'Murder in Muncy Creek' Book Review

"…at two o'clock the courthouse bell was tolled when the unfortunate man was taken to the scaffold. ... At a quarter before three the bell tolled again when the cap was drawn over his face by the sheriff ... and at about four minutes before three o'clock, the death-dealing blow was struck, which severed his connection with everything earthly..."  
-Lycoming Chronicle, May 25, 1836

Like any truly compelling mystery, “Murder in Muncy Creek” had me asking questions at every turn.  Did John
Earls really poison his wife?  (And if he did, why would he purchase arsenic in front of all those people, who would later help convict him?  You would think he'd have been more discreet).  Was his mother his accomplice?  
How could no one have stepped in to help an obviously abused woman? What happened to all of the children when both of their parents were dead?  And what ever happened to Maria Moritz – John Earls' alleged mistress?

"Murder in Muncy Creek" by William and Peggy Bailey answered all my questions and more, as it followed the investigation, trial, and eventual conviction and hanging of John Earls, who had the unfortunate distinction of being the first man to be hung hanged in Lycoming County.  I felt like I was re-living a piece of history, as I poured through the pages of testimony, closing arguments, a last minute confession, and an eyewitness account to the hanging itself.  Tuesday, May 24, 2011 marks the 175 thanniversary of the hanging of John Earls, for the murder of his wife, Catharine (Thomas) Earls.

In the 1830s there were no domestic violence shelters.  No emergency hotlines. Almost no resources for victims of domestic abuse.  Several witnesses in the murder trial of John Earls gave accounts of both threats and acts of violence toward Catharine Earls, and she certainly would have benefited greatly from these things, and may have even survived to see her children grow up had they been available to her. 

This book is thorough enough to satisfy the most avid history buff, intricate and personal enough to spark the interest of the amateur genealogist, and tantalizing enough to intrigue anyone's inner CSI detective.

“Murder in Muncy Creek” can be purchased at the following locations and websites: Muncy Historical Society, 40 N. Main Street Muncy, PA 17756 www.MuncyHistoricalSociety.org; Thomas T. Taber Museum Store, 858 West Fourth Street Williamsport, PA 17701 email:  lychsstore@verizon.net; Otto's Bookstore, 107 West Fourth Street Williamsport, PA 17756 email: ottobook@comcast.net.