Adam Goldstein, Nineteenth Century Gender Roles and the Murder Trial of Mary Harris (1997)

Mary Harris, the daughter of poor Irish immigrants, met Adironam J. Burroughs in the mid-1850s, when she was a girl of about nine working in a millinery store in Iowa and he was a businessman more than twice her age. Burroughs took a fancy to Harris and cultivated her manners and intellect until she was received by high society. In 1856, when Harris was 13, Burroughs moved to Chicago. After his move they began a 7-year correspondence in which Burroughs courted Harris and expressed his intentions to marry her. Harris moved to Chicago to be with Burroughs in 1863. A short time later business took him to Washington, D.C. After the move, Burroughs broke off the correspondence, attempted to disgrace Harris, and ultimately married another woman. Upon learning of the marriage the story goes, Harris began to suffer from dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation), mood swings, and melancholy interspersed with violent hysteria. In 1864, she bought a gun, and in January of the following year traveled to D.C., found Burroughs' office, and fatally shot him.

Harris was charged with first degree murder. The defense admitted to the facts as stated by the prosecution but argued that Harris was not guilty by reason of insanity. Despite protests from the prosecution, letters from Burroughs to Harris were admitted in the trial to show the cause of her insanity. The letters contained statements of affection and declarations of Burroughs' intention to marry Harris. The court also admitted two letters written in 1863 by J.P. Greenwood, asking Harris to meet him at a house of assignation. Harris and her employer, Louisa Devlin, believed the letters were written by Burroughs as part of a scheme to disgrace her and create a reason to break off the engagement. After receiving the letters from Greenwood and learning of Burroughs' marriage, the defense claimed, Harris was devastated and developed periodic illnesses and fits of hysteria. Physicians attributed her insanity to menstrual problems caused by Burroughs' abandonment of her. Other witnesses also testified that Harris was insane. In closing arguments, the defense asserted that Burroughs' betrayal of this innocent, virtuous young lady drove her insane.

During the nineteenth century, most people believed that women were controlled by their morals and emotions. The ideal woman was pure, virtuous, unselfish, and passive. The concept of separate spheres was prevalent. Men belonged in the public sphere of labor, economics and politics, while women belonged in the private sphere of home, family and children. Harris, who retained her virginity throughout Burroughs' courtship, wished to be his wife above all else, followed him to Chicago, subsumed her interests to his and fully conformed to Victorian ideals. Burroughs, who led a young girl away from her family, abandoned her, and tried to disgrace her, betrayed his obligation to shelter women from the harsh realities of public life. The way Harris and Burroughs acted within the parameters of Victorian gender roles influenced the jury. Harris' conformity to and Burroughs' deviance from cultural norms helped gain her acquittal.

Contemporary notions of female physiology and psychology also assisted Harris' defense. Because there was a lack of sophisticated medical knowledge among physicians, societal norms leaked into medical theory of the time. One common belief held that women's physical and mental health was grounded in their reproductive organs and menstrual cycle. Mental or emotional stress damaged a woman's reproductive system and increased the likelihood of menstrual problems. The results, many believed, commonly included ill health, mental or emotional instability, or insanity. This theory fit Harris perfectly. Burroughs' desertion of her caused her dysmenorrhea, which brought about fits of temporary insanity, during one of which she shot and killed him.

 

Revised July 23, 2003 (MD)