April 14, 1894 ended this ‘Trial of the Century’. It had begun on March 8, 1894 and took just over a month. The case was a Breach of Promise case between Madeline Pollard and William Campbell Preston Breckinridge. When they first met on a train, Pollard was a 17 year old student at Wesleyan College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Breckinridge was a five term congressman in D.C., and was on the fast track in Washington. His grandfather was an Attorney General, his cousin was a vice president, other relatives were senators, representatives, and governors.
They started a romance even though he was married. She changed colleges to be closer to him, and he paid for her tuition. Their romance was for several years, and they had two children together, that were given up for adoption (his request), one died only a few months old. Breckinridge’s wife became very sick around the same time that Pollard became pregnant with third child. He promised to marry her after his wife died. The wedding was going to be on May 31, 1893 but he then postponed the wedding until December so she could give birth, and there would be no scandal on who the baby’s father was.
Breckinridge secretly then got married to his cousin on April 29, 1893. Pollard had a miscarriage on May 21, 1893. Pollard then sued Breckinridge for $50,000 for Breach of Contract. For one month, the country would read of the scandalous trial. Breckinridge’s lawyers tried to portray Pollard as a harlot, and Pollard would come to trial dressed in black, and escorted with a nun. Women were asked to leave the court several times so they did not have to hear the lurid testimony in the courtroom.
After one hour and 23 minutes, the jury awarded Madeline Pollard $50,000. It ruined Breckinridge’s political career. He lost his next election, never to run for political office again.
And…I have a book on that! I have the rare book “Madeline Pollard vs Breckinridge, Celebrated Breach of Promise Case” published 1894 (blue binding). It has pictures of the defendant and the plaintiff, along with lawyers and the judge, and even places of note. There are detailed quotes and happenings for every day of the trial. It claims to be “a full and accurate account of this great trial”. It is actually quite a riveting book to read.
Much more rare, is the Salesman’s Dummy book (red binding). This thinner book has the pictures, and a few of the daily trial happenings, including some of the scandalous ones. The book salesman would go door to door, offering this book-that had information that the newspapers could not print. The paper book would sell at bookstores for $0.75 but with him at only $0.50; or the cloth book $1.25 at stores and only $1.00 from salesman.
Many of the salesman dummy books of that time were about famous people, like Charles Lindbergh, or events like Panama canal, or religious upright readings, and would be used in home library for children and adults to use. This one though, is about a scandalous current event that I am sure no child would need to for a book report. It would be just the dirt, just for the adults. I am very happy to be the current custodian of these two books.
Thanks for reading.
Librarytomes 