Laura Fair

Early life and marriages Laura Ann Hunt was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi on June 22, 1837. He died in 1854. They initially opened a boarding house in Sacramento, but this did not fare well. They then went back to San Francisco, where she worked briefly as an actress.

She was briefly married to Jesse Snyder for a few months in 1870. although he said he was single and a widower. The relationship between Fair and Crittenden had lasted 7 years.

Trial In April 1871, Fair faced her first trial where she claimed that the shooting was the result of temporary insanity caused by a severely painful menstrual cycle. Dr. Benjamin Lyford, her personal physician, made the argument that she was unable to control her emotions for biological reasons. The prosecution painted her as a fallen woman who lured Crittenden into bed and warned the jury that they had a moral obligation. While in jail, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton visited Fair to support her. The jury found Fair guilty of murder, and she was sentenced to hang on July 28, 1871.

Fair's case was appealed with the support of suffragettes, including Emily Pitts Stevens, founder of the California Woman Suffrage Association.

The CBS radio program Crime Classics dramatized the case in an episode entitled "The Incredible Trial Of Laura D. Fair" that aired on August 17, 1953.