Today we find John returning to the shop with a copy of The Alexandria Gazette. The date is July 31, 1914, and they are in a place called Alexandria, Virginia

There isn’t a single day that’s the same ole same ole in the world. Everything is changing, just take a look at Bessie Wakefield, a 24-year-old mother of two children, who would become the first woman convicted of first-degree murder in Connecticut, for the death of her husband, William Wakefield. Whose body was discovered in the woods near Cheshire, Connecticut, on June 28, 1913. William had been shot and stabbed multiple times and strangled with a pair of shoelaces. Within a few days, Bessie and local farmhand James Plew were arrested for the crime. They tried to make the murder look like a suicide and failed miserably. The state’s case against them claimed that Plew had killed William, and that Bessie had conspired with Plew, even encouraged him to kill her husband, all so the two of them could be together. That made her an accessory to the crime. Plew pled guilty, but Bessie Wakefield denied any involvement in or knowledge of the murder of her husband. Nevertheless, despite her denials, Wakefield was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Later on, the suffragette movement will take on the fight to free Poor Old Bessie. But that’s a story for another time. There’s a World War starting…

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 Staring

Jim Hodges - As the Narrator

John Teach- As John

Cori Andre - As Ed

With Special guest

Mike Allender- As Advertisers

Music is from 1910 and 1911– and in the public domain.

In order they are…

Childs Festival by The Indestructible Bohemian Orchestra

By the Light of the Silvery Moon by Billy Murray and Haydn Quartet

That Lovin’ Rag by Sophie Tucker

The Cudanola Glide by Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan

Had Anybody Seen Kelly? By Nora Bayes

Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland by Henry Burr

Silver Bell by The Peerless Quartet

Come, Josephine, In My Flying Machine by Ada Jones and The American Quartet

Sound Design and Editing done by Hayden Hodges

The newspaper articles read on the show are actual written accounts of the time period and can be found in The Library of Congress under Chronicling America.

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