The Plea
The True Story of Young Wesley Elkins and His Struggle for Redemption
Thomas Wolf author Patricia L Bryan author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of Iowa Press
Published:31st Jul '22
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

On a moonlit night in 1889, Iowa farmer John Elkins and his young wife, Hattie, were brutally murdered in their bed. Eight days later, their son, eleven-year-old Wesley Elkins, was arrested and charged with murder. The community reeled with shock by both the gruesome details of the homicides and the knowledge of the accused perpetrator—a small, quiet boy weighing just 75 pounds.
Accessible and fast-moving, The Plea delivers a complete, complex, and nuanced narrative of this horrific crime, while shedding light on the legal, social, and political environment of Iowa and the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
ISBN: 9781609388393
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 134g
212 pages