The booking photo of Helen Spence, 18, after she murdered the man on trial for murdering her father and raping and murdering her stepmother. She later murdered another man for sexually harassing and threatening her. Helen was the inspiration for Mattie Ross in True Grit (Arkansas, 1931) [345 x 500].

[Helen Spence](https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/helen-spence-5376/)

[Helen Spence: An Arkansas Folk Hero for the Ages](https://www.malvern-online.com/multimedia/helen-spence-an-arkansas-folk-hero-for-the-ages/article_e625aa36-bc62-11ed-8813-d3337cf44b3c.html)

>During the January 1931 trial of Jack Worls in Arkansas County’s DeWitt Courthouse, Helen sat still as a statue. She wore a stylish red velvet suit she had sewn herself, complete with white rabbit-fur muff. When Worls stood while the Judge instructed the jury, Helen rose, pulling a concealed pearl-handled ladies’ pistol from the fur muff. She shot Worls to death in front of judge, jury and spectators and then calmly handed over the gun to the sheriff. In true “True Grit” fashion, Helen responded to a barrage of reporters’ questions by explaining, “He shot my daddy.” She laughed when the crowd of newspapermen asked if she was worried about getting sent to the electric chair.

Helen was convicted of second degree murder for killing Worls and sentenced to five years in prison.