Martha Mary Curnutt

Date of marriage to Noah Casto has also been (erroneously?) reported to be August 15, 1839.

Martha was imprisoned in the Missouri State Penitentiary for killing her husband Noah Casto. (He had threatened to kill her on the day that she killed him; presumably she did so in fear of her life.)

From "Limestone Legacy" by Elliot Knernschield (2011):

"The next woman who came to the Missouri State Penitentiary was Martha Casto. Because there was no place to keep female inmates, Martha served her time with two families who were leasing the prison. This did not work and Martha, who had become pregnant, was forced to live within the prison. She was placed in solitary confinement to keep her away from the men in the prison. After her baby was born, she and her baby were freed on December 6, 1844. Governor John Edwards was worried that her baby would freeze and suffer during the cold winter weather."

George Thompson, a fellow inmate at the penitentiary, wrote the book Prison Life and Reflections; or, a Narrative of the Arrest, Trial, Conviction, Imprisonment, Treatment, Observations, Reflections, and Deliverance of Work, Burr, and Thompson, Who Suffered an Unjust and Cruel Imprisonment in Missouri Penitentiary, for Attempting to Aid Some Slaves to Liberty (see links below); he mentioned Martha in that book.

Numerous prominent Missourans (including former Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs) petitioned for her early pardon; Missouri Governor John Cummins Edwards granted her pardon (late 1844 or early 1845).

links

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=100971113

Prison Life and Reflections; or, a Narrative of the Arrest, Trial, Conviction, Imprisonment, Treatment, Observations, Reflections, and Deliverance of Work, Burr, and Thompson, Who Suffered an Unjust and Cruel Imprisonment in Missouri Penitentiary, for Attempting to Aid Some Slaves to Liberty

• https://archive.org/details/prisonliferef00thom
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifereflec00thom
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifereflec01thom
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifereflec02thom
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifereflec03thom
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifereflec1853thom
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifereflec7216thom
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifeandre00thomgoog
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifeandre01thomgoog
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifeandre02thomgoog
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifeandre03thomgoog
• https://archive.org/details/prisonlifeandref00thom
• https://archive.org/details/ASPC0002424600
• https://archive.org/details/ASPC0005219300