Crimes in Herstory (Blog Series) -- The Story of Axey Cherry: The Alleged 12-Year-Old Child Murderess

 WC Blogpost by: 

Amilia Lancaster,  Zara St. Clair, and Laura Cason 

Think back to when you were 12-years-old. Did your parents or guardian make you do chores? Were you super happy to do them? Probably not. 

Now imagine your parents are making you do chores at some other family’s home. Not only do you have to clean up after this other family all day but you have to take care of their baby. Most children would be upset about this being their day-to-day; however, most children wouldn’t take their neglect as far as Axey Cherry did. 

After being tasked with taking care of the infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Williams, Axey pouted around the house, often neglecting her duties, and was once overheard muttering to herself that she “wasn’t going to bother with that baby much more”. Her bitterness came to a head on a hot July day in 1887, when Axey Cherry got rid of her problem for good. While using lye to clean the floors, the baby’s mother needed to leave the room for a minute. As Axey was only 12 years old, Mrs. Williams reminded her to be careful with the lye as it is incredibly poisonous. 

Yet, once the mom was out of the room, Axey took this opportunity to “take care” of the baby. She grabbed the lye, shoved it in the baby's mouth, and left the baby there to die. 

Axey ran away from the home — only to be caught moments later and taken to the jailhouse. There Axey was devastated by finding out she could not simply return home and she had to await her trial. On July 16th, 1887, Axey Cherry was convicted and sentenced to hang for the murder of baby Williams.

The Implications of Race

One of the biggest factors that dictated the shocking situation that is Axey Cherry’s crime is her race, which plays an integral role in how she was treated during this time by prosecutors and judges. To further understand the implications of her race in the case, we will draw on other sources to support our argument that she was treated with such severity because of her race.

To begin with, we will look at the case of Nelly, who was a fourteen-year-old girl, belonging to Henry Edwards who had recently passed away. Nelly murdered her infant baby, and it is speculated that the late Henry Edwards had fathered the child. After being indicted, her story had spread and was plastered on newspapers throughout the US. She began to receive an influx of support; residents began to petition vehemently for her to receive a full and entirely unconditional pardon. Nelly was two years older than Axey, so why, if Axey was even younger, was she initially sentenced to death before her sentence was commuted to five years in prison? I believe this lies in the fact that Nelly murdered her own child, whereas Axey murdered a white baby, it is likely that the probable racial biases of the prosecutors and judge were preventing an impartial outcome for the case.

The Washington Bee was an African American newspaper, located in Washington D.C. who published an article focusing on the case of Axey Cherry, in what could be the most profound quote in the article, the newspaper reads: “Would the judge have passed a similar sentence upon a white child, charged and convicted with the same offence? No, the sentence is unjust, shocking to the enlightened sentiment of civilised people, a mean and tyrannical manifestation of hatred shown to the coloured people and serves as an example of barbarism… which is resorted to by those in authority in the South.” This is a stark contrast to the white newspapers of the time that have commented on this case, the St. Louis Globe, in particular, had a lot to say about the 12-year-old girl.  For example, the newspaper states: “the chief actor in this tragedy is a pure-blooded negress, black as coal and of a very stupid expression” “her large eyes, which have peculiarly wide circles of white, roll like on in frenzy or a wild beast at bay.” This shocking description of a young girl is riddled with racist descriptions, which reveals the distaste white people at this time had for the girl, not only due to the murder she committed, but from the fact that she is a black child.

Looking at the sources, we can see that black murderesses would not only be treated far more severely if they had killed a white child, but their race had already dictated the outcome of their cases, due to the racial biases of the time.

Child Murderess

“Child Murderess” and “A Child Sentenced to Death” were only a few of the many headlines plastered on newspapers across the US after Axey Cherry was sentenced. The public was fascinated by the case of a 12-year-old girl murdering an infant under her care and her subsequent sentencing to be hanged. There is no doubt that Axey’s youthfulness played a major role in the sensationalization of her story and her final sentence. 

While today we would be shocked by a girl as young as 12 being hired to care for an infant, it was not uncommon for young girls to work as domestic laborers, especially in a period only about 20 years removed from the abolishment of slavery. However, as shown through her characterization in the multitude of newspaper articles written about her case, Axey is not much different from the pre-teens of today who would rather have their time to themselves than work. “Axey was hired out by her mother, much against [her] own will,” to care for the infant of Mr. and Mrs. Williams.” When chronicling the events leading to the infant’s death, Axey is described as having “pouted around the house and attended to her duties in so neglectful a manner that she had to be constantly scolded.” To the modern-day reader, Axey Cherry seems no different from the children of today. Most people can recall a time in their childhood when they were reprimanded by their parents for not cleaning their room or doing the dishes. However, while we would all agree that not wanting to work does not warrant the murder of an innocent infant, the difference between Axey’s childhood and our own comes front and center. Axey likely received no formal education and the question remains if she had a clear understanding of right and wrong.

