1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: You are listening to History on Trial, a production of 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts. Listener discretion advised. As he walked home on 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: May thirteenth, eighteen fifty four, Nathaniel Lamb was presented with 4 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:21,440 Speaker 1: a vision of loveliness all around him. Spring was unfurling, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: Dormant plants poked their heads from the soil to greet 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: the sun covering the world in green. Oregon winters can 7 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: be dreary, but all those gray, rainy days pay off. 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: Thirty four year old Nathaniel was returning from a hunt, 9 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: accompanied by two friends and his eldest son, thirteen year 10 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: old Abraham. They'd managed to get a bear, even split 11 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: three ways. This was a good haul of meat, and 12 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,239 Speaker 1: Nathaniel had claimed one of the bear's paws too, as 13 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: a trophy. The paw would add some character to his 14 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: family's cabin, which, like most pioneer dwellings, was a barbones affair, 15 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: but it was sturdy enough to have gotten the Lambs, Nathaniel, 16 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: his wife Charity, and their six children through the last 17 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,919 Speaker 1: eighteen months since it arrived in the Oregon territory. Though 18 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: with only two rooms, quarters likely felt tight, especially since 19 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:19,320 Speaker 1: the arrival of baby Presley. Reaching the cabin. Nathaniel unloaded 20 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: his share of meat from the wagon and carried it 21 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: into the back room, passing by Charity, who was cooking 22 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: at the fireplace. The table was set for supper, so 23 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,479 Speaker 1: Nathaniel set the meat and the paw down and took 24 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: his seat. His sixteen year old daughter mary Anne went 25 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: to look at the bear paw, while her five younger brothers, 26 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: who ranged in age from thirteen year old Abraham to 27 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: baby Presley, sat down to eat. The perfect end to 28 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: the perfect day, it seemed. The family snug inside their cabin, 29 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: gathered around a warm meal as the sun sunk behind 30 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: the Douglas Firs and big leaf maples, its last rays 31 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: illuminating the Lamb's property, hundreds of acres of lush or 32 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: wagon land that, after only three more years of occupancy 33 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: and improvement, would belong to the Lamb family outright and 34 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: secure their future on this new frontier of the United States. 35 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: But that future would never come, because as Nathaniel Lamb 36 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: bent over his supper, his wife Charity rose from her seat, 37 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: grabbed an axe, and slammed it into the back of 38 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: his head. Welcome to history on trial. I'm your host, 39 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: Mira Hayward this week the Territory of Oregon v. Charity Lamb. 40 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: To understand what happened that night in the Lamb cabin, 41 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: we need to travel back nearly twenty years and three 42 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: thousand miles to July fourteenth, eighteen thirty six, the day 43 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,919 Speaker 1: that eighteen year old Charity Robins married sixteen year old 44 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: Nathaniel Lamb in Randolph County, North Carolina. Young marriages were 45 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 1: not uncommon in Charity and Nathaniel's world. Their parents had 46 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: all married in their teens. Nathaniel's mother, Susannah, was only 47 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: thirteen when Nathaniel was born in eighteen twenty. Nathaniel was 48 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: the first of eighteen children that Susannah would bear over 49 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: the next twenty seven years, before divorcing her husband in 50 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,919 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty, blaming that he was an alcoholic who'd abandoned 51 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:21,679 Speaker 1: the family and spent all their money. Her mother in 52 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: law's story might have served as a cautionary tale to 53 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: Charity Lamb, but by the time Susannah filed for divorce, 54 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: Charity and Nathaniel were long gone from North Carolina. Their 55 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: first child, Mary Anne, had been born in North Carolina 56 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty seven, a year after their marriage, but 57 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: by eighteen forty, when their second child, Abraham arrived, the 58 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: family had moved to Illinois. Their next three children, Thomas, William, 59 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: and John, were all born even further west in Missouri, 60 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: but even that frontier was not far enough for Nathaniel Lamb. 61 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: Not long after the birth of the Lamb's fifth child, John, 62 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty one, Nathaniel decided to take his family 63 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: to the Oregon Territory. The Donation Land Claim Act of 64 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty allowed white married couples to claim three hundred 65 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: and twenty acres of land in the territory free of charge, 66 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,280 Speaker 1: provided they arrived on the land before eighteen fifty four 67 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: and lived on and worked the land for four years. 68 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: The Lambs were some of the estimated three to four 69 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,919 Speaker 1: hundred thousand Americans who traveled the Oregon Trail between eighteen 70 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: forty and eighteen sixty. It was an arduous, multi month 71 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: journey of more than two thousand miles, requiring settlers to 72 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: face a litany of dangers, from bad weather to wagon 73 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: accidents to disease. As anyone who's played the Oregon Trail 74 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 1: computer game nos dying from dysentery, all too easy. But 75 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: for Charity Lamb, the dangers of the trail came from 76 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: a more proximate source. Her husband, Nathaniel, had never been 77 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: a kind husband nor a law abiding one. Later, Charity 78 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: would recount how he'd stole and a horse and an 79 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,239 Speaker 1: ox while they lived in Missouri and threatened his family 80 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:08,160 Speaker 1: with death if they turned him in. Their son, Abraham, 81 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: described his parents as frequently quarreling. Their daughter Mary Anne, 82 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: said quote, my parents have quarreled all their lives. But 83 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,600 Speaker 1: things got worse as they headed west on the plains. 84 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: Mary Anne Lamb later testified he threatened her, and she 85 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: carried the gun all day ahead of the wagon train 86 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: through fear he would kill her with it. Miraculously, all 87 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: the Lamb survived the trail as far as we know. 88 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,159 Speaker 1: In the autumn of eighteen fifty two, the family arrived 89 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: in Oregon and staked their claim. The land they chose 90 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,679 Speaker 1: was just north of the Clacamus River, southeast of present 91 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: day Portland. Though remote, the land was lovely. Frank branch Riley, 92 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 1: who later owned the plot, described it as quote a 93 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: picturesque high mountain meadow with far flung breath taking panoramas 94 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: of the valleys of the Clacamus River and Eagle Creek, 95 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 1: an environment of scenic, loveliness and tranquility, and an improbable 96 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: setting for a horrendous story of violent hate and assassination. 