Monroe Edwards, a fugitive from Texas justice who made a fortune smuggling slaves before the Revolution, was convicted of a swindle in a New York City trial on June 12, 1842.

Edwards jumped bond following a forgery conviction two years earlier in Texas  and fled to England, where he masqueraded as a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto and an abolitionist.  Threatened with exposure by a Lone Star diplomat, he came back to the United States only to end up in Sing Sing.  Five years into his sentence, he died from a severe flogging administered as punishment for an escape attempt.