The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner (Audition)

Good evening. This is crime classics. I am Thomas Haran Listen the man in nondescript uniform dropping stones into that well as a mercenary soldier More recently a deserted he's testing the depth of the well the only way He knows since the length of rope is not immediately available and more complicated machines are as yet undiscovered

This is the year 1778 and the deserter is named James Buchanan Next to him is his friend, another deserter, whose name is William Brooks. These men are in the employ of Mrs. Bastia Baspooner of Brookfield, Massachusetts, whose well it is.

Mrs. Spooner will pay these men immediately to deposit the body of her murdered husband, right down there. And tonight, my report to you on the crime of Bastia Baspooner, the first woman to be tried for murder in the United States.

classics, a new series of true crime stories taken from the records and newspapers of every land from every time. Your host each week, Mr. Thomas Highland, connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and teller of murders.

Now once again, Thomas Highland. The place is Brookfield, Massachusetts, the year 1778. Seen? The home of Joshua and Passhiba Spooner. A large and respectable dwelling, two stories in height. Situated on the north side of the road from Brookfield to Worcester. In the front of it, a nearly opposite on the south side of the road are stately elms. And a well. And in the living room, there's this.

What manner of woman are you, Bathreba? There's no content in you and no happiness. And what happiness have you given me? A life that dies quickly, cooking and sowing, and from you drunken sleep. And you've not answered me. You would like to see me dead, would you not?