A Rainy Day Read

                 

It's raining here today.

With all that has happened in and around

where I live (as seen in my previous post),
I have declared it 'A Rainy Day Read' day.
 

The crock pot is on.

 

MAC & CHEESE

 

 

Nearby are my

reading

"necessities"

glasses, white peppermints,

light and coffee.

 

And of course, my book

 

 

"In New Brunswick's Hopewell Cape courthouse

a sensational turn-of-the-century trial

put a young, handsome Tom Collins

in the prisoner's dock.

Collins was charged with the grisly murder of

Mary Ann McAuley,

housekeeper to the New Ireland Parish Priest.

Newspaper reporters carefully chronicled

every detail revealed in court of how

the victim met her death.

 

Author Kenneth Saunders focuses on this story

to present a vivid picture of rural society

in the early 1900s. 

Looking at the events of the murder

and the trial through the eyes

of farmers, tradesmen, clergy,

town officials, police

and the notorious hangman John Radclive,

Saunders makes their voices sound

so real, so genuine that they seem to be with us still.

 

The rectory murder case was a real mystery.

Some contemporary New Brunswickers

were convinced that the accused,

Tom Collins, was innocent.

They believed his innocence right up to the end,

and Collins went to the gallows

without confessing his crime.

 

Kenneth Saunders is a freelance

writer living in Riverview, NB.

Raised in Albert County where

the McAuley murder took place,

he is intimately familiar with

the local folklore that surrounds the

case to this day."

 

 

 

"The RECTORY Murder

The mystery crime that shocked

Turn of the Century New Brunswick"

 

Thank you neighbor Liz for telling me of it.

Thank you to Donald of the 'Albert County Museum'

for providing me the opportunity

to purchase my own copy of the soft cover.

Exclusively reprinted

for you.

And to Eleanor who was the 'drop off' and 'pick up' contact.