The Murder of Mattie Hackett

By Peter M. Pettingill

On Thursday evening, August 17, 1905, the idyllic New England town of Readfield, Maine was shaken by the murder of seventeen-year-old Mattie Hackett, a beloved student of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary & Female College at Kents Hill.

Within a few days of the murder law enforcement suspects Mrs. Elsie Raymond of the crime but is unable to secure an indictment. Six years after the murder, an ambitious county attorney candidate promises that if elected he will bring the perpetrator of the murder to justice. Elected to office the case is re-opened, re-investigated, subsequently resulting in the indictment and trial of Elsie Raymond.

In this nominally fictionalized tale, the author brings the reader through the fated evening, the ensuing, days, weeks, months, and years through the trial of Elsie Raymond. Using in depth research, the author uses the facts and characters to take the reader to 1905 - 1912 Kennebec County, Maine to witness the events and experience the personal moments of those involved.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1961532352
• ISBN13: 9781961532359
• Release Date: December 2023
• Publisher: Seacoast Press
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"