Preview
Identifier
KF 223 .C68 1887
Creation Date
1887
Description
Cluverius, Thomas J. Cluverius: My Life, Trial and Conviction. Richmond: Published by SJ Dudley, 1887.
In Richmond, Virginia, in 1885, a caretaker found the body of twenty-three-year-old Fanny Lillian Madison floating in the reservoir. The coroner discovered she had been eight months pregnant. Police arrested her cousin Thomas Cluveris. Rumor suggested the two of them had been closely attached to each other, and they were both in Richmond together on the night of Fanny's death. The trial lasted a month, and Thomas claimed he was innocent. The defense argued that the unwed and pregnant Fanny had committed suicide, while the prosecution argued that Thomas killed her to eliminate evidence of his indiscretion and protect his reputation. Thomas was found guilty of murder and was hanged in 1887, maintaining until his death his claim of innocence.