[1755 Autograph Letter Written by a Woman Traveling in Philadelphia, likely a Quaker Minister, concerning the First Familicide in America, Murderer John Myrack].

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An extraordinary unpublished 1755 letter by an American Quaker woman providing ministerial comfort to an infamous mass murderer, within his “dungeon” cell as he awaits imminent execution.

In a drunken rage, John Myrack of East Caln, Chester County, Pennsylvania murdered his wife, his two children, and another man’s child being wet-nursed by Myrack’s wife. Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette reported:

After he murdered his Wife, he burnt her face to such a Degree, that no Person could know her. His Childrens [sic] Skulls he beat to Pieces against a Rock that was before his Door : And Mr. Gilliland’s [infant] he carried a little Way into the Woods, and there killed and left it. He afterwards endeavoured to make his Escape, but was immediately taken, where he confessed to horrid Fact..

In his chapter “Familicide: A History” within his book Familicidal Hearts (2010), scholar Neil Websdale ascribes Myrack’s murderous misdeeds in 1755 as the beginning of the epoch of familicide in America:

The extant historical research strongly suggests familicide first appeared in the United States from the middle of the eighteenth century…This does not mean people did not kill family members in premodern times. Indeed…a variety of forms of family murder punctuated the histories of premodern and modern societies. However, the killing of the entire nuclear family unit—spouse, children, oftentimes followed by the suicide of the perpetrator—appears confined to modern times, or more precisely from 1755 in the United States.

Furthermore, Websdale notes little is known of the murderer, John Myrack. After quoting from a contemporary account of the murder in the New York Mercury, Websdale comments:

We learn nothing else of the Myrack case. It would be especially helpful to know if he had beaten his wife previously, if he was sexually jealous of her, or if he envied her nursing the infant…John Myrack’s brutal killing displays not even a smidgeon of altruism, civility, or restraint, and it is more likely the work of a livid coercive heart than a civil reputable one.

The present letter discusses these infamous murders and, while acknowledging the brutal crime, newly reveals Myrack to be a truly penitent man as he faced execution.

Written in the same year as Myrack’s murders, the letter was written by a woman who was likely a traveling Quaker minister. It is principally written as a testimony to this woman’s Quaker faith and her personal witnessing to that faith in Philadelphia.

The writer begins with Biblical allusions and describes the difficulties of her ministry and hints at the testimony upon which she will be reporting:

Dear Friend haveing this opertunity I salute thee with my deep Love who art the chief companion of my thoughts betimes for the works sake that thou and I may be clear of the Blood of all men and may be enabled to lift up our voises [voices] like a trumpet and shew the people their transgrasons and the house of Jacob their sins for I think my consern is doubled for as my soul oft travels as in the Bosom of Jordan being baptized for the dead and my Lord many times made to mourn for the dispersed seed and for the scattered of Jacob even so my travels for you for which cause meet [meat] is withholden from my mouth and sleep from my eyes.  But blessed be the god of our fathers.

It soon unfolds that this traveling woman Quaker minster was visiting Philadelphia during the time John Myrack was awaiting execution for his crimes. Her interaction with him in his prison cell—indeed, her ministry to Myrack—is the lesson or testimony she most wishes to convey in this letter. She is careful to modestly admonish her correspondent not to publish this story lest some people might say she wanted glory. She writes:

When I came first to Philadelphia I heard that there was a man that had killed his wife and three children beyond there [palimpsest] which [man] had been drinking as they said for several days and had got very wastd [wasted] with drink and killed them while he was wastd who they took and put into prison and after was tried and death was passed upon him now as it fell in my travels to have a meeting in that town whear [where] this poor soul was. after meeting my companyan [companion] having heard that the prison was near whear we dined she came to me and told me of it and says will thou not goo [go] and see him but she had no sooner spoke before it passed through me I will go there beeing some friends with us which went from the meeting house with us to the house where we dined and I told them I wase [was] minded to go and see the prisoner at which they ware [were] all glad to go with me but oh how did satan strive to hinder me…

When we came in the dungeon the prison keeper spoke to him [Myrack] who answered him very chear-fuly [cheerfully] as though all was well but in about the [space] of a minit [minute] he Looked up and stidfastly [steadfastly] setting his eyes upon us…we stood in silence for we had no seats… who about the space of a minit or two bowed his head but oh the teers [tears] that descended from his eyes who like a child that had received the smart of the rod, but we had not stood long before I felt spring of the gospel power which caused all the fleshly part to trembel [tremble] and in that spring I was enabled to open my mouth and often I had done that wase [was] a friend bowed in prayer…and after taking him by the hand spoke a few words to him and he broke forth with a flood of teers [now quoting Myrack] I hope the Lord will bless you for this visit do come to see me again [end of quote] so we left him very penantent [penitent] and so they said he remained till he was exaquated [executed]

After visiting Myrack, the author describes how she asked a friend to visit him again. The friend reported to the author that he remained penitent and had even been asking for her:

Now I instructed the public friend [Quaker minister] to visit [Myrack] again which she told me she did and he remained very penitent and asked where that woman was that came to see me said he. She told him I was gone but would return that way. Well give my Dear Love to her said he and I hope the Lord will bless her for visiting such a poor cratur [creature] as I but he was exiuted [executed] before I came back and was willing to dye [die] who being asked by his mother [whether] he had made his peace with good [God] [now quoting Myrack] mother you have asked a hard question but I hope I have…I have done what I could [end of quote] and beeing [being] very sencable [sensible] died very quietly never being seen to move no part of his body after he was turned off [from the scaffold?] for which case let me ever-bless the Lord that my lot was cast there, I am ready to say, with a dear friend who said it is enough to make amends for all thy travels which none knows but good [God] alone

Addressed to New Hampshire Quaker, Abraham Dow, the unsigned communication concludes with the author sending out greetings to various people, including her husband. Some of the names she mentions are Hannah Hoag, Philip Rowell, John Dow, and William Logan. Poignantly, in view of the author’s testimony concerning familicide, she makes a point to send her love to the children of all those she greets. She also provides an interesting epithet to her epistolary testament: “…please let my husband hear the Leason [Lesson].”

Letters from literate women in colonial America are rare to commerce, especially of such length and content. This example is all the more remarkable for being written by a woman writing of her experiences providing ministerial comfort to a “death row” prisoner.

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