"When the winter ice melted in April 1850, residents of Saco, Maine, made a gruesome discovery: the body of a young girl submerged in a stream. Thanks to evidence left at the scene, a local physician was arrested and tried for the death of Mary Bean, the name given to the unidentified young girl; the cause of death was failed abortion. Garnering extensive newspaper coverage, the trial revealed many secrets: a poorly trained doctor, connections to an unsolved murder in New Hampshire, and the true identity of “Mary Bean”—a young Canadian mill worker named Berengera Caswell, missing since the previous winter. The Murder of Mary Bean and Other Stories examines the series of events that led Caswell to become Mary Bean and the intense curiosity and anxiety stimulated by this heavily watched trial.
"In addition to the sensationalist murder accounts, De Wolfe looks back at these events through a wide-angle lens exploring such themes as the rapid social changes brought about by urbanization and industrialization in antebellum nineteenth-century society, factory work and the changing roles for women, unregulated sexuality and the specter of abortion, and the sentimental novel as a guidebook. She posits that the real threat to women in the nineteenth century was not murder but a society that had ambiguous feelings about the role of women in the economic system, in education, and as independent citizens.
"Sure to place this case among the classics of crime literature, The Murder of Mary Bean and Other Stories features two reprinted accounts of Caswell’s death, both fictional and originally printed in the 1850s, as well as an introduction that places these salacious accounts in a historical context. This book serves not simply as true crime but, rather, presents a seamy side of rapid industrial growth and the public anxiety over the emerging economic roles of women."
The Murder of Mary Bean and Other Stories is winner of:
- New England Historical Association Book Award
- Peter C. Rollins Book Award, Northeast Popular Culture Association
- Silver, ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards (True Crime)
- Bronze, Independent Publisher Book Awards (True Crime)
Publisher's Website: http://upress.kent.edu/books/DeWolfe_E.htm
Praise for The Murder of Mary Bean and Other Stories:
". . . an excellent and thought-provoking read. . ."
—Nena Sechler Craven, University of Delaware
"In this book, the author took a broad view, detailing a shocking case along with the social conditions that brought it about. On top of the awards, it's that combination of facts and context that merits putting the book on our To Read list."
—Laura James, Esquire Magazine and CLEWS
Click here to listen to Elizabeth De Wolfe discuss The Murder of Mary Bean and Other Stories with Liz Bulkley of New Hampshire Public Radio.
Article, "Historian Elizabeth De Wolfe's new book examines the 19th century murder of a factory girl in Saco," University of New England.
Article, "Amid 1850s prosperity, a death and innocence lost," Portland Press Herald, 19 Jan. 2005.
