The trial of teenage murderer Alice Mitchell was an all out spectacle. After killing her former lover Freda Ward in a crime of passion, no one seemed to believe her motivation –least of all her own defense team. She’d end up pleading present insanity under the counsel of men who couldn’t even begin to comprehend any deviation from the sexual and gendered norms of the late 19th century. In the second half of our pride series on Alice Mitchell and Freda Ward, we’ll cover what happened to Alice in the wake of Freda’s murder and how their story got warped by the time and place in which they lived.
SOURCES:
https://www.nytimes.com/1892/01/26/archives/a-most-shocking-crime-a-memphis-society
https://www-jstor-org.dclibrary.idm.oclc.org/stable/pdf/3704437.pdf
https://the-toast.net/2013/09/06/crime-history-alice-mitchell/
Coe, Alexis. Alice + Freda Forever . Lerner Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2010/01/freda-ward-girl-slays-girl.html
https://home.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/hastingsalice1245.html
TRANSCRIPT: