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Robert Treat Paine Papers

Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4

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Resolve Directing Attorney General to Prosecute Sundry Persons for High Treason

15 April 1778

From Elbridge Gerry

25 May 1778
32
Commonwealth versus William Brooks, James Buchannon, Ezra Ross on the charge of murder and Bathsheba Spooner as an accomplice before the fact

This case was heard in April 1778 in Worcester County. Pvt. William Brooks, Sgt. James Buchannon, and seventeen-year-old Ezra Ross were accused of murdering Bathsheba (Ruggles) Spooner’s husband, Joshua Spooner, at Mrs. Spooner’s instigation. Brooks and Buchannon, British soldiers, were temporarily lodging with the Spooners in Brookfield while passing through town. Ross had been residing with the Spooner family periodically for nearly a year and was allegedly having an affair with Mrs. Spooner. On March 1, 1778, Mr. Spooner was beaten to death and his body dropped down a well on the Spooner property. Brooks, Buchannon, Ross, and Mrs. Spooner were rapidly arrested and brought to trial. After a three-day trial, the jury brought in a guilty verdict, and the four perpetrators were sentenced to be hanged.
Indictment
RTP
April 21, 1778

Worcester Ss. At the Superiour Court of Judicature Court of Assize and general Goal delivery begun and holden at Worcester within & for the County of Worcester on the Tuesday next preceeding the last Tuesday of April in the year of our Lord Seventeen hundred & seventy eight

The Jurors for the Government and People of the Massachusetts Bay in New England upon their oaths present that William Brooks resident at Charlestown in the County of Middlesex Labourer James Buchannon1 of the same Charlestown Labourer and Ezra Ross2 of Ipswich in the County of Essex Labourer, not having GOD before their Eyes but being moved & seduced by the instigation of the Devil on the first day of March last past with force and Arms, at Brookfeild aforsaid in the County aforsaid feloniously wilfully and of their malice aforethought in and upon Joshua Spooner3 of said Brookfeild then & there in the peace of GOD and of the said Government & people being an assault did make, and that the aforsaid William Brooks with his right fist the said Joshua Spooner to and against the Ground then & there feloniously wilfully and of his malice 33 aforethought did strike down, and the same Joshua Spooner so on the Ground, lying, he the said William Brooks with both his hands & feet of him the said William Brooks in and upon the back, head Stomach, Sides & throat of him the said Joshua Spooner then and there feloniously wilfully & of his malice aforethought did strike beat & kick, giving to him the said Joshua Spooner, as well as by the Striking down of him the said Joshua Spooner to the Ground as aforsaid, as also by the striking beating & kicking the said Joshua Spooner in & upon the back, head Stomach, sides & throat of him the said Joshua Spooner as aforsaid with both the hands & feet of him the said William Brooks in manner aforsaid, several mortal bruizes, of which said several mortal bruizes the said Joshua Spooner there instantly died. And the James Buchannon aforsaid and Ezra Ross aforsaid, feloniously & of their malice aforethought, then and there were present, aiding, assisting, abetting, comforting & maintaining the aforsaid William Brooks to the felony and murder aforsaid, in form aforsaid to be done and Committed. And so the Jurors aforsaid upon their oaths aforsaid do say, that the said William Brooks James Buchannon & Ezra Ross the aforsaid Joshua Spooner at Brookfeild aforsaid, in manner and & form aforsaid, feloniously, wilfully & of their malice aforethought killed & murthered, against the peace of the Government & people aforsaid: and that Bathsheba Spooner of Brookfeild in the County of Worcester Widow, late Wife of the said Joshua Spooner not having GOD before her Eyes, but being seduced by the Instigation of the Devil, before the felony and murder aforsaid, by the aforsaid William Brooks, James Buchannon and Ezra Ross and Baths in manner and form aforsaid done and Committed, that is to say on the twenty eighth day of February last past the aforsaid Bathsheba Spooner at Brookfeild aforsaid in the County of Worcester aforsaid, the felony and Murder aforsaid in manner & form aforsaid to be done and Committed maliciously, wilfully and of her malice aforethought did, incite, move abett, Councel and procure, against the peace of the Government & people aforsaid

a true bill R T Paine Atty pr. Stat. Samuel Denny form:
Worcester Superiour Court

April Term 1778— The said William Brooks, James Buchannon, Ezra Ross & Bathsheba Spooner ware brought & sit to the Bar here, by the 34 Sheriff of Worcester County, and arraigned; and upon their arraingment they severally plead “That thereof they are not guilty & thereof they put themselves, forunclear> trial, on god and the Countery.”

