Thomas M. Bram was tried in a Boston court for the murder of Captain Charles I. Nash, his wife, Laura A. Nash, and second mate, August W. Blomberg, on board the barkentine Herbert Fuller, bound for Buenos Aires from Boston, July, 1896. The first Bram trial was held in Boston in 1897, with Monks and a Norwegian sailor, Charley Brown (Justus Leopold Westerberg), as key prosecution witnesses. After Bram was convicted and sentenced to death his attorney contested the verdict (and Bram's so-called "inferential confession") and the case was brought before the U.S. Supreme Court, which set aside the verdict and ordered a new trial, which took place in 1898. Bram was again convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Mary Robert Rinehart's fictionalized account of the case, The After House, was indirectly responsible for re-opening it, and Bram was pardoned and released after seventeen years when it was discovered that Charley Brown was the likely murderer. Collection includes: Vol. 1 - Captain's logbook, 1895 Sept. 5-1896 July 17; journal of passenger Lester Hawthorne Monks, a student, 1896 July 1-17; 2 photographs, of the Herbert Fuller and of the crew who served as witnesses. Vol. 2 - 4 p. statement of Lester Monks signed by members of the crew and introduced as evidence at the trial, 1898 March 23; complete report of the Bram trial as reported by Stanley Harvey in the Boston Globe, 1898 March 16-April 20 (newspaper clippings). Vol. 3 - photocopy of Harvey's report (note: researchers are requested to consult this instead of the original clippings).
