Murdered by His Wife [Hardcover]

Deborah Navas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558492275 | ISBN-13: 978-1558492271 | Publication Date: October 1999

"In March 1778, Joshua Spooner, a wealthy gentleman farmer in Brookfield, Massachusetts, was beaten to death and his body stuffed down a well. Four people were hanged for the crime: two British soldiers, a young Continental soldier, and Spooner's wife, Bathsheba, who was charged with instigating the murder. She was thirty-two years old and five months pregnant when executed. Newspapers described the case as "the most extraordinary crime ever perpetrated in New England.""--BOOK JACKET. "The plots, the crime, the trial, and the aftermath are presented against a backdrop of revolutionary turmoil in Massachusetts. As the daughter of the state's most prominent and despised Loyalist, Bathsheba bore the brunt of the political, cultural, and gender prejudices of her day. When she sought a stay of execution to deliver her baby, the Massachusetts Council rejected her petition, and she was promptly hanged before a crowd of 5,000 spectators."--BOOK JACKET.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

PEN-Syndicated Fiction Award winner Navas's (Things We Lost, Gave Away, Bought High and Sold Low, 1992) nonfiction debut unearths the once-notorious Spooner murder of 1778, an event resonant with the concealed passions and darkness of Colonial Massachusetts. Repulsed by her husband, Bathsheba Spooner became sexually involved with an adolescent soldier from Washingtons army recuperating in her care. The resulting pregnancy induced a desperate situation familiar from our own century: She convinced him and two rogue British soldiers to do in her husband. The guilty parties were almost immediately apprehended while drinking at a local tavern, wearing the dead mans clothes. Although all four were ultimately hanged, the most venomous public execration was, not surprisingly, reserved for Bathsheba, whose petitions for a delay of execution until the birth of her child were summarily denied, providing a chilling early example of the death penaltys paradoxical cruelty. In a telling that is mostly nimbleif sometimes infatuated with digressive genealogyNavas revisits the case, noting especially the many quirky details that informed its tragic arc (the fact that Bathshebas father was a prominent, hated Loyalist, for example, surely influenced the punitive measures taken against his immature and probably delusional daughter). At the same time, she skillfully evokes the heady American late18th century, a time of revolutionary fervor, desperate militarized violence, and incipient lawlessness that was apparently less genteel and more frenzied than restorations like colonial Williamsburg acknowledgeand, like our own time, most unforgiving of transgressors. Navas brings an acutely contemporary critical eye to this lost era, revealing nuances of gender roles, piety, patriotism, and class within the actions of both killers and prosecutors that make this slim volume a colorful contribution to current historical dialogues. (12 illus.) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

Navas has produced a little gem--rock hard and glistening. -- John Demos, author of "The Unredeemed Captive"

Skillfully evokes the heady American late 18th century, a time of revolutionary fervor, desperate militarized violence, and incipient lawlessness.... -- Kirkus Reviews

This history...recounts a case as sensational to contemporaries as the O. J. Simpson trial was to us.... -- Virginia Quarterly Review

This well-written book exposes the harsh realities of life in revolutionary New England. -- Choice --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558492275
• ISBN-13: 978-1558492271
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #567,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional documentation and genealogy, January 18, 2000

By 

Nancy Mills (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murdered by His Wife (Hardcover)

This story interested me very much as Bathsheba Ruggles is an ancestor of mine. She is my 5th great aunt, her father Timothy Ruggles is my 6th great grandfather and it was important to me that this story be told as accurately as possible and Ms. Navas has done an exceptional job with this story. After 20 plus years of researching the Ruggles family she had information on the Ruggles and Spooner families that even I did not have. She includes in the story transcripts of the trial, photos and wood carvings from the time as well as genealogy and tells the story of Bathsheba in as kind a light as she deserved. I highly recommend this book to other Ruggles and Spooner researchers. There were very few details to this book that I took exception to and I think she did an exceptional job telling the story. I long ago knew this was a story others would want to read - Ms. Navas beat me to the punch and did a great job at it. Thank you Ms. Navas

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Local History at Its Best. An Adventure for the Whole Family, April 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Murdered by His Wife (Hardcover)

Having just moved to the area, I (a professional historian specializing in modern Europe) have been reading as much local history as possible to get a feel for the history of central Massachusetts. "Murdered By His Wife" is outstanding. Ms. Navas writes with clear, crisp prose, and sticks very close to the original documents, many of which are reproduced in her book. She tells a superb tale of mystery, murder, and intrigue -- and a gripping tragedy about the execution of three revolutionary soldiers and Bethsheba Ruggles Spooner, who was five months pregnant on the day she was hung on Washington Square in Worcester on July 2, 1778.

The best part of this book is that it becomes a challenge and adventure for your whole family to rediscover the route of the story. You can visit murder victim Joshua Spooner's grave in Brookfield Cemetery off Route 9. About 3/4 miles down the road, you can walk, bike, or drive to the site of his and Bethsheba's home, where a plaque still commemorates the notorious murder. Kids of all ages will love the abandoned well still on the property -- the place where Bethsheba Spooner's lover(s) dumped the body (now covered by a stone which leaves enough visible to excite the imagination). You can also find the remnants of the house's old stone foundation, and four large flat stone steps leading from the road to the site of the old house.

The Spooner House is located on Elm Hill, now an historical landmark zone, and large parts of the road are a wildlife sanctuary perfect for spring, summer, or autumn walks. This is one of few places where you can reproduce the feeling of a colonial road and how it stood 200 years ago. The old stone walls along the Old Post Road are still intact, and you get a feeling of being carried back in time.

I highly recommend this book as a basic tour guide for the central Massachusetts leg of your next tour to New England. The site of all the adventure is just 15 minutes off of Exit 9 on Route 90, or the Sturbridge Exit off Highway 84.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical Page Turner, February 29, 2000

By 

Carol Andrews "research" (New Braintree, Ma.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murdered by His Wife (Hardcover)

Murdered by His Wife by Deborah Navas is at once a gripping "Gothic" page-turner and a solid piece of scholarly research. Navas writes in an elegant, clear and concise manner. A fine balance is sustained between objective, documented reporting and carefully considered interpretation which is never allowed to override the facts. The book is packed with information including fascinating transcripts of eighteenth century testimony. While the narrative stands on its own as a riveting drama that will appeal to the general public, the book should be of special interest to historians,legal historians, feminists sociologists and psychologists. In my opinion this is a landmark book.