The Beautiful Female Accomplice Whose Prosecution Fascinated Los Angeles
In 1933, Burmah White, aka the ‘Blonde Rattlesnake,’ Was Punished Harshly as a Warning to Worldly Girls
What is the root of our cultural fascination with women—often wives or girlfriends—who accompany men as they commit a violent or notorious crime? In recent years, the husband-and-wife San Bernardino terrorists, along with the wives of the Boston Marathon bomber and the Orlando nightclub shooter, have drawn round-the-clock coverage of the question: Why did she go along with it?
One historical clue to the origins of this American obsession can be found in 1933, when the office of Los Angeles District Attorney Buron Fitts began prosecuting the case of Burmah Adams …