97 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: Perhaps not so improbable for Charity Lamb. She later told 98 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: the family's hired hand, Dwight Muzzy, that she quote did 99 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: not like the land. It was very remote. The Lamb's 100 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: nearest neighbors, the Smiths, were half a mile away. After that, 101 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: there was no one for two miles in any direction. 102 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: The nearest town, Oregon City, was nine miles away. Legal 103 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:37,359 Speaker 1: historian Ronald Lansing describes Charity as quote snared in a 104 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: land far from friends, family, and familiar places, and Nathaniel's 105 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: abuse was intensifying. Not long after their arrival, in the 106 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: winter of eighteen fifty two, Charity fell ill and took 107 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: to her bed. When Nathaniel commanded her to get up, 108 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 1: she said she could not, so he picked up a 109 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: stool and said he would move her by force. The 110 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: next spring, he threw a hammer at her head, striking 111 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 1: her in the forehead and leaving a scar. Charity was 112 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: likely pregnant with the couple's sixth child, Presley at the time. 113 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 1: After Presley's birth, Charity believed Nathaniel tried to poison her. 114 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: Later that year, when Charity didn't help Nathaniel carry a 115 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: log into the house, he punched her. When she fell 116 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: into the snow. Stunned, he kicked her repeatedly. Their children 117 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: witnessed all of this, but worse was still to come. 118 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: Sometime in late eighteen fifty three or early eighteen fifty four, 119 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: a man named Collins came into the Lamb's life. Little 120 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: is known about Collins, including his first name, but his 121 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: reputation apparently was concerning. According to the Oregon Statesman, in 122 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: the summer of eighteen fifty three, Collins quote seduced a 123 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: man's wife and a divorce was obtained. Now, Collins had 124 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: his sights set on mary Anne Lamb, a round face 125 00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: sixteen year old with lustrous dark hair. Charity, perhaps hoping 126 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: to get her daughter out of their violent home, supported 127 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: Collins's suit. Nathaniel did not. Eventually, he threatened to kill 128 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: Collins if the man kept showing up at their house. 129 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: Later rumors and reports would claim that both Mary Anne 130 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: and Charity were in love with Collins, but we have 131 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: no evidence of this. The only thing we know is 132 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: that in the spring of eighteen fifty four, mary Anne, 133 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: with the help of her mother, tried to get back 134 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: into contact with Collins. Charity wrote the letter on her 135 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: daughter's behalf. Marianne then hid the letter in the front 136 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:36,079 Speaker 1: of her dress, waiting for a chance to mail it. 137 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:39,719 Speaker 1: But on Saturday May sixth, before she could get the 138 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:45,319 Speaker 1: letter off, her father discovered it. Nathaniel irrupted, furious at 139 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: his wife and daughter's betrayal of his commands. You will 140 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: not live at my expense longer than a week, he 141 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,239 Speaker 1: bellowed at Charity. He would kill her the next Saturday, 142 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: he told her, and take their sons and leave. Nine 143 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: year old Thomas Lamb later explained that it was only 144 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: a matter of logistics that Nathaniel did not kill Charity 145 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: and leave that very day. Quote he said he was 146 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,559 Speaker 1: going to take us boys along because he was not 147 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 1: going to let her raise us, but that he was 148 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: waiting for the cow to have a calf so that 149 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: he could take the baby along and have milk for it. 150 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: That is what he waited so long for. For the 151 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: next week, Charity awoke each morning and wondered if it 152 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: would be the day she would die. At one point, 153 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: Nathaniel seemed to relent. He told her to leave if 154 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: she wanted, But then he told her that if she left, 155 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: he would follow her, and, in their thirteen year old 156 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,839 Speaker 1: son Abraham's words, quote settle her when she didn't know it. 157 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,560 Speaker 1: Nine year old Thomas put it more plainly. She said 158 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 1: she didn't know what to do, for he was going 159 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: to kill her, and if she ran off, he would 160 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: follow her and kill her. Anyhow, Nathaniel toyed with Charity, 161 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,760 Speaker 1: pretending to change his mind once more and telling her 162 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: to go. Charity snatched her bonnet and hurried out the door, 163 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: but before she reached the gate, she heard her husband, 164 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: I'll drop you before you get out of sight. Nathaniel 165 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: said his rifle was aimed straight at her. Charity came 166 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 1: back on Friday evening, with one day left in the week. 167 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: Nathaniel had given Charity to live. Mary Anne and Thomas 168 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: saw their father point his gun once more at their mother. 169 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,079 Speaker 1: When he saw that they were watching him, Nathaniel turned 170 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: and shot his gun into a tree instead. The next morning, 171 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: the thirteenth, before Nathaniel and Abraham left on the hunt, 172 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:35,680 Speaker 1: Abraham noticed that his mother appeared quote, tolerably uneasy. She 173 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 1: pulled Abraham aside and told him that his father, quote, 174 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:41,079 Speaker 1: was going to kill her and mary Anne and take 175 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: us boys and go to California. The family's hired hand, 176 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: thirty four year old Dwight Muzzy, was working near the 177 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 1: cabin that day and came in for breakfast and lunch. 