Roxalana Druse Killed Her Husband, Fed Him to the Hogs*

One of the more heinous crimes in Upstate New York’s history resulted in Roxalana Druse, aka Roxanna or Roxy, being the last hanging execution in the state’s history. The Watertown Daily Times covered the murder and its trial, which received attention across the state, though some reporting was sensationalized. There are also differing accounts of Roxalana’s execution being botched, having failed to break her neck and taking a full fifteen minutes for her to die. In contrast, other reports didn’t include such details. Nevertheless, her execution in 1887 would be the last of its kind in New York State, ushering in the era of the electric chair.

Born in 1847 in Warren, about 20 miles southeast of Utica in Herkimer County, Roxalana married William Druse in 1864 at 17, and he was 36. She would later state that their wedding day was the only time he was decent toward her. The marriage bore two children, Mary Jane in 1866 and George William in 1875. By all accounts, Roxalana was repeatedly abused, as Mary would testify, stating that her father had used a horsewhip on her, then reportedly paid a neighbor five dollars to keep quiet. Mary also testified that he choked her with a cord, beat her with branches from an apple tree, and threatened to kill her with a pitchfork.

The neighbors knew of the Druse couple quarreling, and William wasn’t regarded in the highest esteem. But a week before Christmas in 1884, he went missing, and suspicions grew despite Roxalana’s growing concern that he had left for a New York City trip and hadn’t returned yet. As the days turned into weeks, the suspicions grew stronger, with claims of some neighbors having smelled “The peculiar odor that accompanies the burning or boiling human flesh” about the time of his disappearance. Others noted the windows of their house were covered with newspapers. Their concerns were dismissed as a product of vivid imaginations despite their knocking on the door and being refused entrance.

All that changed near the end of the second week of January. Neighbors searching for any sign of William in the local woods near the Druse’s home found an axe wrapped in paper, one that they had recognized belonging to the missing man having been recently sold to him, submerged in the Weatherbee’s pond near the village. As told in the January 17, 1885 edition of the Watertown Daily Times, whose front page headline remarked, “FED TO THE HOGS: A murdered husband’s corpse so disposed of”—

With the Druse family lived a lad named Frank Gates, 18 years of age, a nephew of Mrs. Druse. As the excitement grew, the neighbors plied this boy with questions until he finally confessed the crime yesterday. He said that Mrs. Druse sent him out of the doors, when she took a pistol and shot her husband in the neck. She then placed a rope around his neck, called him in, and compelled him to shoot Druse also. They then cut the body up, burned it in the fire, and finally threw the remains in the swamp about half a mile from the house. 

Upon his confession, Gates was arrested along with Roxalana at their next-door neighbor’s, where she also admitted to the crime. In a later issue, the Times stated Gates was 14 years old. Nevertheless, an inquest was conducted with several witnesses, and the following was printed in the same Daily Times article—

The boy, Frank Gates, also took the stand and completed his confession. he said the woman sent him and a small boy of 7 out of doors at breakfast time on December 18. He heard a shot soon after. Mrs. Druse called him in, and he saw blood on Druse’s neck. The woman told him to “finish Druse up” or she would shoot him. He shot the man, and she, taking an ax, cut up the body. She put the head in the fire, but first boiled the body and fed the hogs with the entrails and flesh. For a number of hours two stoves were kept going burning the bones and remnants. The boy acted as fireman. 

After the crime, Roxalana repapered and painted the interior of the house. The revolver was then found in the same pond as the axe. Despite having been shot several times, William Druse was still alive, his life ending when Roxalana wielded the axe and decapitated him. Absent in the preliminary investigation was any mention of Roxalana’s daughter Mary’s involvement. This would change on September 25, when the then reportedly 14-year-old Gates provided testimony—

Am 14 years old; have one brother and two sisters; my father and mother live on Rathbun’s farm in the town of Warren; knew William Druse; lived at his house awhile; the family consisted of William Druse, and his wife, Roxalana Druse, and their children, Mary and Georgia (sic).

It was last winter that I went there to live; Rudolph Van Ever stayed there part of the time; the day before Van Ever went away he and I worked in the woods with William Druse; the next day I went to school; the next day (December 15) was at home (at Druse’s) in the morning; I built the fire; William Druse and George were in bed up stairs; Mrs. Druse and Mary slept down stairs in the parlor.

 

Will. Acker came there and wanted to know if Druse was at home, and I told him he was; Ackler went away before Dave got up; when Druse got up he went to the barn to do the chores, and Mrs. Druse got breakfast; Druse came in from the barn and sat down to breakfast; Mrs. Druse told me to go out doors; I did so; went out near the barn.

Then Mrs. Druse called me to the door, and handed me a revolver and said, “Take this revolver and shoot or I will shoot you.” Mrs. Druse then put it against my nose; I then took it and fired it at Mr. Druse; he was sitting at the table with his back towards me; then Mrs. Druse took the revolver and fired it at Mr. Druse; then Mary took the revolver and took out the cartridge shells; while she was doing it the revolver went off; the bullet passed by me.

Mrs. Druse then took the ax and hit Druse on the head with it; Druse said, “Oh, Roxy, don’t,” then she hit him again and chopped his head off; Druse laid on the floor; his head laid on the stove hearth and blood came from his mouth; Mrs. Druse carried his head into the parlor, and sent George and me up stairs after the bed-tick; we got it and Druse’s body was placed upon it in the parlor.

Mary, Frank, and George “were feloniously present and gave aid to the woman,” though it is uncertain what role, if any, ten-year-old George played other than as witness. Mary and her mother reportedly dismembered the body and burned it in the stoves while Frank provided fuel, kept a lookout, and carried the ashes to the pond.

The district attorney believed there were other accomplices as William’s head was found in the furnace at a maple sugar house on the nearby Palmer Wood farm. Although a man working on the farm during the time of the murder, Menzo Elwood was arrested for several days, no evidence was ever found directly linking him to placing the head there, and he was subsequently released.  

A trial ensued, and the New York Times reported on Jan 5, 1886, that a juror was made insane by the details of the murder—

UTICA, N.Y., Jan 4 — Among the jurors who served in the recent trial of Mrs. Druse, at Herkimer, for the murder and burning of her husband, was Adam Bellinger, a highly esteemed farmer living in Manheim. Mr. Bellinger is of a sensitive temperment, and the horrible details of the crime thre his mind out of balance. Symptoms of insanity have frequently been noticed in his actions since the trial, and he has finally been committed to a lunatic asylum in this city.

On March 27, 1886, Roxalana was sentenced to be hanged by Supreme Court Justice Pardon C. Williams, later a resident of 162 Paddock Street in Watertown. No woman had been executed in Central New York in forty years at that time, and although the hanging was scheduled for November 25 at the Herkimer County Jail, it was postponed by Governor David Hill.

Over the ensuing months, Roxalana had her share of early sympathizers, mostly women who related to the history of abuse she suffered. But momentum continued as word of the pending execution spread to the Midwest. The Woman’s League of Chicago pleaded for a reprieve, while Rev. R. Heber Newton of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, made a powerful appeal, according to the Stevens Point Gazette. Petitions from women and clergymen throughout the country followed.

Roxalana’s luck would run out just before Christmas, two years removed from William’s murder, when she was informed of Governor Hill’s decision that left her weeping. With her son George by her side, she told a Utica Observer reporter—

I had great confidence in the governor that he would commute my sentence, but this makes me despondent. I have not given up all hope yet, but still I am discouraged, I am sorry this occurred—for myself, for my children and for one who sleeps in an unknown grave.

I can say that whether I am sent to prison for life or whether I am executed, there is no life that I could live or death that I could die, that would make me suffer more than I did in the twenty one years that I lived with William Druse. I am thankful to Judge Prescott, who is worthy the name he bears, and also to Mr. Luce, for their efforts in my behalf. 

Whatever occurs, I shall make not confession, whether I am sentenced to the state prison or hung. The court would not allow me a new trial upon which I could give evidence that would benefit me, so what had not been told will always remain a mystery.

If the truth of the whole matter was known, I am sure that I should never be executed, nor even sent to prison for more than a short period, at least. I do not believe that if I had a new trial and was permitted to go upon the stand by my counsel and tell the whole story from beginning to end, including the disposition of the body, that I would be acquitted.

I have been treated kindly by many ladies of good standing and am grateful, and have seen more society here than for twenty years of my life. Herkimer jail will always have pleasant memories for me, if I should live, notwithstanding the sad circumstance of my confinement here. I am grateful to all of my sympathizers and especially to Rev. Dr. Powelll, who had labored so hard for me.  

Mary Druse was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder, second degree, on the advice of her lawyer despite there being no evidence connecting her to the actual crime.

It was reported that, on the day of the execution, a cold February 28, 1887, with temperatures hovering around 10º, “Every road leading into Herkimer showed an almost unbroken line of sleighs, crowded with fur-coated men and not a few women.” The gallows, composed of ten pieces of lumber painted white, had been installed several days before next to the jail, just outside the window Roxalana often looked from. A 213-pound counterweight, part of the upright jerker which, when dropped, would hoist her body into the air with the intent of breaking her neck, was painted black.

After writing some last letters in the evening, Roxalana was said to have eaten one of the heartiest meals she’d had while imprisoned. Two hours of rest at 4 a.m. followed this, but sleep never came. Then came a procession of visitors, including daughter Mary, who was initially sent to the Onondaga Penitentiary on Lodi Street in Syracuse, according to The Watertown Daily Times.

