On a moonlit night in 1889, Iowa farmer John Elkins and his young wife, Hattie, were brutally murdered in their bed. Eight days later, their son, eleven-year-old Wesley Elkins, was arrested and charged with murder. The community reeled with shock by both the gruesome details of the homicides and the knowledge of the accused perpetrator—a small, quiet boy weighing just 75 pounds. Accessible and fast-moving, The Plea delivers a complete, complex, and nuanced narrative of this horrific crime, while shedding light on the legal, social, and political environment of Iowa and the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
| ISBN: | 9781609388393 |
| Publication date: | 31st July 2022 |
| Author: | Patricia L Bryan, Thomas Wolf |
| Publisher: | University of Iowa Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 212 pages |
| Series: | Iowa and the Midwest Experience |
| Genres: |
True crime History of the Americas |