Lucretia Winslow Chapman

Lucretia Winslow Chapman ( – 1841) also known as Lucretia Winslow Espos y Mina was an American school teacher tried and acquitted for the 1831 murder of her first husband, Dr. William Chapman. The crime was surrounded by scandal and speculation, which drew national attention to her trial.

Early life Lucretia Winslow was born around 1788 in Barre Plains, Massachusetts. Not much is known about her family life growing up but it would later be reported that the branch of the Winslow family she was directly related to were notorious for counterfeiting and related offenses. Her father, Thomas Winslow, was known to be an expert counterfeiter and there was speculation Lucretia assisted with his crimes.

In her early 20s, Winslow moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she worked as a teacher in Madame Le Brun's Ladies' School.

In 1818, Winslow married Dr. William Chapman, a native Englishman, when she was about 30 years old and he was in his 50s. The two settled down in Andalusia, Pennsylvania, where they had five children together: Mary, William Jr., Lucretia, John, and Abby Ann.

The Murder of William Chapman

Death of Dr. Chapman On May 9, 1831, Lino Amalia Espos y Mina arrived at the Chapmans' house asking for shelter for the night. According to a witness, Chapman suggested Mina go to a local tavern but Winslow offered a room in the house.

Winslow and Mina quickly grew close. Neighbors witnessed the pair spending a lot of time together and even describing the two in "compromising situations." On the same day, the newlyweds went their separate ways as Mina returned to Pennsylvania reportedly for business while Lucretia went to Schenectady, New York, to stay with her sister.

They two frequently wrote to each other while apart. Eventually, Lucretia received charges for meals and hotel rooms under Mina's name for himself and several female companions. She wrote a letter to Mina calling out his misdeeds and lies ending it with, "But no, Lino, when I pause for a moment I am constrained to acknowledge that I do not believe that God will permit either you or me to be happy this side of the grave." On December 5, Winslow was moved from the prison in Erie to Doylestown, Pennsylvania, for the trial.

Trial Winslow was charged with having committed the murder. The formal charges were: being principal in the first degree, indicted as principal in the first degree, and charged as principal in the first degree. She was accused of murdering her husband by putting arsenic in his chicken soup. Winslow pled "not guilty" to all charges.

She approached David Paul Brown, a highly regarded criminal lawyer, about representing her. Believing he would be able to convince a jury of her innocence, he accepted and recruited fellow attorney, Peter McCall, to assist.

There was much debate over how the prosecution of Winslow and Mina would be handled but ultimately the court decided to hold separate trials for each person. Winslow was the first of the pair to go on trial on February 14, 1832. The trial was held at the Doylestown Courthouse and was overseen by Judge John Fox.

Several witnesses had been called, including a former student, Mary Palethorpe, and the Chapmans' former housekeeper, Ellen Shaw. Both of these witnesses spoke on the scandalous nature of Winslow's relationship with Mina and how the two would often go off to be alone together. The Chapman's part-time house cleaner, Ann Bantom, testified that Winslow had been the one to make the chicken soup for the ailing Dr. Chapman but did not see Winslow add anything out of the ordinary. Dr. Phillips spoke on the stand about seeing the ill Dr. Chapman, his original diagnosis of cholera morbus, and his uncertainty that arsenic had been the definitive cause of illness. In total, twenty-six witnesses had been called. Many speculate that Winslow was just as guilty as Mina, who was sentenced to death, but the jury was hesitant to hang a woman.

Later life Little is known about the public's immediate reaction to Winslow's acquittal, but there had been reports of backlash in her life after the trial. Winslow sold her property and put the money in a trust for her children. She then went off on her own to be a performer and reportedly joined a traveling troupe of players touring the country. During a 1834 performance in Cincinnati, Ohio, Lucretia was booed off the stage.