The Daily Northwestern, from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, reported one of Mary’s last interviews before the execution—

“I know,” solemnly replied Mary, “that my mother can make a statement that will set me free, but I have not asked her to make it, and I shall not ask her. I trust my mother. She ought to say this, and I feel that she will,” said the girl, with a filial devotion that rose superior to the awful crime for which her mother has been condemned to die.

“I’d rather stand on the gallows than to live, but I hate to have mother –” and the whisper died away into silence, broken only by the wretched daughter’s sobs.

“I shall miss my mother,” Mary next said. “Oh, no one can understand how great a comfort she has been to me all these days of imprisonment, and how can I live without her?” Again and again Mary exclaimed, “Oh, why doesn’t she say something? She could say something.”

As the hour grew near, the village’s streets were filled with men, women, and children alike despite the freezing temperatures. Every train stopping brought more, even though they couldn’t view the execution. Those who could include twelve witnesses, County Judge Rollin H. Smith, District Attorney E. E. Sheldon, County Clerk Arthur T. Smith, two physicians, and eight members of the Sheriff’s department.

The upright jerker, explained by the Infographics Show YouTube page:

At half past eleven, the Sheriff’s jury was ordered into the jail’s courtyard. Sheriff Cook, Under Sheriff Rice and the deputies and physicians proceeded to Roxalana’s cell. There, she sat weeping as she held a bouquet of flowers about her breast while others were pinned about her black cashmere dress while the death warrant was read aloud at 11:37 a.m. in otherwise silence. Afterward, the march to the gallows began.

The crowd was said to have been silent as they stood in 10º temperatures, the sun doing little to provide warmth. Upon reaching the scaffold, Rev. Dr. Powell read a prayer. After allowing Roxalana to decline the final words, he made a final consolation before exiting. At that time, Deputy Sheriff William McKinley pinioned Roxalana’s arms, knees, and feet. The Watertown Daily Times reported—

She looked the picture of woe, but maintained her composure, and was firm when Deputy Ballou put the black cap on her head and adjusted it.

Deputy Munion had been standing at her right hand, and he bade her grood-bye as the cap was about to be drawn down.

She turned, and looking into his eyes, smiled and pressed his hand.

Deputy Ballou adjusted the noose under and back of the woman’s left ear and pulled down the cap that shut the light of this world forever from her eyes.

The poor creature at this instant moved, cried, and finally shrieked so loud that her voice was heard in the jail and in the streets.

Sheriff Cook dropped his hand over his breast and Deputy Ballou sprung the trap. The 213-pound weight dropped at 11:48 o’clock and the woman’s body was hanging about three feet above the floor of the gallows.

There was but one convulsion or muscular contraction of the body, and it then hung quiet.

Roxalana Druse was pronounced dead at 12:03 p.m. The events reported by the Watertown Daily Times above conflict with other reports of the execution going awry. According to syracuse.com, the 213-pound counterweight lifted her four feet into the air but failed to break her neck, and it took 15 minutes for her to strangle to death. Less than a year after the execution, the state sought a more humane method and introduced the electric chair. She would be the last woman executed by hanging in New York State . . . but her story doesn’t end there.

On March 5, 1887, the Steven Point Journal in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, reported, “The ghost of Mrs. Roxalana Druse, the woman hanged at Herkimer, N.Y., is said to visit her late cell nightly and scare the prisoners in jail by her unearthly moans and cries.” These accounts of her ghost returning to the jail were reported once again, nearly 120 years later, by The Daily Star on October 27, 2007—

A Herkimer correspondent who wrote to The Fort Covington Sun (Franklin County) claimed, “that the ghost of Mrs. Druse now haunts the cell in the Herkimer jail in which she was last confined, and tells of moans and murmurs and cries of ‘Oh! Oh!’ such as Mrs. Druse uttered when the black cap was drawn over her head.”

In a letter to Governor Morton in 1895, Justice Williams advised that he told Mary during her sentencing, “If she changed her character and became a good woman, she might hope for Executive clemency after some years.” Governor Morton pardoned Mary, who had served ten years at the prison in Auburn, eight years after her mother’s execution.

After her pardon, Mary claimed that her mother never told the entire story. According to the website murderbygaslight.com—

A book entitled An Innocent Woman Hanged was published some time after the hanging—author and publication date uncertain—which quotes Mary as blaming the entire murder on her uncle Charles Gates. Roxalana Druse, she said, had gone to the gallows innocent, to protect her brother-in-law.

The story doesn’t end there. Several months after Druse’s execution, the Watertown Daily Times reported in its June 23rd edition—

A Herkimer correspondent claims that the ghost of Mrs. Druse now haunts the cell in the Herkimer hail to which she was last confined, and tells of moans and murmurs and cries of “Oh! oh!” such as Mrs. Druse uttered when the black cap was drawn over her head.

The same tale was retold most recently in The Daily Stars “A true tale of horror found in Herkimer, published on Oct. 27, 2007.