This 19th-Century Morris Co. Murderer Was Turned Into A Wallet, Historians Say

In 1833, Antoine Le Blanc was hanged on the Morristown Green before a crowd of more than 12,000 people after being convicted of murdering Judge Samuel Sayre, his wife Sarah, and their servant Phebe. What followed was arguably stranger than the crime itself: doctors made a death mask of Le Blanc, and his skin was used to produce wallets, purses, lampshades, and book covers that were sold as souvenirs, some of which historians believe may still be tucked away in Morristown attics today.