Murder of Lavinia Jenkins

On May 13, 1872, 20-year-old Lavinia Jenkins and 24-year-old George Jenkins had a fight. George had been drinking on and off that day and came home at 8p.m. Late that night around  9 p.m. Lavinia wanted to leave the house. She at first said she was going to her sisters-in-law, but George told her no and she then told him she wanted to go to church. He told her to not leave and to go the next day.

George would then leave to go to the lodge returning home around 10. When he came home Lavinia was not home. So he went and sat on a bench between his and the neighbor's house. Lavinia would return home with a man (known to George, but not stated who it was). Lavinia called out to George and looked for him.

When she found him beside the house she was offended. She thought that George was trying to spy on her and she was angry. The two said goodbye to the man who walked her home. Once he was gone Lavinia lashed out at George telling him "I don't need you watching me." They would get into an argument leading George to drink more.

He would go and borrow a meat cleaver claiming he was going to cook meat for breakfast. Lavinia was still sleeping when George took a cleaver to his wife. He would hit her in the face, throat, shoulders, and chest.

When Robert, George's older brother, came to the house around 9 a.m. the next morning the doors were closed and the two children were outside playing. He would ask them where their mother was and one of the children would tell him, "Mother is upstairs dead."

Robert believing something was wrong went to the police station to retrieve officers. They would return to the home and forcibly broke down the door. Inside they found Lavinia still in her blood-soaked bed and George was nowhere in sight.

George would turn himself in. He would claim that he did not remember what he did to his wife. He said that he was drunk and blacked out and during the blackout out he murdered his wife. He would take an insanity plea at trial. He would also state that she would not treat him as she should have. They would find him guilty and set to be executed an on October 31, 1872, George would be executed.

SOURCES:
Legal Executions in Delaware, The District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia 
The Baltimore Sun May 15, 1872
The Philidelphia Inquirer May 15, 1872
Evening Star June 27, 1872
Evening Star October 4, 1872
Evening Star October 31, 1872