In June 1942, 14-year-old child bride Mattie Pearl Manning (née Morgan) and her father, Frank Morgan, were both convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. They were charged in connection with the fatal breakfast-table shooting of Mattie's 35-year-old husband, Daymon W. Manning, in Lowland, Hamblen County, Tennessee.
14-year-old Mattie Pearl, who possessed only a second-grade education, married 35-year-old Daymon Manning on February 21, 1942. She famously told reporters she married him “because he was the first man to ever kiss me.”
Just three months into the marriage, Daymon Manning was shot and killed at Frank Morgan’s home. Mattie stated that a volatile argument erupted at the breakfast table the day before over a pair of paint-stained trousers. Daymon had also reportedly threatened her.
The investigation and subsequent trial in Morristown, Tennessee, garnered national attention due to the conflicting confessions offered by the family.
Mattie Pearl originally claimed sole responsibility for the shooting, stating she acted because her husband threatened her. Weeks later, her father Frank Morgan wrote a full confession to exonerate his young daughter. When the trial commenced in mid-June 1942, Mattie Pearl changed her story again, testifying that her father had nothing to do with it. Frank Morgan subsequently repudiated his own confession.
The jury took less than an hour to find the child widow guilty of second-degree murder, while her father was convicted of aiding and abetting the crime. Both began serving their 20-year sentences on June 17, 1942. Historical records indicate Mattie Pearl (later Mattie Pearl Morgan Greene) lived until 2007.
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