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  • Bridget's Hanging

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Bridget's Hanging Kindle Edition

by Sheila Duane (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.3 out of 5 stars (6)
On August 30, 1867, on a New Jersey gallows, convicted murderer Bridget Durgan was hanged before a crowd of over five hundred men, women, and children who behaved as though they were attending a carnival. She remained suspended until the cheering crowd was satisfied that justice had been done.
But had it? In Bridget's Hanging, Sheila Duane looks carefully at the evidence and concludes that justice was not done: Bridget was tried, condemned, and executed for a murder she didn't commit.
Instead, she was guilty of being poor, illiterate, Irish Catholic, an immigrant, and not beautiful, all of which were loathed in nineteenth-century America. Tried by a media not unlike today's and condemned by mob mentality, Bridget and her sensationalized story eclipsed the murder victim herself--Mary Coriell, for whom Bridget worked as a domestic--and a more likely suspect.
While journalists at the time painted a picture of Bridget as monstrous, Duane looks with fresh eyes at a character who was intellectually childlike, who practiced a foreign religion, believed in unfamiliar superstitions, and who spoke with a brogue that was difficult for Americans to understand.
Both a well-documented study and an absorbing whodunit, Bridget's Hanging dissects the case against Bridget Durgan and finds it wholly unconvincing. In doing so, Duane manages to find a little justice for Bridget at last.
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  1. Print length
    138 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Accessibility
    Learn more
  4. Publication date
    August 5, 2016
  5. File size
    9.6 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Review: Bridget's Hanging by Sheila Duane
Posted by: James Grimsby October 11, 2016 in Book Reviews, Lead Story
★★★★½
Bridget's Hanging by Sheila Duane is the author's presentation of the historical account of the life and times of Bridget Deignan (a.k.a. Durgan or Dergan) who was sentenced to hang in the town of New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1867. An Irish immigrant from a Catholic upbringing ousted from her home at the age of 22, she became a domestic worker for Coriell in 1866, and she would be charged with the murder of Mrs. Coriell the following year - a crime of which the local community would unerringly find her at guilt for, with or without substantial evidence.
The tale of Bridget Deignan isn't simply one of a woman sentenced for a crime she didn't commit - in fact, there is good reason to suspect that she very much was the perpetrator, with convincing evidence toward that conclusion. What makes the story worth telling are the circumstances that lead one young immigrant woman to her alleged crimes, and how her community reacted in response. The story of Bridget's Hanging is of lies, poverty, desperation, greed, betrayal, and xenophobia.
Duane's presentation of the story of Bridget Deignan is mostly told through the key facts and evidence available today, with written accounts and verifiable records of the life and times of the young Ms. Deignan given to us in order to read from every historically viable angle as to what may have occurred. Whole accounts are presented verbatim with separate information given in ordered sections throughout that presents a fluid account of events by topic, not chronology.
Further to the concrete evidence, Duane leads us on to what reasonable conjecture her deeper knowledge on the topic can afford, as well as her own conclusions. Nothing is left without evidence, and nothing is certified as fact beyond the strictest, most official records that can be found at the very beginning of the book: name, place of birth, and other basics.
This plain honesty, as well as Duane's straightforward storytelling, makes this true story easily accessible to any reader with the interest to delve in. And to those with little interest at the outset, Duane actually makes the accounts very gripping without mincing words or elucidating on fact, drawing you in from the very beginning. To be frank, Duane simply shows why this seemingly uninteresting girl's life is worth your time to examine - time that even perhaps those involved never deigned to give.
The book is a savage and unrelenting tale taken from all angles and given such keen, post-mortem examination that you can't help but find it enthralling. The melodrama of the situation is infectious without manipulation; a story that simply needed to be given notice to rise from something completely discarded to something worth the page count. Bridget's Hanging gets to the core tragedy of life as an Irish woman and her wider community in the New World. It's a thrilling and heartbreaking story, all the more so for its truth and reality.

About the Author

Sheila Duane has been teaching research writing at the college level for more than twenty years. She has also worked as a researcher, a journalist, and an advertising copywriter. She has been publishing her poetry for many years, most recently with the Journal of New Jersey Poets. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico, a master's in teaching from Monmouth University, and a master's in English literature from Rutgers University.

Duane resides in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, with her husband, Dean, and her son, Jude.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01JU75V6Q
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 5, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 9.6 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 138 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Best Sellers Rank: #4,549,461 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.3 out of 5 stars (6)

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Sheila Duane

Sheila Duane

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Sheila Duane has been teaching research writing at the college level for more than twenty years. She has also worked as a researcher, a journalist and an advertising copywriter. She has been publishing her poetry for many years, most recently with the Journal of New Jersey Poets. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico, a master’s in teaching from Monmouth University, and a master’s in English literature from Rutgers University.

Duane resides in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, with her husband, Dean, and her son, Jude.

Check out: http://www.bridgetshanging.com/

and

The Irish Echo (9/21/16) page 11.

Customer reviews

3.3 out of 5 stars
6 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • Moylagh Man
    1.0 out of 5 stars This may be the worst book ever printed about the Irish in America
    Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This may be the worst book ever printed about the Irish in America. It prints as facts ridiculous claims. The author should be ashamed.
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  • Elaine
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, interesting book.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2016
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I heard about this book from a friend of mine and decided to order it from Amazon. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, in spite of the fact that it is about a dark and distressing topic, the hanging of a young, immigrant woman in 1867. It is well-written and interesting. The author uses first hand accounts from newspaper articles. I won’t tell much about the story because I do not want to take away the suspense. Actually the author tells what happens right away but then goes back and fills in details in a nonlinear manner, which keeps the reader’s attention and interest. By the end of the book the full story is told and details are filled in. The author also leaves it to the reader to decide for herself or himself whether the young Irish woman Bridget Deignan was guilty, or not guilty. I think this book would be of interest to anyone who is concerned about whether justice is served when the media sensationalizes certain stories, and whether only certain people are able to get a fair trial. Something I found very interesting was when the author compared the treatments of Bridget Deignan and Lizzie Borden and points out the difference in their fates.

    The only drawback to reading this book is that the census pages did not come out clearly enough to see and were hard to decipher. However, the author wrote in the narrative what it was she was trying to point out so it was not confusing. All in all, this little book was one I could not put down and it told of an incident in our history of which we should all be aware. Food for thought, for everyone!
    4 people found this helpful
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