Everything about Ruth Snyder totally explained
Ruth Brown Snyder (
1895 –
January 12,
1928) was an
American murderer. Her
execution in the
electric chair for the murder of her husband, Albert, at
Sing Sing Prison on
January 12,
1928, was captured in a famous photograph.
The crime
In 1925, Snyder, a
Long Island housewife, began an affair with Judd Gray, a corset salesman. She then began to plan the murder of her husband, enlisting the help of her new lover.
Snyder first persuaded her husband to purchase a $48,000
life insurance policy, then made a series of varied attempts to kill him, all of which he survived. On
March 20,
1927, the couple garroted Albert Snyder and stuffed his nose full of
chloroform-soaked rags. They then staged his death as part of a burglary gone bad. Gray and Snyder were eventually convicted and
sentenced to death.
The final moments of her execution (by "state electrician"
Robert G. Elliott) were caught on film with the aid of a miniature (one time use) camera strapped to the ankle of
Tom Howard, a
Chicago Tribune photographer working in cooperation with the
Tribune-owned
New York Daily News. Minutes after the execution of Snyder, Gray was put to death.
Appearances in popular media
Sophie Treadwell's play
Machinal was inspired by the life and execution of Ruth Snyder, as was the novel
Double Indemnity by
James M. Cain, which was later adapted for the screen by
Billy Wilder and
Raymond Chandler. The films
Body Heat and
The Postman Always Rings Twice may also have been inspired by the murder. The 1933 movie
Picture Snatcher, starring
James Cagney as a newspaper photographer, contains an incident inspired by Howard's photo of Snyder in the electric chair.
Ruth Snyder was mentioned as the first female in
New York history put to death in
Polly Adler's autobiography,
A House is Not a Home. This is incorrect, however;
Martha M. Place was executed in 1899, as were several black women dating back to the 1700s.
Ruth Snyder's
Sing Sing Prison cell was also used for
Eva Coo and Lonely Hearts killer
Martha Beck.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ruth Snyder'.
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