A Fake Rape Case in Maryland: ”Negro Was a Myth” - 1914

FULL TEXT: Chestertown, Md., Feb. 21.—The mystery; surrounding the attempt robbery at the house at Mrs. Jessie Hurd, a short distance from town, several weeks ago, was solved when Mrs. Jesse Hurd, the woman who stated that she had been attacked by a negro and hail driven him from her home by cutting him about the head and hands with a carving knife, broke down and confessed the whole thing was a sham.

Mrs. Hurd said in her confession that her husband was in the habit of leaving home every night after supper and not returning unlit late, and she conceived the plan to keep him home. She said she killed a chicken and smeared the blood on the ground around the dining room and outside of the house to give her husband the impression that she had been attacked. When the husband returned home his wife pretended to be in a terribly nervous condition and said that she had been attacked by a negro who bad attempted to rob the house. She showed the husband the carving knife and the blood stains on the floor and around the premises, and the husband became excited mid notified the Sheriff, who immediately began a search for the imaginary robber.

The country and woods surrounding the house, were searched, and Detective Hogan was ordered to unravel the mystery. He left without accomplishing anything. Posses chased everywhere after the negro.

As the mystery seemed to deepen Headquarters Detective Hogan suggested that the knife be sent to Baltimore, so that the blood on it could be analyzed. It was found to be chicken blood, as Detective Hogan had suspected.

She said she feared an attack on herself and her four small children. The Hurd home is in an out of the way place. She said she believed that if her husband could be made to believe that she was attacked once he would stay at home in the future.

[“Whole Country Stirred By Her Wild Story and Gory Clothes. - Negro Was A Myth - Wanted to Keep Her Hubbie Home at Night and No Other Reasons.” Feb. 233, 1914, p. 7]