Yet, there is no doubt that the events following the infant’s death paint a picture of a young girl uninformed and unaware of the judicial system and the consequences of such an act as murder. She appeared entirely disinterested when she was sentenced to be hanged, playing with the buttons of her dress and gazing “stupidly” at the judge. However, as she was being carried back to jail after her sentencing, she saw her father and began to cry when she was told she could not go home. In her many days spent in jail following her sentencing, she continued to seem to not realize she was awaiting her execution. In one correspondence sent to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from Charleston where Axey was being held, they describe a girl who longed to play outside and would at times become fretful and impatient but eventually find something to amuse herself and “dance around her cell in high glee.” 

If one were to dismiss her actions as that of a child who didn’t know better, then who is to blame for the infant’s death? Was it Axey’s mother who forced her into the nurse position against her will? Maybe it was Mr. and Mrs. Williams who continued employing Axey despite her poor performance and soft-spoken threats. Others may believe that a 12-year-old is old enough to possess full responsibility for their actions.

In an op-ed published in The Morning News from South Carolina’s neighbor to the north,  Greensboro, North Carolina, the authors chastise an article from The New York World that refuses to accept “the assumption that a child twelve years old can attain a sufficient degree of moral responsibility to merit the death penalty for the commission of any crime.” John S. Hampton and Greek O. Andrews of The Morning News berate the World for favoring “a continuation of the slaughter of innocent and helpless infants by such embryo fiends till they arrive at an age of moral responsibility.” Simultaneously, through a peculiar choice of words, their characterization of Axey Cherry as an “embryo fiend” clearly demonstrates her youthfulness. However, despite her youth, Hampton and Andrews argue that Axey Cherry’s death penalty is a fitting sentence and that “such vampires as Axey Cherry be weeded out promptly from the face of the globe. The sooner, the better.” While the youthfulness of Axey does not seem to merit much consideration from the editors of The Morning News, what was the rest of the public’s response to the planned hanging of such a young girl?

Bad News Travels Fast

12-year-old Axey Cherry was sentenced to death by hanging in July 1887. In doing our research about this case, we discovered the extensive reach that her trial and sentencing had. The same excerpt about Axey reached newspapers from Washington, D.C. to California to Scotland. For reference about how shocking that is, this was before many states in the western half of the US had even been admitted to the Union. This reach had many people outraged that a 12-year-old girl, a child, was being sentenced to death, prompting many to write letters to the Governor of South Carolina pleading for Axey’s sentence to be lessened, including the citizens of Barnwell where she was sentenced:

“It is not to be expected for a minute that the colored girl, 12 years of age, who has been convicted of murder in Barnwell county, and sentenced to be hanged in September next, will be required to pay the extreme penalty of her crime. She undoubtedly killed the child that was committed to her keeping, but whatever the motive that led to the killing, the murderess is but a child herself. She has not even now any conception of the nature of the crime of which she was convicted, and has no shadow of conception of the consequences of her crime. There is no question that she intended to put the child out of the way in order to be relieved of its care, but evidently, she had no sense of the enormity of the offense she committed in carrying her horrible design into effect. These considerations must be taken into account in dealing with an offender so low in the scale of humanity as this girl undoubtedly is.”

Petition from the citizens of Barnwell to 

Gov. Richardson of South Carolina

Eventually, their pleas were heard, Axey Cherry’s sentence was commuted in August 1887 to imprisonment in the penitentiary for five years.

Conclusion

A number of factors such as race and age influenced this case, from the circumstances that led up to the murder all the way to the sentencing. The outrage of citizens prompted the overturning of Axey’s death sentence as it became clear the punishment did not fit the crime nor the age of the criminal. This was a crime of passion by a child whose brain wouldn’t be fully developed for another 13 years, she could not possibly understand the gravity of her actions and the consequences that followed. 

Even more, once freed from state hands, Axey would enter the world accused and formerly convicted of murder while still in her later teenage years. 

Works Cited

Axey Cherry, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 25 July 1887. 

"A Child Murderess: A 12-Year-Old Colored Girl Poisons a Baby -- Sentenced to Be Hung in September Next." St. Louis Globe-Democrat [St. Louis, MO], 26 July 1887. 

"A Child Sentenced to Death: The Remarkable Case of Axey Cherry, a 12-Year-Old Murderess." St. Louis Post-Dispatch [St. Louis, MO], 21 July 1887. 

"History of child labor in the United States—part 1: little children working." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 2017, www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2017/article/history-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-part-1.htm

King, Wilma. "'Mad' Enough to Kill: Enslaved Women, Murder, and Southern Courts." The Journal of African American History, vol. 92, no. 1, winter 2007. 

"List of U.S. States by Dates of Admission to the Union." Wikipedia, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union

The Morning News [Greensboro, NC]. 20 July 1887. 

"No Hanging for Children." The Intelligencer [Anderson, SC], 1 Sept. 1887. 

Segrave, Kerry, Women and Capital Punishment in America, 1840-1899, McFarland and Company.

"Southern Barbarity." The Washington Bee, 23 July 1887. Library of Congress, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025891/1887-07-23/ed-1/seq-2/

"Twelve-Year-Old Girl to Be Hanged." The New York Times, 21 July 1887.

"Will She Hang?: The Strange Case of Axey Cherry, a 12-Year-Old Murderess", The Leavenworth Standard [Leavenworth, KS], 23 July 1887.