On New Years Eve in 1843 Rhode Island textile manufacturer Amasa Sprague wasshot and beaten to death. Within two days three Irish immigrant brothers Nicholas J... » 

On New Years Eve in 1843 Rhode Island textile manufacturer Amasa Sprague wasshot and beaten to death. Within two days three Irish immigrant brothers Nicholas John and William Gordon were arrested and charged with murder.All three were eventually brought to trial.Brotherly Love is a graphic reconstruction of the crime its social andeconomic background and the subsequent trials. The story reveals theantagonism between nativeborn Yankees who commanded great power and thegrowing number of Irish Catholic immigrants most of whom worked in the textilemills. Indeed the economic political and religious dimensions of theconflict are all evident in the trials.The authors argue persuasively that the Gordons were victims of bigotry andcircumstantial evidence serving as convenient scapegoats to appease acommunity outraged over the murder of its wealthiest citizen. In telling thestory of this notorious case Brotherly Love reveals the politics of prejudicein nineteenthcentury New England as played out in community and courtroom. «