Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Rose Butler was born in Mount Pleasant in Westchester County,
Speaker 2: New York, in November of seventeen ninety nine, and at
Speaker 2: the age of nineteen, she was executed by hanging in
Speaker 2: Potter's Field, located in what is now Washington Square Park
Speaker 2: in Greenwich Village. She was the last person hanged for
Speaker 2: arson in the state of New York, and the event
Speaker 2: attracted thousands of spectators. Let's talk about how she got
Speaker 2: to the gallows. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky.
Speaker 1: And I'm Holly Fryme. Starting when she was a teenager,
Speaker 1: Rose performed domestic services for the Morris family in Manhattan
Speaker 1: that would have included things like cleaning, cooking, serving meals,
Speaker 1: and caring for children. She had been in their home
Speaker 1: for only a few years when early one morning, a
Speaker 1: small fire broke out, damaging just a couple of wooden
Speaker 1: steps in the kitchen. Though members of the family were
Speaker 1: home at the time asleep in the upper level of
Speaker 1: the house, no one was injured and the fire was
Speaker 1: quickly extinguished. The family blamed Rose, and not just for
Speaker 1: the fire.
Speaker 2: The Morris family, specifically Missus Morris, accused Rose of stealing
Speaker 2: and accused her of arson. Missus Morris called her quote resentful.
Speaker 2: Rose went on trial for her alleged crime in the
Speaker 2: Case of the People against Rose Butler. She was charged
Speaker 2: with arson, detailed as quote, setting fire to a dwelling
Speaker 2: house inhabited at the time, by which only a part
Speaker 2: of it was consumed. She was indicted and stood not
Speaker 2: before a jury, but before the Honorable Smith Thompson and
Speaker 2: his honor CD Colden, as well as one of the aldermen.
Speaker 2: In addition to murder and tree reason, the state of
Speaker 2: New York had added arson to its list of capital
Speaker 2: crimes in eighteen oh eight, about ten years before Rose
Speaker 2: found herself accused, and that meant Rose could be sentenced
Speaker 2: to death if she was found guilty.
Speaker 1: Rose initially took full blame for the act of arson
Speaker 1: in the Morris home, claiming that she had placed combustible
Speaker 1: materials on the third step in the kitchen staircase. She stated, quote,
Speaker 1: my mistress was always finding fault with my work and
Speaker 1: scolding me. I never did like her. The most impactful
Speaker 1: part of her trial came not from Rose, but from
Speaker 1: her defense team. The defense focused on what was and
Speaker 1: what was not an inhabited dwelling, and the argument went
Speaker 1: along these lines. In New York, prior to eighteen oh eight,
Speaker 1: the crime of intentionally burning any dwelling, a house, or
Speaker 1: a barn was punished by life in prison. In eighteen
Speaker 1: oh eight, that law changed, the act of intentionally setting
Speaker 1: fire to an inhabited dwelling became punishable by death. If
Speaker 1: the structure was an uninhabited dwelling or a house of
Speaker 1: worship or public building, the crime carried a sentence of
Speaker 1: imprisonment not to exceed fourteen years. The law was revised
Speaker 1: once again in eighteen thirteen, and the defense insisted the
Speaker 1: revision was to distinguish that some personal injuries should be
Speaker 1: caused or expected if the dwelling was to be considered
Speaker 1: inhabited at the time of the crime. So, if you follow,
Speaker 1: their point was Rose didn't commit arson on an inhabited
Speaker 1: dwelling because nobody got hurt, and that meant that even
Speaker 1: if she was guilty of intentionally setting that kitchen fire,
Speaker 1: she would be incarcerated and not executed. The defense also
Speaker 1: argued that two to three kitchen steps that were partially
Speaker 1: damaged by fire was just not sufficient enough damage to
Speaker 1: be considered a capital offense.
Speaker 2: The judges, though, felt differently and determined Rose to be
Speaker 2: guilty of arson. They stated, quote, the facts in this
Speaker 2: case show the malicious and criminal intent of the prisoner
Speaker 2: as much as if the whole house had been consumed.
Speaker 2: She was sentenced to be executed by hanging, but with
Speaker 2: the definition of an inhabited dwelling left unanswered, or at
Speaker 2: least left kind of fuzzy. Rose's case was heard on
Speaker 2: appeal by the Supreme Court of the State of New
Speaker 2: York that may was Ros's fire just a common law
Speaker 2: crime punishable with imprisonment or was it actually a capital offense.
Speaker 2: It's reported that Attorney David Graham ably and eloquently argued
Speaker 2: that Rose's case was not a capital crime, but he
Speaker 2: wasn't convincing enough. Chief Justice Spencer delivered the court's unanimous decision, stating, quote,
Speaker 2: the burning fire in this case was sufficient to bring
Speaker 2: it within the meaning of the statute, which constituted it
Speaker 2: a capital offense and punishable by death. Rose's appeal had failed,
Speaker 2: and she was arraigned by the court clerk. She had
Speaker 2: no final statement to make.
Speaker 1: Judge Woodworth then delivered Rose's sentence, speaking directly to her
Speaker 1: in the courtroom. He had quite a lot to say,
Speaker 1: and we're going to share a good piece of it
Speaker 1: with you. So here we go, quote Rose Butler. The
Speaker 1: crime for which you are to suffer is justly considered
Speaker 1: among the most atrocious of human offenses in all civilized countries.
Speaker 1: Its punishment has been marked with severity. At this time
Speaker 1: the legislature distinguished the case of burning an inhabited dwelling
Speaker 1: house by declaring that every person convicted of this offense
Speaker 1: should suffer death for the same. Under this law, you
Speaker 1: have been tried and convicted. You had the benefit of
Speaker 1: counsel to advise with you and assist you on the trial.
Speaker 1: The evidence of your guilt was clear and satisfactory. Your
Speaker 1: case has been submitted to this court and ingeniously argued
Speaker 1: after the most mature deliberation. We are of opinion that
Speaker 1: it falls within the statute under which you have been convicted.
Speaker 2: He continued, stating, your crime is originated in a wicked
Speaker 2: and depraved heart. You a servant in the family. Confidence
Speaker 2: was placed in you. You owed fidelity and obedience. Their
Speaker 2: lives and property were in some measure placed within your power.
Speaker 2: You selected a time best calculated to affect your purpose.
Speaker 2: You were offended with one of them for having reprimanded you,
Speaker 2: and for this cause determined on revenge. The remainder of
Speaker 2: the family had never injured you or given you provocation,
Speaker 2: and yet you intended to involve all in one common destruction.
Speaker 2: You appear to be young. I understand you are quite
Speaker 2: intelligent and have had the benefit of instruction. Yet it
Speaker 2: is necessary that you be cut off from society by
Speaker 2: an ignominious death. May God have mercy on your soul.
Speaker 1: And with that, we're going to take a break here
Speaker 1: for a word from our sponsors, and when we're back,
Speaker 1: we will hear about the night of the fire in
Speaker 1: Rose's own words.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Rose's version of events included a
Speaker 2: few surprising details, so let's talk about them.
Speaker 1: While she waited for her execution date, Rose was incarcerated
Speaker 1: briefly at Bridewell Prison, on the site now occupied by
Speaker 1: City Hall Park in Manhattan. There, Rose dictated her side
Speaker 1: of the story to the Reverend John Stanford, the chaplain
Speaker 1: who counseled her in the world weeks before her death.
Speaker 1: In turn, Stanford published what was considered her authentic story
Speaker 1: in Rosa's own words. She described her involvement as such quote,
Speaker 1: when missus Morris I had frequent disputes and was determined
Speaker 1: to be revenged on her On Monday, the fourth of
Speaker 1: March a year ago, she came down in the kitchen
Speaker 1: and we had some high words together. She then asked
Speaker 1: me why I did not clean up the kitchen and
Speaker 1: the wooden things. I told her it was impossible to
Speaker 1: do so and get dinner in time. But all these
Speaker 1: I cleared up against night. I went to bed about
Speaker 1: half past ten. There was not any fire in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: It had all went out. Mister Morris was the last
Speaker 1: person that was up in the house. At one o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning, he went down into the kitchen and
Speaker 1: everything was right. He went upstairs again and did not
Speaker 1: go to bed till two o'clock. Shortly after this, the
Speaker 1: alarm of fire was made in the house. They went
Speaker 1: down and found the staircase on fire, and two pails,
Speaker 1: a washing machine, and the broom all on fire placed
Speaker 1: on the third step from the kitchen floor.
Speaker 2: Rose continued, quote, A great many persons came in and
Speaker 2: among the others, the two men who had set the
Speaker 2: place on fire. Like us, you probably just thought what
Speaker 2: two men. Rose continues quote About three weeks before the fire,
Speaker 2: two white men followed me to the pump. It was
Speaker 2: very dark. They asked me many questions about Missus Morris,
Speaker 2: but I did not choose to answer them. They advised
Speaker 2: me to burn the house, and I refused. The men
Speaker 2: said if I told their conversation, they would take my life.
Speaker 2: The day before the fire, they passed the window several times,
Speaker 2: but did not speak to me. After that night, the
Speaker 2: two men asked mister Morris if he knew the girl
Speaker 2: who lived with him. He said, yes, she has lived
Speaker 2: with me a great while. They then turned about and
Speaker 2: went off. Next day morning, I was accused of having
Speaker 2: set fire to the house, to which I said I
Speaker 2: had not, but I did not say who did it
Speaker 2: or who did not do it. Missus Morris inquired after
Speaker 2: a fortune teller, and she told Missus Morris that it
Speaker 2: was I that did it, and none but me. She
Speaker 2: sent a watchman for me. Watchmen provided law enforcement and
Speaker 2: public safety in the city at that time, and this
Speaker 2: would have been Rose's arrest. She told much of the
Speaker 2: same story to authorities in the courtroom and to those
Speaker 2: who visited her in Bridewell.
Speaker 1: Rose also stated that the two mysterious men had again
Speaker 1: contacted her, this time while she was in prison, claiming, quote,
Speaker 1: a letter was sent to me in a loaf of
Speaker 1: bread which told me that they had done it. It
Speaker 1: was something like this, we are going away and we
Speaker 1: shall come back again. You are in no danger. You
Speaker 1: will be cleared. We have consumed the house pretty near down.
Speaker 1: Do not tell what we have said to you. Not
Speaker 1: being able to read some of the poor writing, I
Speaker 1: requested it to be read to me. It was, and
Speaker 1: then I burnt it. So it's actually true. The Morris
Speaker 1: family home was consumed by fire after Rose had been jailed,
Speaker 1: but the timeline is a little bit hard to nail down.
Speaker 1: Some reports suggested that two unknown men should be investigated
Speaker 1: because the second act of arson on the home occurred
Speaker 1: shortly after the prime suspect arrived at Bridewell and was
Speaker 1: awaiting her execution. Others questioned Rose, reporting that the timeline
Speaker 1: did not line up and her story of the two
Speaker 1: men just couldn't be true. Some local papers, including the
Speaker 1: New York Evening Post, reported that the second case of
Speaker 1: arson must have been the two men from Rose's testimony,
Speaker 1: the men that she said she met at the pump,
Speaker 1: and though the governor delayed her sentence to give her
Speaker 1: time to name those men, Rose still refused. There's nothing
Speaker 1: in the historical records suggesting that two men were ever
Speaker 1: brought to trial or even questioned about the fire that
Speaker 1: destroyed the Morris home.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about an interesting detail in this story. When
Speaker 2: an enslaved or indentured person committed a minor offense in
Speaker 2: the United States during the time when the institution of
Speaker 2: slavery was legal, punishment was typically handled informally by those
Speaker 2: who enslaved them. But arson was not a minor offense
Speaker 2: in the state of New York. Many tend to think
Speaker 2: of southern plantations during the American institution of slavery, but
Speaker 2: New Yorkers too were enslavers. This matters in the story
Speaker 2: of Rose Butler because she was a black woman and
Speaker 2: she was not a free woman. In sixteen twenty six,
Speaker 2: the Dutch West India Company trafficked enslaved Africans to New Amsterdam,
Speaker 2: the Dutch settlement that would become New York City by
Speaker 2: sixteen sixty. It was a critical port, and between sixteen
Speaker 2: fifty one and seventeen seventy five, more than seven thousand
Speaker 2: enslaved Africans disembarked there. They cleared and cut the road
Speaker 2: that is now Broadway, They laid the infrastructure that expanded
Speaker 2: the city uptown. They grew crops in Brooklyn that went
Speaker 2: on to feed their enslavers, and they were also domestic workers.
Speaker 2: In seventeen o three, forty two percent of New York's
Speaker 2: households had enslaved labor, which was more than Philadelphia and
Speaker 2: Boston combined. In fact, only Charleston, South Carolina, had higher numbers.
Speaker 2: According to the first federal census of seventeen ninety six
Speaker 2: percent of the population of Westchester County that's where Rose
Speaker 2: was born, was enslaved, and fourteen percent of families there
Speaker 2: enslaved at least one person. A little farther north, the
Speaker 2: city of Albany had a population of about thirty five
Speaker 2: hundred people, of which five hundred and seventy two were
Speaker 2: enslaved and twenty six were quote three persons of color,
Speaker 2: says Tony Alpalka, the official historian of the city of Albany.
Speaker 2: Quote this wasn't a plantation economy, but urban slaves wouldn't
Speaker 2: move around. Most were house servants. Jumped to eighteen thirty,
Speaker 2: after slavery was illegal in the state, the census still
Speaker 2: counted seventy five enslaved persons in New York.
Speaker 1: Among those enslaved in the United States, arson, according to
Speaker 1: many historians, was often predetermined and coordinated. Sometimes it was
Speaker 1: a step toward a larger scale revolt, but sometimes it
Speaker 1: was an individual and independent act. An enslaved woman named
Speaker 1: Maria was the first person executed for arson in the
Speaker 1: state of Massachusetts. I was all the way back in
Speaker 1: sixteen eighty one after a fire she intentionally set killed
Speaker 1: a child in a house next door to her enslaver's home.
Speaker 1: In colonial times, the punishment for an enslaved person caught
Speaker 1: committing the crime of arson was almost always execution. Today,
Speaker 1: historians describe it as having been used as a tool
Speaker 1: of rebellion. White enslavers feared the consequences of arson attacks
Speaker 1: by United enslaved populations, both in the southern and the
Speaker 1: Northern States.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a break for a word from
Speaker 2: our sponsors. When we return, we'll talk about New York's
Speaker 2: Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, What it meant
Speaker 2: to be enslaved versus inventured, and how Rose fell through
Speaker 2: the cracks.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk more about the Act
Speaker 1: for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery and of course Rose's
Speaker 1: day of execution.
Speaker 2: This was a time of shifting ideologies on race and status,
Speaker 2: not only in New York but in America. Revolts had
Speaker 2: featured prominently in the news in the seventeen nineties and
Speaker 2: featured stories of arson committed by those enslaved on plantations
Speaker 2: as well as those living in cities. Arson was historically
Speaker 2: associated with uprisings in New York, and between sixteen eighty
Speaker 2: seven and seventeen forty one, plots to commit the crime
Speaker 2: were uncovered on average every two and a half years.
Speaker 2: Jump ahead to the eighteen hundreds, for example, we find
Speaker 2: a letter from a plantation mistress to her husband describing
Speaker 2: an alleged massive conspiracy among local enslaved persons. She wrote
Speaker 2: that she worried they would arm themselves and quote, set
Speaker 2: fire to the houses and murder the people as they
Speaker 2: rushed out. According to Karema Lewis, who teaches history, at
Speaker 2: Massasot Community College, Quincy College, and Emerson College, all in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: The act of arson among enslaved people was a way
Speaker 2: for them to oppose their enslavers and the unjust laws
Speaker 2: and abuses that, as she explains, quote controlled their every movement.
Speaker 1: The context surrounding Rose's crime and death sentence highlight its
Speaker 1: anxieties rampant in the white community in nineteenth century New York.
Speaker 1: Her story also gives us a peek into slavery in
Speaker 1: the state at that time. So here's what was going
Speaker 1: on legally. In seventeen ninety nine, the year that Rose
Speaker 1: was born, the State of New York passed a law
Speaker 1: called the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery. And
Speaker 1: this Act allowed the state to end its institution of slavery,
Speaker 1: but it allowed them to do so very slowly. It
Speaker 1: gave freedom to future generations who would have otherwise been
Speaker 1: born into the institution. Historically, in America, enslavement was reinforced
Speaker 1: as a hereditary status, meaning if your mother was enslaved,
Speaker 1: so were you. The Act declared children born to enslaved
Speaker 1: mothers after July fourth, seventeen ninety nine, to be free.
Speaker 1: Black persons there was a caveat in this act. Though
Speaker 1: Rose may have been born technically free in the state
Speaker 1: of New York, but while freedom was promised to children
Speaker 1: like her, that freedom didn't actually come until much much
Speaker 1: later in adulthood. No one was freed immediately. These children
Speaker 1: were expected to be indentured servants to work unpaid for
Speaker 1: their mother's enslaver until the age of twenty five for
Speaker 1: women or twenty eight for men. Unlike people who were enslaved,
Speaker 1: indentured servants, according to the law, could not be sold.
Speaker 1: On March thirty first, eighteen seventeen, the state legislature officially
Speaker 1: set July fourth, eighteen twenty seven as the date of
Speaker 1: final emancipation. In her position, Rose would have been denied
Speaker 1: any civil rights, but she would have been subject to
Speaker 1: criminal law and its harsh punishments, like the death penalty
Speaker 1: for committing arson.
Speaker 2: Born to an enslaved woman and because of her post
Speaker 2: July seventeen ninety nine birth date, Rose was legally required
Speaker 2: to serve an indenture for twenty five years with a
Speaker 2: man named Colonel Strang and his family, but in eighteen
Speaker 2: oh nine, the colonel sold her indenture to a man
Speaker 2: named Abraham Child of New York City. A few years later,
Speaker 2: Child then sold her indenture to a man named William L. Morris, Esquire,
Speaker 2: also of New York City. And yes, we did just
Speaker 2: say that those who were indentured could not be sold.
Speaker 2: There are more problems here than we can even count.
Speaker 2: But according to the law, Rose should have technically been
Speaker 2: living out twenty five years of indentured servitude with Colonel Strang,
Speaker 2: and under the law it would have been illegal for
Speaker 2: her to have been sold to Abraham Child or then
Speaker 2: to William Morris. But as we can all see, that
Speaker 2: is not what happened.
Speaker 1: What we know about Rose's time with these households come
Speaker 1: straight from her own narrative. Rose was known to chat
Speaker 1: with the women assigned to care for her in prison,
Speaker 1: and she did talk a lot regarding her domestic work
Speaker 1: in both the Child and the Morris households. According to
Speaker 1: Leslie Harris, author of the book In the Shadow of
Speaker 1: Slavery African Americans in New York City sixteen twenty six
Speaker 1: to eighteen sixty three, Rose stated of Abraham Child, quote,
Speaker 1: I was in the constant practice of stealing in giving
Speaker 1: the articles to a black woman in the neighborhood who
Speaker 1: sold them for me. From mister Child, she claimed that
Speaker 1: she had stolen silk from his store, as well as cash, clothing,
Speaker 1: and other items from his home. She said that she
Speaker 1: felt quote emboldened because she never got caught. She also
Speaker 1: confessed to having stolen cash and items from the Morris
Speaker 1: family and quote Pilford, whatever she could lay her hands on,
Speaker 1: including one theft of three hundred dollars worth of silver.
Speaker 1: She shared her spoils with lower class people, both black
Speaker 1: and white, and she also used some of it to
Speaker 1: have fun with her friends, stated Rose, on the fourth
Speaker 1: of July, I went with some girls on board the
Speaker 1: steamboat on a party of pleasure and paid the charges,
Speaker 1: and fifteen dollars of it I spent on a frolic.
Speaker 1: It was in this manner I squandered away the money
Speaker 1: I had stolen in frolicking and rioting in the dance houses.
Speaker 1: Rose claimed no one she shared that money with knew
Speaker 1: where she had gotten it from.
Speaker 2: On June second, eighteen nineteen, closing in on her execution,
Speaker 2: Rose talked not about theft, but about arson and made
Speaker 2: the following confession to the Reverend Stanford. Quote the statement
Speaker 2: I made in the police office was true. I did
Speaker 2: set the house on fire myself, but I was advised
Speaker 2: to do it by two men. They gave me the
Speaker 2: matches and advised me when and how to set the
Speaker 2: house on fire. The evening previous to the fire, to
Speaker 2: string to the outside of the front kitchen door to
Speaker 2: prevent the family escaping the flames in that way, and
Speaker 2: also cut the door a little with an old knife
Speaker 2: that the family might think some person had broken in
Speaker 2: and not suspect anyone in the house. Quaker and anti
Speaker 2: death penalty activist Dorothy Ripley visited Rose several times, including
Speaker 2: the evening before her execution. She reported Rose was quote
Speaker 2: sorrowful and repentant and begged for God's forgiveness.
Speaker 1: The New York Evening Post reported that with the approaching
Speaker 1: execution quote, we hear that threatening letters of the rising
Speaker 1: of black people have lately been sent to the mayor
Speaker 1: if the execution should be carried into effect, but there's
Speaker 1: little evidence indicating there were actually any letters of protest
Speaker 1: or threat Another local paper reported the opposite that quote,
Speaker 1: black people of this city, being convinced of the enormity
Speaker 1: of the crime, are generally reconciled to the fate of
Speaker 1: Rose Butler, that's quite a wide spread of possibilities, and
Speaker 1: the truth of the way that New Yorkers felt probably
Speaker 1: sits somewhere between those two accounts. Four unnamed black ministers,
Speaker 1: all of whom were free men, were vocal about their
Speaker 1: concerns regarding how Rose's actions might affect the emancipation era
Speaker 1: and the ongoing case for black equality.
Speaker 2: On July ninth, eighteen nineteen, the day of her execution,
Speaker 2: Rose was brought to the yard and the chaplain addressed
Speaker 2: the crowd. The novelty of a woman being publicly executed
Speaker 2: made for an event, and it drew upwards of ten
Speaker 2: thousand spectators. Rose is described as having been composed during
Speaker 2: the procession to the gallows, and that it appeared she
Speaker 2: had reconciled to her fate. When asked by an onsite
Speaker 2: physician how she felt, Rose replied, quote, my head feels wild.
Speaker 2: She was given water and part of an orange. We
Speaker 2: do not know her final words, but we do know
Speaker 2: she was assisted by two deputy sheriffs to the scaffold.
Speaker 2: The gallows stood roughly where the arch stands in Washington
Speaker 2: Square Park today. Prayers were offered by those in the
Speaker 2: crowd and hymns were sung. According to a first hand
Speaker 2: account from newspaper publisher and politician Thurler Weed, not only
Speaker 2: did thousands of people show up for the hanging that day,
Speaker 2: the vibe of the crowd was such that a racist
Speaker 2: poem was in heavy circulation, both shouted and chalked onto buildings.
Speaker 1: Rose was buried where she was executed, in Potter's Field.
Speaker 1: In eighteen twenty seven, Washington Square opened as a public
Speaker 1: park on that same location, one of New York's most
Speaker 1: popular parks. Today. We know that below its ten acres
Speaker 1: are an estimated twenty thousand corpses. Most were never disinterred
Speaker 1: and remain on site. And when it comes to the
Speaker 1: crime of arson in New York State today, it carries
Speaker 1: different penalties according to the level of severity. Punishment ranges
Speaker 1: from a misdemeanor to a Class A one felony charge,
Speaker 1: which carries a minimum sentence of fifteen to twenty five
Speaker 1: years up to life. It's time for lighter fluid and
Speaker 1: I thought about a few things while prepping this. Listen,
Speaker 1: some of this is going to be exactly as predictable
Speaker 1: as you think it is, but I promise it's a
Speaker 1: very delicious drink. I kept thinking about, and this is
Speaker 1: the thing that always catches in my heart when I
Speaker 1: think about people in someone like Rose's position, which is
Speaker 1: that she was clearly very smart, She had a zest
Speaker 1: for life, and had her circumstances been different, who knows
Speaker 1: what she could have.
