Bigamy and Bloodshed: The Scandal of Emma Molloy and the Murder of Sarah Graham

Join us as a Larry E. Wood presents the story of Emma Molloy―temperance revivalist, prohibitionist and accessory to murder. In the summer of 1885, ex-convict George Graham bigamously married Cora Lee, foster daughter of nationally known temperance revivalist Emma Molloy, and the three took up residence together on the Molloy family farm near Springfield, Missouri. When the body of Graham’s first wife, Sarah, was found at the bottom of an abandoned well on the property early the next year, Graham was charged with murder, while Cora and Emma were implicated as accessories. Wood will describe how this sensational story made national headlines, threatening Mrs. Molloy’s career as a prominent evangelist and temperance revivalist.