The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1904-02-12
The LAST WOMAN
TO Die ON GALLONS
Over a Century Since Bath
sheba Spooner Was Hanged
in Massachusetts.
SHE MURDERED HUSBAND
Her Execution Is Recalled by the Re-
cent Conviction Of a Vermont
Woman for Same Crime
Her Lonely Grave.

Her Lonely Grave.
Chicago Chronicles: Unless the leg
islature grants clemency Mrs. Mary H.
Rogers may hang for the murder Of her
husband in Vermont in 1905. Under
the law the execution cannot take
place until a session of the legislature
has INTERVIEWED between the time Of
sentence Of death md it's execution.
This vital question of whether or not
a woman shall hang is one that has
been much discussed in times past.
n last time a woman was hanged in
Vermont was twenty years ago. 1t has
been l25 years since "a Woma Was
hanged in Massachusetts.
Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner's guilty
life went out on the scaffold in Wor-
cester on the I'd day of July, 1878, and
with it the life of the innocent, when
God in his wrath protested in vivid
lightning n aWe-inSpiring thunder"
On a hillside On the Worcester estate
Of the late Andrew H. Green, father
of Greater New York." who was re-
Gently murdered, is her lonely grave.
A plain slab of stone marks the spot,
but neither name, date nor inscription
tells he Wandercr from the beaten
paths of travel who lies there entombed
or what her fate.
Yet this grave on the hillside, known
to but few of the present generation,
has had an enduring influence in Mas
~sachusetts and has shaped it's policy
in one important particular for 1875
years.
Fought in the Revolution.
When the wal for American indie
p~endence broke out there were few men
In Massachusetts more prominent than
Timothy Ruggles of Hardwick, q little
town in Worcester county, about twen-
ty-five miles from the county seat. AS
B~rigadier Ruggles he was generally
known, u title won by valiant service in
the French and Indian wars.
Ruggles was in the expedition to
Grown Point as colonel and was second
In under Sir William Johnson
in the battle in which Baron Dleskar
was defeated. Under Lord Amherst he
commanded a regiment in the cam
paign of 1856 and 1857. In the expedi-
ton against Canada, under ord AM
~brigadier general.
Such was the father of beautiful
Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner. The proud
spirit, the energy, the courage of the
father was in the daughter.
General Ruggles was in the good
CRUCES u IeOISc H., WHO SItllleu I'LL
the office of surveyor general, which
carried with it a salary of $4,000. The
Ruggles mansion in Hardwick was fire.
quently the scene of great feStivity
Hou parties from Boston were enter
tanned and Massachusetts saw no more
brilliant scenes than were presented al
the Ruggles hunts, for he genera,
maintained a deer park in his broaC
estates, a pack of hounds and a stable
Of thirty thoroughbreds.
Marriage Forced by Father.
In such environments Bathsheba, the
fathers pride, was reared. A young
woman of striking appearance, re-
markable intelligence and buoyant
spirits, she was born to BE- q social lead.
er, and why she welded Joshua Spoon
err, who wooed her ere she was 20, nc
one can SurmiSe.
1t is probable that the marriage was
dictated by the father for political OF
financial reasons rather than prompted
by the daughters heart.
Spooner "a a respectable country
merchant of Brookfeld, a town some
ten miles from Hardwiclk. He had {
handsome property, but was much old
err than his young wife. Their tastes
did not accord and they We're an i'll.
mated pair. But whatever the reason
for the marriage she left the grea'
mansion in HardWick, with it's gayety
In which she had shone brilliantly, anC
began a life Of unhappiness in the
Spooner home at Brookfield.
1t is a Ruggles tradition that the alb.
sence of gayety and her husband:
years were not all that caused her dis
content and led up to a fearful tragedy
The tradition says that she believed he
husband unfaithful and the argument.
Of counsel in the murder trial hinte(
that he maintained an u~nprinciplet
woman in his home.
In this unhappy household appeared
in 1776 Ezra Ross, a soldier of thu
American army, returning from hi!
age, but handsome and gallant, a boy
in years, but a man in spirit.
Treated the Wounded Soldier.
Broken in health by hardships t.
which the American soldiery was ac
customed, he rested at the Spooner resi-
dence for some time, Mrs. Spoone
treating the invalid with a mother
tenderness.
Having recovered sufficiently, he de
parted for his home in Ipswich, and
would not be strange if more tina
gratitude toward the fascinating WON
an in the full flower of womanhood
who had so tenderly watched over him
filled his impreSSiOnable heart.
After the evacuation Of Ticonderog;
on his march to join the northern arm,
young Ross again called at the Spoone
residence. The hostess made his brie
stay agreeable and secured the promis
Of q visit on his return. The northern
campaign over. Ross was again a Wis
itor.
Ross was now a young man of Is
fine looking and soldierly, whom cam
paigning had developed into a man o
the world. She was a woman of 3;
beautiful and accomplished. Unhapp,
in her domestic life, she readily be
slowed her love upon the dashing young
soldier. His visit was prolonged. Lik
the lotus eaters of Homer, he forgot t
return home.
She was ever in his company an,
they took long horseback rides through
the romantic and beautiful Quaboa:
valley till her love for the young soldie
fermented into a guilty passion, whicl
turned dislike for her aged HUSBAND
into hatred.
Plans for the Crime.
Plans for his taking off, to whicl
Ross gave an asserting but unwilling
ear, began to form in the brain of tn
woman. Ross was borne along help
lessly upon the wild current of events
He could not leave the beautiful en-
chantress, though he knew his sta,
meant murder. He had the confdenc
of the husband, and accompanied hin
occasionally upon distant journeys.
l Lf# NhfIas RNcO pyoe q, ,,,st1