Butchery on Bond Street - Sexual Politics and The Burdell-Cunningham Case in Ante-bellum New York

On the morning of January 31, 1857, Harvey Burdell's lifeless corpse was found in a pool of gore on the floor of his dentistry office in his home at 31 Bond Street in New York City. His ex-lover and landlady of the house was immediately accused of his murder in a case that filled the headlines for months on end. Emma Cunningham's desperate attempts to force the playboy bachelor to marry her and provide a home for the widow and her five children captured the attention of New Yorkers and people across America, just as OJ Simpson has in our times. The murder of an upper-middle class professional in the sanctity of his own home, coupled with the accused murderess' unceasing efforts to wreak vengeance and gain recompense for her rape and an involuntary abortion suffered at the hands of the murder victim form an unbelievable tale, infamous in its day and for decades thereafter, but now long forgotten.