178 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: He said. Charity looked downcast and dejected. At lunch, she 179 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: pulled Muzzy aside and said she had something to tell him, 180 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: something that must be kept a secret. She believed Lamb 181 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: was going to leave. She knew it because he was 182 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: making preparations. He had sold his mare, and she knew 183 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: he had got money for it. He was going to 184 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:13,960 Speaker 1: California and would take the boys with him. Muzzy said 185 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: he hoped it wasn't true, but Charity insisted it was. 186 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:20,559 Speaker 1: You think you have a friend in Lamb, she told him, 187 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 1: but you are very much deceived. Her husband was not 188 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: a good man. She told Muzzy about all the times 189 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: he had abused her, the hammer he'd thrown at her head, 190 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: the time he'd tried to poison her, all the threats 191 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:37,560 Speaker 1: he'd made to her life. Now, Charity told Muzzy he 192 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: was going to kill her and Mary Anne Dwight. Muzzy 193 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: does not seem to have believed Charity Lamb. He never 194 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: said so outright, but his actions reveal his ambivalence. After 195 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: Charity poured out her fears to Muzzy, she asked if 196 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,120 Speaker 1: he would return to the cabin later that night. He 197 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:58,720 Speaker 1: said he would not. Charity pushed, but carefully, reminding Muzzy 198 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: that she'd done his laundry. Wouldn't he need to come 199 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: back for a clean shirt? I said not, Muzzy recalled, 200 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: Then he left her alone. Several hours later, Nathaniel's hunting companions, 201 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: William Cook and David Deardorf, dropped Nathaniel and Abraham off 202 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: at the cabin, then continued on towards the Smith's house. 203 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 1: After stopping for a few minutes to chat with Benjamin Smith, 204 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: the two men set off again. They made it only 205 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: a few hundred yards before they heard Benjamin Smith call 206 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: them back. Abraham Lamb stood at Smith's side, panting he 207 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: had just run there, carrying the news that his father 208 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 1: was dead. Smith and Cook and Deardorf and Abraham ran 209 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: back to the Lamb cabin, passing Charity and Mary Anne 210 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: Lamb who were running in the opposite direction. When Charity 211 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: saw Abraham, she paused and cried out to him take 212 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: care of the baby. Then she ran off. At the Lambs, 213 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: the men found Nathaniel sprawled outside, his head a bloody mess. 214 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: As they bent down to pick him up, they drew 215 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: back in shock. Nathaniel Lamb was still alive. Doctor Presley 216 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:11,840 Speaker 1: Welch was quickly summoned to the Lamb cabin. What he 217 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: saw did not make him optimistic. The top of Nathaniel's 218 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,840 Speaker 1: skull was split by a five inch long gash that 219 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: penetrated two inches into his brain. The bone was also 220 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: damaged in the back of the skull. Even though Nathaniel 221 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 1: was alive now, doctor Welch knew he would not remain 222 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: that way for long. Having done all he could for 223 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: the patient, doctor Welch set out towards the Smith's, the 224 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: direction Charity had last been seen heading. He found Charity 225 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,640 Speaker 1: inside the Smith's cabin, sitting in a bed. She asked 226 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: about her husband. Welch told her his wounds were mortal. 227 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,760 Speaker 1: Charity seemed surprised quote she said she did not mean 228 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: to kill the critter. Welch recalled that she only intended 229 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: to stun him until they could get away. Even despite 230 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: Welch's report, Charity did not seem convince that her husband 231 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: would die. When one of the Smith's sons returned home 232 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 1: from the Lamb cabin, he found Charity smoking her pipe. 233 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 1: Her first question for him was whether her husband would 234 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: be able to come find her and kill her. The 235 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: boy replied that he did not think so, and that 236 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: Nathaniel would not live long. Charity asked the same question 237 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: of everyone who came to the smith house that night, 238 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: would her husband be able to come after her? After 239 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: hearing over and over again that he would not, she 240 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,840 Speaker 1: finally went to sleep. The next morning, she told the 241 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,000 Speaker 1: Smiths that she needed to go home and feed her 242 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: children breakfast. Nathaniel was still lying in the other room 243 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:40,320 Speaker 1: alive when she arrived, but she did not go in 244 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: to see him. When told by doctor Welsh that Nathaniel 245 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: wanted to see her, Charity quote refused to go in 246 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: where he was, saying that he would certainly kill her. 247 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: Only after repeated assurances from doctor Welch that Nathaniel was 248 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: quote entirely helpless, did she agree. By now, infection was 249 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 1: setting in Nathaniel was delirious and mumbling to himself. But 250 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: when Charity said Nathaniel, I am here, he seemed to 251 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: become lucid and asked her, yes, dear, I see you are, 252 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: my dear. What did you kill me for? Charity began 253 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: listing all the ways Nathaniel had abused her. He denied 254 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: all of it. When doctor Welch later asked Charity why 255 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: she had done it, she told him about her son Abraham, saying, quote, 256 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 1: there is a boy thirteen years old who has never 257 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: been inside of a schoolhouse or meeting house. I could 258 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: not think of having my children raised by such a man. 259 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: She described Nathaniel's criminal past and his violent actions. Doctor 260 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: Welch told her that the law would probably come for her. Nonetheless, 261 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: Charity seemed surprised, but resigned, telling the doctor quote, the 262 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: worst they could do would be to hang me, and 263 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: I am willing to be hung in case he should die. 264 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: Nathaniel did die six days later, on May twentieth, eighteen 265 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 1: fifty four. By then, the story of the murder had 266 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: hit the papers. The Oregonian, who smugly wrote that Missus 267 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: lamb ought to be called Missus Tiger, claimed that quote 268 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: the domestic peace of the family had been invaded by 269 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: another man, and the husband had threatened an exposure of 270 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: his faithless wife. Philip Foster, a prominent local citizen who 271 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: was one of the first white settlers in Oregon, added 272 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: fuel to the fire when he told the Oregon Statesman 273 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,240 Speaker 1: that Charity and Marianne had both been in love with 274 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: Collins and had killed Nathaniel when he foiled their plans 275 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: to run off with their lover. Foster, who had also 276 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:41,280 Speaker 1: occasionally employed Nathaniel, called his neighbor quote an industrious and 277 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: quiet citizen. The Statesman concluded that Charity was a monster. 278 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 1: Charity's trial was initially scheduled for July, but due to 279 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: an issue with the grand jury, it was postponed until September. 