The Cape May County “Murder Map”

While exploring the history of capital punishment in pre-World War II, New Jersey, I stumbled upon an elusive artifact during a visit to the Cape May County Archive in August 2024. As I inquired about 19th-century judicial documents and outlined the scope of my research, the Records Room Supervisor casually mentioned the “Murder Map.”¹   

Naturally, that piqued my curiosity, prompting me to ask, “What’s the murder map?” The Deputy Clerk responded by guiding me to a liber in the Hall of Records containing old property maps.² There, I found myself viewing a unique item stored between sheets of mundane land surveys from the 1890s–Exhibit A for a 130-year-old capital case. It was labeled the “Map of the locality of the MURDER of Sarah Pierce in the vicinity of Goshen,” February 1894.³ 

This meticulously hand-drawn map, once crucial evidence in a high-profile Cape May County murder trial, was produced by Leaming M. Rice, Jr., a civil engineer. Following the murder on February 19, 1894, the county prosecutor commissioned him to create an accurate survey of the crime scene.⁴ This surviving drawing offers a rare glimpse into the intersection of emerging forensic science, cartography, police investigative methods, and legal proceedings in the late 19th century.

Examining the map’s detailed annotations, which include the precise location of the victim’s body, the arrangement of structures, the placement of furniture, and other relevant markers, provided a visual representation of the crime scene for the jury. For 21st-century researchers studying the past, it offers valuable insight into the slowly emerging investigative techniques of crime scene investigation in the late 19th century.

Initially presented as evidence at the trial, this haunting map—professionally sketched and measured at a scale of 10 feet to the inch—does more than chronicle a harrowing event; it highlights the nascent stages of systematic criminal investigations in late 19th-century South Jersey, a time when investigations were only beginning to use systematic practices.

This artifact not only sheds light on the specific case of Sarah Pierce but also situates it within a larger framework for understanding the development of crime scene investigations and judicial practices.  This serendipitous discovery, with its meticulous rendering, underscores the significance of archival research when investigating the past.

Endnotes

1. On February 19, 1894, Sarah Pierce was murdered and her husband, Richard PIerce, Jr. was charged. The court found him guilty, and the sheriff hung him in July 1894. ↩︎
2. Liber refers to a specific type of record-keeping book used in legal contexts. Legalbriefai.com writes: “Think of it as a logbook or ledger where important documents are recorded.” ↩︎
3. Rice, Leaming R., Jr. Map of the locality of the MURDER of Sarah Pierce in the vicinity of Goshen. February 1894. Cape May County Clerk of the Court’s Office, Cape May County, New Jersey. ↩︎
4. Fulginiti, Rita Marie. “The Pierce Murder: A Goshen, NJ Tragedy in 1894.” Cape May County Historical Magazine, Special Deputy Clerk, Cape May County, 1990. ↩︎