Nancy Randolph Acquitted

Forced into Servitude by Relatives

Jan 24, 2007 Mary Trotter Kion

Nancy Randolph and Richard Randolph are acquitted of murder, however Nancy's life thereafter in the Randolph home is reduced to less than that of a servant.

Judith Randolph Testifies

The murder trial of Nancy Randolph and Richard Randolph, accused of murdering their newborn infant continued. In answer to Patrick Henry's questioning of the supposed activities on the night of October 1, 1792, at the Randolph Harrisons Virginia country place known as Glenlyvar, Judith Randolph denied all knowledge.

She swore that her husband, Richard, did not go downstairs that night for any reason. She was certain, she told the court, that he slept "by her side, although she could not sleep at all." However, when Henry questioned whether Richard could have taken the body of an infant from her sister Nancy's room and carried it down stairs, Judith responded that "it could not have happened." She explained that Richard, to do so, "would have had to pass through her room, where she lay awake all night."

Strangely, the slight change in Judith's statement from first saying her husband lay sleeping beside her to his having to pass through her room if he rose to do the deed he was accused of was passed over.

The Verdict

Although there was some foundation on which to built suspicion of murder against Nancy Randolph and Richard Randolph there also lacked sufficient evidence to condemn them, at least by the court. It was accepted by the court that Nancy had miscarried and that she and Richard were not guilty of murder.

Return to Bizarre: In More Ways than One

When the murder trial ended Judith, Nancy, Richard, and Possum John Randolph all returned to Bizarre, Richard Randolph's plantation. For the next fifteen years Nancy lived at Bizarre, under the watchful eye of her sister. Her life was little different than that of a servant except that she received no wages. She was allowed to take her meals at the family table but was restrained from joining in any conversation. She was not allowed to "taste of wine," and seldom had the pleasure of tea or coffee.

For those long fifteen years, Nancy Randolph was not allowed to play her harpsichord. She was denied the use of a horse for riding or any leisure time for reading.

Nancy Randolph Acquitted: Forced into Servitude by Relatives continues with The Death of Richard Randolph: Was it Murder by Wife or Lover?

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