The Trials of Maria Barbella
The True Story of a 19th Century Crime of Passion
by Idanna Pucci
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Maria Barbella was an Italian immigrant to the U.S. and a seamstress who worked in a sweatshop. Her lover, Domenico Cataldo, promised her marriage and an escape from factory life. When she left her family for him, however, Cataldo rejected her; betrayed and furious, Barbella slit his throat. She was the first woman sentenced to the electric chair, then only recently invented. Convicted of murder, sentenced to die, she awaited a retrial as her defenders rallied an appeal. She was aquitted in the second trial. This exploration of the events, written a hundred years after the fact, is amplified by the author's own history: her grandmother was one of Barbella's advocates.
Editions of The Trials of Maria Barbella
 |
ISBN |
Binding/Format Hardcover |
Publisher Thunder's Mouth Pr |
Date 1996 |
Price $2.11 |
 good |
 |
ISBN |
Binding/Format Paperback |
Publisher Vintage Books |
Date 1997 |
Price $1.00 |
Good |
Publisher Notes
Combining murder, the death penalty, and women's rights, The Trials of Maria Barbella retells the saga of a woman accused of murdering her lover in 1895 New York. The first woman sentenced to die in the then-new electric chair, Barbella's trials galvanized the Victorian public. 12 photos.
Media Reviews
"Although it reads like a well-crafted thriller, 'The Trials of Maria Barbella' is an eye-opening document about life and social attitudes at the turn of the century. As such, it tells us a great deal about how much we've learned as a society in a hundred years, and how little."
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