by Douglas O. Linder
The State Lunatic Asylum in Fulton, Missouri. The asylum opened in 1851, four years before the Fulton became the site of Celia's murder trial.
| 1821 |
Under the
Missouri
Compromise, Missouri is admitted to the Union as a slave
state and the
expansion of slavery in the Louisiana Territory is limited
to states
south of Missouri. |
| 1822 |
Sometime before
the
fall of 1822, the Robert Newsom family settles land on the
Middle River
in southern Callaway County, Missouri (about 9 miles south
of Fulton). |
| 1850 |
Celia, age 14,
arrives from neighboring Audrain County to become Robert
Newsom's first
female slave, joining five male slaves on his 800-acre
farm....Callaway
County's population is 13,827, including 9,895
whites. |
| 1850-1855 |
Robert Newsom,
age
60, rapes Celia in 1850 and continues to demand sexual
relations from
his slave girl over the course of the next five
years. Celia
gives birth to two children, almost certainly fathered by
Newsom.
Her main duty on the farm seems to be that of
cook....Sometime before
1855, Celia enters into a romantic relationship with
George, another
one of Newsom's slaves. |
| 1855, Winter |
Celia becomes
pregant again, either carrying the child of Newsom or
George, her
lover. George demands the Celia some having sex with
Newsom. |
| June
23, 1855 |
Newsom, having
rejected Celia's plea that he stop having sex with her,
tells Celia "he
was coming to her cabin that night." At about 10 p.m.,
Newsom leaves
his house and walks the fifty yards over to Celia's
cabin. When
Newsom advances
toward Celia, she strikes him on the head with a large
stick. He
falls from the blow and Celia hits him on the head on
second time,
killing him. She places Newsom's body in her
fireplace and lights
a fire. |
| June
24, 1855 |
Celia asks
Coffee
Waynescot, Newsom's 12-year-old grandson, to spread ashes
from the
previous night's fire along a path to the stable....The
Newsom family,
concerned about Newsom's disappearance, begins an
investigation.
William Powell, leader of the search party, questions
George, who tells
him "it is not worth while to hunt for him except around
the
house." George tells Powell "he believed the last
walking
[Newsom] had done was along the path" leading to Celia's
cabin.
Powell and others search Celia's cabin, but find
nothing.
Confronting Celia, she initially admits that Newsom came
to her cabin
seeking sex, but claims that after she struck him he
left. After
more intense questioning, she confesses. |
| June
25, 1855 |
Celia is
arrested. Two justices of the peace conduct an
inquest into
Newsom's murder. At the inquest, William Powell,
Coffee
Waynescoat, and Celia provide sworn statements concerning
the
murder. A six-person inquest jury finds probable
cause to charge
Celia with the murder of Robert Newsom. |
| Summer
of 1855 |
The slavery
question
heats up in Missouri and Kansas as pro-slavery and
anti-slavery forces
clash in each state. |
| October
6, 1855 |
John Brown
arrives
in Kansas to join his sons in the battle for a slave-free
Kansas. |
| October
9, 1855 |
The trial of
Celia
opens in the Callaway County Courthouse in Fulton in the
courtroom of
Judge William Hall. A twelve-person, all-white,
all-male jury is
chosen. |
| October
10, 1855 |
Witnesses
present
testimony in the trial of Celia. The defense
presents evidence
that the murder was committed in self-defense. Judge
Hall denies
the defense's request to instruct the jury that the
killing was
justifiable if done to prevent a sexual assault. The
jury returns
a verdict of guilty. |
| October
11, 1855 |
Defense lawyers
move
to set aside the jury verdict and grant a new trial. |
| October
13, 1855 |
Judge Hall denies the motion for a new trial and sentences Celia to be "hanged by the neck until dead" on November 16. Judge Hall refuses to issue an order staying execution until Celia's appeal could be heard by the Missouri Supreme Court. |
| November
11, 1855 |
On the night of
November 11, five days before her scheduled execution (and
with no
decision yet made on her appeal to the Missouri Supreme
Court), Celia
escapes from the Callaway County jail. |
| Late
November 1855 |
Celia is
"returned"
to jail, probably by the people who aided in her
escape. A new
date, December 21, is set for her execution. |
| December
6, 1855 |
Defense lawyers
for
Celia write a letter to Judge Abiel Leonard, a newly
elected member of
the Missouri Supreme Court, arguing that the refusal of
Judge Hall to
give certain requested instructions constituted reversible
error in
Celia's case. |
| December
14, 1855 |
As slavery
issues
dominate the headlines in both Missouri and Kansas (where
a full-scale
civil war threatens to erupt), the Missouri Supreme Court
considers and
rejects Celia's appeal. |
| December
20, 1855 |
Celia is
questioned
in her cell and again claims that she alone was
responsible for
Newsom's death. She tells her interrogators
"as soon as I
struck him the Devil got into me, and I struck him with a
stick until
he was dead." |
| December
21, 1855 |
At 2:30
P.M.,
Celia is hanged in Fulton, Missouri. |