28. The Small Town Crime That Gripped the Gilded Age
Not much happens in Crawfordsville, a small western Indiana town. Its main historic distinction is probably that Lew Wallace, a failed Civil War general but successful post-war writer, penned Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ, while he lived there. Crawford has another distinction: it was the site of a once-famous Gilded Age scandal. It stemmed from a steamy – and seedy – love triangle that involved a reverend, his wife, and his lover. The main culprit was William F. Pettit, a New Yorker with rough edges from an early age. He hung out with hooligans, dabbled in crime, and eventually did a jail stint for stealing a pistol.
Pettit became a schoolteacher when he got out, a fervent Methodist, and an unordained revival preacher. That was how he came into contact with Hattie Sperry, an older schoolteacher. They got married, but it was not to be a happy union. William still liked to carouse with his friends and chase women. The couple eventually moved to Indiana. There, William concealed his past, became an enthusiastic Freemason, and worked his Masonic connections to get a gig as an ordained Methodist minister in 1886. He eventually ended up at Shawnee Mound Methodist Episcopal Church, in Crawfordsville, Indiana.