The Genuine Account of the Trial of Eugene Aram for the Murder of Daniel Clark

Eugene Aram (1704â€"1759) was an English philologist, but also infamous as the murderer celebrated by Thomas Hood in his ballad, The Dream of Eugene Aram, and by Bulwer-Lytton in his 1832 novel Eugene Aram

In 1734 he moved to Knaresbrough, where he remained as schoolmaster till 1744 In that year a man named Daniel Clark, a shoemaker and an intimate friend of Aram, after obtaining a considerable quantity of goods from some of the tradesmen in the town, suddenly disappeared Suspicions of being concerned in this swindling transaction fell upon Aram His garden was searched, and some of the goods found there However, there was not sufficient evidence to convict him of any crime, and he was discharged

In February 1758 a skeleton was dug up at Thistle Hill in Knaresbrough, and some suspicion arose that it might be Clark's Aram's wife had more than once hinted that her husband and a man named Houseman knew the secret of Clark's disappearance Houseman was at once arrested and confronted with the bones that had been found He affirmed his innocence and, taking up one of the bones, said, "This is no more Dan Clark's bone than it is mine" His manner in saying this roused suspicion that he knew more of Clark's disappearance When questioned, he contested that he had been present at the murder of Clark by him and another man, Terry, of whom nothing further is heard He eventually implicated Aram, and Aram was immediately arrested, and sent to York for trial

He was found guilty and condemned to be executed While in his cell he confessed his guilt and threw new light on the motives for his crime, by asserting that he had discovered an affair between Clark and his own wife On the night before his execution he made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide by opening the veins in his arm with a straight razor Eugene Aram was hanged on 16 August 1759 His skull is preserved in King's Lynn museum

This copy of the 11th edition of the trial record is in very good condition Later ¾ calf with marbled boards with only minor rubbing and signs of shelf wear Sound binding with only minor browning of text and the tiny ink name of a previous owner at the top of the title page An engraved portrait of Aram is pasted inside the front cover The work of 52 pp is bound together with a copy of Hood's poem, The Dream of Eugene Aram, 8 pp printed by Parr in Knaresbrough, along with The Legend of Saint Robert the Hermit of Knaresbrough, separate title page but with continued pagination to p 60, and also A Narrative of the Loss of The Kent by Fire, Religious Tract Society, London, 1825, 36 pp