Bertha Boronda: the Mistress of Mayhem - A Fun-Sized Felony

Send a message to Monica and Olivia!Bertha “Bessie” Boronda attacked her husband, Narciso "Frank" Boronda, in the middle of the night in their San Jose home in 1907.The newspapers called it a violent, deliberate mutilation. The court charged her with mayhem—a crime defined by the destruction of part of the human body.But no one ever said exactly what she did.Over time, the story became more specific, more certain... and more sensational.But, when you go back to the coverage of the case in 1907… that version of the story isn’t quite there.