Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-11-23
Date of Execution Will Be
Fixed by Court of Ap-
peals Today.
TRIAL WAS FAIR
Hold That Woman's Con-
fession Removed PossibiI-
ity of Injury.


ALBANY. N. Y, Nov. %, Up
Ruth Snyder, the blonde New York
housewife and mother, who denied
her guilt to the last, and Henry
Judd Gray, her mild-mannered par
amour, who told freely how they
both strangled and beat Ruth's half
sleeping husband to death, today lost
their joint appeal from sentence OF
death. f
Both are in. the death house at
Sing Sing. The date of execution Is
expected to be set by the court of
appeals here tomorrow If Mrs, Sny
der dies, she will be the third wo-
man executed in New York state.
Mrs Snyder's confession before
trial which she repudiated as forced
from her while nervous and over
wrought. weighed against her in the
court of appeals decision today,
which affirmed the death penalty
The scourt did not consider the
evidence except as to whether it con-
cerned the point of the appeal which
was that trial was unfair because
the defedants were tried jointly in
stead of separately. The decision
found that the trial had been scru-
pulously fair, and that Ruth Sny-
ders own early confession removed
the possibility of substantial injury
to her from presentation to the trial
jury of Gray's confession
At the trial Ruth was often defi-
ant and blazing and always keen
She put the whole blame on Gray.
Gray followed her on the stand, con-
Tossing completely, seemingly to ease
his conscience, and making no ap-
peal for mercy
The evidence indicated that in
their relations she was often the
dominant personality Her most de-
scriptive phrase of her paramour has
brought out from her, correspondence
as: "darned lovable little cuss.
The story brought out by the trial
was that Albert Snyder, yachting
magazine editor, and Ruth, went TO
a Saturday night party in Queens
Village, their greater New York
home, on March 10 last. Judd Gray
waited concealed in the Snyder
home. After Snyder's return and re-
tirement to sleep Ruth and Judd
had some drinks. Ruth maintained
that Judd then beat her husband
with a window sash and Strangled
him with wire. Gray said that Sny-
der seemed to be getting the better
of their struggle and that Ruth
helped him kill her husband.
Gray asserted that Ruth had been
urging him for a long time to kill
Snyder, and told how he plotted
the killing, even buying the window
sash weight in another city while
travelling about New York state SELL
ing corsets, his regular occupation.
trouble he brought on his own wife
and daughter Evidence was pre-
sented that Mrs Snyder had in
creased her husbands lie insurance
to about 100000 shortly before MS
death Whether her 9-year-old
daughter would get the insurance
has been one of the aftermaths OF
| the trial
The decision Of the court was un-
animous, except that Associate Judge
| Kellogg was not sitting.
Reviewing the murder, Judge Leh-
man. who wrote the opinion, SAID
that both defendants testified III
, their own behalf, eac hattempting
personal exculpation by throwing as
much of the blame as possible upon
| the other
! A mass of circumstances belied the
claim of exculpation OF either" he
wrote. 1.-The jury might well find
that each defendant in open court
established the guilt of BOTH
Through the trial and in his
charge the trial justice with Scrupu-
lous care protected the rights OF
both defendants Judge Lehman
stated "He pointed out to the jury
Continued on rage Ten)