The Curious Case of Chastine Cox: Murder, Race, Medicine and the Media in the Gilded Age

Abstract

Summary This paper explores the intersection of race, law and medical authority in Gilded Age New York through an examination of the trial and execution of Chastine Cox. This case was a media sensation due to two controversies which played out in the courtroom and the court of public opinion. For the public, Cox’s race inflected the debate over the crime and execution. Within the courtroom, however, controversy centred on the interpretation of medical evidence, which raised the possibility that Cox was not guilty. In particular, the defence strategy centred on medical theories of suspended animation, making use of new medical evidence about the line between life and death to prompt uncertainties both about the possibility of murder and the reliability of medical professionals. This paper demonstrates the ways in which anxieties about life, death, law, race and medicine were negotiated in courts of law and public opinion.