John C. Colt

John Caldwell Colt (March 1, 1810 – November 18, 1842), the brother of Samuel Colt, was an American fur trader, bookkeeper, and law clerk. He served briefly as a U.S. Marine, forging a letter to get himself discharged after three months. After numerous business ventures, he became an authority concerning double-entry bookkeeping and published a textbook concerning the subject, which had 45 editions and remained in continuous publication until 13 years after his death.^[1]

In 1842, Colt was convicted of the murder of a printer named Samuel Adams, to whom Colt owed money for the publication of a bookkeeping textbook. Colt killed Adams with a hatchet the year previous to his arrest in what he claimed was self-defense, but he had afterwards concealed 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 news because of his family name, the manner of disposal of the corpse, and Colt's somewhat arrogant demeanor in the courtroom. Colt was found guilty and sentenced to hang, but killed himself on the morning of his execution.^[2]

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.^[2] None of these allegations were ever proven.^[3] Edgar Allan Poe may have based the short story "The Oblong Box" partly on the murder of Adams,^[4] and Herman Melville alluded to the case in his short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener".