WEBVTT - The Execution of Rose Butler 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:06.559 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:12.920 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.920 Rose Butler was born in Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.360 New York, in November of seventeen ninety nine, and at 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.239 the age of nineteen, she was executed by hanging in 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.320 Potter's Field, located in what is now Washington Square Park 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:30.640 in Greenwich Village. She was the last person hanged for 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:32.760 arson in the state of New York, and the event 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:37.040 attracted thousands of spectators. Let's talk about how she got 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:41.000 to the gallows. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky. 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.240 And I'm Holly Fryme. Starting when she was a teenager, 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.880 Rose performed domestic services for the Morris family in Manhattan 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.520 that would have included things like cleaning, cooking, serving meals, 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:57.640 and caring for children. She had been in their home 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.840 for only a few years when early one morning, a 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:04.119 small fire broke out, damaging just a couple of wooden 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.840 steps in the kitchen. Though members of the family were 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.600 home at the time asleep in the upper level of 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.600 the house, no one was injured and the fire was 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:18.800 quickly extinguished. The family blamed Rose, and not just for 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:19.319 the fire. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:27.800 The Morris family, specifically Missus Morris, accused Rose of stealing 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:33.200 and accused her of arson. Missus Morris called her quote resentful. 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.920 Rose went on trial for her alleged crime in the 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:39.839 Case of the People against Rose Butler. She was charged 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:44.240 with arson, detailed as quote, setting fire to a dwelling 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.080 house inhabited at the time, by which only a part 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.880 of it was consumed. She was indicted and stood not 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.360 before a jury, but before the Honorable Smith Thompson and 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.920 his honor CD Colden, as well as one of the aldermen. 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.000 In addition to murder and tree reason, the state of 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.480 New York had added arson to its list of capital 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.680 crimes in eighteen oh eight, about ten years before Rose 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.520 found herself accused, and that meant Rose could be sentenced 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:12.359 to death if she was found guilty. 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:17.079 Rose initially took full blame for the act of arson 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.840 in the Morris home, claiming that she had placed combustible 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:25.760 materials on the third step in the kitchen staircase. She stated, quote, 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.239 my mistress was always finding fault with my work and 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.800 scolding me. I never did like her. The most impactful 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.000 part of her trial came not from Rose, but from 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:41.400 her defense team. The defense focused on what was and 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:45.840 what was not an inhabited dwelling, and the argument went 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:50.120 along these lines. In New York, prior to eighteen oh eight, 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.919 the crime of intentionally burning any dwelling, a house, or 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:57.960 a barn was punished by life in prison. In eighteen 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.760 oh eight, that law changed, the act of intentionally setting 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:06.880 fire to an inhabited dwelling became punishable by death. If 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.360 the structure was an uninhabited dwelling or a house of 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.160 worship or public building, the crime carried a sentence of 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:19.359 imprisonment not to exceed fourteen years. The law was revised 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:23.280 once again in eighteen thirteen, and the defense insisted the 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.920 revision was to distinguish that some personal injuries should be 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.520 caused or expected if the dwelling was to be considered 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.760 inhabited at the time of the crime. So, if you follow, 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:40.040 their point was Rose didn't commit arson on an inhabited 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:44.160 dwelling because nobody got hurt, and that meant that even 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.480 if she was guilty of intentionally setting that kitchen fire, 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:53.000 she would be incarcerated and not executed. The defense also 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.360 argued that two to three kitchen steps that were partially 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.040 damaged by fire was just not sufficient enough damage to 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:01.720 be considered a capital offense. 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.440 The judges, though, felt differently and determined Rose to be 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:12.600 guilty of arson. They stated, quote, the facts in this 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.800 case show the malicious and criminal intent of the prisoner 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.560 as much as if the whole house had been consumed. 