Stella Kenney [Laws F37]

DESCRIPTION: Stella Kenney is murdered on her way home after spending ten months with her uncle Rob Frazier. Frazier, married and with three children, is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: homicide incest prison trial family
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1917 (?) - Murder of Stella Kenney. She was pregnant; presumably her uncle was the father
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws F37, "Stella Kenney"
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #69, "Stella Kenny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-BalladMakingInMountainsOfKentucky, pp. 151-153, (no title; Thomas's informant called the girl "Stell" or "Stellie," not "Stella") (1 text) (OakEd, pp. 157-159)
ST LF37 (Partial)
Roud #2273
NOTES [203 words]: The details in this song seem to be mostly accurate. According to Roberts/Agey-InThePine, Robert Frazure was the brother of Stella Kenny's mother. Stella came to live with Frazure as a 17-year-old; she came to help out Frazure's wife, who was pregnant for the fourth time and having problems with the pregnancy. In this period, Frazure apparently sent a letter to a doctor asking for a medicine to cause a miscarriage.
Eventually the Kennys asked that Stella come home. Frazure, after some delay, set out in a buggy. Along the way, near the town of Olive Hill (about forty miles east of Lexington), residents heard screams. When they came to the rescue, they found that Stella had been badly beaten about the head; Frazure had some scratches and bruises. He claimed they had been attacked by robbers.
There seems to be no other evidence for the existence of said robbers.
Stella died without saying anything useful about what happened to her. An autopsy showed her to be about four months pregnant.
Frazure was tried three times for murder; the third time, the jury sentenced him to life imprisonment. He was released early because he had tuberculosis. Roberts does not offer information about his date of death. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LF37

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