User:Goodalee/sandbox

Berengera Caswell’s legacy lived on under the name of Mary Bean. Eventually, her name was dropped from the story altogether and she once again became the mysterious factory girl she was at the discovery of her body. She became a cautionary tale for women of mature age; her actions and her early death was used to warn women of the possible outcomes of committing the same societal “crimes” as she. The published accounts of her actions leading to her death as well as the details and outcome of her murder trial were used to scare women to conform to what was seen as the correct way to behave.

Even as Berengera’s story strayed from the true facts of what occurred, many short stories and articles were composed about her with details twisted in favor of teaching lessons to those who read them.