Chocolate for the Poor: A Story of Rape in 1805

by David Beasley

Rape and wife and child abuse are common news today. Their distressing frequency make us question the safeguards and the very nature of our society. Where have we gone wrong? Yet these crimes have always been present in civilized societies. CHOCOLATE FOR THE POOR is a fictionalized account of an actual event from 1805. Ephraim Wheeler, an unemployed labourer, raped his 13-year old daughter in the Berkshire Mountain community of Massachusetts. His trial and the reactions of his family, friends, and the authorities to this rarely revealed violation bring out the political divisions and varying attitudes of different segments of the society. By looking back to a simpler community struggling with the issue of rape, we are able to see the crime in the round and judge the actions of the protagonists from the perspective of our experience. Through the fears and suffering of Wheeler's immediate family and the victim, Betsy, we see the terrible effects of the crime on one side; through the investigations of Wheeler's defence lawyer and Wheeler's radical friend, we discover Wheeler's past which accounts for his action and for his defence on another side; and through the manipulations of famous figures from Massachusetts' history such as Governor Caleb Strong and Attorney-General James Sullivan we see the public reaction and the political response on a third side.

274 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996