Murder of Eunice Bolles

12-year-old Hannah Ocuish is the youngest and last female to be documented and lawfully executed in North Carolina. Her mother was a Pequot Native American and her father was African American. She was also said to have had some intellectual disability. She was working as an indentured servant for an Ichabod Rogers at the time.

Hannah and 6-year-old Eunice Bolles, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, spent time together in a strawberry patch a few miles north of New London, Connecticut. They did not get along though after Eunice went home she told her parents Hannah was mean and took some of her strawberries.

About six weeks later on July 21, 1786, Eunice was walking to school on the Norwich road in New London. Hannah spotted the 6-year-old alone and beat her to death with rocks for complaining about the strawberry incident. After killing the girl she tried to cover her with large stones trying to make it seem as if the wall collapsed on her. But it was obvious that the stones were placed there and Eunice had been murdered. 

Eunice's body was found at about 9 a.m. The authorities knew of Hannah and Eunice's trouble. They began to interview Hannah and she lied to them claiming to seen four boys harassing Eunice where she was found. Authorities did not believe her and took her to the Bolles home to see Eunice, where she broke down and admitted to killing her.

Hannah was tried in October for the murder. She was convicted and found guilty of the murder.  During the trial, her age was put into account, but since the murder was brutal and she attempted to conceal the body she was given the death penalty. She seemed unconcerned during the trial.

She was set to be executed on December 20, 1786. When it came closer to her execution date she was becoming fearful. On the day of December 20th, she was crying for most of the day. Thousands gathered to watch the young girl hang. Reverend Henry Channing gave a lengthy sermon before her hanging. She said little but did thank the Sherrif for showing her kindness. 

SOURCES:

Courant

Murderpedia

Today in Connecticut  History

Wikipedia
Connecticut History