Customer Reviews

I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this book because I am very interested in the founding fathers. Not just the big names we all know (Washington, jefferson, Adams) but the lesser known ones as well. Once I started this book I could not put it down. Not only is the death of Mr. Wythe discussed but also his amazing life. Mentoring the likes of Jefferson, Monroe, John Marshall, and Henry Clay, he made a huge contribution to the nation. The circumstances of his death were like reading a crime novel. I was saddend that such a great man could have ended up like this. Bruce Chadwick also puts the reader in the time and place of the events in the book. Special attention is given to the city's of Richmond and Williamsburg. I learned alot about those places from Chadwicks observations and research. If your intrested in the founding fathers or the time period you should read this book.

"The pride of the institution of William and Mary is Mr. Wythe, one of the chancellors of the State, and a professor of law in the college. He is one of the greatest men of the age..." Those words of Thomas Jefferson were in reference to his mentor, friend and law professor, George Wythe. Wythe was the law professor for some of our nations greatest political leaders including Henry Clay, John Marshall, James Monroe and others.This forgotten founder and signer of the Declaration of Independence was murdered by his nephew in what became a infamous trial.In this fine book, Bruce Chadwick gives Wythe and his times great coverage. His chapter on life in rowdy Richmond is excellent. The story of the trial, the medical experts, a botched autopsy and the exclusion of a crucial witness, remind us that flawed justice is not confined to our own time. A minor problem with the book is that the author often repeats himself, otherwise this is a book that is a fine read. The amazing Wythe truly deserves a major new biography.

On May 25, 1806, eighty year old Chancellor George Wythe of Virginia's High Court of Chancery ate breakfast then drank his coffee, which had been thoughtfully laced with arsenic by his grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived in Wythe's house. Wythe's cook and freedwoman Lydia Broadnax and Michael Brown, a freed black teenager whom Wythe was educating, were also poisoned. Brown died after a week of suffering, Wythe lingered in agony for two weeks. Broadnax, though desperately ill, survived. She had seen Sweeney putting something into the coffee pot from which all three victims had drunk. Sweeney was arrested for murder and the forgery of Wythe's name to a check two days after his poisoning.

The extraordinarily cultured Wyeth was a respected legal scholar, academic, judge and lawyer and an esteemed legal consultant to Virginia's House of Burgesses (where he was a member). Virginia sent Wythe to the Continental Congress, where he was an effective advocate for independence from the start, and later to the Constitutional Convention. He was a highly regarded friend of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and of many other prominent men in Virginia. In his highly competitive society, Wythe had no enemies.

Sweeney, only 16 or 17 years old, was already a wastrel, given to drink, gambling and chasing women. He had heavy gaming debts and had forged Wythe's name on checks several times. For career reasons, however, a legal "dream team" of the time, William Wirt and Edmund Randolph, defended him.

They had little to do. Broadnax could not testify because Virginia law prohibited blacks from testifying against whites. The same was true of other black people who had seen Sweeney with arsenic. The autopsy was totally botched. The prosecution was left with no case. Even the forgery charge failed because it did not come within Virginia's outmoded forgery statute. Sweeney walked, to immense public outrage, and immediately fled the state.

Wythe remains known in Virginia as well as to historians of the period. Despite his historical importance, however, he is unfamiliar to the general public today. This book, while not a biography, at least makes Wythe better known to a broader readership.

Yet the book was not compelling. It contains only 239 pages of text but is nonetheless repetitive. This undermined the tale by creating impatience and boredom. The discussion of the poisonous properties of arsenic and of previous cases of arsenic poisoning, for example, was tedious and often irrelevant. The careers of Wirt and Randolph are discussed for 29 pages, but their trial work is barely mentioned. The book seemed padded to me. In the end I thought that a good story was badly told.

On finishing this book, my immediate impression was that the subject matter contained within would have fit comfortably into a magazine article. As others have noted, there is repeated (pun intended) repetition of the same information. How many times in the course of 239 pages is it necessary to review information provided earlier? How many times is it necessary to say (in remarkably similar language) that Wythe was a brilliant and compassionate jurist and human being, that he was spry at an age when most men were dead, that small children were delighted at his manner and the presents that he gave them? I'm frankly puzzled at Chadwick's motive for this and his editor's for letting it pass. Was he trying to fill out a very thin subject or does he believe that his audience has such a short attention span that they require constant rehashing of the same information? As someone else mentioned, this extended to his overlong recitation of cases involving arsenic poisoning (and in case you forgot about Mary Bland's case, don't worry; you'll get a recap of it more than once# and the medical tests available at the time to confirm it. This section particularly seemed like a paragraph version of a run-on sentence.

