The Murder of Bessie Barclay’s Venturesome Spirit

The dangers of being a mentally ill woman in Edwardian America, who preferred to wear male attire

Bessie Barclay, AKA Jean Thurnherr mugshots. Public Domain Photographs

Jeanne Miriam “Bessie” Barclay was born November 2, 1888, in West Virginia. Attorney Henry Augustus Barcley and his wife, aspiring painter and socialite Lily Adele Ward, adopted the little girl at 11 months old. The…