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Page 17 text:
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The essence of this story can be found today inscribed on Joshua Spooner’s gravestone in the Brookfield Town Cemetery — “He was murdered by three soldiers ... at the instigation of his wife Bathesheba.” The Bathesheba in this case is Bathesheba Ruggles Spooner, the daughter of Brigadier Timothy Ruggles. Before reaching first twenty years of her life, she was married at her father’s insistence to a prosperous citizen of Brookfield, named Joshua Spooner. The marriage was hastily put through, possibly because her father, realizing his own precarious position at the time, sought to assure Bathesheba’s security. The misfortune was that Spooner, although comparatively wealthy, was a much older man and of unpleasant character and disposition. At the time of his death, they had lived together nearly 14 years, many of them years of corroding embitterment. Bathesheba was 33 years old in the year 1775. She was a person who had strong feelings and passions and ’eventually she came to have an utter aversion to her husband. About a year before the murder, a young 18 year old soldier, Ezra Ross, recently discharged from the Continental Army due to illness passed through the town. Bathesheba noticed his weakened condition, took him into the home and nursed him back to health. Since she was starved for love and affection, and of a passionate nature, she fell in love with Ross, who was a person of respectable parentage and had some education. Although there is some evidence of resistence to the relationship, Ross submitted. The relationship had an ironic twist in that Ross was a former soldier in Washington’s army and Bathesheba was extremely Loyalist in her sympathies. Nevertheless, the relationship remained intact, while it lasted. During the war, Brookfield was overwhelmingly pro-Revolutionary and she was intensely disliked by her neighbors because she was so honest about her political affiliation. y In late winter 1778, realizing she was pregnant, Bathesheba began thinking of ways to dispose of her husband. On an early February morning, James Buchanan and William Brooks came along the road and passed the Spooner homestead. They were British soldiers who had surrendered with Burgoyne at Saratoga and had successfully drifted away from the prison camp at nearby Rutland. The day was cold and Alexander Cummings, a servant in the Spooner household, suggested that they come inside the house. He told them that his mistress had a great regard for members of the British army, as her father and brother were in the army. 13
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Page 18 text:
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Bathesheba introduced herself to the men, then began to give them presents of money and articles belonging to the household. Eventually, through her personal influence and help of the servant, she was able to keep Brooks and Buchanan around her house and local taverns for more than two weeks. Her purpose in doing so was to stimulate them to a point of agreeing to dispose of her husband. Bathesheba’s first plan was to move Spooner out of his room at night after he retired and throw him into a well in the yard; making it appear that he fell into the well while fetching water at night. Her second plan was to have a servant tell Spooner that one of the horses was sick in the barn. He would investigate and the other two men would kill him. They would place the body under the horse’s feet to make it appear that he had been killed accidentally by the horse. The plans were not carried out because Brooks and Buchanan were not convinced they would work. Finally on the night of March 2, 1778, Spooner returned from the local tavern about 9 p.m. As he entered his yard, he was knocked down by Brooks and taken by the throat. Ross and Buchanan came out of the house and the three men threw Spooner in the well; while this activity was taking place, Bathesheba remained inside. A heavy snow had fallen the previous day and neighbors, noting Spooner’s disappearance, detected many footprints around the well. Soon thereafter, Spooner’s body was found in the well. The next evening, Brooks and Buchanan appeared in a Worcester tavern. Brooks wore some of Spooner’s clothes and when he got drunk, called atten tion to the silver buckle on his belt that was inscribed with the letters “J.S.” Within 48 hours the four were apprehended. Trial was held on April 1, 1778 at the Worcester County Courthouse. It lasted 16 hours without recess. At the trial, Bathesheba manifested complete composure. Her demeanor was proud and reserved. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and all were sentenced to hang.
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