Execution Tales Chapter 9 Revision 2
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09: Back Home & a News Catch Up
It was early 1867 by the time Jane & Josiah returned home to the Brownstone they had purchased in New York in which to start their married lives. One of the first things they did was head for the main post office to retrieve the back copies of a monthly magazine they now subscribed to, “True Crime Monthly”.
After dinner Mr & Mrs Edwards methodically worked their way through the lurid magazines for articles of especial interest describing cases they had missed when on their travels. Several items grabbed their attention.
Susan Eberhart
Susan Eberhart [White, aged between 17 & 21] was hanged in Stewart County Georgia for assisting her employer, Ferdinand Spann, to kill his wife so that he could be with her. Mrs Spann had been strangled. They were arrested six days after the killing, & tried & sentenced less than a month after the murder. Susan went to the gallows in a new dress supplied by the Sheriff’s wife & with her hair neatly braided. She had to watch her lover kick his heels in the air on the scaffold while awaiting her turn to die. Like Mr Spann, & the victim, Miss Eberhart slowly strangled to death on the rope “Convulsing & kicking most vigorously before expiring”.
Alcee Harris
An African American 24 year old Alcee Harris was hanged in Ouachita, Lousiana for murder. She had persuaded her paramour, Tony Nellum, to kill her husband with an axe. Both confessed to their parts in the crime & they were executed side by side on a gallows set up outside the courthouse, in front of a crowd estimated at 5000. Alcee wore a white dress for the hanging. Both prisoners were given quite a short drop & while the much heavier Tony died fairly quickly the slim & slender Alcee writhed, twisted, jerked & struggled for some time after the trap fell at 10.30 am on that Friday morning
Priscilla Biggadyke
A 28 year old Boston housewife Priscilla Biggadyke had been hanged on a gallows adjoining the prison for killing another young woman, Abigail Spencer, who she believed, wrongly it turned out, had been having an affair with her husband. True Crime Monthly described it thus
Not surprisingly the prisoner had slept but little. On rising she dressed herself in what the magazine described as a “Narrow satin skirt, having a tight fitting basque. The hem of the skirt was ruffled & her blouse’s sleeves having ruching at the cuffs & neckline”.
During the trial Priscilla had appeared calm & resigned to her fate however as she was led to the scaffold it was obvious to the official witnesses & the watching crowd that her composed demeanour had crumpled, tears ran down her cheeks & she trembled uncontrollably.
At the top of the gallows steps, she paused, & as the priest uttered his final words of comfort, two deputies advanced, one of them swiftly slipping a black hood over her head. The hangman insisted on putting the noose under her chin claiming that this would cause instant unconsciousness. Muffled shrieks came from under the tightly drawn fabric as the rope was tightened around her slim neck.
“True Crime Monthly” reported that in the event the executioner’s claims had proved to be false. “There was a rattle, a crash & a strangled cry. The struggles of the unhappy woman lasted at least three minutes until her lifeless body swayed from side to side in the wind, her skirt fluttering in the breeze”
Roxalana Druse
The execution that interested Jane & Josiah the most was that of 26 year old Roxalana Druse. She had been hanged in New York for the murder of her husband. Roxalana had beaten him to death with a poker & then chopped up the body, afterwards boiling down the remains.
They lived in a frontier cabin in Little Falls in upstate New York & she was caught because her brother in law had reported Mr Druse missing to the police. The alleged motive for the crime was that her husband expected Roxalana to work too hard. What especially interested Mr & Mrs Edwards was the unusual method of hanging used.
The condemned woman was jerked upwards by a weighted rope, instead of being dropped through a trap door & this failed to break her neck. She took an agonising fifteen minutes to strangle to death on the noose.
The horror of Mrs Druse’s execution had led to some debate over this new method of hanging however to Jane & Josiah’s delight “True Crime Monthly” stated that the New York state authorities had decided to persevere with it for now
It was early 1867 by the time Jane & Josiah returned home to the Brownstone they had purchased in New York in which to start their married lives. One of the first things they did was head for the main post office to retrieve the back copies of a monthly magazine they now subscribed to, “True Crime Monthly”.
After dinner Mr & Mrs Edwards methodically worked their way through the lurid magazines for articles of especial interest describing cases they had missed when on their travels. Several items grabbed their attention.
Susan Eberhart
Susan Eberhart [White, aged between 17 & 21] was hanged in Stewart County Georgia for assisting her employer, Ferdinand Spann, to kill his wife so that he could be with her. Mrs Spann had been strangled. They were arrested six days after the killing, & tried & sentenced less than a month after the murder. Susan went to the gallows in a new dress supplied by the Sheriff’s wife & with her hair neatly braided. She had to watch her lover kick his heels in the air on the scaffold while awaiting her turn to die. Like Mr Spann, & the victim, Miss Eberhart slowly strangled to death on the rope “Convulsing & kicking most vigorously before expiring”.
Alcee Harris
An African American 24 year old Alcee Harris was hanged in Ouachita, Lousiana for murder. She had persuaded her paramour, Tony Nellum, to kill her husband with an axe. Both confessed to their parts in the crime & they were executed side by side on a gallows set up outside the courthouse, in front of a crowd estimated at 5000. Alcee wore a white dress for the hanging. Both prisoners were given quite a short drop & while the much heavier Tony died fairly quickly the slim & slender Alcee writhed, twisted, jerked & struggled for some time after the trap fell at 10.30 am on that Friday morning
Priscilla Biggadyke
A 28 year old Boston housewife Priscilla Biggadyke had been hanged on a gallows adjoining the prison for killing another young woman, Abigail Spencer, who she believed, wrongly it turned out, had been having an affair with her husband. True Crime Monthly described it thus
Not surprisingly the prisoner had slept but little. On rising she dressed herself in what the magazine described as a “Narrow satin skirt, having a tight fitting basque. The hem of the skirt was ruffled & her blouse’s sleeves having ruching at the cuffs & neckline”.
During the trial Priscilla had appeared calm & resigned to her fate however as she was led to the scaffold it was obvious to the official witnesses & the watching crowd that her composed demeanour had crumpled, tears ran down her cheeks & she trembled uncontrollably.
At the top of the gallows steps, she paused, & as the priest uttered his final words of comfort, two deputies advanced, one of them swiftly slipping a black hood over her head. The hangman insisted on putting the noose under her chin claiming that this would cause instant unconsciousness. Muffled shrieks came from under the tightly drawn fabric as the rope was tightened around her slim neck.
“True Crime Monthly” reported that in the event the executioner’s claims had proved to be false. “There was a rattle, a crash & a strangled cry. The struggles of the unhappy woman lasted at least three minutes until her lifeless body swayed from side to side in the wind, her skirt fluttering in the breeze”
Roxalana Druse
The execution that interested Jane & Josiah the most was that of 26 year old Roxalana Druse. She had been hanged in New York for the murder of her husband. Roxalana had beaten him to death with a poker & then chopped up the body, afterwards boiling down the remains.
They lived in a frontier cabin in Little Falls in upstate New York & she was caught because her brother in law had reported Mr Druse missing to the police. The alleged motive for the crime was that her husband expected Roxalana to work too hard. What especially interested Mr & Mrs Edwards was the unusual method of hanging used.
The condemned woman was jerked upwards by a weighted rope, instead of being dropped through a trap door & this failed to break her neck. She took an agonising fifteen minutes to strangle to death on the noose.
The horror of Mrs Druse’s execution had led to some debate over this new method of hanging however to Jane & Josiah’s delight “True Crime Monthly” stated that the New York state authorities had decided to persevere with it for now
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I love this part of your stories with historical accounts mixed with fictional details. To be honest I love it more than next chapters which all about that serial killers. And so well illustrated it is!
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