Greetings to the Perquimans list: There is a story of murder in 1732 Perquimans Co. in the latest NC Genealogical Society Journal (Vol. XXV, No. 3, pp. 304-312), by Raymond A. Winslow and John H. Oden, that would do justice to the very best modern murder mystery. Indeed, this would make a much better plot than most of the stories seen on TV and in movies these days. While there is not too much genealogy content, perhaps a short summary of this event might be of interest to some, but not to those of faint heart, who might want to reach for the delete button at this point Following the death of her Quaker husband, Isaac Wilson, in 1714, the widow Anne Wilson had married Captain John Pettiver by 1716. However, the marriage proved to be a stormy one from the beginning, with Anne having already filed a bill of complaint against her husband in the court session of March 1718. Perhaps this was an early predictor of things to come, because in a court trial some years later it was said that John Pettiver had been murdered on 17 Aug. 1732 by multiple blows from a club, with his body having afterwards been tied to a large brass kettle filled with stones and sunk in the Perquimans River. The body was found on 26 August, and the chief suspects - one Joseph Haynes and the widow, Anne Pettiver - were called into court and forced to touch the body, in keeping with the belief that a murder victim's body would bleed when touched by the murderer. When the body was touched by Haynes, a single drop of blood was seen to appear near the left eye, but when Anne Pettiver touched the breast of her deceased husband, the blood was said to visibly ooze through the firm skin in that area until large droplets ran down his side and dripped onto the floor. A jury of 12 men testified under oath that vigorous rubbing on their part produced no such bleeding. This damning evidence from the trial by touching was supplemented by the eye-witness testimony of Anne Pettiver' maid, Bess, who told of seeing Master Pettiver force open a locked door in the house, whereupon Joseph Haynes inside the room set upon him with a hoe handle, which Mistress Pettiver said was too light to do the job. However, Master Pettiver was killed by a great many blows, and afterwards a servant boy named Buck was ordered to help Haynes drag the body down to the nearby river, with Mistress Pettiver following along behind covering the blood trail with dirt. Afterwards Mistress Pettiver told Haynes that he must kill the boy Buck, but Hayes asked: Couldn't we just scare him into silence? Mistress replied no, their plan must be carried out, and the boy's head was held in a tub of water until he was drowned. He was then carried more than a mile away and thrown off of a bridge over Skinner's Creek, so that any searchers would also look there for Master Pettiver's body, rather than in the nearby river. Bess said that the Mistress told her to tell anyone who asked that Master Pettiver had not been seen since he visited with the widow Phelps the day before he was murdered. Perhaps the desire to have her repeat this cover story is what saved the life of the servant girl. Despite the dubious trial by touching, the evidence seemed strong, and it was not surprising to learn that Joseph Haynes was executed on the Gallows in Edenton between the hours of ten and two on the Monday next following his sentencing on 4 Nov. 1732. In case you might think that Mistress Pettiver received a lighter sentence, though, the Chief Justice announced later that all goods and the estate of Anne Pettiver, she having been executed by burning at the stake for the more-serious offense of Petty Treason, were to be seized and used to pay for her prosecution. You see, I warned you that this was not for the faint of heart, but that is what the article said. I had no idea that people were still being burning at the stake in 1732, and it seems a little hard to believe. Nevertheless, the research for this story seems to be quite solid, but I am repeating only my reading of what was said in the article cited. Has anyone else heard of this compelling story? Look for the movie-makers trucks to show up any day now in Perquimans Co, because the scene of the body being displayed and touched in court by the grieving Quaker widow - Sandy Bullock in a bonnet, maybe - after 9 days of water exposure in the heat of August is likely to prove irresistible to movie producers. My best Regards to all, Ron Bullock (no relation to Sandy) P. S. - A footnote says that Anne's confiscated property included 600 acres in which she was given a lifetime estate by her first husband, Isaac Wilson. This land was on the southwest side of the Perquimans River and extended downstream to Castleton's Creek. Part of the land is now occupied by one of the city of Hertford's main shopping centers, and part has been set aside for industrial development. Shoppers might want to pause and reflect on the sad fate of Master Pettiver and the boy Buck at this location in 1732, and the even sadder fate of Mistress Pettiver and of Mr. Joseph Haynes.