Address of His Excellency Alexander H Bullock to the Honorable.

Presented by the Author, Then the Governor of Massachusetts, To a Prominent Judge and Legal Scholar [Trial]. Bullock, Alexander H. [1816-1882]. Green, Edward W. [d.1866], Defendant. Address of His Excellency Alexander H. Bullock to the Honorable Council on the Occasion of Presenting the Case of Edward W. Green, A Convict Under the Sentence of Death for the Crime of Murder in the First Degree. February 27, 1866. Boston: Wright & Potter, State Printers, 1865 [i.e. 1866]. 29 pp. Octavo (9-1/4" x 5-3/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet in printed wrappers, recent repair to lower corner of rear wrapper. Light soiling and a few minor spots, light wear to spine ends, faint vertical crease through center, presentation inscription, "J.C. Perkins/ from Gov. Bullock," to head of front wrapper, light toning to interior, a few spots to title page. $750. * Only edition. According to McDade, Green, the postmaster of Malden, Massachusetts, was the first person to rob an American bank at gunpoint. He was "a 'secretly drinking man' and had been short on his post office accounts. On December 15, 1863, finding the bank manned solely by the seventeen-year-old son of the president, he went back for his gun. Entering the bank, he shot the youth twice through the head and carried off $5,000. in bills. The crime was very quickly traced to him; his confession disclosed where he had hidden the money, and he was condemned to die" (McDade, annotation to 381). Bullock was the governor of Massachusetts. His Address discusses his reasons for signing Green's death warrant. The recipient of this copy was likely Jonathan C. Perkins [1809-1877], a judge and prolific legal scholar. Perkins and Bullock served together in the Massachusetts legislature and on the board of Amherst College. OCLC locates 5 copies in North American law libraries (Harvard, Library of Congress, Ohio State University, Worcester Trial Court Library, Yale). McDade, The Annals of Murder 382.…