Ramsdell's Photographic Gallery (New Haven, Connecticut) 1882 Jennie Cramer Private collection of Brad Feuerhelm Jennie Cramer was found floating face down on the shallow shores of the Long Island Sound. It was though that the young beauty had drowned after falling off the pier. Later after the inquest, it was found that Cramer had been repeatedly raped with force and poisoned with arsenic. It is thought that the two murderers were of local wealth. The Malley family ran a department store in the town and two sons were brought to trial on the matter and were acquitted on the merit of family wealth and the corroborative courtside declarations of their prostitute friends. Though today in legal standing this sort of case could not hold water. It is still a testament to the power that money can bring big fish in a small pond. It is indeed likely that the Malley boys had taken liberties with Miss Cramer and killed her when after raping her in fear of the story being leaked. See Virginia A. McConnell's excellent book "Arsenic Under the Elms: Murder in Victorian New Haven" (University of Nebraska Press, 2005) on the case.