Speaker 2: Become, Who knows what her story could have been.
Speaker 1: She had so much potential that she never even got
Speaker 1: to explore. So I wanted to focus on that July
Speaker 1: fourth when she went out with her friends. I love
Speaker 1: this and think about what she might like and also
Speaker 1: something that reckons to her namesake. So this is a
Speaker 1: drink that I'm calling Roses Frolic. It also references that
Speaker 1: last meal that she had before the gallows. So it
Speaker 1: starts with an ounce and a half of orange juice,
Speaker 1: and then you're gonna add a half ounce, of course
Speaker 1: of rose syrup, my favorite. But then you will also
Speaker 1: add a half ounce of Saint Germain and an ounce
Speaker 1: of a really clean vodka with no appreciable taste. Shake
Speaker 1: that with ice. You're going to strain it into a
Speaker 1: glass with fresh ice, and then you're going to top
Speaker 1: it with Apricot sparkling water. If you can get it.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that sounds delicious.
Speaker 1: It's so lovely, and it's the kind of drink that
Speaker 1: has sort of a feminine feel because there is that
Speaker 1: floral node in those light fruit notes. The OJ doesn't
Speaker 1: become overpowering, which I don't like a lot of fruit
Speaker 1: juice in a drink because it can be really heavy
Speaker 1: and sickly sweet. I didn't want something that was like
Speaker 1: heavy and felt very sugary. It feels very light, delicious, delicious.
Speaker 1: If you can't get apricot sparkling water, you could get
Speaker 1: another fruit that you think is delightful. Most of them
Speaker 1: are going to work. If you can get something with
Speaker 1: a pear note, that would be amazing. I almost want
Speaker 1: to try it with one of the brands that I
Speaker 1: drink has a cherry blossom flavor right now, and I
Speaker 1: think that would be amazing. Yeah, don't sleep on flavored
Speaker 1: sparkling water. The mocktail for this is really easy. All
Speaker 1: you're going to do is leave out the vodka. You'll
Speaker 1: just have more sparkling water after you do your shake,
Speaker 1: and in lieu of Saint Germain, you're just gonna get
Speaker 1: an elderflower syrup. That's it, and Honestly, that drink is
Speaker 1: also so delicious. This might this is another one that
Speaker 1: I can already tell us.
Speaker 2: Is this going to be a contender for you at
Speaker 2: the end of the season.
Speaker 1: It's a big one for sure. At this point, I.
Speaker 2: Don't want to talk about it before I actually.
Speaker 1: But you never know. Left on the board because.
Speaker 2: True often I do last minute.
Speaker 1: You never know. But that is Rose's frolic, which I
Speaker 1: hope anyone who tries it enjoys as much as I did.
Speaker 2: I love that that's what you picked from her story
Speaker 2: because as she is talking about that fun that she had,
Speaker 2: that frolic, that rioting, that being on the steamboat, you
Speaker 2: could tell she was a teenager. She was having a
Speaker 2: good time.
Speaker 1: Yep, she was a kid.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's the only time that we were able
Speaker 2: to talk about her having a good time as a kid.
Speaker 1: Yes, in a very brief way. I wish she'd had
Speaker 1: a lot more of that nineteen. So hopefully we raise
Speaker 1: this glass to Rose and think of if you believe
Speaker 1: in multiple lives, I hope that she came back and
Speaker 1: had everything a human could want. We will be right
Speaker 1: back next week with another drink and another story, and
Speaker 1: we hope you join us here on criminal Criminalia is
Speaker 1: a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For
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