Who killed Rebecca Cornell on the afternoon of Feb. 8, 1673, as she sat alone in her room in her home in Portsmouth? To this day no one knows for certain, yet one man, her son, Thomas, was convicted (on evidence that now seems wholly spurious) and executed for the crime. At one time she had hinted at suicide and at another declared that in the spring she was going to live with her other son, Samuel, but feared that she might be made away with before then. Finally, one witness who accompanied by Sarah Cornell, had visited Thomas Cornell while he was in jail asserted that the wife and husband had conversed apart and that he had heard one say to the other "If you will keep my secret, I will keep yours."
Such is the main bulk of the testimony. There is one more episode in the case, however and it might well be mentioned. Four days after the murder the brother of Rebecca Cornell testified that the ghost of his sister had appeared at his bedside and spoken to him twice, calling attention to her burns and wound and implying that she had been murdered. Strange as it seems, according to the Cornell Family Genealogical records, this bit of flimsy testimony had the most to do with the indictment and sentencing of Thomas Cornell.
The case caused a great deal of feelings among the people of the colony, as well it might and its true solution remained a mystery. Two years later it was revived briefly in the indictment of Sarah Cornell, the widow of Thomas Cornell for either perpetrating the crime or "for being abetting or consenting thereto" it may not be wrong to assume that her acquittal was in a large measure due to public sentiment. There had been time to do a whole lot of sane thinking since the hanging of Thomas Cornell. The people had reasoned to question the high handed proceedings, which rushed his execution.
Whether Thomas Cornell was actually guilty or not we cannot say. The "Friends Records" say that "Rebecca Cornell, widow, was killed strangely at Portsmouth in her own dwelling house". But they name no murder. Even we, who are not lawyers, would question much of the evidence. While one prominent lawyer, once asked about the case, simply said, "there was no evidence".
Sarah Cornell, wife of Thomas Cornell, Jr., probably thought the same, for she named a daughter, born after her husband's death, "Innocent". Undoubtedly as a living protest against her husband's unjust execution, which was rather typical of the time.
Source of Information: John T. Pierce, Sr., 52 Cedar Ave., Portsmouth, R.I., 02871 (As of June 1987) and Steven Alsip, Corbin, KY.