280 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: Until then, Charity would be kept in the Oregon City Penitentiary, 281 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: where she was the only female prison While Charity sat 282 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: in jail, the probate court decided what to do about 283 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: the Lamb children and estate. Joseph Church, the local Justice 284 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,640 Speaker 1: of the Peace, had taken the Lamb children in temporarily 285 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: after the attack. On May twenty seventh, Church filed a 286 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:18,480 Speaker 1: petition to be named administrator of Nathaniel Lamb's estate and 287 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: guardian of his minor children. His petition was granted on 288 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: June sixth, stripping Charity of her parental rights. Next, Church 289 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: petitioned the court to allow him to sell the Lamb's 290 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:33,199 Speaker 1: personal property in order to pay back Nathaniel's creditors and 291 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: his estate expenses. The probate court once again approved the petition, 292 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: and Church sold all of the family's belongings and livestock. 293 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: Even if Charity managed to escape conviction, she would return 294 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:49,080 Speaker 1: to an empty cabin, but not all hope was lost. 295 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: The local court was treating offenders mercifully that summer. There 296 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: was the arsonist accused of burning down a barn, who 297 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,440 Speaker 1: was convicted but deemed by Judge Cyrus only to be 298 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,359 Speaker 1: quote more an object of pity than resentment, and given 299 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: the minimum sentence. There was the man who killed his 300 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: neighbor's ox, who the grand jury declined to indict, believing 301 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: him to be insane. And then there was mary Anne Lamb. 302 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,400 Speaker 1: The day after the attack, doctor Welch had asked Charity 303 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: if mary Anne had known of her plans to kill Nathaniel. 304 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,639 Speaker 1: Charity replied that mary Anne quote was going to do 305 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: it herself. But I told her I would do it. 306 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,439 Speaker 1: Mary Anne was subsequently indicted alongside Charity for Nathaniel's murder, 307 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,120 Speaker 1: but at her trial on July eleventh, the first felony 308 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: trial of a woman in the Oregon Territory, the jury 309 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,120 Speaker 1: quickly found her not guilty because, per the Oregon Statesman quote, 310 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:44,879 Speaker 1: there was no evidence against her except the statements of 311 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,920 Speaker 1: her mother, which were ruled out by the court. Though 312 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: a lack of evidence seems like a pretty good reason 313 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,320 Speaker 1: to acquit to me. Not everyone was happy with mary 314 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: Anne's verdict. The Oregon Spectator wrote a scathing editorial on 315 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,360 Speaker 1: July fourteenth, accusing Jeff Udge Only and Noah Huber, the prosecutor, 316 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:06,399 Speaker 1: of taking it easy on mary Anne. If Cyrus Only 317 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,399 Speaker 1: as judge and Noah Huber as prosecuting attorney composed the 318 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: head and tail of the September trial, the paper warned, 319 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: the old woman will be cleared too. Others weren't so certain. 320 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,680 Speaker 1: A jury might be willing to look favorably on an 321 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:25,719 Speaker 1: arsonist or an alleged accomplice, but what about a killer. 322 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,439 Speaker 1: The opening of the Territory of Oregon v. Charity Lamb 323 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 1: on September eleventh, eighteen fifty four proved the Spectator right 324 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:40,200 Speaker 1: on at least two counts. Judge Only and Prosecutor Huber 325 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: were back. This was not really a surprise. The territory 326 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: had only three judges, each of whom oversaw large districts. 327 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,600 Speaker 1: Cyrus only covered the district that included the Lamb's cabin. 328 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: Thirty eight years old Only was known as a quote 329 00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: modest and unassuming gentleman. No Ya Huber's appearance was also 330 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,160 Speaker 1: not shocking. He was the district attorney, after all. Elected 331 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: to the position earlier that summer. The thirty three year 332 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 1: old had been criticized by the Spectator for not prosecuting 333 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 1: Mary Ann Lamb aggressively enough. Huber would show no such 334 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 1: hesitation with Charity Lamb. Judge Only had appointed James K. 335 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: Kelly and Milton Elliott, the same lawyers who had defended 336 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: the arsonist, the ox Killer, and Mary Ann, to represent Charity. 337 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: Kelly and Elliott's successes that summer hadn't been Fluke's. Both 338 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:37,000 Speaker 1: men were experienced attorneys. Elliott had once been a prosecutor, 339 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: while Kelly, who also served as a territorial legislator, had 340 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,119 Speaker 1: played such a major role in drafting the territory's eighteen 341 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: fifty four Code of Laws that it was sometimes known 342 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 1: as the Kelly Code. Kelly and Elliott began the trial 343 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:56,639 Speaker 1: by providing Charity's plea not guilty. At Elliott and Kelly's side, 344 00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: Charity sat listless, holding her infant side. Presley, The Weekly 345 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: Oregonian wrote that she looked quote pale and sallow and 346 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: emaciated as a skeleton, apparently fifty years of age, though 347 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: probably a little younger. In reality, Charity was only thirty 348 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 1: six years of hard work, child bearing, and poverty, not 349 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: to mention the four months in jail had aged her. 350 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 1: The conditions in the penitentiary could not have been good. 351 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:30,400 Speaker 1: The Oregonian further records that quote her clothing was thin 352 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: and scanty, and much worn and torn, and far from clean. Unfortunately, 353 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: the opening statements have been lost to time, but from 354 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: the shape of Noah Huber's prosecution case, we can imagine 355 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: what he might have said. Charity Lamb was a cold blooded, 356 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: remorseless killer who had planned her crime. Hubert began by 357 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: calling two doctors Forbes, Barkley and Presley Welch. Berkley had 358 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: performed the post warnem examination of Nathaniel and described the 359 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: man's wounds to the chair, saying that the deep slice 360 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:06,120 Speaker 1: through his skull and into his brain was quote necessarily fatal, 361 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: while the secondary skull penetration was probably fatal in its 362 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 1: own right. Doctor Welch, who had tended to Nathaniel after 363 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:18,320 Speaker 1: the attack, concurred with Berkeley. Hubert next introduced Nathaniel's hunting 364 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: companions that day, who described saying goodbye to him and 365 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: then coming back to find him dying. William Cook described 366 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:28,919 Speaker 1: the graphic scene at the cabin, quote, he lay in 367 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: the front yard, bloody as a man could be. The 368 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 1: table was standing and seats around it as if they 369 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: had been eating supper. There was blood on a plate, 370 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: on a chair, and on the floor, and from there 371 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: out the door. Cook had also seen the murder weapon quote, 372 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: a narrow bit chopping axe with blood and hair on it. 373 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,679 Speaker 1: There was little doubt that Charity was the one who 374 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,560 Speaker 1: had wielded this axe. Nathaniel himself had identified her as 375 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: his killer, and Charity had openly admitted to her actions. 