John Caldwell Colt (March 1, 1810 – November 18, 1842), the brother of Samuel Colt of Colt firearm fame, was a fur-trader, book keeper, law clerk, and teacher. He briefly served as a Marine, forging a letter to get himself discharged after 3 months. After numerous business ventures he became an authority on double-entry bookkeeping and published a textbook on the subject which went through 45 editions and remained in continuous publication 13 years after his death.In 1842 Colt was convicted of the murder of a printer named Samuel Adams, to whom Colt owed money over the publication of a bookkeeping textbook. Colt killed Adams with a hatchet the previous year in what he claimed was self-defense, but afterwards covered up the crime by disposing of the body. When the body was discovered, Colt was the first suspect. The trial became a sensation in the New York press, because of his family connections, the manner of disposal and his somewhat arrogant demeanor in the courtroom. Colt was found guilty and sentenced to hang in 1842, but committed suicide on the morning of his execution.Conspiracy theories circulated about the suicide, with some holding that Colt had in fact escaped from prison and staged a body to look like his own. One publication alleged that a family member smuggled the knife used in the suicide into his cell. Others stated that Colt was living in California with his wife, Caroline. None of these allegations were ever proven. Edgar Allan Poe may have based a short story, The Oblong Box, partly on the murder of Adams, and Herman Melville alluded to the case in his short story Bartleby, the Scrivener.
Birth date
1810-03-01
Birth year
1810
Death date
1842-11-18
Death year
1842
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