Clara Ford and the Murder of Frank Westwood

In 1894, eighteen-year-old Frank Westwood was shot at the door of his Toronto home. Weeks later, Clara Ford confessed, then recanted. Her sensational trial raised questions about police interrogation, race, gender and the reliability of theevidence. The murder remains unsolved.Check out our Patreon at patreon.com/historicaltruecrimeSource Materials Patrick Brode, Death in the Queen City: Clara Ford on Trial, 1895  Carolyn Whitzman, Clara at the Door with a Revolver Carolyn Strange, “Wounded Womanhood and Dead Men: Chivalry and the Trials of Clara Ford and Carrie Davies” Barrington Walker, Race on Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario’s Criminal Courts, 1858–1958 Barrington Walker’s review of Death in the Queen City Contemporary coverage from Toronto newspapers including the Globe, Toronto Mail, Toronto World, Toronto Telegram, Evening Star and NewsArchival court and police material cited in the above works, including Chancellor John Alexander Boyd’s benchbooks, Toronto Police records and the 1871 Canadian census Interviews and published commentary by Carolyn Whitzman discussing her research into Clara Ford’s life and the later mythology surrounding the case