Deep Water: Murder, Scandal, and Intrigue in a New England Town

by Kenneth M. Sheldon

Overview

In the waning days of World War I, William K. Dean was brutally murdered, his body hog-tied and dumped in a rainwater cistern on his farm in the quiet town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Suspicion quickly fell on Dean's wife, an invalid in the early stages of dementia. Her friends, outraged at the accusations, pointed instead to a former tenant of Dean’s, whom many suspected of being a German spy. Others believed that Dean's best friend, a politically powerful banker and judge, was involved.

Deep Water is based on extensive research into the Dean murder, including thousands of pages of FBI documents, Grand Jury testimonies, newspaper accounts, private correspondence, and the archives of the Jaffrey Historical Society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684750276
Publisher:	Down East Books
Publication date:	06/15/2022
Pages:	390
Sales rank:	1,043,989
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Kenneth Sheldon is a freelance author, editor, and playwright. His work has appeared in publications ranging from Acoustic Guitar to Yankee Magazine, where he was formerly a columnist. He has written or contributed to books published by Yankee, Time-Life, Rodale, and others, and was formerly the West Coast Bureau Chief for Byte magazine His book Welcome to Frost Heaves, a collection of Yankee humor was published by in 2015. He lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

Table of Contents

Dramatis Personae vii

I Murder

1 The Farmer 3

2 The Town 5

3 The Search 9

4 The Body 11

5 The Investigators 17

6 The Funeral 21

7 The Detective 25

8 The Argument 29

9 The County Solicitor 33

10 The First Suspect 37

11 The Tenant 43

12 The Banker 49

13 The Socialite 53

14 The Priest 57

15 The Flu 61

16 The Autopsy 65

17 The Doctor and the Photographs 71

18 The Meetings 75

19 The Town Divided 79

20 The Grand Jury 83

II Revelation

21 The Reporter 89

22 The Articles 93

23 The Blow-Up 99

24 The Lawsuit 105

25 The Trial 109

26 The Stenographer 113

27 The Writer 119

III Justice

28 The Stranger and the Signals 125

29 The Matron 129

30 The Agents 131

31 The Playboy 135

32 The Horseman 143

33 The Landlord and the Tenants 147

34 The Move 153

35 The Box 157

36 The Letter 161

37 The Naval Officer 163

38 The Confidant 169

39 The New Town 171

40 The Argument 175

41 The Message 181

42 The Visitors 185

43 The Visit 189

44 The Journey Home 193

45 The Buggies 197

46 The Night 201

47 The Automobiles 205

48 The Long Way Round 209

49 The Phone Calls 211

50 The News 215

51 The First Examination 219

52 The Lantern 223

53 The Evening Visit 225

54 The Departure 227

55 The First Reporter 229

56 The Search for Clues 233

57 The Cigarette Cases 237

58 The Banker 243

59 The Horse and the Barn 247

60 The Accusations 251

61 The Sanitarium 255

62 The Bundles 259

63 The Grand Jury 263

64 The Expert Witness 267

65 The Final Witness 271

66 The Suspects 275

67 The Dissatisfaction 277

68 The Mishandled Case 279

69 The Tampered Witnesses 281

70 The Evidence 285

71 The Whitewash 287

72 The Supporters 289

73 The Masons 291

74 The Outcast 295

75 The Means and the Opportunity 299

76 The Motive 301

77 The Signals 305

78 The Neighbor 307

79 The Codes 311

80 The Device 315

81 The Money Motive 319

82 The Liberty Bonds 325

83 The Secret 329

84 The Theory 333

Epilogue 339

Addendum 1 The Hoodlum Theory 347

Addendum 2 Spy Caves 351

Acknowledgments 353

Notes 357

Bibliography 361