The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America

The story behind the 1793 rape trial of Harry Bedlow, the scion of two “prosperous, old Dutch families” in New York City, is untangled in this immersive chronicle. Sweet (Bodies Politic), history professor at the University of North Carolina, details how 26-year-old Bedlow, who had a reputation as a “very great rake,” lied about his identity to 17-year-old seamstress Lanah Sawyer before abducting and assaulting her in a “bawdy house.” Lanah struggled to convince her family about the truth of her ordeal, yet Bedlow was eventually charged with rape and brought to trial, where prosecutors cast him “as a symbol of the debauchery and luxury of an aristocratic order overthrown by the revolution, and Lanah Sawyer and her peers—hardworking, modest, and unpretentious—as the true representatives of republican virtue.” The jury acquitted Bedlow of the crime, and even though Lanah’s stepfather eventually won a “seduction lawsuit” against him, collecting the settlement proved difficult. Embellishing the thin historical record with lengthy discussions about Revolutionary era politics, contemporaneous romance novels, the development of Manhattan, Alexander Hamilton’s alleged affair with Maria Reynolds, and other matters, Sweet paints an evocative portrait of 18th-century New York. The result is a vivid addition to the history of sexual politics in America. (July)