A Particular Account of a Horrid Murder.

• imprint_number: 1805.046
• title: The following is a particular account of a Horrid murder. Abel Clemmons murdered his wife and eight children. : Clarksburg, Virginia, Nov. 11, 1805. Last night, Abel Clemmons, at his place of residence upon the lands of col. George Jackson, within about half a mile of the town of Clarksburg, under circumstances of the most unprecedented cruelty, murdered his wife far advanced in pregnancy, and their eight small children. …
• sequence_number: 46
• year: 1805
• place_issued: Morgantown
• issuing_press: Campbell & Britton
• author: -----
• notes: An account of the brutal murder of his family by Abel Clemmens near Clarksburg in Harrison County; he was convicted and executed for the crime in 1806. Text herein is identical to that seen in Murder―Horrible Murder!! (1805.045); both broadside accounts lack colophon and have been regularly attributed to the press of Joseph Campbell and Forbes Britton then in Morgantown, the only operating press west of the Alleghenies in Virginia.
  This item is the rarer of the two versions, and appears to have been a refinement of the rushed production of the initial account in Murder―Horrible Murder!! Both present a short account of the murder set in two columns, above a poem "Lines on the above murder" also set in two columns. That other edition appears less-proficient typographically than this one, indicating that it was rushed into production upon learning of the event; this alternative edition uses the same coffin images (as seen in their wear marks) to ornament the broadside, but the header and footer text herein provide a more polished presentation of the same matter as in this item.
  
  
• Related Bios:
  • Forbes Britton, Sr.
  • Joseph Campbell

This version of the Index of Virginia Printing was a gift from the estate of the site's creator, David Rawson. The content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection. For more information, please see David Rawson Index of Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.