1845: Lavinia Burnett and Crawford Burnett
November 8th, 2009 Headsman
On this date in 1845, husband-and-wife murderers Crawford and Lavinia Burnett (nee Sharp) danced a gallows jig built for two in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The duo contrived with their son, John, to rob and murder a nearby recluse, Jonathan Selby, for the money he was thought to be hoarding.
The family the slays together, pays together.
Alas for mom, dad, and big brother, 15-year-old daughter Minerva shopped them.
John-boy was still on the lam at this time — he’d be caught soon, and hanged December 26 — but Lavinia and Crawford hanged together before a large crowd in the vicinity of the present-day Fayetteville National Cemetery.
It was the first recorded execution of a woman in Arkansas history, and would be the only such until the year 2000.
Among the ranks of the Burnetts’ illustrious if unsuccessful defense team was Isaac Murphy, who would go on to become a notable pro-Union pol during the Civil War (with a murky part in an infamous massacre of Confederate sympathizers), and subsequently became governor of the state during Reconstruction.
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Entry Filed under: 19th Century, Arkansas, Capital Punishment, Common Criminals, Crime, Death Penalty, Execution, Hanged, Milestones, Murder, Notable Participants, Pelf, USA, Women
Tags: 1840s, 1845, crawford burnett, huntsville massacre, isaac murphy, john burnett, livia burnett, november 8, reconstruction, u.s. civil war
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