13. “A Strange State, As if Asleep or Crazy”
Defense witnesses testified that on the morning of the murder, Albert Tirrell had seemed to be in a trance, sounding weird and appearing “in a strange state, as if asleep, or crazy“. Another witness testified to speaking with Tirrell, who claimed he was fleeing from an adultery indictment. When the witness informed Tirrell of Mrs. Bickford’s murder, he seemed genuinely shocked.
Choate also attacked the victim. He argued that, after ensnaring the hitherto innocent Tirrell and seducing him away from his wife and children, she might have killed herself. As Choate pointed out, it was not uncommon for prostitutes to commit suicide. The argument resonated with the jurors’ cultural mores in early Victorian America – a time of disquiet over the recent proliferation of “fallen women” handing their cards to passersby on city streets. It was easy to convince them that the victim was as morally culpable as her killer.
