The Goffle Road Murders of Passaic County

The 1850 Van Winkle Killings

Don Everett Smith Jr.

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN:
  9781614233923
• Print ISBN:
  9781609493165
• Subtopic: North American History

"A fascinating trip back to a pastoral New Jersey where malls, gangsters and toxic waste did not exist, and violence still shocked the public."—Robert Schneck, author of  The Bye Bye Man: And Other Strange-but-True Tales
 
On January 9, 1850, Judge John Van Winkle and his wife, Jane, were brutally stabbed to death by their former farm hand, John Jonston, in their home on Goffle Road in Hawthorne, NJ (which is still standing). Their murder would go down in history as the first in Passaic County, and Jonston's subsequent hanging would become the first execution in the county. The events surrounding the murder would go on to inspire the work of New Jersey's greatest poet, Pulitzer-Prize winner William Carlos Williams.
 
Since the Van Winkle home was described in  The New York Times in 1882 as "the abode of unearthly visitants," there have been documented occurrences of the unexplained occurring. The current owner, Henry Tuttman, is working to bring the house into the 21st century while retaining its heritage.
 
"Those who love their history with a side dish of horror and a dash of macabre will not want to miss the offerings of Don Smith."—Linda Godfrey, author of  I Know What I Saw
 
"Reads like your favorite thriller only it's more frightening because it's fact."—Margie Gelbwasser, author of  Inconvenient
 
"Don Everett Smith Jr. uncovers the true story behind the Goffle Road murders and the unusual connections with United States Vice President Garrett Hobart."— Cosmic Book News

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword, Robert MacFadyen
• Preface
• Prologue
• Chapter 1: Murder in the First
• Chapter 2: Founding Fathers
• Chapter 3: During the American Revolution
• Chapter 4: The Goffle Road Homestead
• Chapter 5: The Miller of Manchester
• Chapter 6: Panics in Passaic County
• Chapter 7: “A Willful and Most Atrocious Murder”
• Chapter 8: The Trial of John Jonston
• Chapter 9: The Execution of John Jonston
• Chapter 10: The Legacy of the Van Winkles
• Chapter 11: “The Abode of Unearthly Visitants”
• Chapter 12: The Final Tragedy
• Chapter 13: Poets and the Tragic House
• Chapter 14: A Colonial Homestead in a Modern World
• Epilogue
• Appendix I: Van Winkle Homestead Timeline
• Appendix II: Newspaper Articles
• Notes
• About the Author