Att. M Smith Clerk

MS (Suffolk Files, no. 152958. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, division of Archives and Records Preservation, Boston, Mass.). The coroner’s inquisition is in the same file. Brackets represent a tear on the page.

1.

Sgt. James Buchannon (c. 1742–1778), a Scot, and Pvt. William Brooks (c. 1751–1778), an Englishman, were among the British forces surrendered by Gen. John Bugoyne, Oct. 17, 1777. They are said to have been kept in a camp at Rutland, Mass., from which they escaped (“The Dying Declaration of James Buchanan, Ezra Ross, and William Brooks, Who Were Executed at Worcester, July 2, 1778, for the Murder of Mr. Joshua Spooner,” contemporary broadside reprinted in Deborah Navas, Murdered by His Wife [Amherst, Mass., 1999], 111–117).

 2.

Ezra Ross (1761–1778) was a native of Ipswich, Mass., and served in the 26th Massachusetts Regiment under the command of Col. Loammi Baldwin from Dec. 1775 until his discharge in Dec. 1776 (Navas, Murdered by His Wife, 8–10).

 3.

Joshua Spooner (1741–1778) married Bathsheba Ruggles (1746–1778) in 1766. They had four children and lived in Brookfield, Mass. He was born into a prosperous Boston merchant family, and she was the daughter of Gen. Timothy Ruggles, who was commander of all the Massachusetts troops during the French and Indian Wars, remained loyal to the Crown during the Revolution, and died in exile in Nova Scotia (Navas, Murdered by His Wife, 30; E. Alfred Jones, The Loyalists of Massachusetts: Their Memorials, Petitions, and Claims [London, 1930], 251–253).
Trial notes
RTP
Worcester. Supr. Court. April 1778

State vs. William Brooks, James Buchannon, Ezra Ross, for Murder of Joshua Spooner, & vs. Bathsheba Spooner as an Accomplice before the fact.

Sally Bragg ) a fortnight before then Jesse Parker was saying how bad a man Mr. Spooner was, bad to his Wife, had just got him drunk, that Mrs. Spooner had sent for Brooks to have their frolic; Mr. Spooner will not get drunk many times more he is a short lived man, he was directing him Brooks & Cummings, Cumming said yes I am sure he is Hannah Walker ) Mrs. Stratton sd. Mrs. Spooner told me what I durst not tell for my life, this was last fall, in Worcester She went to live at Spooners, she said she was going to live at Mrs. Spooners and was like to do well, 35 last fall the week before she went to live there, she lodged with Mrs. Spooner, & he came home she sd. she hated him Mary Parks ) Mrs. Spooner never, wished her Hus dead, or intimated she would put him out of the way, she said she did not love her hus: Dr. Jona. King ) I spent Evng wth. Decd. at Mr. Cooleys, between 8 & 9 he went from there I went there abt. dusk & found him there, we came away together, & parted at the Door. he sd. good night. he was sober & sociable. blood lay within 8 ft. of the corner of the house on the Gate, curb of the well & on his Cloak none of the house went out to look at the Corpse; wn. we carried Corpse into the Room, Mrs. Spooner shut out & did not turn her Eye, the bruizes, Mrs. Spooner eating her breakfast Ephm. Cooley ) Came to my house between Sun down & Dark tarri’d till between 8 & 9. & went away, was very pleasant next morning Alex. came riding on Spooners horse between 8. & 9. & enquired for Mr. Spooner, he was told to go to Dr. Kings & he went part of the way & turned back; I went to Mrs. Spooners they at Breakfast. Talk’d with her wept & took it hard for such reflections went out found his Hat under Snow. Charles Cobbin a Negro ) Master Welden sent me to Mrs. Spooners after his horse He had to Worcestr. saw a man there, I took it to be Mr. Ross wm. I had seen before, in the kitchen, he went into the Parlor, Saw two men come in from Springfeild Reuben Old ) I lived a Mr. Spooners last Fall, abt. fortnight before murder he asked me to stay with him he fetched down a Trunck & we set up all night, Brooks was up Stairs a bed, Sergt. there, Spooner sd. he was afraid they were agoing to rob him, I went into other Room to Buchannon & he sd. he wd. put him into the Well for a copper & if he comes out & says a word he would put him into the Well, Mrs. Spooner opened the Window & sd. people may call it a negro frolic I’m determined to make them go through with my design Obadiah Rice ) last Fall I rememberher I heard her say she wish’d Old Bogus was in Heaven, in Coming down, she sd: If it had not been I had a great desire to see my Daddy this murther had never been comitted & also the moment the breath of life left his Body I would have given 10,000,000 £ would it had been in again that she wd. suffer 10 deaths before Mrs. Stratton & Alex shd. suffer. 36 Susannah Wilson ) I saw Sergt. & Brooks, there a fortnight abt. three weeks before murder She asked one of them to go into the other Room She & Alex. were whispering together. Saw Ross at Mr. Spooners last Thanksgiving. Thos. Green ) Swears to the Buckels Dr. Jona. King Ephm. Cooley. at Mrs. Brown. She told me she had been the whole cause of this murder she mentioned an old grudge & began the Discourse Ephrm. Curtis I was at the taking & Walkers & stood Guard, Buch. jump’d out of the window, he let himself blood on Wednesday bled much, found a Ring on him. Capt: Josha. Whitney ) 2d March at Mr. Walkers Saw Brooks with a watch in his pocket & buckles in his Shoes Standing by the fire & Buchannon sitting on the Bed. I asked for the others took a light & went up Stairs, found Ross in upper Garret he quivered & was much scared, Buchannon jump’d out of window, Brooks gave the negro Girl the watch in Examn. he owned that to be the watch he had in his pocket, Ross told me he was guilty of this crime was very full, & wanted a minister, Did not strike the first blow, but was Aiding & assisting, very penitent. Ross sd. he had on Mr. Spooners Jacket & Breeches & had given his own to Brooks who had bled his own in taking up the body. & Brooks afterward owned he took up the body, Ross, said his Pistol was at Mrs. Walker, & I went & found it there, & his Pocket book with 10£ notes & 8. Doll. bills, given him by Mrs. Spooner, & other money his own, Mr. Spooners horse was in Mr. Spooners Walkers barn, the baggs & shirts in it, he sd. the marks burn’t out Saml. Bridge. the buckles in Brooks shoes. Mr. Spooners, the Jacket on Ross. Mrs. Spooner sd. if she cd. see the persons face to face she cd. give Satisf: & this is the Effect of bad Company. John Green ) abt. buckles & watch Charles Simpson ) the Jacket, Brooks has on, I altered for Mr. Spooner John Hibird ) the Jacket Mr. Spooners abt. 9 mos before murder while Decd. gone to Springfeild Serjt. & Brooks at Mrs. Spooners, afterwards saw Brooks there I think the Baggs Mr. Spooners. 37 Alex Cumings I came to Mr. S the day the troops came to from a fortt. before murder. S & B came to Mr. Spooners house pr . Rel. to Serjt. I knew him in Canada Mrs. Spooner ordered me to call all British Troops in that went along, she asked ’em how they did Gentlemen, she said she wished she had Mr. Spooner was out of the way they could enjoy one another, he sd. he wishd. he was out of the way, they staid while Mr. Spooner was absent at Princeton, wh. he came home Serjt. & Brooks sd. they wd. put him out of the way after they were ordered away they tarried two days & nights in the Barn, & I carried ’em victuals by her orders & she carried some Ross came there Saturday night then Mrs. Spooner came home. Mrs. Spooner ordered the horse put up. Ross was kept concealed all day. the Serjt. & Brooks came there Sunday Evning while I was gone to carry home horse. I found Ser. & Ross in Parlour & Brooks was out by the Road, I step’d out with a blanket coat on & Brooks took me for Mrs. Spooner & bid me ask Mrs. Spooner to step out. I said I would not, Brooks told me he was watching for Mr. Spooner & he should not come home a living man that night I went to Bed, & got to Sleep, & was waked by their coming up stairs & smelt woolen burning. I went down, & saw the pris. all in the Parlour sitting & Brooks wn. he came to the house had white woolen Jacket & Breeches & they were burning Cloathes, Mr. Ross put on a pair of blk breeches of Mr. Spooners. I fetched down Jacket & Mrs. Stratton the Breeches Buchannon had on a Ruffled shirt Mrs. Spooner took Mr. Spooner’s money and carried it into the Setting Room, but I did not see her give ’em any money, She told me to get water to wash Brooks breeches & I should have ’em, She had told me if ever Mr. Spooner was killed she would have him thrown into the well. Serjt. sd. did yo. think this man of mine could have done the Jobb. abt. a month before She asked me if I would kill Mr. Spooner for her & she wd. make a man of me, She sd. had not cut his throat but pushed him down the night before he went to Princetown he spit out Gorg Ross sd. he had put aqua fortis he told Mrs. Spooner he had carried poison to Princeton, but had not opportunity to give it him, Buch. when he went away shook hands with her & said she might expect to see him again in a fortnight, next morning she went with me to the Well & she sd. she hoped he was in heaven & desired me to take the horse & go & enquire for him she sd. she wanted him to be put to the bottom of the well. 38 Sarah Stratton ) Ross at Mr. Spooners between thanksgiving, the Sunday all there in Front Room & Ross ask’d me to call Mrs. Spooner in, she went in; Gray & al. came there & sup’d in the kitchen, & the Pris: supd in Sitting Room; I went to light Mr. Gray to bed & coming down saw Mrs. Spooner taking the money Box, she took hold of my hand & said she hoped Mr. Spooner in Heaven, she carried the box into the sitting room, she sent me for Breeches & I came down & saw ’em all standing round Table in sitting room & the box open & money in Buchs hand. She bid Alex get water & wash Breeches that were bloody & he should have ’em we went to well & could not get water they had some Buckels: I have seen her wear a ring like this. She sighed & turnd all night, in the morning she desired me not to tell of it & I shoud not want any thing, they all came into the Kitchen & bid ’em good night & Buc. sd. to Mrs. Spooner you Shall see me in a fortnight: Brooks sd. his time was come. Ross when he came there se...ated himself from Mrs. Spooner Jesse Parker ) Buc. & Brooks there she used to be in sitting room with Serjat, they kept in the barn she & I & Alex. carried victuals to them, She asked me to get Mr. Spooner to the Barn, wn. he came from Princeton she said she was never so strong in her life, she sd. she was going to Worcester the regulars were going there. Obadiah Rice ) some time ago she wished old Bogus was in Heaven; I came down with Mrs. Spooner Mrs. Stratton & Alexr. Elisha Hamilton ) She sd. if it was not for this thing I cd. meet my Judge, she told Coley he had done no more than his duty it was her own doing. Asa Biggelow ) before the Inquest, she sd. she was the cause of it tho she did not say lay hands on him. She had hird Serjt. & Brooks to do it & gave 1000 dolls & had given 200 Wm Young Esqr ) abt. a week after the Exan. I went into the Goal to converse, Ross sd. a good part of his Exmn. was lying he sd. he took him by the feet & Brooks by the shoulders & put him into the Well Brooks acknowledged he gave a blow Mrs. Spooner sd. she must confess she consented to the Murder John Cunningham ) Brooks sd. to me I made a mistake in my Confession, for he Struck the blow. 39 Joseph Wheeler Esqr. ) Brooks desired some alterations to be made, for he struck the first blow. Ross sd. he wanted to make some alteration Mr. Sprague1 the Evid: vs. Ross, only makes him an access. after fact. the Pris: suffer by being tryed all together because they charge one another Mr. Lincoln confession sometime prove false. Ross’s good Character if he had engaged to comit the crime why did he not do it before he was obliged to conceal himself on acct. of the horse Marq. of Beccaria2 Presumptive Evidence dangerous. the Care of the Uncle & neice of the Stolen horse the credibility of Prue Mary Walker Mrs. Stratton Alex. Mrs. Spooner must be out of her head to comit this crime & orphanize her children, hus. a Cloak Could she expect impunity. Would they not have agreed upon a plan of escape

MS .

1.

John Sprague (1740–1800), a 1765 graduate of Harvard, joined the bar in Worcester County in 1768 after reading law with James Putnam. He settled in Lancaster and was one of only three lawyers in the county following the departure of his Tory colleagues during the Revolution. Sprague represented Lancaster in the General Court beginning in 1782 and occasionally sat in the Senate. He was first appointed judge in 1784 and in 1798 became chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Worcester County (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 16:237–239).

 2.

This reference to Cesare Beccaria, the Italian jurist, is one of the very few non-English citations that RTP used in court. It presumably refers to Beccaria’s Essay on Crimes and Punishment (1764), which John Adams had cited in the Boston Massacre trials (Alan Rogers, Murder and the Death Penalty in Massachusetts [Amherst, Mass., 2008], 31, which also discusses the Spooner trial, 32–37).
40
Trial notes

State vs. Spooner

Lovet Linkon ) I was one of the Guard & board at Mr. Ephraim Walkers, I was at Mr. Spooners the Tuesday before the murder; begening of Feby. I was coming from Oakam Mr. Spooner asked me wr. I was going & we went to Oakam together Mr. Ross went with him. afterwards I went to Mrs. Spooners house & asked her if he was got home. She sd. no. I looked into the other Room & saw 2 soldiers, the Serjeant & the other, afterward, When he was got home in the Eving I went to him & some body lookd into the window, after some regulars were in the Kitchen the sarjent & als Mr. Spooner bid me go out, but consented to let them stay. I heard Sarjt. say if Mr. Spooner shd. turn me out of Doors I wd. have his life before morning. She told me Ross was hid because of galling the horse, & the Serjt. & Brooks had not been there lately. Joseph: Ball ) word came down that a man was murthered. those men had no money a few days ago, they now had money enough, found the buckels on Brook. found Ross hid in Walkers, Jacket & had on Mr. Spooners Jacket & Breeches, Buchanon bleeded himself & tryd to get away. Ross desired me to call a minister. he appeard Quite Adgit Mary Walker ) Mrs. Spooner gave Serjt. a Letter sd. she must go to Dr. Greens, Spent evning at our house & brought some Cloth for a shirt for him Brooks indecent behavior, the Serjt. made up medicines for her Serjt. at our house Thursday Eving Mrs. Spooner rid up to door, & ask’d if Serjt. Buc. was in the house, he went to door & ask’d her to get off, she gave him a Letter & sd. it was a Letter from young Grenadier at her house, it was to make him to go to the Hill, she came back soon from Dr. Greens & sd. she had forgot to give him a peice of cloth, she sd. he left it there wn. he was at her house. she askd me to make the shirt for Buc. & she wd. come & knit for me, the Serjt. wrote several Letters there on Friday Mrs. Spooner, familiarity between Mrs. Spooner & Brooks Saturday the Serjt. mix’d powders, he & Mrs. Spooner up Stairs: She askd him wn. he would go. he sd. Sunday noon. Serjt. uneasy she did not come, PM she came, & he went to her horse with her stroked a hair from her 41 eye & she said after whispering to him, tomorrow night 11. Clock, you say he sd. yes 11 oClock. I ask’d what was to be done, he sd. he was to meet the Grenadier Monday morning. Serjt. Br. & Ross 8 o’Clock, they sd. they were persued by Springfield Guards Mrs. Spooner found the Guard in persuit of them Serjt. & Brooks sd. Ross was Mrs. Spooners Cozin & kept a great Store. Ross sd. he had never seen Mrs. Spooner, he walked abt. & leaned agt. the side of the house Br. Serjt. gave me a Ruffled Shirt to rip of the Ruffles I did, Brooks sd. he had been to Mrs. Spooners & she had given them a Shirt & a pair of Stockings & that Buch had not been there. Prue ) Ser. & Br. were at our house fort night before Thursday on Thursday Serjt. B. at our House. Mrs. Spooner there, I wondered, she came there, the Serjt. sd. he wd. come agn. she did he help’d her off of horse, & took off her hat & Cloak. She stay’d all the Evning, Serjt. Buch. pulld her & she went out, & Brooks went out, he calld her out twice, her talk was to the Serjt. the Serjt. was for changing hankerchief. she went away at 10 clock, she was told wn. she first came in that Mr. was gone a Journy, Saturday morning Serjt. impatient for Mrs. Spooner desired if Mrs. Spooner came to tell her he was sick, she came & went up Stairs I went up & saw them sitting on the Bed I came down, I saw the papers of powders in her pocket book, she went upon the Stairs & talked to Serjt. Buchanon, he sd. at 11 oClock Serjt. & Br. went of in meeting time; toward day, they came to our house. Brooks wrist was all swell’d. Ross sd. that they had a fall. I askd Brooks for his white Cloaths, he sd. he had sold them, they did not call. Brook's Ross name, Serjt. Clap’d his breast & threw himself on the Bed Brooks gave me the watch, Ross desired me to hide him for he did not want to be seen with them.1

