Annice

Annice (died August 23, 1828) was the first female slave known to have been executed in Missouri. She was hanged for the murders of five slave children, including two of her own.

Annice was enslaved in Clay County, Missouri under the control of Jeremiah Prior. On July 27, 1828, she was indicted for the murders of five slave children also owned by Prior – Ann, Billy, Nancy, Nelly, and Phebe. Billy (aged five) and Nancy (aged two) were Annice's own children, but the parentages and ages of the others were not identified. According to the indictment, the children were pushed "into a certain collection of water of the depth of five feet and there choaked , suffocated and drowned, of which they instantly died". Annice was given a jury trial and a defense attorney, but was found guilty. She was publicly hanged by Sheriff Shubael Allen the following month, at the county seat of Liberty. Hers was the first legal execution in Clay County (established 1822), and she is the first enslaved woman known to have been executed in Missouri. In 1976, Clay County erected a memorial plaque at Tryst Falls (near Excelsior Springs), identifying it as the location of the drownings. The plaque was modified a few decades later to remove the specific details of Annice's actions.