Helen Jewett (October 18, 1813 - April 10, 1836) was an upscale New York City prostitute whose murder and the subsequent trial and acquittal of her alleged killer, Richard P. Robinson, generated an unprecedented amount of media coverage.
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Early history
Jewett was born Dorcas Doyen in Temple, Maine into a working class family. Her father was a drunkard; her mother died when Jewet was young. From the age of 12 or 13 Jewett was employed as a servant girl in the home of Chief Justice Nathan Weston of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. While there, she developed into a sexually assertive young woman, and upon reaching the age of 18 left the Weston home at the first opportunity. She moved to Portland, Maine, where she worked as prostitute under an assumed name (a standard practice at the time). She subsequently moved to Boston and finally New York under a succession of fake names.
The murder
Jewett's body was discovered by the matron of the brothel, Rosina Townsend, at 3 a.m. on April 10, 1836. The murder had taken place sometime after midnight. Jewett was struck on the head three times with a sharp object. (The coroner's report called it a 'hatchett'.) Based on the position of the corpse in bed, the coroner concluded that the blows were not expected: there were no signs of struggle. After inflicting the lethal blows, the murderer then set fire to Jewett's bed. Townsend discovered the room full of smoke, and Jewett's body charred on one side.
The trial
Based on the testimony of the women who lived in the brothel, the police arrested 19 year old Richard P. Robinson on suspicion of Jewett's murder. Robinson, a repeat customer of the victim, flatly denied killing her, and did not display much emotion even when confronted with the still warm corpse. Nevertheless, based on the tesimony of various witnesses and the recovery of a cloak that resembled Robinson's, the coroner's jury, hastily assembled on the scene and made up of on-lookers, concluded that Jewett met her end "by blows ... inflicted ... with a hatchett by the hand of Richard P. Robinson." This was enough to gain an initial indictment. On June 2, 1836, Robinson's official trial began. After days of testimony from several witnesses, including Rosina Townsend, the judge gave the jury its instructions. As most of the evidence against Robinson was circumstantial, the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty in less than a half hour.
The press
Jewett's murder excited the press and the public. The coverage of the murder and trial was highly polarized, with reporters either sympathizing with Jewett and vilifying Robinson or attacking Jewett as a seductress who, according to nineteenth century standards, deserved her fate. The New York Herald, edited by James Gordon Bennett, provided the most complete (if not unbiased) coverage of the sensational murder. Bennet was one of the few reporters that questioned Robinson's guilt and attempted to accurately describe Jewett's history and character. It is worth noting, however, Benett emphasized the sensational nature of the story and worked to exploit the sexual, violent details of Jewett's death.
The aftermath
References in popular culture
Jewett's death forms part of the plot of the novel Burr by Gore Vidal.
References
- Patricia Cline Cohen, The Mystery of Helen Jewett:Romantic Fiction and the Eroticization of Violence, 17 Legal Studies Forum 2 (1993)
- Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998
- http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/helen_jewett/index.html
- Timothy J. Gilfoyle, City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992
