Ann Bilansky

Ann Bilansky (born Mary Ann Evards Wright) ( – March 23, 1860) was an American housewife convicted in 1859 of poisoning her husband with arsenic. She is the only woman in Minnesota to receive the death penalty and the first white person in the state to be executed by hanging.

Biography Mary Ann Evards Wright (known by her middle name, Ann) was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she resided for several years with her first husband who later died in a railroad incident. She then moved to Pleasant Hill, Illinois, and then finally to St. Paul, Minnesota, in April 1858 at the request of her nephew, John Walker, who was ill with typhoid fever. Shortly after, Ann married Stanislaus Bilansky, one of the first Polish immigrants to settle in St. Paul. He had moved to St. Paul from Wisconsin in 1848. Stanislaus was a poor man who drank heavily, but he owned a small cabin that doubled as a bar and grocery store. He had custody of his three young children left in his care after his second wife divorced him, and Ann frequently took care of the children when Stanislaus was ill or working. In 1859, Stanislaus was sick between March 6 and March 11 with what was thought to be indigestion, but his condition worsened rapidly as he consumed both alcohol and Graffenburg pills. Ann was seen crying at his bedside asking what she should do with the kids in case anything happened. Stanislaus died on March 11. Stanislaus was then buried on March 12, but that evening Kilpatrick changed her testimony to claim she saw Ann buying arsenic from a drugstore on February 28. Ann claimed the purchase was at Stanislaus’ urging, so they might kill rats in the cellar. Kilpatrick was the state's principal witness, and Heard also relied heavily on Scharf's testimony, which stated that Ann made all of Stanislaus’ meals separately and washed his dishes and utensils separately. Scharf also testified that Bilansky did not treat Stanislaus as a husband ought to be treated. Both Kilpatrick and Scharf testified Ann was having an affair with Walker, which County Attorney Heard argued was the murder motive. After all of the witnesses had spoken, an all-male jury began deliberations on June 3, and they took less than six hours to return with a “guilty” verdict. Upon hearing the verdict, Ann reportedly showed no visible signs of emotion or distress. Ann's defense asked for a new trial, but did not receive one as the judge considered her already found guilty in the court. Bilansky's attorney went before the Minnesota Supreme Court to try and prevent judge from imposing the death penalty, but Justices declined to intervene.

Sentencing On December 2, Ann appeared in court for her sentencing where she proclaimed herself an innocent woman: “If I die in this case, I die an innocent woman. I don’t think I have had a fair and just trial.” The Minnesota House of Representatives made efforts to end capital punishment, but it was rejected shortly after. On January 25, 1860 newly elected Governor Alexander Ramsey set Ann’s execution date as March 23, 1860.

Execution Ann requested a private execution, but at this point in the 19th century public executions were typical as they served civil and religious purposes to deter crime and demonstrate the danger of sin. On March 23, 1860, gallows were set up in an enclosure in Court House Square at the corner of Fifth and Cedar streets, and just before her execution Ann spoke her last words: “I die without having had any mercy shown me, or justice. I die for the good of my soul, and not for murder. . . . Your courts of justice are not courts of justice—but I will yet get justice in Heaven.” Ann's body was left hanging for twenty minutes before she was buried in an unmarked grave in Calvary Cemetery. The Democrat also criticized other women for their eagerness to watch the execution. The day after the execution, the Democrat grew tired of the story, stating that it hoped to never have to report about Bilansky or the execution ever again.

In popular culture Ann Bilansky's trial and execution was the basis for Jeffrey Hatcher's stage play, A Piece of Rope, which premiered in St. Paul in March 2000.