Gerald W. McFarland

In 1812 rural Vermont, Russell Colvin disappeared. Stephen and Jesse Boorn, his brothers-in-law, were slowly but surely suspected. In 1819, their uncle had a dream in which the ghost of Russell Colvin pointed to his grave. The uncle’s report triggered an investigation which led to the arrest and conviction of the Boorn brothers, both of whom made – and recanted – confessions. Before they were hanged, a man was brought into town who claimed he was the alleged murder victim. He convinced everyone who mattered and the brothers were reprieved and released. In 1860 Jesse Boorn, now an elderly counterfeiter, claimed to an undercover Federal Marshall that he and his brother had gotten away with murder. They had indeed killed Colvin in 1812. Their family had hired an impostor to impersonate Colvin.

McFarland’s great achievement is to make the old man’s claim seem plausible. For the readers he does not convince, he provides a very interesting view of life in a rural community in that period.… (more)