Mary Mohrman (or Mohrmann, Mohrmon, Mormon) [1] was a six-year-old girl who was raped and strangled to death in 19th-century North Philadelphia. Her body was found in an empty city lot, floating in a shallow pool of water, on the morning of September 8, 1868.
Known as "Little Mary Mohrman," her murder and the subsequent trial and execution of her killer was an international sensation. [2] Mary had been playing with friends outside her home on Orkney Street in West Kensington, also known as the Norris Square neighborhood, when she was abducted. [3]
Born into a German-American Catholic family in a working class district, Mary was described as “one of those sunny-haired, bright-eyed, sylvan-like children, whose innocence, one would think, could soften the hardest soul.” [4] Her father, a cordwainer, died in 1866, leaving her mother with five children. [5]
On the evening of September 6, 1868, Mary's playmate, and other witnesses, reported seeing a "strange man" take Mary by the hand and lead her "into an alley." Mary's body was discovered September 8, in a sunken city lot at 6th St. and Susquehanna Avenue. Several men were arrested, but then later released; the crime went unsolved for more than a year.
A funeral was held September 10, 1868, at Saint Boniface Catholic Church, at Mascher and Diamond Streets on Norris Square. "The entire neighborhood was thronged with people and the church was densely crowded," according to newspaper reports. [6]
Mohrman became one of the first interments at the recently opened New Cathedral Cemetery; her body was later moved to Saint Anne Catholic Church Parish Cemetery. [7]