LIFE AND CONFESSIONS OF JAMES GILBERT JENKINS: THE MURDERER OF EIGHTEEN MEN. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE MURDER OF EIGHT WHITE MEN AND TEN INDIANS; TOGETHER WITH THE PARTICULARS OF HIGHWAY ROBBERIES, THE STEALING OF SEVERAL HORSES, AND NUMEROUS OTHER CRIMES, COMMITTED IN MISSOURI, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, VIRGINIA, ARKANSAS, TENNESSEE, TEXAS, NEW MEXICO, NEBRASKA, AND CALIFORNIA: AS NARRATED BY HIMSELF TO COL. C.H. ALLEN, SHERIFF OF NAPA COUNTY, WHILE IN JAIL UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH FOR MURDER OF PATRICK O'BRIEN. PHONOGRAPHICALLY REORTED [sic] AND ARRANGED FOR THE PRESS BY R. E. WOOD

Napa City [CA]: C.H. Allen and R.E. Wood; Printed by William P. Harrison & Co., 1864. 56pp, LACKING THE FRONTIS portrait of Jenkins, one plate illustration of Jenkins preparing to bury his recent victim. Original printed wrappers, portrait of Jenkins on front wrap. Wood's Preface dated in type, "Napa City, March 1st, 1864." Good+.

"O'Brien's wife wanted him out of the way, and Jenkins obliged, burying O'Brien in the woods. Like many before him, when discovered, he charged his plight to liquor" [McDade].
Jenkins was a busy criminal; his murders and other transgressions in the South and Southwest are chronicled in detail here. "The dispensation of justice in that day was not impeded by iniquitous technicality, nor disturbed by false sentiment. This abandoned wretch was arrested Jan. 19, 1864, and hanged on March 18 of the same year" [Cowan].
Cowan 312. Graff 4736. Howes W635aa. McDade 514. (Inventory #: 39686)