376 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,119 Speaker 1: According to cons See a canton Wine who had taken 377 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,439 Speaker 1: Charity to jail, Charity had told him that quote, she 378 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: was sorry, She had not struck him a little harder 379 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:12,160 Speaker 1: and prevented his giving evidence against her. The prosecution argued 380 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: that Charity's motive for killing Nathaniel was related to the 381 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:19,400 Speaker 1: mysterious Collins and Charity's anger at Nathaniel for not allowing 382 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,000 Speaker 1: Mary Anne to marry him. A neighbor, Joseph Jones, who 383 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,359 Speaker 1: spoke to Charity on the Monday following the attack, testified 384 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: that Charity told him quote, she was afraid of Nathaniel 385 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:32,120 Speaker 1: on account of that letter she had tried to write 386 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,919 Speaker 1: for Maryanne to mister Collins, which was the reason she 387 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: did it. That he had been mad at her ever 388 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: since the letter, and she was afraid of him. Doctor 389 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: Welch said that Nathaniel and Charity had discussed the letter 390 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 1: while he lay dying, and that Nathaniel had admitted that 391 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: if Collins had quote continued to cut up about my 392 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: house as he had done, I would have shot him. 393 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,240 Speaker 1: Constable canton Wine had asked Charity about Collins, telling her 394 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: he quote supposed that miserable Collins was the main cause 395 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 1: of the diffyfficulty, to which Charity had replied unconvincingly that 396 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:07,439 Speaker 1: she quote knew nothing about him. Hubert also tried to 397 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: preempt any defense claims of insanity. Philip Foster, Yes, the 398 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,719 Speaker 1: same neighbor who told newspapers that Charity was having an 399 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: affair with Collins, testified that he had visited Charity while 400 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:22,240 Speaker 1: she was in jail. She appeared different. Foster said, she 401 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: pretended not to know anything. I thought it feigned. At 402 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: all other times she had appeared rational. Thank you, Philip Foster, 403 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: Your completely unqualified opinion on insanity is noted. More concerning 404 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: for an insanity defense was the testimony from the two doctors. 405 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: Doctor Forbes Barkley, who had done Nathaniel's post mortem, had 406 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,359 Speaker 1: also treated Charity for unnamed issues while she was in jail. 407 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:51,160 Speaker 1: According to him, when he first visited her, she behaved strangely. Quote, 408 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: she made no reply to my questions, appeared to take 409 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: offense that I should talk to her, was very much excited, 410 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: looked wild, appeared to have a slight fever. I thought 411 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,399 Speaker 1: she was pretending. She kept moving her feet and her 412 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: hands to make a little noise. The jailer told her 413 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: to be quiet, and she obeyed. I think she was sane. 414 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,119 Speaker 1: Doctor Welch concurred, saying, quote, I thought her a nice woman, 415 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,919 Speaker 1: but ignorant below mediocrity, but if she was insane, I 416 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: did not perceive it. On cross examination, defense lawyers Milton 417 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,879 Speaker 1: Elliott and James Kelly tried to introduce some nuance to 418 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: these men's claims. Was it possible for someone to be 419 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: rational in most cases but insane in certain circumstances. Doctor 420 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: Berkley admitted that it was, saying quote, A person may 421 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: be insane on a particular subject as that there is 422 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: some danger impending over him, and be sane in all 423 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,359 Speaker 1: other respects, but qualified his statement saying there would be 424 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:50,119 Speaker 1: premonitory symptoms and other means of detecting it. Doctor Welch 425 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: acknowledged quote, I never thought about that. I thought it 426 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: strange she could do such an act and be so 427 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,640 Speaker 1: indifferent to it. One may be insane on a particular 428 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: subject and rational on all others. Insanity was the first 429 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,280 Speaker 1: prong of the defense's strategy. The second was self defense. 430 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,840 Speaker 1: Abuse had come up during the prosecution's case, such as 431 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:13,440 Speaker 1: when Constable canton Wine said Charity had told him of 432 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,639 Speaker 1: Nathaniel's cruelties to her and said she did it for 433 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,240 Speaker 1: fear of her life, that if she had not done it, 434 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,199 Speaker 1: he would have killed her, that she did it to 435 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,639 Speaker 1: save her life. Now, the defense introduced eyewitnesses to the 436 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 1: abuse the Lamb children. The three eldest children, Mary Anne, Abraham, 437 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 1: and Thomas, all testified to Nathaniel's cruelty, physical violence, and 438 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 1: threats to their mother's life. They spoke of the hammer 439 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: and the scar it left on Charity's forehead, of the 440 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,879 Speaker 1: stool Nathaniel had brandished at his sick wife of the 441 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,360 Speaker 1: time he had knocked her down and beaten her as 442 00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: she lay in the snow. Of how according to nine 443 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 1: year old Thomas, he threatened the day before to kill her. 444 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,480 Speaker 1: He had threatened it before. Dwight Muzzy testified that Charity 445 00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:59,399 Speaker 1: had told him of this abuse on the day of 446 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: the attack, and doctor Welch recounted Charity's answer when he 447 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,160 Speaker 1: asked why she and Marianne hadn't simply run away while 448 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,960 Speaker 1: Nathaniel was out hunting. Quote, we might have, but we 449 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,160 Speaker 1: did not know where he was, and we might meet 450 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,919 Speaker 1: him and he would kill us. On September fourteenth, the 451 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:20,359 Speaker 1: defense rested and closing arguments began. Noah Huber's closing like 452 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:23,679 Speaker 1: his case, was to the point it is undeniable. He 453 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 1: told the jury that the deceased received his death from 454 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:29,879 Speaker 1: blows on the head inflicted by her with an axe. 455 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: The only question was whether that killing was murder. Huber 456 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: said that it was. No provocation was given at the time, 457 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:42,520 Speaker 1: he argued, But on the contrary, the act was unprovoked, deliberate, 458 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: and premeditated. As to the claim of insanity, Huber said 459 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: that quote, the testimony of the physicians ought to settle 460 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,879 Speaker 1: that question. Milton Elliott delivered the first defense closing argument. 