Ruth Snyder

Birth Name:

May Ruth Brown

Birth Date:

March 27, 1895

Birth Place:

New York, New York

Death Date:

January 12, 1928

Place of Death:

Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York

Age:

Cause of Death:

Execution by electric chair

Cemetery Name:

Woodlawn Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Crime and their Victims

Associates:

Judd Gray

Ruth Brown Snyder was a bored housewife from Queens, New York who, after 7 or so unsuccessful attempts, finally succeeded in killing her husband Albert Snyder with the assistance of her lover Henry Judd Gray. Although found guilt and executed in Sing Sing Prison, that is not what made her famous. During the execution photographer Tom Howard of the Chicago Tribune, with a small plate camera strapped to his ankle, took the infamous picture just as the electricity was running through her body and was published the next day in the New York Daily News.

And There’s More …

Their last meal, chosen by Judd, was “chicken broth, roast chicken, mashed potatoes, celery, stuffed olives, and ice cream. Judd also asked for cigars and ‘good coffee.’” (New York Daily News, January 13, 1928, p.6.) Judd complained about the quality of coffee in Sing Sing a number of times. Ruth wore a dark green gingham dress and washed her blonde hair shortly before entering the death chamber.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Woodlawn Cemetery

4199 Webster Avenue

Bronx, New York, 10470

USA

North America

Map:

Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York, New York

Grave Location:

Arbutus, Section 181, Lot 16528

Grave Location Description

As you drive through the cemetery, park at the Starr mausoleum in Arbutus. Walk 6 rows directly behind the Starr mausoleum and look for the upright Brown monument. Ruth is buried under her birth name of “May R”.