Crime History: Murder in early America:

On this day, Aug. 8, in 1801, Jason Fairbanks, the son of a prominent early American family who lived in what now is considered the oldest house in the country, was convicted of killing Elizabeth Fales after she resisted his marriage overtures. Fairbanks, of Dedham, Mass., showed up at the Fales’ house covered in blood and holding a knife. He told the family that she had committed suicide and he tried to kill himself, too. She was stabbed 11 times.