Syllabus
for:
JHU MLA
450.744 – Murder and Espionage in Maryland
The course will look in depth at one significant spy case
(Alger Hiss vs. Whittaker Chambers) and three famous Maryland
Murder
cases, Swearingen, Wharton, and Grammer (1820s, 1870s,
1950s. The
earliest murder case is about the death of a Sheriff's wife by the hand
of the Sheriff, the second about the murder of a civil war officer by
the widow of one of his soldiers, and the third is about the murder of
the wife of a WWII special forces enlisted man by her husband, in whose
defense a letter of commendation was introduced, signed by General
Dwight David Eisenhower. Only the woman got off.
The men were executed.
Over
the course of the semester, each case will be placed in the context of
its times, local, state, and national, with virtual visits to the
scenes of the crimes.
The course will be divided in to four
three week segments, one for each case, beginning with the earliest,
the 1829 Swearingen murder case from Washington/Allegany counties, and
concluding with the Alger Hiss/Whittaker Chambers espionage case of the
late 1940s, early 1950s..
The seminar will be divided by lot
into teams for each three week segment devoted to a case, and final
papers will be derived from research and writing about the life of an
indvidual connected with the case to which seminar participants have
been assigned. Teams will be expected to lead the discussions
of
the cases based upon the resources provided on line. For
final
papers, for example, if you were to draw the Swearingen case,
with the help of the instructor, you would choose an
individual
from the case to write about for your term paper (the equivalent of
approximately 10-15, 250 word pages with end note pages as extensive as
you deem necessary). In writing this biographical essay, you are
expected to place the individual in the context of his or her times and
address the question of why that indvidual deserves to be remembered.
You and all the seminar participants, will be expected, at
the
end of the three week segment devoted to a case, to
submit
on line a 1-2 page equivalent of your judgment as a modern juror in the
case, addressing the guilt or innocence of the accused, and the nature
of the punishment, if you find the defendent guilty, that you
would prescribe if you were permitted to give sentence..
If you
have a laptop, please bring it to class. Laptops are not
required, but access to a computer and the internet is.
Schedule:
Weeks 1&2,
September 1
& 8, Introduction and instruction in the use of Zotero
for note taking, access to reading assignments, and writing
the juror's summary and final paper. All programs
for
working with secondary sources and access to original documents for
each case, will be provided by a USB drive that will be
distributed at the first class, on loan to each student for the
semester. If they have not done so already, students may with to
familiarize themselves with Google Earth which
will be used for virtual visits to the scenes of the crime. Students
will be required to create a Google Mail account for the seminar, if
they do not have one already, and to register with Zotero for group
access to Zotero files.
Weeks 3-5, September 15,
22, 29
will be devoted to the Swearingen case. All seminar
participants
will be expected to have accessed the source materials provided via the
USB drive handed out the first class, and in particular for the first
session on September 15 have carefully read: :
Swearingen,
George.
Life and Confession of George Swearingen, Who Was Executed, at
Cumberland, Allegany County, MD on the 2d Day of October, 1829, for the
Murder of His Wife. Printed by William D. Bell, Hagerstown,
MD, 1829.
Weeks 6-8, October 6, 13,
20 will be devoted to the Wharton case. All
seminar participants will be expected to have accessed the
source materials provided via the USB drive handed out the first class,
and in particular for the first session have carefully read:
[Savage,
George] Trial of Mrs. Elizabeth G. Wharton on the Charge
of poisoning General W. S. Ketchum tried at Annapolis, Md., December,
1871-January,
1872/ reported and published by the Baltimore
Gazette. [Baltimore,
Md.] The Gazette, [1872]. 172. p., [9] leaves; 23
cm.
Originals at the Maryland Historical Society, PAM 11671, and
the Enoch
Pratt Free Library, Maryland Room. Microfiche edition,
Rohman,
Littleton, Colorado, 1983, which includes poor copies of newspaper
clipplings
including undated and source unknown:
Weeks 9-11, October 27,
November 3, 10 will be devoted to the Grammer case. All
seminar participants will be expected to have accessed the
source materials provided via the USB drive handed out the first class,
and in particular for the first session have carefully read:
Weeks 12-14,
November 17, 24, December 1 will be devoted to
the Hiss/Chambers case. All seminar
participants will be expected to have accessed the
source materials provided via the USB drive handed out the first class,
and in particular for the first session have carefully read:
Week of December 5
is set aside for finishing final papers.
Wednesday, December 15,
USB drives, loaned to each seminar participant at the first class,
are to be returned containing final papers and the three
short
essays on your opinion as a juror in each of the cases. The instructor
will be in the classroom that evening at the ususal time for one hour
to receive the usb drives.
GRADES:
Final grades
will be based upon the following forumula: final paper, 50%
of
the final grade, Jurors' decisions, 15% each (3 papers for a total of
45% of the final grade), and 5% based upon seminar participation..