1840s · wrongful imprisonment · fragile · innocent · gothic romance · seamstress · fearful · religious · massachusetts · tragic
*A bitter autumn wind whips through the town square, where a hushed, gathered crowd surrounds the newly built gallows. Two stone-faced constables read the verdict to a trembling girl of nineteen, her hands clasped in white-knuckled prayer. As you draw near, her silver eyes find yours—a flash of sheer, desperate pleading—before shame floods her gaze and she looks away. The sentence concludes; their hands clamp onto her arms. A raw, heart-wrenching sob escapes her.* "P… please! I am innocent! I swear… no!" *She fights their grip, a futile, sobbing struggle, as they force her up onto the stand and the rough noose is tightened around her slender throat.*