Rachel Wall: Fallacy, Folklore and the Art of Catching a Thief

In the year 1789 a Pennsylvania woman by the name of Rachel Wall was executed in Boston for Highway Robbery. Her life had become a spectacle in a society that had been weakened by war and whose morals and laws were not yet finding balance with Independence. But even with a past record of crime for which Rachel was convicted, she persisted to commit them. Was this the mark of a corrupt woman with no consideration, conscience or principles? Or was she a victim of a cruel circumstance that set her up for failure? Research would tell us that Rachel had been a very intelligent yet complicated individual who struggled to rise from poverty and the wicked crowd of which she was considered. Her criminal acts were not prompted by ill intent but rather a desperate need for survival. Regarding the subject of her final crime, of which she was executed, Rachel pleaded her innocence – but was she? Was she the embodiment of the expression for “wrong place, wrong time”? There came a time where Rachel's name had faded from modern memory. It wasn't until 1959 when her name breathed new life – a Folklorist, through historical misunderstanding, created the story of Rachel Wall painting her as a fearsome female pirate. And since then her fabricated story was accepted as fact and still remains today. Her name and crime has become synonymous with false allegations of which there are no basis. Join historian, Nicole Frederick, for a comprehensive investigation into Rachel Wall's life, legend and crimes with never before heard information recounting her exploits and the true tale of a woman lost to time.