When the body of Amasa Sprague was found shot and beaten on the road between his factory and his mansion on New Year’s Day, 1844, suspicion fell on three members of Sragueville’s Irish community. Nicholas Gordon was known to hold a grudge against Amasa Sprague; John and William Gordon would do whatever their older brother wanted. It was a conspiracy theory, based more on bigotry and class warfare than hard evidence. The arrest of three immigrants would strain the already tense relations between Rhode Island’s English and Irish communities.