Imagine the scene as the protestors trudged down the street, their faces set in grim determination. Some carried rocks or bricks to throw and their leader stepped out before them, her sharpened weapon held aloft.
         We regularly see this sort of thing on news broadcasts, but in this case what are they protesting? A recent world trade conference?  A polluting factory? And who was the leader? Some well-known activist revolutionary?

Actually none of those, because in this case the protestors were housewives and mothers in 1901 Wichita, Kansas and they were out to attack a saloon. And the leader? A tall husky 50 year old woman with a sharp tongue and a loving heart, and above all, a dedication to her cause. It was the Hatchetation Hellcat - Carry Nation.

The future reformer was born in 1846 into a prosperous but unstable Kentucky farming family; unstable because her mother was a distant figure living in her own world. When Carry was quite young her mother announced that she was Queen Victoria, and soon acquired a purple gown, a crystal crown and would only see family members by appointment.

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Murder is horrible – of that there is no doubt. Yet, with the passage of time, horror often turns to morbid fascination, particularly with unsolved cases such as ‘The Ripper’ crimes; perhaps more fascinating though are cases where there might be just a flicker of doubt as to ‘whodunnit’.

One such case not widely known or remembered is that of John Kewish, executed for killing his father. The case was a complete shambles from start to finish. Reports of the trial suggest the death was a clear case of premeditated patricide. But was it? Although John was found guilty of murder, many Manxmen felt it should have been manslaughter. Not just that, but at his trial John was described as a man of low intellect; so perhaps he should have been treated differently if not sympathetically. No doubt his known tendency for petty crime had something to do with his treatment.

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Though we think of Dolley Madison today as either the name of a pastry company or as a First Lady who used snuff, to her contemporaries she was an honored, respected and beloved figure. Her service as occasional White House hostess under the Jefferson administration, later as First Lady in her own right, then as presidential widow and Washington society icon spanned some eight decades during a very important period of early American history.  Because of her multiple roles and all the while bearing the nation’s love and respect, Dolley Madison was unique to her era.

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