1833 - Horrid Outrage and Murder

Some time, in December last, a young female named Sarah M. Cornell, was found dead, hanging by the neck by means of a small cord fastened to a stake in a fence enclosing a stock of hay, in Tiverton, Rhode Island. She belonged to Woodstock, Conn. and she had resided in Bristol a short time. The Rev. E. K. Avery, of Bristol, had been arrested on suspicion of being the murderer, and was undergoing an examination at Bristol. Very strong circumstantial evidence had been adduced against him, and not an eight part of the witnesses had been examined. The excitement among the people is said to be unprecedented. It appears that Avery had seduced this unfortunate young lady, and a correspondence took place between them, in which he advised her to take a certain drug as the means of preventing the exposure of their crime; which she declined. He then addressed her a letter, stating his intention to convey her out of town, where she could enjoy a privacy in confinement, necessary to preserve her reputation, and urging her to meet him in the edge of Tiverton; by which means she was decoyed to the fatal spot where she was murdered.