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.560 She was sentenced to be executed by hanging, but with 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:27.680 the definition of an inhabited dwelling left unanswered, or at 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.159 least left kind of fuzzy. Rose's case was heard on 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.240 appeal by the Supreme Court of the State of New 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.080 York that may was Ros's fire just a common law 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:41.840 crime punishable with imprisonment or was it actually a capital offense. 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:47.600 It's reported that Attorney David Graham ably and eloquently argued 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.120 that Rose's case was not a capital crime, but he 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:58.480 wasn't convincing enough. Chief Justice Spencer delivered the court's unanimous decision, stating, quote, 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.479 the burning fire in this case was sufficient to bring 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.440 it within the meaning of the statute, which constituted it 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:09.520 a capital offense and punishable by death. Rose's appeal had failed, 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.960 and she was arraigned by the court clerk. She had 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:13.599 no final statement to make. 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:19.880 Judge Woodworth then delivered Rose's sentence, speaking directly to her 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.680 in the courtroom. He had quite a lot to say, 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:24.720 and we're going to share a good piece of it 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.560 with you. So here we go, quote Rose Butler. The 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.880 crime for which you are to suffer is justly considered 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:37.240 among the most atrocious of human offenses in all civilized countries. 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:41.200 Its punishment has been marked with severity. At this time 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:45.200 the legislature distinguished the case of burning an inhabited dwelling 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:49.080 house by declaring that every person convicted of this offense 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:53.440 should suffer death for the same. Under this law, you 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.560 have been tried and convicted. You had the benefit of 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.640 counsel to advise with you and assist you on the trial. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.719 The evidence of your guilt was clear and satisfactory. Your 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:08.640 case has been submitted to this court and ingeniously argued 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.680 after the most mature deliberation. We are of opinion that 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.440 it falls within the statute under which you have been convicted. 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:23.359 He continued, stating, your crime is originated in a wicked 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:28.280 and depraved heart. You a servant in the family. Confidence 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.000 was placed in you. You owed fidelity and obedience. Their 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.520 lives and property were in some measure placed within your power. 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.440 You selected a time best calculated to affect your purpose. 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.880 You were offended with one of them for having reprimanded you, 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.680 and for this cause determined on revenge. The remainder of 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.599 the family had never injured you or given you provocation, 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.520 and yet you intended to involve all in one common destruction. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.359 You appear to be young. I understand you are quite 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.440 intelligent and have had the benefit of instruction. Yet it 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:03.040 is necessary that you be cut off from society by 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:07.080 an ignominious death. May God have mercy on your soul. 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.880 And with that, we're going to take a break here 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.160 for a word from our sponsors, and when we're back, 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.040 we will hear about the night of the fire in 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:17.520 Rose's own words. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:37.240 Welcome back to Criminalia. Rose's version of events included a 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.520 few surprising details, so let's talk about them. 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.160 While she waited for her execution date, Rose was incarcerated 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.320 briefly at Bridewell Prison, on the site now occupied by 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:55.160 City Hall Park in Manhattan. There, Rose dictated her side 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.480 of the story to the Reverend John Stanford, the chaplain 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.119 who counseled her in the world weeks before her death. 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:06.200 In turn, Stanford published what was considered her authentic story 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:11.120 in Rosa's own words. She described her involvement as such quote, 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.680 when missus Morris I had frequent disputes and was determined 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.160 to be revenged on her On Monday, the fourth of 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.040 March a year ago, she came down in the kitchen 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.720 and we had some high words together. She then asked 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:26.840 me why I did not clean up the kitchen and 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.000 the wooden things. I told her it was impossible to 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.720 do so and get dinner in time. But all these 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.960 I cleared up against night. I went to bed about 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.880 half past ten. There was not any fire in the kitchen. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.320 It had all went out. Mister Morris was the last 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.240 person that was up in the house. At one o'clock 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.480 in the morning, he went down into the kitchen and 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.800 everything was right. He went upstairs again and did not 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:56.840 go to bed till two o'clock. Shortly after this, the 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.000 alarm of fire was made in the house. They went 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.400 down and found the staircase on fire, and two pails, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:07.199 a washing machine, and the broom all on fire placed 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.200 on the third step from the kitchen floor. 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:14.480 Rose continued, quote, A great many persons came in and 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:16.880 among the others, the two men who had set the 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.520 place on fire. Like us, you probably just thought what 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:25.640 two men. Rose continues quote About three weeks before the fire, 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.000 two white men followed me to the pump. It was 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:32.040 very dark. They asked me many questions about Missus Morris, 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.959 but I did not choose to answer them. They advised 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.000 me to burn the house, and I refused. The men 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.400 said if I told their conversation, they would take my life. 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.840 The day before the fire, they passed the window several times, 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.720 but did not speak to me. After that night, the 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:50.960 two men asked mister Morris if he knew the girl 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.600 who lived with him. He said, yes, she has lived 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.720 with me a great while. They then turned about and 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.680 went off. Next day morning, I was accused of having 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.400 set fire to the house, to which I said I 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:04.640 had not, but I did not say who did it 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.560 or who did not do it. Missus Morris inquired after 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.280 a fortune teller, and she told Missus Morris that it 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.760 was I that did it, and none but me. She 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:17.960 sent a watchman for me. Watchmen provided law enforcement and 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.160 public safety in the city at that time, and this 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.599 would have been Rose's arrest. She told much of the 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.880 same story to authorities in the courtroom and to those 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:28.439 who visited her in Bridewell. 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.200 Rose also stated that the two mysterious men had again 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:37.320 contacted her, this time while she was in prison, claiming, quote, 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:39.720 a letter was sent to me in a loaf of 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.640 bread which told me that they had done it. It 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.440 was something like this, we are going away and we 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.640 shall come back again. You are in no danger. You 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.880 will be cleared. We have consumed the house pretty near down. 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:56.960 Do not tell what we have said to you. Not 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.200 being able to read some of the poor writing, I 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.320 requested it to be read to me. It was, and 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.240 then I burnt it. So it's actually true. The Morris 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:12.960 family home was consumed by fire after Rose had been jailed, 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.000 but the timeline is a little bit hard to nail down. 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.840 Some reports suggested that two unknown men should be investigated 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.840 because the second act of arson on the home occurred 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.240 shortly after the prime suspect arrived at Bridewell and was 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:32.319 awaiting her execution. Others questioned Rose, reporting that the timeline 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.960 did not line up and her story of the two 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:39.240 men just couldn't be true. Some local papers, including the 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.560 New York Evening Post, reported that the second case of 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:46.079 arson must have been the two men from Rose's testimony, 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.600 the men that she said she met at the pump, 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.040 and though the governor delayed her sentence to give her 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:57.160 time to name those men, Rose still refused. There's nothing 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.280 in the historical records suggesting that two men were ever 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.800 brought to trial or even questioned about the fire that 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:05.240 destroyed the Morris home. 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.600 Let's talk about an interesting detail in this story. When 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.200 an enslaved or indentured person committed a minor offense in 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.680 the United States during the time when the institution of 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:21.680 slavery was legal, punishment was typically handled informally by those 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:25.760 who enslaved them. But arson was not a minor offense 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:28.600 in the state of New York. Many tend to think 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.960 of southern plantations during the American institution of slavery, but 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:36.880 New Yorkers too were enslavers. This matters in the story 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.120 of Rose Butler because she was a black woman and 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.720 she was not a free woman. In sixteen twenty six, 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:48.360 the Dutch West India Company trafficked enslaved Africans to New Amsterdam, 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.040 the Dutch settlement that would become New York City by 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.280 sixteen sixty. It was a critical port, and between sixteen 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:59.040 fifty one and seventeen seventy five, more than seven thousand 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.960 enslaved Africans disembarked there. They cleared and cut the road 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:06.160 that is now Broadway, They laid the infrastructure that expanded 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:09.360 the city uptown. They grew crops in Brooklyn that went 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.440 on to feed their enslavers, and they were also domestic workers. 