Friday, March 21, 2008

Murder on the Delaware River

I'm not slacking...I am printing many pages of newspaper articles covering the murder trial of James Pierce Jr. and his brother Amos. There is so much more to it than I originally thought. After reading it over, and seeing new information (as the press reported)I have come to a conclusion that Amos is totally innocent. James...well...I'm still swaying back and forth on that one. It was either an accident that George Eyre was killed and he panicked OR someone else did it. If you pressed me for a verdict right this minute I'd say James was innocent too. Yes, he was having an adulterous affair but I don't think he's a murderer. Cousin Char was so right - you can read and mentally convict them, then turn around and think they were framed.

James was fooling around with a crazy woman...that much is clear in the articles. But I think her testimony was vengeful and that she was just a bad person. Mary Cowan was less than credible. Everything fell apart when she turned up to testify against him. Hell, she couldn't keep herself out of jail (arrested and held for disorderly conduct) while she was in Chester waiting for further testimony. She'd helped other parties have James and Amos' mother arrested for slander only 6 months prior to the Pierce brothers arrest.

The next set of goals is to shape up the information on James and Edna's children. The 1910 census reports Edna had 8 children. The seven we know about are Laura, Mary, George, James, Amos, Annie and Frank. To take a break from James and Amos I think I'll start with one of the girls. More later......

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