In giving to the public an abridgement of the life of this atrocious woman, we hope that our readers, either moral or immoral, will not be in need of such a lesson or example as that already detailed, but it may be truly looked upon as the most astonishing circumstance of the age in the midst of civilization and morality. We deem it unnecessary to give an account of the trial, as no doubt a greater portion of our readers throughout the United States have already seen it in the columns of the weekly journals. As regards the truth or authenticity of the facts contained in the foregoing pages, we presume it will not be doubted by any. The publishers deem it not unimportant, and perhaps interesting to our readers, to state that in consequence of the strong and prevailing propensities ever manifested by her to commit crimes of the most heinous as well as unprovoked nature, was considered by a celebrated and highly respectable phrenologist, as worthy of examination, and her skull was obtained for that purpose a few days since at Georgetown, Del., and which will probably remain in the possession of that gentleman, Mr. O. S. Fowler, of Philadelphia, and the publisher in delineating and presenting to the public view, the atrocious crimes of this vile and wicked woman, is in a very great degree prompted by a desire to preserve the honest fame of those who enjoy a moral reputation, and to secure peace of mind to those who are not as yet conscious of offence; as it is well known that an artful mind, actuated by illusion, if not checked, may pass on to acts of violence, and, in some instances to cold-blooded murder, as it appears that even the tenderness of the female sex, of which the foregoing pages furnish an example, is converted into the barbarity of a traitor; that she who should make her arm a pillow for the head of her husband, conspired to raise it against his life; that the bosom which should be filled with fidelity and affection, in addition to other crimes, planned his destruction.—Hence, it is hoped that in sending this narrative abroad, that it may be the instrument of rescuing some misguided youth from similar offences. There are many in the moral retiracy of a village life, who when young hear much of the enterprise of a city life, and resolve on trying it, unconscious of the depravity and vice which is set to entrap them in a net, as they advance without caution on their journey of life. A road which every youth should walk with the greatest care, by keeping still in view one general rule to avoid intemperance and bad company, which are always linked together; if the unfortunate subjects of this narrative had done so in early life, they would have avoided their unhappy lives and untimely end.
TO THE PUBLIC.
The reader may depend on the truth of the fact in the foregoing pages; but, in consequence of their singularity, the author was induced to search minutely into her parentage, and has spared no exertion to obtain his information from the most authentic and respectable sources. After perusing it, he will pause and reflect, “Poor human nature! how weak and corrupt thou art, if not checked in the morning of thy existence.” The father of this wicked woman was the victim of disobedience to kind but arbitrary parents, and this narrative is a solemn warning against intolerance, which together with the vice of intemperance, has sent more victims to the dungeon, the scaffold, and an untimely grave, than any other calamity that has ever afflicted our race. If there be any who think this narrative should not be published, or that the innocent should not read it, lest it should corrupt their feelings, I would entreat them first to read it, and then to enquire what portion of the community crowds our jails and State prisons, and where the inmates of the abodes of vice and infamy are generally born and educated, whether in the city or in the retiracy of the moral village? They will find three-fourths of them, at least, are from the latter. The reason of this is, because they know not the wickedness of the world, and its allurements, until they were on the journey of life, piloting their craft—many of them, alas! never to reach a harbor.
EXECUTION OF
ENOS G. DUDLEY,
AT HAVERHILL, N. H.,
MAY 23d, 1849
A large number of people from the surrounding country came here early this morning, all anxious to witness the execution of Enos G. Dudley, convicted at a recent term of the Court of Common Pleas of Grafton County, N. H., of the murder of his wife. The town throughout the day was the theatre of intense excitement.
The evidence on which Dudley was convicted was entirely circumstantial, and, in the opinion of many, inconclusive. Strong expectations had been entertained since the period of conviction that he would be reprieved by Gov. Williams, and that hope was indulged in by the friends of the wretched prisoner up to the last moment.
They were, however, doomed to a terrible disappointment. The Executive, however much his personal predilections might have been disposed towards clemency, believed it their duty to let the law take its course, although the sacrifice of the life of the victim was its termination.
As the hour assigned for the execution approached, the anxiety manifested by the prisoner’s friends was painfully intense. They had clung to hope, even hoping against hope—for the spectacle of the execution of a fellow being among them, was a thing so unusual, that it could scarcely be realized, especially when that fellow being was one with whom they had enjoyed many years of intimacy.—The fatal hour at length arrived. At half-past one o’clock on the 23d of May, 1849, the prisoner was informed that but a few more moments were allowed him to live. He then appeared to be resigned to inexorable fate, and, having made final preparation of religion, in a few minutes after the above hour, he, with a firm tread, approached the gallows erected in the jail yard.