A Legal Lynching: Infanticide in Nineteenth-Century North Carolina
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Hinchey, Kimberly
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Abstract
The infanticide trial of Caroline Shipp occurred in Gaston County, North Carolina, in 1891. Shipp was brought to trial for the alleged poisoning of her young son and ultimately sentenced to execution by hanging. Nineteenth-century cases of infanticide offer an opportunity to examine community values in response to gender, race, and sexuality before the law. Shipp was convicted from a confusing maze of hearsay, inconclusive medical testing, and differences in her testimony. This thesis also addresses the enduring historical memory of the trial and execution in the local community and how this memory has vilified Shipp over time. This thesis also connects the violent memories of lynching in North Carolina to the enduring memory of Shipp’s execution.