461 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,640 Speaker 1: He began by discussing the death penalty, which he believed 462 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: was wrong. But even if one supported the death penalty, 463 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,880 Speaker 1: he continued, it could not be administered hastily. Our legislature 464 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,639 Speaker 1: has thrown around the life of the citizen a wall 465 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 1: of protection, Elliott told jurors, which must be overcome in 466 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,720 Speaker 1: every prosecution for murder in the first degree. This wall 467 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: of protection was the requirement of premeditation, and in this case, 468 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,639 Speaker 1: Elliot said, he had not quote discovered an item of 469 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: evidence of such a previous design. Charity had acted impulsively 470 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: out of fear. The only design that Elliot saw in 471 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:36,679 Speaker 1: this story was Nathaniel Lamb's plot to destroy his wife. 472 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: Tyranny is odious and insufferable, Eliot said, but none so 473 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,680 Speaker 1: much as domestic tyranny, whose victims are weak and helpless. 474 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:50,080 Speaker 1: His threats and even attempts against her life show not 475 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:55,440 Speaker 1: fancied but real danger. This danger, Elliot believed, might have 476 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: driven Charity to the point of temporary madness, and Quote, 477 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: in the irregular and unguided action of a disordered intellect, 478 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: without malice or an intelligent purpose, she struck the fatal blows. 479 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,840 Speaker 1: If the jurors had any doubt about the premeditation of 480 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,280 Speaker 1: the act, Elliott concluded, which he trusted they did, He 481 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:19,280 Speaker 1: urged them to find Charity not guilty of first degree murder. 482 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:26,040 Speaker 1: James Kelly's closing argument focused on insanity. Charity Lamb, Kelly said, 483 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: may have been sane in all other aspects of her life, 484 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: but when it came to her husband, her mind was irrational. 485 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:38,160 Speaker 1: She thought obsessively incessantly about how nath Daniel Lamb might 486 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 1: kill her. It consumed her mind. On May thirteenth, she 487 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: was convinced that Quote the very time had arrived when 488 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 1: he was to terminate her life, and so unbalanced by 489 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 1: fear and anxiety, Charity took action, but that action had 490 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: not been murder. According to Kelly, no, Charity had only 491 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: intended to his ass escape. Following Nathaniel's threats to follow 492 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: and kill her if she left, Kelly said, quote, there 493 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,720 Speaker 1: was but one safety, and that was to disable him 494 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: and prevent pursuit until she could reach a place of security. 495 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: That the axe had buried deeper than Charity expected was 496 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 1: due to the fact that she quote did not, in 497 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: her terror and trepidation, judge accurately how to use the 498 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 1: instrument and how hard to strike in order to stun 499 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 1: without killing. As evidence of the theory, Kelly cited the 500 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 1: conversation's Charity had had with people after the attack when 501 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,120 Speaker 1: she had believed that Nathaniel might still follow her. If 502 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,320 Speaker 1: she had planned to kill him, how could she still 503 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: believe him alive? Kelly finished by echoing Elliott's arguments about premeditation. 504 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: There was quote no such proof, no lying in wait, 505 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: no preparing and arranging beforehand the means of death, no 506 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:56,720 Speaker 1: evidence whatever that murder was in her mind before the 507 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: time of its execution. Thus, he concluded, quote, her life 508 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: cannot be taken. Noah Huber gave a rebuttal argument but 509 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: unfortunately the details have been lost. The Oregon Statesman writes, quote, 510 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: the prosecution replied at length, but we have not been 511 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: able to condense his argument within our limits. He combated 512 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: the position taken on the other side and claimed a 513 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: conviction of the highest degree classic strategy. With closing arguments finished, 514 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:28,160 Speaker 1: Judge Cyrus only instructed the jury focusing on self defense. 515 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: He told the jurors that quote, it is claimed that 516 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: she entertained the belief that the deceased was about to 517 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: take her life. If the evidence convinces you that this 518 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: belief existed in her mind and was the motive of 519 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: the act, she must be acquitted. Though only acknowledged that 520 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 1: the prosecution quote claimed this motive to have been insincere 521 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 1: and a mere pretense to cover deliberate murder. He followed 522 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: that up by arguing that quote, the evidence does not 523 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 1: even tend to prove, much less establish any other motive 524 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: for the act. That she has signed it at the 525 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: time as her reason and has never deviated from it, 526 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: That her actions have been uniformly consistent with that idea, 527 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 1: that she manifested it not only to her family, but 528 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: to Muzzy and even to the deceased upon his deathbed, 529 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: that it reconciles all the evidence, clears up all mysteries, 530 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: and places the whole case upon the only rational footing 531 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: of which it is susceptible. The defense must have been 532 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,360 Speaker 1: cheering by the end of this statement. After then urging 533 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,000 Speaker 1: the jurors to make their own conclusions and providing them 534 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: with a list of possible verdicts, he dismissed them. The 535 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 1: jury was out for several hours before returning with a 536 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: question for the judge the relevant statute in the Oregon 537 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,880 Speaker 1: Code of eighteen fifty four. The Code that James Kelly 538 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: had helped craft, stated that homicide could be justified quote 539 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,440 Speaker 1: when committed in the lawful defense of such person, when 540 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,600 Speaker 1: there shall be a reasonable ground to apprehend a design 541 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,959 Speaker 1: to do some great personal injury, and there shall be 542 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 1: imminent danger of such design being accomplished. The jurors wanted 543 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: to know what imminent danger meant. Judge only explained that 544 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 1: it meant danger. That quote appeared to be unavoidable if 545 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: the prisoner believed the decease was then about to kill her, 546 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,680 Speaker 1: and that she could not flee without equal danger of 547 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 1: being killed. The danger to her mind was imminent, but 548 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:29,719 Speaker 1: despite his evident sympathy for Charity, he clarified further, saying, quote, 549 