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Category Archives: Criminals

Early American Criminals: The Harvard-Educated Burglars

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

James Ward and Joseph Welde were positioned for success. Both were sons of prominent Puritan church men who were respected members of Massachusetts society, and both were enrolled at Harvard College, which would help them follow in their fathers’ footsteps and become leaders in their community. One night in March 1644, Ward and Welde burglarized […]

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Early American Criminals: Is Robin Hood More American than British?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tom Cook was a notorious New England thief who happens to have been born in my hometown of Westborough, MA. He called himself “The Leveller” and cultivated a reputation for stealing from the rich and readily sharing his ill-gotten gains with the poor. Stories of his exploits have been handed down for generations. Alice Morse […]

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Early American Criminals: Bathsheba Spooner, Accessory to the Murder of Joshua Spooner; and James Buchanan, William Brooks, and Ezra Ross for Said Murder

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

As part of the 150th anniversary of the Massachusetts Superior Court, the trial of Bathsheba Spooner will be reenacted on June 4, 2009 at the Worcester Trial Court on 225 Main St. in Worcester, MA. The original trial took place at Worcester’s Old South meetinghouse on April 24, 1778 and lasted all day. It was […]

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