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Appeals of murder were abolished after this case. "Diabolically Ravished, Murdered, And Thrown Into a Pit" [Trial]. Thornton, Abraham [c.1793-1860], Defendant. Horrible Rape and Murder!! The Affecting Case of Mary Ashford, A Beautiful Young Virgin, Who was Diabolically Ravished, Murdered, And Thrown Into a Pit, As She Was Returning From a Dance; Including the Trial of Abraham Thornton, For the Wilful Murder of the Said Mary Ashford; With the Whole of the Evidence, Charge to the Jury, &c. Tried at Warwick Assizes, Before Mr. Justice Holroyd, On the 8th of August, 1817. Taken in Short Hand. To Which is Added Copious Elucidations of this Extraordinary Case; And a Correct Plan of the Spot Where the Rape and Murder were Committed, &c. &c. London: Published by John Fairburn, 1817. [ii], 60 columns (34 pp), 64, [1] pp. Several newspaper clippings concerning this case pasted to final leaf, rear wrapper and verso of title page. Woodcut folding map of crime scene. Octavo (8-3/4" x 5-1/2"). Stab-stitched pamphlet in printed wrappers, untrimmed edges. Some soiling and edgewear, spine and fold-lines of table reinforced, fore-edge mended, some toning to text. Early owner inscriptions to front wrapper ("Bright" and "St John Crookes") and verso of map ("St John Crookes/ Sunderland/ 1856"). $950. * "Third Edition." Abraham Thornton, a bricklayer, was accused of the rape and murder of Mary Ashford when she was found dead the morning after a dance where the two had been seen together. Thornton admitted that the two had been consensually intimate, but denied the charges of rape and murder. Eyewitness accounts backed up his story, and in the absence of other evidence he was acquitted of both charges. Public outcry around his acquittal led to Mary's brother William invoking an "appeal of murder." This uncommon legal practice allowed a retrial of a defendant acquitted for murder but, crucially, gave the defendant the right to trial by battle. Thornton invoked that right and was released after William Ashford declined the challenge. (The case resulted in the abolition of appeals by murder and thus the end of trial by battle.) Despite his protestations of innocence, the public was thoroughly convinced of his guilt. Unable to lead a normal life, Thornton moved to the United States and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the former owners of our copy may have been John Bright [1811-1889], a r.
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