The taste that this book left in my mouth was as bitter as the poison that killed George Wythe. Known as a compassionate man #a little bit of Chadwick repetition here), I have little doubt that his verdict on this book would nonetheless be harsh and the sentence harsher.

Mr. Chadwick has done an admirable job of covering a forgotten shocking crime against one of the most revered mentors in American history. The whole episode is simply shocking from the investigation, request of the victim for an autopsy to the representation of the defense by two of the most notable attorneys in the nation, Edmund Randolph and William Wirt.
I found that through this book I learned quite a bit about Richmond history, the legal process and procedures in early nineteenth century Virginia. I found the extensive explanation of the history of arsenic poisoning a bit tiresome but informative.
This an excellent look at a sensational case giving the modern reader an insight into early nineteenth century law and Virginia society.

Although I hoped for an indepth study, this was a disappointing read. The topic has been handled so much better elsewhere. I was expecting more details about the legal case, and perhaps more coverage of the trial itself. Instead, the book is organized haphazardly. There is chapter about each of the lawyers who were invovled in the case, but nothing about how they handled the case. The author continually mentions public opinion, and the newspaper coverage, but all of this is glossed over in the text. The discussion of the physicians and the 'botched' autopsy shows that the author has minimal medical training, and even less understanding of the medical philosophies of the day. The redundancies in the text where the same fact is repeated give the impression of a need to make the book longer, and the little inaccuracies that constantly pepper the text suggest shotty research. If you know nothing of Richmond of the time, or of this well known murder, then you might enjoy it. If you are looking for a scholarly work, don't bother.

Mmmm, not what I expected, but still interesting. Way too much backstory on city of Richmond, all the lawyers, Wythe's relationship with Jefferson, etc. I wanted more details on the investigation and trial itself; I guess there was not much info to be given so they went mega-backstory mode.

Glad I read this book, and glad I went to the George Wythe house in Colonial Williamsburg, VA, just afterwards and found out how much of the book is not true in the details.

Plus points: Wythe was an amazing man, mentor and friend to some of the Virginia based Band of Brothers who guided America into and through the American Revolution and into the formation of the new republic. Interesting details of the time period, exciting and fascinating insights into the daily lives of famous people of the time, and also a fascinating picture of the city of Richmond as a combination state capitol (for the most populous and important state in the colonies/republic) and a sort of wild-west type town; a fascinating look at the low level of medical intelligence and practice at that time, and an interesting insight into the legal profession.

Minus Point One, Accuracy: apparently some of the fascinating details are not so true; Jefferson living with Wythe when a student; Jefferson's wife having their first child upstairs in the Williamsburg house (the historical researchers and re-enactors at Colonial Williamsburg were stunned by the misinformation in the book). With some details apparently fabricated one wonders about other details, although the Williamsburg folks confirmed the major points of the murder, that he was murdered, that blacks were not allowed to testify even though eyewitnesses, and that Wythe was truly a great man although not enough is really known about him because he left practically no papers behind.

Which brings us to Minus Point Two, Story Telling: The book is filled and fluffed and stretched. Not the author's fault Wythe did not leave enough information to fill out the pages, however a concise, and perhaps more accurate book, would have been shorter than the one published. The reader is aware of the repetition and filling of the story, which makes for unsatisfactory reading.

Bottom line: worth the read to gain an insight into George Wythe and the times. I doubt you will go looking for other books by the same author.

I bought this book despite seeing "mixed" reviews that should have given me pause. The murder of George Wythe is a monumental event in early 19th century American history and the author writes with great exuberance but the book has many flaws. Where do I start? His narrative has no flow and jumps all over the place, is annoyingly repetitive, relies too heavily on secondary sources, and goes off on tangents that are not central to the story.

The book was brand new and in excellent shape.
I am about halfway through the book. Up to a certain point there was nothing new that I have not discovered in my research. I am hoping that once I finish I'll discover the answers to some of my questions about the trial and the decisions made.