Pursed Lips

An early 19th-century pamphlet sold for over $1,700 dollars.  I’m not sure how it popped up on my radar, but it harkened back to New York City’s first major sex crime.  The listing, with minor editing on my part for readability:

THE DEVIL’S WALK THROUGH THE UNITED STATES, BY FRANK RIVERS. From the ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT  found among the Papers of THE LATE BEAUTIFUL COURTEZAN, ELLEN JEWETT. New York: Elton, Publisher, 134, Division-Street. circa 1836 (no date). 16 page stapled booklet, 5 1/2″ x 8″.

The manuscript for this poem was supposedly found among the possessions of Ellen Jewett (Hellen Jewett), a beautiful young prostitute who worked in an infamous New York City Whorehouse known for having some of the city’s gentry as clientele.  The poem is credited as being written by Frank Rivers. “Frank Rivers” was an alias for Richard Parmelee Robinson, the man accused of murdering Ellen Jewett. The engraving on the cover is credited to “Bill Easy” an alias for another man Jewett was reportedly with Jewett the night of her murder. This murder was perhaps the first of the sex-sin-and-mayhem cases that birthed sensational journalis. The title for this poem was borrowed from a well known piece of British political satire written by Professor Porson.

In 1836 Hellen Jewett was considered New York City’s most desirable and sought after prostitute. Jewett became something of a “star” at several of several of New York’s most exclusive bordello’s. Besides her stunning good looks, her sexual skills were legend. Her clientele was a who’s who of famous people. Even Washington Irving and Edgar Allen Poe were known to suffer from infatuation.

On the night of April 10th, 1836 Helen Jewett was murdered with an axe and set on fire. Richard Robinson,one of her clients, was accused of her murder. The ensuing trial captivated the nation. The sensation and publicity surrounding the murder and trial help set the stage for the rise and popularity of murder mystery and detective fiction, whose literary conventions Edgar Allen Poe pioneered, a resident of New York City at the time of the trial.

Although the prosecution had overwhelming evidence against Richard Robinson, he was aquitted. At the time, Robinson was well known for his literary skills and was more than likely the author of this poem.  This booklet was probably printed shortly after the trial in 1836.

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I haven’t found any foundation for the claims that major authors were smittened by Jewett, the Jewett murder essentials in the listing are accurate.  However, I’m far from certain the pamphlet in question was actually found among Jewett’s belongings.  It’s not mentioned at all in Patricia Cline Cohen’s exhaustive and captivating book, The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute In Nineteenth-Century New York — a red flag for me if every there was one.

And I’m skeptical that its attributions are sound.  Robinson and George P. Marston (aka Bill Easy) were rivals for Jewett’s attentions, and Robinson’s jealousy toward Marston was well documented. That Marston would provide an engraving to a work by Robinson borders on ludicrous.

There’s another reason for all this, me thinks.

Consider the estimated date of the publication.  Consider the text I’ve placed here (and see more at my Flickr feed).  It’s all about the devil coming to America to stir up abolitionist woes.  Now think: What abolitionist events happened during this time frame?

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By treaty, European countries agreed to abolish slavery left and right.  Jamaica abolished slavery.  And, by 1840, outright abolition or suppression of slavery by treaty reached from Europe to South America.

And most noteworthy to this region of America at this time? Amistad was right around the corner, starting in 1839.  Indeed, since this pamphlet is undated, it could conceivably date to the Amistad years.  In fact, the stanza I picture here where the devil  The Devil and A—r T—n, refers to, as far as I’m concerned, to abolitionist Arthur Tappan.  Whose brother, Lewis, took up the Amistad cause.

I view The Devil’s Walk Through America as an anti-abolitionist trait produced sometime between the Jewett incident and Amistad.  It appropriated Robinson’s and Marston’s monikers, capitalizing on one sensation to further another.  And it names prominent abolitionists George Thomson and  William Lloyd Garrison in its stanzas.

I’ve placed several more images from the pamphlet in a set at my Flickr page.  Feel free to examine them.