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,440 Speaker 1: if she saw that danger before he returned home, it 550 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,720 Speaker 1: was her duty to have gone away and to have 551 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:39,200 Speaker 1: had measures taken to save her life without taking his. 552 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 1: That would be the duty of a sane person. And 553 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,440 Speaker 1: if you think she was sufficiently possessed of her mental 554 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: faculties to be under the guidance of reason, she was 555 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,960 Speaker 1: not justified in remaining, or at least not justified in 556 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: killing until some demonstration was made against her. The jury 557 00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 1: left again, but returned only minutes later with a for 558 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 1: the death of Nathaniel Lamb. The jury found Charity Lamb 559 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: guilty of murder in the second degree, with a recommendation 560 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:16,400 Speaker 1: for mercy. The next morning, Charity appeared in front of 561 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,799 Speaker 1: Judge Only for sentencing. When Only asked her if she 562 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: had anything she wished to say, Charity defended herself, saying, quote, 563 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,520 Speaker 1: I knew he was going to kill me. The jury 564 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 1: think you ought to have gone away in his absence, 565 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,920 Speaker 1: The judge replied, Well, Charity said, he told me not 566 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: to go, and then if I went, he would follow 567 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,200 Speaker 1: me and find me somewhere, and he was a mighty 568 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: good shot. He once gave me a chance to go, 569 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:45,720 Speaker 1: and I consented. I even gave up my baby and started. 570 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,279 Speaker 1: He told me to come back or he would drop 571 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,680 Speaker 1: me in my tracks, and I had to come back. 572 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,200 Speaker 1: He threatened me very often. It had come to be 573 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:57,920 Speaker 1: a common thing. I did it to save my life. 574 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,400 Speaker 1: Judge only acknowledged her situation and told her that the 575 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:06,240 Speaker 1: jury had recommended mercy in sentencing, but he continued, quote, 576 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:11,280 Speaker 1: the law gives the court no discretion. The mandatory sentence 577 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:15,919 Speaker 1: for second degree murder was life with hard labor. At this, 578 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:21,080 Speaker 1: the Oregonian Records quote missus Lamb commenced weeping and her 579 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:24,399 Speaker 1: babe crying as the officer removed her from the bar. 580 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:30,280 Speaker 1: Two days later, Charity was delivered to the penitentiary in Portland. Again, 581 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,720 Speaker 1: she would be the only female prisoner. The male prisoners 582 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,719 Speaker 1: did construction and manufacturing jobs. Charity's assignment was doing their 583 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,240 Speaker 1: laundry and the laundry of the warden and his family. 584 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,560 Speaker 1: The next record we have of Charity comes in eighteen 585 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:49,279 Speaker 1: fifty nine, when two visiting Quaker missionaries encountered her. When 586 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 1: the missionaries quote extended words of encouragement Charity responded that 587 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: she had quote not done anything wrong. She was not 588 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,520 Speaker 1: the only one to think so. In the summer of 589 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty the Portland Advertiser newspaper advocated for Charity's pardon 590 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,120 Speaker 1: and release, but this campaign went nowhere. Though the jury 591 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:12,720 Speaker 1: in her case had recommended mercy, and though Judge Oulney 592 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: had told her that their recommendation would quote be put 593 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 1: upon record and preserved for any future use that may 594 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:24,200 Speaker 1: be found to be proper, no mercy was worthcoming. Even 595 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:26,959 Speaker 1: if Charity had been pardoned, she would have come back 596 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 1: to nothing. All her children were now in the custody 597 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:34,880 Speaker 1: of other families. In eighteen fifty nine, Joseph Church, the 598 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:37,759 Speaker 1: Justice of the Peace, who had already auctioned off most 599 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,680 Speaker 1: of the Lamb's belongings, had also sold the Lamb's land. 600 00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:45,360 Speaker 1: To proceed with the sale of this land, which legally 601 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:48,680 Speaker 1: was owned by Charity and her children, Church claimed that 602 00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:52,279 Speaker 1: he was Charity and her children's guardian, ignoring the fact 603 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,719 Speaker 1: that Church had never been Charity's guardian and that Mary 604 00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:59,279 Speaker 1: Anne Lamb was not a miner probate. Judge Robert Caulfield 605 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:03,800 Speaker 1: allowed this On Christmas Eve, eighteen fifty nine, the Lamb's 606 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty acres sold for one hundred and 607 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: ninety five dollars, less than half It's a praise value. 608 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:16,640 Speaker 1: Charity's land and her family were gone. In December eighteen 609 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:21,160 Speaker 1: sixty two, Charity, now the longest tenured prisoner at the penitentiary, 610 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,840 Speaker 1: was transferred to the Hawthorne Asylum later called the Oregon 611 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:29,640 Speaker 1: Hospital for the Insane. In eighteen sixty five, asylum investigators 612 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,480 Speaker 1: described seeing her quote knitting as the visiting party went 613 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:37,680 Speaker 1: through the hall, face imperturbably fixed in half, smiling contentment, 614 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:41,200 Speaker 1: apparently as satisfied with her lot as the happiest of 615 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,359 Speaker 1: sane people with theirs. The inspectors do not seem to 616 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: have spoken to her before forming this generous conclusion. Fourteen 617 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: years later, in September eighteen seventy nine, Charity Lamb, aged 618 00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:59,560 Speaker 1: sixty one, died of apoplexy, probably a stroke in the asylum. 619 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: Is likely buried in an unmarked grave in Portland's loan 620 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:09,280 Speaker 1: For Cemetery. Today, nearly two centuries later, the legal system 621 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,000 Speaker 1: still wrestles with many of the issues that arose at 622 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,600 Speaker 1: Charity Lamb's trial for a battered woman who kills in 623 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:20,319 Speaker 1: non confrontational circumstances, writes law professor Joan H. Kraus, the 624 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: chief obstacles to proving self defense are the requirements that 625 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:28,200 Speaker 1: she reasonably believed the threatened harm to be imminent, as 626 00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:31,840 Speaker 1: the killing occurs in the absence of any ongoing physical attack. 627 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:36,440 Speaker 1: In the Lamb trial, the jurors seemed sympathetic to the 628 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 1: idea that Charity feared for her life, but they could 629 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:42,440 Speaker 1: not get past the timing of the attack. Was danger 630 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:45,920 Speaker 1: really imminent? While Nathaniel Lamb ate his dinner. When they 631 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:48,880 Speaker 1: asked Judge only to clarify, he told them that Charity 632 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:53,319 Speaker 1: was quote not justified in killing until some demonstration was 633 00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:57,400 Speaker 1: made against her. As Ronald Lansing writes, quote, the instruction 634 00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:00,279 Speaker 1: was a correct statement of common law, as for set 635 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:04,160 Speaker 1: down by judges and as codified by Oregon's territorial legislators. 