On a moonlit night in 1889, Iowa farmer John Elkins and his young wife, Hattie, were brutally murdered in their bed. Eight days later, their son, eleven-year-old Wesley Elkins, was arrested and charged with murder. The community reeled with shock by both the gruesome details of the homicides and the knowledge of the accused perpetrator—a small, quiet boy weighing just 75 pounds.
Accessible and fast-moving, The Plea delivers a complete, complex, and nuanced narrative of this horrific crime, while shedding light on the legal, social, and political environment of Iowa and the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
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- ISBN10 1609388399
- ISBN13 9781609388393
- Publish Date 21 July 2022
- Publish Status Forthcoming
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Iowa Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 212
- Language English