Gender and Arson
Out of all arson cases researched, there was only one in which a woman was the suspect of the case, which follows current trends that estimate around 80-90% of arson offenders as male. Titled "Charge Woman with Arson", the 43 word article details how a woman burned the residence of a family she formerly served. At the end of the article, it is reported that the woman is 'mentally unbalanced'. While this may seem insignificant, it is important to view the portrayal of male versus female perpatrators.
Historically, female perpatrators have been given lesser sentences, if given a sentence at all. In the case of The Beatrice Daily Express, male perpatrators of arson are usually reported with their motive for their crime, such as in an article from October 20th 1902 titled "Firebug is Captured" which details a man turned serial arsonist after being rejected from multiple women. Male offenders are also handed larger sentences, with male perpatrators in The Daily Express experiencing the full judicial system from arrests, arraignment, all the way to sentencing, usually for at least a year. Though there was only one reported case of a woman committing arson in this dataset, it serves as an example of how women perpatrators in this time were portrayed as simply "mentally unbalanced" instead of violent criminals.