636 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:07,600 Speaker 1: To kill in response to threat of distant harm, no 637 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:10,480 Speaker 1: matter how probable the threat, and no matter how useless 638 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:16,520 Speaker 1: the protective alternatives, was not self defense. But he continues, quote, 639 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,719 Speaker 1: what if the threat of future harm is certain, an 640 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:25,400 Speaker 1: escape is hopeless. Trapped by matrimony, parentage, vast wilderness, and culture. 641 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:30,320 Speaker 1: What was Charity to do? Understanding the situation of defendants 642 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:34,200 Speaker 1: who have killed their abusers in non confrontational situations, writes 643 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: legal scholar Marina Angel, requires a quote reinterpretation of time, 644 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,799 Speaker 1: equal force and the duty to retreat in light of 645 00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:48,000 Speaker 1: the realities of abuse. At Charity Lamb's trial, the only 646 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:51,839 Speaker 1: witnesses who tried to depict the reality's Charity faced were 647 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: her children. When Charity herself got a chance to explain 648 00:39:55,719 --> 00:39:59,200 Speaker 1: her fears, it was too late. The jury had already 649 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:03,920 Speaker 1: pronounced herself butons. In nineteen eighty five, a North Carolina 650 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:08,239 Speaker 1: woman named Judy Laws Norman, after enduring twenty years of 651 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,840 Speaker 1: relentless physical violence and psychological torture at the hands of 652 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:15,040 Speaker 1: her husband J. T. Norman, shot him in the head 653 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,239 Speaker 1: while he slept. State v. Norman is one of the 654 00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:22,760 Speaker 1: most frequently debated cases involving self defense and intimate partner violence. 655 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,640 Speaker 1: There are a number of parallels between Judy Norman and 656 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:30,760 Speaker 1: Charity Lamb. In both cases, the abuse the women suffered 657 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,520 Speaker 1: escalated in the days before the killing. Both women's partners 658 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,439 Speaker 1: threatened to kill them. On the day in question, both 659 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,200 Speaker 1: women attempted to leave, but were stopped by threats of 660 00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:44,000 Speaker 1: violence and concern over leaving their children. In both cases, 661 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:47,240 Speaker 1: the legal system rejected the women's claims of self defense. 662 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:50,279 Speaker 1: The jurors in Charity's case did not believe she met 663 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,400 Speaker 1: the requirement for imminent danger, while the judge in Judy's 664 00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 1: case did not allow her jury to consider self defense, 665 00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:00,920 Speaker 1: and both women were convicted, Charity of second degree murder 666 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:06,560 Speaker 1: and Judy of manslaughter. But here their stories diverged. Judy 667 00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:10,760 Speaker 1: Norman appealed her case. Ultimately, however, the North Carolina Supreme 668 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,920 Speaker 1: Court affirmed her conviction, but in nineteen eighty nine, Judy's 669 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:18,640 Speaker 1: defense attorneys circulated a petition for clemency in her home county. 670 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:23,840 Speaker 1: Thousands of people signed that July, Governor James Martin commuted 671 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:28,920 Speaker 1: her sentence to time served. Judy Norman was free. In 672 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,760 Speaker 1: an interview after her release, Judy said that she knew 673 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:36,120 Speaker 1: killing was wrong, but that people needed to quote understand 674 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,359 Speaker 1: the situation. Then she said that she hoped to help 675 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:44,040 Speaker 1: other women avoid that situation. Despite our focus this week 676 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:47,040 Speaker 1: on women who have killed their abusers, these cases are 677 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:51,480 Speaker 1: relatively rare. Far more often the reverse is true. But 678 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:55,840 Speaker 1: for both parties, intimate partner violence can be deadly. A 679 00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,640 Speaker 1: two thousand and three study by Jacqueline Campbell at al. 680 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:03,080 Speaker 1: Found that quote the majority sixty seven to eighty percent 681 00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:08,760 Speaker 1: of intimate partner homicides in heterosexual relationships involve physical abuse 682 00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:12,080 Speaker 1: of the female by the male before the murder, no 683 00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:16,960 Speaker 1: matter which partner is killed. Therefore, the study continues, quote, 684 00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:21,040 Speaker 1: one of the major ways to decrease intimate partner homicide 685 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:25,920 Speaker 1: is to identify and intervene with battered women at risk, or, 686 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:30,080 Speaker 1: as Judy Norman put it, help women avoid the situation. 687 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,279 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy eight, Laurel Paulson wrote an account of 688 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:37,840 Speaker 1: Charity's life and trial for frying Pan Magazine, which she 689 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:42,160 Speaker 1: ended with a rallying cry to action, quote, there can 690 00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:47,200 Speaker 1: be no free charity, Lamb Committee, it's too late. Charity 691 00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:50,719 Speaker 1: has been in her grave for almost a century. But 692 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:55,000 Speaker 1: there are other charity lambs. It's not too late to 693 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:59,600 Speaker 1: do something for them. Thank you for listening to History 694 00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:02,720 Speaker 1: on Try. To see images of the people and places 695 00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:06,320 Speaker 1: in this episode, check out our instagram at History on Trial. 696 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,840 Speaker 1: My main sources for this episode were Ronald B. Lansing's 697 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:14,000 Speaker 1: article The Tragedy of Charity Lamb, Oregon's first convicted murderess, 698 00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:17,800 Speaker 1: newspaper coverage of the case, and the Oregon Historical Societies 699 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:22,000 Speaker 1: project the Oregon Encyclopedia. Special thanks to the Oregon Historical 700 00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:25,840 Speaker 1: Society's executive Director, Carrie Timchuck, who first brought Charity's story 701 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:29,480 Speaker 1: to my attention, and to the Historical Society's Reference Services 702 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:33,160 Speaker 1: Manager Scott Daniels, who led me through the archives for 703 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:35,680 Speaker 1: a phobibliography as well as a transcript of this episode 704 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:39,440 Speaker 1: with citations. Please visit our website History on Trial podcast 705 00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,480 Speaker 1: dot com, where you can also subscribe to our newsletter. 706 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:48,960 Speaker 1: History on Trial is written and hosted by me Mira Hayward. 707 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:52,600 Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with 708 00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:58,400 Speaker 1: supervising producer Trevor Yung and executive producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams, 709 00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:02,640 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick, and Hayward. Learn more about the show at 710 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:06,560 Speaker 1: History on Trial podcast dot com and follow us on 711 00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:11,640 Speaker 1: Instagram at History on Trial and on Twitter at Underscore 712 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:16,600 Speaker 1: History on Trial. Find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by visiting 713 00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:20,680 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 714 00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:23,720 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.