocative of the golden age mystery tales of the 19th century. E.J Wagners comment shows us that the 19th century was plagued by these mystery tales and many of which are based off of, Captain Whites Murder. Not just the American literature was evocative of the golden age of mystery tales in the 19th century; Europe also entered into the realm of mysteries as literature. The hanging of the Knapp brothers was the result of Daniel Websters sentencing that they should be hanged. It was in this trial that Websters famous speech occurred. The famous segment of Websters speech in the article was a dramatic re-creating of the crime. He talks about how there was an old man sleeping and goes on to say how the murder got in and the moments preceding the murder. It was this famous speech that many literary critics believe to be the inspiration for Poes Tell-Tale Heart and also the topic of many works of literatures in the 19th century. This assumption and belief can be supported by Sir Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Homes series of book which was first published in 1887. The public was very much intrigued by mysteries and therefore it became a widely used topic by authors to make their books popular and sell more.

This case represents and is evocative of the era of the mystery. Pe, one of the true first American authir's, was likely inspired of this case or have read about it, before the publishing of Tell-tale Heart, even though, nobody knows for sure. Poe incremented in the aspect of science and of detective work, both of whirled up to classics.in literature such as Sherlock Holmes. Poe introducing of the element of detectives and forensic science in his literary work can be seen in the Captain White case, where the idea if criminal forensics and specifically footprints as some type of ID of the murderer rose up. Also the idea of autopsy after the body has been buried started to manifest itself in future mystery stories. Poe introduces the extra aspect that made the mystery story more intriguing. This is evocative of the Captain White case where they began to take the actual investigation of the murderer more seriously. The appointing a 27-man Committee of Vigilance had the purpose of finding who the murderer was and was an example of the aspect of detective work into mysteries, which can be seen later in the Sherlock Holmes series and in Edgar Allen Poes Tell-Tale Murder. Ultimately, E. J. tries to display to the reader the idea of mysteries and murders being a tremendous force in literature as can be seen with Hawthorne and Poe. His main point though is to explain the Murder in Salem and how it affected and influence history, society, and most importantly, it showed how history, most importantly Captain Whites Murder is evocative of the golden age mystery tales of the 19th century.