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.559 In seventeen o three, forty two percent of New York's 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:21.000 households had enslaved labor, which was more than Philadelphia and 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:25.880 Boston combined. In fact, only Charleston, South Carolina, had higher numbers. 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.439 According to the first federal census of seventeen ninety six 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.000 percent of the population of Westchester County that's where Rose 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.760 was born, was enslaved, and fourteen percent of families there 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.760 enslaved at least one person. A little farther north, the 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.480 city of Albany had a population of about thirty five 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.600 hundred people, of which five hundred and seventy two were 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.360 enslaved and twenty six were quote three persons of color, 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.720 says Tony Alpalka, the official historian of the city of Albany. 0:13:55.800 --> 0:14:00.400 Quote this wasn't a plantation economy, but urban slaves wouldn't 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:04.560 move around. Most were house servants. Jumped to eighteen thirty, 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.160 after slavery was illegal in the state, the census still 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.320 counted seventy five enslaved persons in New York. 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:17.200 Among those enslaved in the United States, arson, according to 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:23.360 many historians, was often predetermined and coordinated. Sometimes it was 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:27.840 a step toward a larger scale revolt, but sometimes it 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:32.200 was an individual and independent act. An enslaved woman named 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.440 Maria was the first person executed for arson in the 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.040 state of Massachusetts. I was all the way back in 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:42.240 sixteen eighty one after a fire she intentionally set killed 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.320 a child in a house next door to her enslaver's home. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:50.000 In colonial times, the punishment for an enslaved person caught 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:55.400 committing the crime of arson was almost always execution. Today, 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.480 historians describe it as having been used as a tool 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:03.520 of rebellion. White enslavers feared the consequences of arson attacks 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.560 by United enslaved populations, both in the southern and the 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:08.480 Northern States. 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:11.600 We're going to take a break for a word from 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.800 our sponsors. When we return, we'll talk about New York's 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.000 Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, What it meant 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:22.440 to be enslaved versus inventured, and how Rose fell through 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:32.080 the cracks. 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:42.280 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk more about the Act 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:46.160 for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery and of course Rose's 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:47.240 day of execution. 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.640 This was a time of shifting ideologies on race and status, 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.240 not only in New York but in America. Revolts had 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.960 featured prominently in the news in the seventeen nineties and 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.720 featured stories of arson committed by those enslaved on plantations 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.880 as well as those living in cities. Arson was historically 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.480 associated with uprisings in New York, and between sixteen eighty 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.840 seven and seventeen forty one, plots to commit the crime 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.520 were uncovered on average every two and a half years. 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.000 Jump ahead to the eighteen hundreds, for example, we find 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.640 a letter from a plantation mistress to her husband describing 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:29.680 an alleged massive conspiracy among local enslaved persons. She wrote 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:33.240 that she worried they would arm themselves and quote, set 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:35.640 fire to the houses and murder the people as they 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.320 rushed out. According to Karema Lewis, who teaches history, at 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.960 Massasot Community College, Quincy College, and Emerson College, all in Massachusetts. 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.800 The act of arson among enslaved people was a way 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.680 for them to oppose their enslavers and the unjust laws 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:54.280 and abuses that, as she explains, quote controlled their every movement. 0:16:55.840 --> 0:17:00.160 The context surrounding Rose's crime and death sentence highlight its 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:04.159 anxieties rampant in the white community in nineteenth century New York. 