Phil Egan
The brutal death of a child is newsworthy in any age.
In the autumn of 1866, the trial of the “callous-hearted wretch” Kate Davis, as she was described in the newspaper, was on everyone’s mind.
Three-year old Kate Shibley was the daughter of Schuyler Shibley and Kate Davis. Though they were no longer living together each found time to beat the little girl.
Kate Davis was living with a woman named Kate Castle on the night of Sept. 4, 1866, when she was ordered to say her prayers. When she failed to do so, her mother took a piece of rawhide and beat her child for an hour while Kate Castle looked on.
Her body was already cut and bruised from a savage beating administered by her father 10 days earlier.
Leaving the child to sleep on the sofa, the two women retired for the night to the upstairs bedroom, where her moaning could be heard through the night.
At three o’clock in the morning, Kate Castle roused Kate Davis and urged her to have a look at the child. They found her dead on the sofa. An autopsy revealed signs of continuous abuse, including severe internal injuries. Another doctor theorized the cause of death was “apoplexy caused by a blow to the neck.”
Kate Davis was indicted for first-degree murder in a case that was fully expected to conclude with the death penalty. The unrepentant mother pleaded Not Guilty, even though her first words on finding Kate dead had been, “Is it possible that I have killed my own child?”
Kate Castle testified that Kate Davis had not administered the beating in the heat of passion, but, rather, had seemed quite cool about it. The child had cried for 10 minutes after the beating.
Mr. Becker, the defence attorney, addressed the jury at great length, commenting on the differing nature of the medical testimony.
In his charge to the jury, the judge made it clear to the jury that he found the mother to be at fault, and had little sympathy for the defence argument. He told jury members they should consider conviction unless they were convinced the child would have ultimately died from her father’s beating 10 days earlier.
Two hours later, when the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty, the judge was surprised and displeased, but the prisoner was released.
A newspaper editorial lamented the lack of a conviction, saying “no person who heard the evidence could for a moment doubt that the child’s death was directly attributable to the barbarous whipping which it received the night before its death, from its own cold, cruel, heartless mother.”
It appeared to be a clear case of justice denied.