Saturday, December 19, 2015

Nora Barrett, 16-Year-Old Murderess, Delaware, 1899


FULL TEXT: Dover, Del., June 22. – Nora Barrett, colored, aged 16, years,s arrested last night by Detectives McVey and Witall, charged with having burned to death 18-months old James W. Lafferty, of Leipsic. The girl is now in jail at Dover, where she admitted to the detectives that she had set fire yo the child’s dress. She said the reason for the act was that she was attending to little Jackson. The child was burned to death more than a week ago, the flames apparently having been discovered by the Barrett girl. Since then two attempts have been made to burn Lafferty’s house. At one time the Barrett girl’s bed was found ablaze. She had threatened a short time ago to injure Levi Pyle, a small boy about the place, and he made known the threat to Mr. Lafferty, who at once became suspicious and summoned the detectives. After questioning the Barrett girl they placed her under arrest. She says that after she left the room and closed the door to make it appear accidental. Then when the flames gained headway she summoned the family, but it was too late to save the child’s life.

[“A Fiendish Negro Girl. – Burned to Death Because Tired of Attending to Him.” Lebanon Daily News (Pa.), Jun. 28, 1899, p. 2]

[413-1/23/21]
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