William Reese Company AMERICANA • RARE BOOKS • LITERATURE AMERICAN ART • PHOTOGRAPHY ______________________________ 409 TEMPLE STREET NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06511 (203) 789-8081 FAX (203) 865-7653 [email protected] In the Courtroom Blood in the Streets of New Haven... May Day at Yale, 1970 1. [African Americana]: [Black Panthers]: WHAT DO THE PANTHERS STAND FOR....THE PEOPLE CHARGE YALE WITH COMPLICITY IN THE FRAME-UP OF THE NEW HAVEN 9 [caption title]. New York. 1970. [8]pp. Large folio. Previously folded. Tanned. About very good. A newspaper published by the Committee to Defend the Panther 21 that broadly states the goals of the Black Panther movement and prints a long letter on the unfairness of the charges against the Panthers, addressed to the judge in charge, John Murtagh. The Panther 21 were accused of conspiring to kill police officers and bomb a number of buildings in New York City in 1970. Although at the time the trial was the longest and the costliest in the history of the state of New York, the twenty-one accused were acquitted on all charges. The newspaper was also printed in the context of the Black Panther trials that were occurring at the same time in New Haven, Ct., where nine Panthers were charged with involvement in the murder of one of their members, Alex Rackley, who had been suspected of being an FBI informant. The back page of the paper publicizes a three-day event for the beginning of May to protest the trial, with a headline that reads: “The People Charge Yale with Complicity in the Frame-up of the New Haven 9.” The program from the boasted speeches from Artie Seale, wife of Black Panthers president Bobby Seale (who was one of the accused on trial), and French writer Jean Genet, and music performed by Santana. These events led directly to the May Day riots in New Haven on May 1, 1970, the height of student unrest at Yale in the period, famously alluded to by the Doors in their song, “Peace Frog”: “Blood in the streets of the town of New Haven....” $750. Arguing for the Conviction of the Lincoln Conspirators 2. Bingham, John A.: TRIAL OF THE CONSPIRATORS FOR THE AS- SASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, &c. ARGUMENT OF JOHN A. BINGHAM, SPECIAL JUDGE ADVOCATE, IN REPLY TO THE AR- GUMENTS OF THE SEVERAL COUNSEL FOR MARY E. SURRATT, DAVID E. HEROLD, LEWIS PAYNE... Washington. 1865. 122pp. Original printed wrappers, removed from a bound volume. A few chips and short closed tears to wraps. Later institutional blind stamp on front wrap. Internally clean. About very good. Opinions of this respected legal expert on the trial of those charged with helping John Wilkes Booth in his plot to murder President Lincoln, William Seward, Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant. McDADE 625. MONAGHAN 403. SABIN 5451. $250. British Naval Commander Tried for Cowardice, and Ultimately Executed 3. [Byng, John]: THE TRIAL OF THE HONOURABLE ADMIRAL JOHN BYNG, AT A COURT-MARTIAL, AS TAKEN BY MR. CHARLES FERNE.... London: Printed for R. Manby..., 1757. 36,*37-38,37-76,*73-76,77-130,19pp. Folio. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards; rebacked with spine tooled in gilt. Boards rubbed, corners heavily worn; calf gone from bottom corners. Bookplate on verso of titlepage. Bright and clean internally. Very good. Byng was assigned to command a squadron of ten British ships sent to defend Gibraltar and Minorca from the French. He was charged with cowardice, allegedly having delayed his departure from St. Helen’s to Gibraltar, thereby arriving after the French had taken Minorca, and failing to wage a proper offense against their fleet. This publication prints his orders, his account of his actions, testimony at the trial, Byng’s defense, and the findings of the court on each charge. Byng was found guilty and sentenced to be shot to death. After some efforts to repeal the sentence, it was finally carried out. The case was a cause célèbre in England, where many thought the Admiral was railroaded for political reasons. It was so famous that there were Boston and New York editions published the same year. ESTC T20812. $450. and the seeming inability of the legal authorities to stop them, were among the factors leading to the establishment of the first Vigilance Committee on June 9, 1851. The remainder of the printed caption tells the story: “John Jenkins, a Sidney [sic] man entered the store of Mr. V on long Wharf in the evening of 10th of June & carried off a sale. After he was captured he was brought to the corner of Sansome & Bush Sts. where he was tried by a jury of the highest respect- ability, and condemned to be hung. The execu- tion took place on the Plaza on the same night at 2 o’clock. Immediately after sentence of death was passed upon him, he was asked if he had anything to say. He replied: No, I have nothing to say, only I should wish to have a cigar & brandy & water, which was given him.” This moody lithographic illustration is done in an almost impressionistic style, with dark clouds obscuring the moonlit night, crowds Vigilance Committee Letter Sheet of shadowy, cheering on-lookers, and Jenkins’ body hanging from a rafter that forms part of a large cross at one end of the Custom House. “No series of events 4. [California Pictorial Letter Sheet]: THE FIRST TRIAL & EXECUTION attracted greater attention than the workings of the 1851 and 1856 vigilance com- IN S. FRANCISCO ON THE NIGHT OF 10th OF JUNE AT 2 O’CLOCK... mittees” – Kurutz (in the introduction to the Clifford Collection). [caption title]. San Francisco: Lith. & Publ. by Justh, Quirot & Co., [1851]. Pictorial letter sheet, 8¼ x 10¾ inches, on blue wove paper. With blank conjugate leaf still This letter sheet was produced by Justh, Quirot & Co., one of the first and most attached. A bit of light toning, mostly around the edges of the sheet. Near fine. important lithographic firms in San Francisco. It was printed on blue wove, gray wove, and white wove paper. A vivid depiction of violence and justice on A striking and rare California pictorial letter sheet, depicting the first act of the Barbary Coast. violence of the Vigilance Committee – the execution of the “Sydney Duck,” John BAIRD, CALIFORNIA’S PICTORIAL LETTER SHEETS 79. CLIFFORD Jenkins. The so-called Sydney Ducks were a gang of Australian convicts who LETTER SHEET COLLECTION 73. PETERS, CALIFORNIA ON STONE, committed a number of arsons and robberies in San Francisco. Their activities, pp.133, plate 66. $1500. Bringing Law and Order to the British Pacific Northwest 5. [Canada]: ANNO QUADRAGESIMO TERTIO GEORGII III. REGIS... AN ACT FOR EXTENDING THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THE PROVINCES OF LOWER AND UPPER CANADA, TO THE TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT OF PERSONS GUILTY OF CRIMES AND OFFENCES WITHIN CERTAIN PARTS OF NORTH AMERICA ADJOINING THE SAID PROVINCES. London: Printed by George Eyre and Andrew Strahan, 1803. [3]pp. Two folio leaves. Split at fold, chipped around edges, dampstain on lower edge, tape-repair on center fold. Good only. This act of Parliament addresses the issue of crimes committed in the British- controlled Pacific Northwest, and specifically in Indian Territories. It provides that those who commit offenses in Indian Territories should be tried in the same manner as if the crimes occurred in the provinces of Lower or Upper Canada. The act also allows the governor of Lower Canada to empower Justices for the Indian Territories. $225. Tried for the Murder of Revenue Agents on the Canadian Border 6. [Dean, Cyrus B.]: THE TRIAL OF CYRUS B. DEAN, FOR THE MURDER OF JONATHAN ORMSBY AND ASA MARSH, BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE OF THE STATE OF VERMONT.... Burlington, Vt. 1808. 48pp. Dbd. One internal leaf chipped at lower margin, not affecting text, closed tear to another leaf repaired with tape. Moderate toning and foxing. About very good. The trial account of a case of murder resultant from international smuggling in northern Vermont during the first decade of the 19th century. “The victims were two revenue agents who tried to intercept smugglers taking potash into Canada. They were shot with a gun nine feet, four inches long. Dean was sentenced to hang” – McDade. McDADE 246. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 16344. $850. With a Significant American Provenance 7. Delafons, John: A TREATISE ON NAVAL COURTS MARTIAL. London. 1805. [iii]-xii,385pp. plus [6]pp. list of subscribers. Modern half calf and marbled boards, gilt leather label. Contemporary ownership inscription on titlepage. Very minor toning and scattered foxing. Very good plus. An important work on British naval law, written by John Delafons, a Judge Advo- cate in the British Navy. Delafons discusses the differences between martial and civil law and provides first-hand knowledge of the system through his extensive experience. This copy bears the ownership inscription of Samuel Sitgreaves, a Pennsylvania lawyer and one of the American commissioners on the Debt Com- mission settling Anglo-American claims going back to the American Revolution under the terms of the Jay Treaty. $850. A Scandalous Biography of Queen Elizabeth, Printed in Rutland 8. [Elizabeth I]: [Vermont]: THE SECRET HISTORY OF ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF ENGLAND, AND THE EARL OF ESSEX. TO WHICH IS ADDED, AN ACCOUNT OF THE SUFFERINGS, TRIAL AND BEHEAD- ING OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND, BY QUEEN ELIZABETH. By a Person of Quality. Rutland, Vt. 1799. 80pp. 12mo. Contemporary half sheep and hand-decorated paper over birch boards. Moderate wear to edges and spine, front hinge starting. Mid-19th-century pencil ownership inscription on title- page; 20th-century bookplate on front pastedown.