MS .

1.

After the grand jury returned its indictment:

Hereupon the sd: William Brooks, James Buchannon Ezra Ross & Bathsheba Spooner are brought and set at the Bar here, by the Sheriff of the County of Worcester and arraigned & upon their arraignment they severally plead, That thereof they are not guilty & for trial, they put them selves upon God & the Countery; Thereupon a Jury Viz—Ephraim May, Jonathan Philips, Ebenezer Lovel, David Bigelow, Benja. Stowell, Saml. Forbush, Joseph Herrington, John Phelps, Manasseh Sawyer, Elisha Goddard, Abraham Batchelor, & Mark Batchelor, are immediately called & Sworn to try the Issue, who, after having fully heard all the Evidence upon their oaths say That the sd: William Brooks, James Buchannon, Ezra Ross & Bathsheba Spooner, are Severally guilty of the murther specified in the Indictment against the Law & ca.

Hereupon the Attorney pr. State moves the Court, for Sentence of Death against the sd. William Brooks, James Buchannon, Ezra Ross & Bathsheba Spooner. Thereupon the sd. Court pronounce 42 Sentence as follows Viz: That the said William Brooks James Buchannon, Ezra Ross & Bathsheba Spooner be severally hanged by the Neck till they are dead &c.

 (Superiour Court of Judicature Minute Books, Worcester County, Apr. 1778. Massachusetts Judicial Archives, Boston, Mass.)

This case is covered in detail in Peleg W. Chandler, American Criminal Trials (Boston, 1844), 2:1–58, based upon the SCJ records and trial notes by Judge Jedediah Foster and the defense attorney Levi Lincoln. In the appendix (pp. 375–383) are additional documents relating to the case, including the indictment, death warrant, petition for a reprieve, reprieve, writ de ventre inspiciendo, return of the sheriff, opinion of midwives, and final return of the sheriff. See also Navas, Murdered by His Wife, which includes extensive source material.

This case was notorious in its day because of the social standing of the victim and his wife, feelings against her father as one of the county’s most prominent loyalists, and especially the unwitting execution of an expectant mother. A post-mortem examination revealed that Bathsheba Spooner was five months pregnant, supporting her pre-trial claim. Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty, one of the few who believed Mrs. Spooner’s concern about her unborn child, preached the execution sermon on July 2 on the text “The Guilt of Innocent Blood Put Away.”

RTP noted in his diary, Apr. 23: “Wm. Brooks James Buchanon & Ezra Ross & Bathsheba Spooner arrainged for Murder of Joshua Spooner”; Apr. 24: “the said Prisners tried in meeting House tryal began at 9 oClock, lasted till 1 o’Clock in morning witht. intermission”; Apr. 25: “Jury brought in Verdict all Guilty & they were then sentenced. Court finished before noon.”

RTP noted an unusual outcome to another murder trial, which began later the same month. Maj. Nathaniel Danielson was tried for the murder of Jabez Nichols on Apr. 30 at Northampton. The next day, “The Jury in sd. Case being asked if the Prisoner at the Bar was guilty or not guilty said not guilty wch. being recorded & a motion made for the Prisoner to be discharged without day one of the Jury said, the Foreman had not delivered all the Verdict, & that they meant to say he was guilty of manslaughter, & expected to be asked another Q: but the Court sd. the Verdict was recorded & could not be altered, & the Pris. was discharged” (RTP Diary, May 1, 1778).