American statesman (1801–1872) who served as secretary of state in the Lincoln administration and who was severely injured in an attack that was part of the assassination conspiracy. His greatest political achievement was the purchase of Alaska from Russia, derided by contemporary skeptics as “Seward’s Folly.” Signed book: The Trial of William Freeman, For the Murder of John G. Van Nest, Including the Evidence and Arguments of Counsel, with the Decision of the Supreme Court Granting a New Trial, and an Account of the Death of the Prisoner, and a Post-Mortem Examination of His Body by Benjamin Hall. First edition, first printing. Auburn: Derby, Miller, and Co., 1848, 6 x 9.25, 508 pages. Signed and inscribed in the first free end page, “To Milton H. Myrick, with regards from his friend, William H. Seward.” Also signed inside by E. P. Deering, California attorney who compiled Deering’s Annotated California Codes, who was a member of Myrick’s law firm. In very good condition, with heavy scattered foxing to signed page, as well as a small area of paper loss to top edge, moderate foxing to edges of interior pages and inside covers, Myrick’s clipped name affixed to inside front cover, pencil notations to reverse of signed page, sunning and rubbing to spine, and a bit of light wear to covers. Myrick’s calling card is tipped in between the first two free end pages.
This book presents the full transcript of the famous murder trial of a demented free black man who without motive slaughtered a white family, and contains full details of the crime and expert medical testimony on Freeman’s condition. The trial became one of the first (if not the first) to use the now much abused insanity defense. Freeman was nobly defended by Seward whose closing argument occupies fifty-six pages. He lost the case and won an appeal, but Freeman would die before retrial…his brain being examined postmortem. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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