Margaret Hossack, a woman from Iowa, was charged with murdering her husband on the night of December 1, 1900. She had gone through two trials, with the verdict for the first one being stated on April 11, 1901 by an all-male jury. The woman was found guilty and received a life sentence in prison. However, one year later, there was a retrial which resulted in her freedom. At the beginning of the first trial, Margaret claimed that, at the time of the incident, she was sleeping with her husband. However, as the case moved forward, the household dog, Shep, was used as an important figure in the investigation. The woman claimed to have heard him barking, but the family members have stated that they did not hear anything. Nonetheless, they recall that the dog’s distress must have been caused by the incident. This, in turn, is what revealed some of the truth behind the murder. Unfortunately, since Margaret died 14 years later, the majority of the details surrounding the case vanished with her.
From the perspective of gender roles, Margaret was seen as unfeminine and atrocious, due to her struggles with domestic violence and the stoicism caused by it. Meanwhile, her husband John, in spite of being rather violent, was idolized by many. The all-male jury could have contributed to the first trial resulting in her ‘guilty’ verdict, as she was seen as violating the norms of society during that time. What complicated the situation was the reluctance of the family to depict their knowledge regarding their marriage struggles. Fortunately, the retrial that took place one year later brought her justice. This situation, undeniably, vividly depicts how domestic violence victims were antagonized during that time, while their abusers would usually be idealized by society. There is no denying that patriarchal norms contributed to the first verdict, however, as mentioned earlier, Margaret was fortunate enough to find justice one year later.