White, Capt. Joseph

Capt. Joseph White was found murdered in his house (the Gardner-Pingree house on Essex St.) on April 7, 1830. Richard Crowninshield, and Frank and Joe Knapp were jailed for the crime. Richard Crowninshield hung himself shortly after. Senator Daniel Webster was brought in by the prosecution to prove Frank Knapp guilty. After a second trial, Frank was convicted. Frank was hanged in September, Joe was convicted in November and executed right after Christmas. George Crowninshield, Richard's younger brother, who had been implicated in the murder had an alibi for that night, as he was with a prostitute by the docks.

See Also

• Vertical File in Salem Collection - White, Joseph

• Death of an empire: the rise and murderous fall of Salem, America's richest city Robert Booth

• Salem: Place, Myth & Memory ed. by Dane A. Morrison, p. 250-254

• The Peabody Story by John A. Wells, p. 251

• Essex Institute Historical Collections Vol. 47, p. 119

• The Young Devils and Dan'l Webster by Charles P. Curtis

• Hidden History of Salem by S. Saville, p. 40-53

• "Sensational murder returns to spotlight; 175 years later, stabbing of Capt. Joseph White in Salem remembered" Salem News, Nov. 5, 2005, p. A14