Philip Barton Key (April 5, 1818 – February 27, 1859) was a United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He is most famous for having been shot and killed by the man whom he cuckolded, Daniel Sickles. Sickles defended himself by adopting a defense of temporary insanity, the first time the defense had been used in the United States.
Born in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., Key was the son of Francis Scott Key and the great-nephew of Philip ...
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Philip Barton Key (April 5, 1818 – February 27, 1859) was a United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He is most famous for having been shot and killed by the man whom he cuckolded, Daniel Sickles. Sickles defended himself by adopting a defense of temporary insanity, the first time the defense had been used in the United States.
Born in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., Key was the son of Francis Scott Key and the great-nephew of Philip Barton Key. He was also a nephew of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. He married Ellen Swan, the daughter of a Baltimore attorney, on November 18, 1845. Allegedly the handsomest man in Washington and by 1859 a widower with four children, Key was known to be flirtatious with many women.
In 1859, Congressman Daniel Sickles shot and killed Phillip Barton Key, for having conducted a public affair with his wife Teresa Bagioli Sickles. Some time in the spring of 1858, Teresa Sickles began an affair with Key. Sickles had accused his much-younger wife...
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