This week in 1879

“I have a great deal I would like to say, but it would not be worth while to say anything. The State of Indiana today, in the sight of that Court house, is doing an unjust thing to one of her citizens. I say, as I have said before to this people and to the world, I am innocent of the charge. When that drop fails and my life goes out, it will be eternal peace. I wish to say no more.”

— William Merrick, convicted of murder, hanging, New York.
Executed January 29, 1879

The jury took only eleven minutes to find Merrick guilty of murdering his wife, Julia A. Merrick. During the trial, it surfaced that he had arranged with the janitor of a medical college to deliver a body about the time of his wife’s disappearance. He was seen buying a packet of strychnine in a saloon and, the next morning, leaving town with his wife in a buggy. That night, he drove around town “until his wife became cold enough to warrant delivery to the medical college,” according to a New York Times article. Julia Merrick’s nude body was later discovered in a ditch with the body of a baby boy with his umbilical cord still attached.