Rose Butler
Rose Butler (1799β1819) was a convicted American arsonist and former slave. In July 1819, she was hanged for arson.[1][2]
Early life
Butler was born in November of 1799, in Mount Pleasant, New York. She lived with a Colonel Straing, at Mount Pleasant, and later moved to New York City in order to live with Abraham Child.
House slave
In 1817, she moved to live with William L. Morris.
Arson arrest
In 1819, Butler was arrested for arson. She was tried at an Oyer and terminer court by Smith Thompson. The case was appealed to the New York Supreme Court, and the court unanimously convicted her.[3]
Hanging
Butler resided at Bridewell Prison and was subsequently hanged near present day Washington Square Park, from a gallows in the city's potter's field, on the eastern side of Minetta Creek, about 500 feet from the Hangman's Elm.[4] The hanging attracted 10,000 spectators.[5][6][7][8]
References
- Schlossberg, Tatiana (2015-11-18). "New York Today: Nature, Preserved". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
- Butler, Rose, -1819. Stanford, John, 1754-1834. (1819). An Authentic statement of the case and conduct of Rose Butler : who was tried, convicted, and executed for the crime of arson. Printed and sold by Broderick and Ritter. OCLC 38672368.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- Smith, Edwin Burritt; Court, New York (State) Supreme; Hitchcock, Ernest (1883). Reports of Cases Adjudged and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature and Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors of the State of New York. Lawyer's co-operative publishing Company. p. 112.
rose butler arson.
- Morowitz, Matthew (2015-07-09). "Slavery, Gentrification, and the Last Execution in Washington Square". GVSHP | Preservation | Off the Grid. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
- "A Shift in the Village - Washington Square Park". Washington Square Park. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
- Warner, Laceye C. (2007). Saving Women: Retrieving Evangelistic Theology and Practice. Baylor University Press. ISBN 9781932792263.
- Harris, Leslie M. (2004-08-01). In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226317755.
- Baker, David V. (2015-11-23). Women and Capital Punishment in the United States: An Analytical History. McFarland. ISBN 9780786499502.
- βAn Authentic Account of the Case and Conduct of Rose Butler, who was Tried, Convicted, and Executed for the crime of Arson. Reviewed and approved by the Rev. John Stanford, M.A. Chaplain to the Public Institutions.β