Editor’s Note: This is part one of a series of columns. This story and others will be highlighted during a Women’s History Month program planned for Thursday, March 20. Learn more and register here.

BY SHELLIE TAYLOR

This story is literally about an axe murderer, which might give off Lizzie Borden vibes, even though this murder took place almost a decade before Lizzie gave her mother the famed 40 whacks.

The short and simple version of this case is that on November 2, 1883, Mary Minish took a brand-new axe and cleaved her husband’s skull with four hits while he was bending over and putting on his shoes. She called the neighbors (the first arrival being her father-in-law) and told them that she did it because “Jesus Christ told her to.” In 1884, the court declared Minish insane, and she was sent to the hospital in Morganton, which would eventually become known as Broughton.

I first learned about the Minish murder from a well-researched article by a fellow blogger, host of Abandoned NC (you can see his post here). For this series, I was just going to link his article and tell the readers to have fun, but then the writer gave me a hint that there might be more to the story besides just the murder.

Apparently, the saga got even juicer once Mary was inside the asylum. She stayed at Broughton, then the Western Insane Asylum, until 1897, when the penitentiary ward was completed at the state hospital (Dorothea Dix) in Raleigh. Minish was transferred to this new facility along with Miss Aurelia/Amelia Hampton, who is from Asheville. Not long after their arrival, a scandal was reported in newspapers across the state when a doctor, and a son of the hospital superintendent, was accused of sexual misconduct with Hampton, Minish, and possibly their attendant Mrs. Franklin.

According to newspaper accounts, Dr. Kirby Smith began making unscheduled, after-hours visits with the criminally insane patients at the state hospital. At the time, Smith’s father, Dr. John Smith, was superintendent of the penitentiary. Mr. Benton Williams was the keyholder for the ward and no one else had access to patients. Standard procedure required Dr. Kirby to be escorted to see the female patients by either Mr. Williams or the corporal of the guard. This rule was put into place for the safety and insurance of the doctors. Dealing with mentally ill patients meant that accusations, both true and untrue, could make their way through the halls. The escort was a way for the doctor to feel safe that they had a witness with them.

Sometime in August 1897, Dr. Kirby made several visits to these patients after borrowing the keys from Mr. Williams, who began to suspect something inappropriate, but he didn’t say anything because Dr. Kirby’s father is in charge of the institution. When Mr. Williams attempted to investigate, he was met with disturbing allegations that Dr. Kirby has been spending time with these female patients after-hours and without an escort. The female attendant to the ward was Mrs. Franklin. She was serving time for the poisoning of her husband in Caldwell County. Although a murderer, Mr. Franklin was not considered “insane” so part of her duties while incarcerated were attending to Miss Hampton and Mrs. Minish.

Miss Hampton was labeled as a “trickster,” who words cannot be trusted, and Mrs. Minish was just crazy. But Mrs. Franklin’s testimony carried some weight.

Although the exact details of what went on behind the closed doors of the criminally insane ward are not clear, Dr. Smith was found guilty of indiscretion and gross immorality in October 1897. He was forced to resign from his position.

To think that this all happened because a couple of women decided to off their husbands.

Shellie Taylor is the Local History Program Specialist at the Iredell County Public Library. She can be contacted at michelle.taylor@iredellcountync.gov or 704-878-3090, Ext. 8801.