Alice Mitchell was an American murderer. On February 23rd, 1892, the 19-year-old Mitchell cut the throat of her lover, 17-year-old Freda Ward. Mitchell was subsequently found insane by means of a jury inquisition and placed in a psychiatric hospital until her death in 1898. The case received unprecedented media coverage and drew discussion of lesbianism into public light. The case influenced the popular literature of the era which began to depict lesbians as "murderous" and "masculine".
Mitchell was acquitted by reason of insanity because at that time, homosexuality was viewed as a mental illness.
The case history produced by Mitchell's defense describes her as "a regular tomboy".