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.080 Her story also gives us a peek into slavery in 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:11.520 the state at that time. So here's what was going 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.160 on legally. In seventeen ninety nine, the year that Rose 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.359 was born, the State of New York passed a law 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:21.960 called the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery. And 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:26.600 this Act allowed the state to end its institution of slavery, 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.679 but it allowed them to do so very slowly. It 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:34.480 gave freedom to future generations who would have otherwise been 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:40.080 born into the institution. Historically, in America, enslavement was reinforced 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:44.000 as a hereditary status, meaning if your mother was enslaved, 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.800 so were you. The Act declared children born to enslaved 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:53.320 mothers after July fourth, seventeen ninety nine, to be free. 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:57.280 Black persons there was a caveat in this act. Though 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:02.560 Rose may have been born technically free in the state 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.840 of New York, but while freedom was promised to children 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:10.480 like her, that freedom didn't actually come until much much 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:15.840 later in adulthood. No one was freed immediately. These children 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:20.439 were expected to be indentured servants to work unpaid for 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.720 their mother's enslaver until the age of twenty five for 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:29.200 women or twenty eight for men. Unlike people who were enslaved, 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.560 indentured servants, according to the law, could not be sold. 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:39.040 On March thirty first, eighteen seventeen, the state legislature officially 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.560 set July fourth, eighteen twenty seven as the date of 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:47.760 final emancipation. In her position, Rose would have been denied 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.359 any civil rights, but she would have been subject to 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:55.040 criminal law and its harsh punishments, like the death penalty 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:56.240 for committing arson. 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:00.439 Born to an enslaved woman and because of her post 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:04.720 July seventeen ninety nine birth date, Rose was legally required 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.080 to serve an indenture for twenty five years with a 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:11.080 man named Colonel Strang and his family, but in eighteen 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.280 oh nine, the colonel sold her indenture to a man 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:18.639 named Abraham Child of New York City. A few years later, 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.720 Child then sold her indenture to a man named William L. Morris, Esquire, 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:27.439 also of New York City. And yes, we did just 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.040 say that those who were indentured could not be sold. 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.959 There are more problems here than we can even count. 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:39.480 But according to the law, Rose should have technically been 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:43.280 living out twenty five years of indentured servitude with Colonel Strang, 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.280 and under the law it would have been illegal for 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:49.240 her to have been sold to Abraham Child or then 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.200 to William Morris. But as we can all see, that 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:54.200 is not what happened. 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.040 What we know about Rose's time with these households come 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:02.840 straight from her own narrative. Rose was known to chat 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.119 with the women assigned to care for her in prison, 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.000 and she did talk a lot regarding her domestic work 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:12.080 in both the Child and the Morris households. According to 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.720 Leslie Harris, author of the book In the Shadow of 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.760 Slavery African Americans in New York City sixteen twenty six 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:23.320 to eighteen sixty three, Rose stated of Abraham Child, quote, 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:26.919 I was in the constant practice of stealing in giving 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.440 the articles to a black woman in the neighborhood who 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.119 sold them for me. From mister Child, she claimed that 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.040 she had stolen silk from his store, as well as cash, clothing, 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:40.399 and other items from his home. She said that she 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:44.920 felt quote emboldened because she never got caught. She also 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.120 confessed to having stolen cash and items from the Morris 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.800 family and quote Pilford, whatever she could lay her hands on, 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:56.280 including one theft of three hundred dollars worth of silver. 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.800 She shared her spoils with lower class people, both black 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.639 and white, and she also used some of it to 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.960 have fun with her friends, stated Rose, on the fourth 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.520 of July, I went with some girls on board the 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:13.040 steamboat on a party of pleasure and paid the charges, 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.320 and fifteen dollars of it I spent on a frolic. 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:19.480 It was in this manner I squandered away the money 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:23.200 I had stolen in frolicking and rioting in the dance houses. 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:27.080 Rose claimed no one she shared that money with knew 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:28.359 where she had gotten it from. 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.119 On June second, eighteen nineteen, closing in on her execution, 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:39.520 Rose talked not about theft, but about arson and made 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:44.400 the following confession to the Reverend Stanford. Quote the statement 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:47.879 I made in the police office was true. I did 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:51.200 set the house on fire myself, but I was advised 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:53.719 to do it by two men. They gave me the 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:56.320 matches and advised me when and how to set the 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:00.359 house on fire. The evening previous to the fire, to 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.679 string to the outside of the front kitchen door to 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:06.040 prevent the family escaping the flames in that way, and 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:08.960 also cut the door a little with an old knife 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:11.480 that the family might think some person had broken in 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:16.159 and not suspect anyone in the house. Quaker and anti 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:20.960 death penalty activist Dorothy Ripley visited Rose several times, including 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:25.120 the evening before her execution. She reported Rose was quote 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:29.200 sorrowful and repentant and begged for God's forgiveness. 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:34.200 The New York Evening Post reported that with the approaching 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:38.160 execution quote, we hear that threatening letters of the rising 0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:40.800 of black people have lately been sent to the mayor 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:45.359 if the execution should be carried into effect, but there's 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:49.480 little evidence indicating there were actually any letters of protest 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:53.800 or threat Another local paper reported the opposite that quote, 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:57.080 black people of this city, being convinced of the enormity 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:00.399 of the crime, are generally reconciled to the fate of 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:05.960 Rose Butler, that's quite a wide spread of possibilities, and 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.480 the truth of the way that New Yorkers felt probably 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:15.119 sits somewhere between those two accounts. Four unnamed black ministers, 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:18.200 all of whom were free men, were vocal about their 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:22.840 concerns regarding how Rose's actions might affect the emancipation era 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:25.240 and the ongoing case for black equality. 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:29.800 On July ninth, eighteen nineteen, the day of her execution, 0:23:30.880 --> 0:23:33.440 Rose was brought to the yard and the chaplain addressed 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:37.520 the crowd. The novelty of a woman being publicly executed 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:41.040 made for an event, and it drew upwards of ten 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:45.760 thousand spectators. Rose is described as having been composed during 0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:48.399 the procession to the gallows, and that it appeared she 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:52.440 had reconciled to her fate. When asked by an onsite 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:57.240 physician how she felt, Rose replied, quote, my head feels wild. 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:01.600 She was given water and part of an orange. We 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:04.119 do not know her final words, but we do know 0:24:04.200 --> 0:24:07.200 she was assisted by two deputy sheriffs to the scaffold. 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:11.120 The gallows stood roughly where the arch stands in Washington 0:24:11.160 --> 0:24:14.800 Square Park today. Prayers were offered by those in the 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:18.360 crowd and hymns were sung. According to a first hand 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:22.679 account from newspaper publisher and politician Thurler Weed, not only 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:25.520 did thousands of people show up for the hanging that day, 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:28.720 the vibe of the crowd was such that a racist 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:34.040 poem was in heavy circulation, both shouted and chalked onto buildings. 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:39.199 Rose was buried where she was executed, in Potter's Field. 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:43.320 In eighteen twenty seven, Washington Square opened as a public 0:24:43.400 --> 0:24:47.480 park on that same location, one of New York's most 0:24:47.520 --> 0:24:51.040 popular parks. Today. We know that below its ten acres 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:55.800 are an estimated twenty thousand corpses. Most were never disinterred 0:24:55.880 --> 0:24:59.000 and remain on site. And when it comes to the 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:02.359 crime of arson in New York State today, it carries 0:25:02.359 --> 0:25:06.880 different penalties according to the level of severity. Punishment ranges 0:25:06.920 --> 0:25:10.119 from a misdemeanor to a Class A one felony charge, 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:13.400 which carries a minimum sentence of fifteen to twenty five 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:23.680 years up to life. It's time for lighter fluid and 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:29.200 I thought about a few things while prepping this. Listen, 0:25:29.320 --> 0:25:32.280 some of this is going to be exactly as predictable 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:34.399 as you think it is, but I promise it's a 0:25:34.480 --> 0:25:38.320 very delicious drink. I kept thinking about, and this is 0:25:38.359 --> 0:25:42.000