Roxana Flowers

Roxalana "Roxana" Druse ( – February 28, 1887), was the last woman hanged in the state of New York, and the first woman hanged in 40 years in Central New York. Her botched execution didn't kill her instantly, further motivating New York officials to replace the gallows with the electric chair in New York in 1890.

Druse murdered her husband, William Druse, in their home in Warren, New York, by shooting him and decapitating him with an axe. Her son and daughter, George and Mary Druse, and nephew, Frank Gates, assisted her in the murder. Druse later said that she murdered him because of domestic violence. She was sentenced to be hanged on October 6, 1885, and was hanged on February 28, 1887.

Background William and Roxana Druse married in approximately 1864. The marriage bore two children: an older daughter named Mary, who was 19 at the time of William Druse's murder, and a younger son named George, who was 10 at the time of the murder. The family resided in a farmhouse in Warren, a small town in Herkimer County, New York, and they also lived with William's 14-year-old nephew, Frank Gates. William was 56 at the time of his death.

The Druse family dealt with debt and incurred a "poor reputation" in their area due to William's bad temper and his penchant for swearing and working on Sundays. Neighbors and the Druses' children knew William Druse to subject Roxana to domestic violence, on one occasion striking her with a horse whip and paying a neighbor $5 in hush money. Their daughter, Mary, recalled two occasions when William struck Roxana with a branch pulled from an apple tree. He also strangled Roxana and threatened to murder her with a pitchfork. Shortly before her trial for William's murder, Roxana was quoted as saying her husband was only a "decent man" on their wedding day and, "My advice is never to get married. I think it is a poor plan. [...] It is a dreadful step to take and it ought to have more consideration than people give it."

Trial Mary Druse pleaded guilty to the charges against her and was sentenced to life imprisonment. She was sent to a penitentiary in Onondaga County, New York, to serve her sentence.

Hanging Prior to her execution, New York Governor David B. Hill received letters from various states in the US demonstrating strong feelings towards Druse's sentence. Some requested that he commute Druse's sentence. Some of the letters questioned if it was ethical to hang a woman. The New York State Legislature introduced a bill to exempt women from the death penalty, but the bill was defeated in Assembly ten days prior to Druse's hanging. In one letter, a man offered to pay $10 to be able to personally execute Druse himself. Several letters were from citizens who volunteered to pay for the rope to be used in Druse's hanging, and some requested that the rope be taken on an exhibition tour throughout New York after Druse's hanging. The electric chair was first used in the execution of William Kemmler on August 6, 1890, three years after Druse's execution.

Some doubt was later cast as to if Druse was actually the murderer, with Rev. John L. Sulden later saying, "I felt certain all the time that no woman with a face like this could ever be a murderess."

New York Governor Levi P. Morton pardoned Mary Druse in 1895.