Ruth Snyder
Ruth Snyder was a woman whose life took a dark turn leading to her execution for the murder of her husband, Albert Snyder, in 1927. Born into a working-class family with a Norwegian father and Swedish mother, Ruth faced health challenges in her youth and opted for business school rather than completing high school. After marrying Albert, an art editor, she struggled with the expectations of domestic life and sought an escape through an affair with Henry Judd Gray. Their relationship escalated to a conspiracy to murder Albert, facilitated by a substantial insurance policy that Ruth had taken out on him.
The brutal murder involved multiple methods, including poisoning and physical assault, and was staged to appear as a robbery. However, investigators quickly grew suspicious of Ruth's story, leading to her confession and Gray's eventual arrest. Their trial garnered massive media attention, framing Ruth as a notorious figure while portraying Gray in a more sympathetic light. Ultimately, Ruth was executed by electrocution, a moment captured in a shocking photograph that made headlines. Her case has left a lasting cultural impact, inspiring numerous works of fiction, including films and literature.
Subject Terms
Ruth Snyder
American murderer
- Born: March 27, 1895
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: January 12, 1928
- Place of death: Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York
Major offense: Murder
Active: March 20, 1927
Locale: Queens Village, Long Island, New York
Sentence: Death by electrocution
Early Life
The only child of a working-class Norwegian father and a Swedish mother, Ruth Snyder (SNI-duhr) was a sickly youngster. She trained at business school instead of finishing high school and held various jobs, including switchboard operator, salesgirl, and stenographer. In 1915, she married Albert Snyder, an art editor for Motor Boating magazine. Three years later, their daughter, Lorraine, was born. Shortly after, they moved to suburban Queens Village.
Ruth resisted settling down to the wife-and-mother role expected by her husband and neighbors. Always vivacious and engaging, she resented her older dull and glum husband. Before Albert had met Ruth, his fiancé, Jessie Guishard, had died, and Albert continued to mourn her; he often compared Ruth unfavorably with his first love. Other factors strained the marriage, and the two frequently fought.
In 1925, Ruth met corset salesman Henry Judd Gray, who was also married and had a daughter Lorraine’s age. Meeting at hotels (they kept a suitcase at the Waldorf-Astoria) and occasionally at Ruth’s home, the couple proceeded with their love affair until the murder of Albert.
Criminal Career
Ruth secretly arranged for an insurance policy on her husband that carried a double indemnity clause. Combined with two other policies, Albert’s insurance would have amounted to $96,000 in the event of his death. Ruth soon began her attempts to kill him, using gas, sleeping pills, and poisons, but Albert always survived. In the end, she persuaded Gray to help her. Following a late-night party, she and Gray murdered Albert in his bed, battering his head with a sash-weight, strangling him with picture wire, and poisoning him with chloroform. They then ransacked the house, emptying drawers and throwing around household items. After the couple burned their bloody clothing and changed (Gray into one of Albert’s new shirts), Gray tied Ruth up, putting a loose gag in her mouth, and left for Syracuse. At dawn and still bound, Ruth woke Lorraine, telling her daughter that she had been attacked by robbers and to get the neighbors to telephone the police.
Legal Action and Outcome
Police investigators at the crime scene almost immediately suspected Ruth’s involvement in the murder. The cover-up was simply unbelievable: Jewels that Ruth claimed had been stolen were found under her mattress, as was the sash-weight in the basement. Although Ruth insisted she had been knocked unconscious, a doctor could find no evidence of a blow. She soon confessed and named Gray. His carefully executed alibi disintegrated under police scrutiny, and he too confessed.
The two were tried jointly in what came to be called the Sash-Weight Murder, although they had separate advocates and blamed each other throughout the proceedings. The appeals process pushed the June 20, 1927, date of execution to January 12, 1928. Ruth’s execution occurred shortly after 11:00 p.m., followed by Gray’s.
Impact
Although legally tried in Queen’s County Court, Ruth Snyder was popularly tried by the press as a heartless Nordic murderer and condemned by a bloodthirsty public. Gray fared better: His stoicism, praying, and Bible study were much celebrated. The case made headlines from start to finish, inspiring plays, books, and films, notably Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Photographer Thomas Howard secretly took the shocking photograph of Snyder as she was electrocuted, which was published the next day in the New York Daily News, the only such image of a woman.
Bibliography
Jones, Ann. Women Who Kill. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1980. Contends the fascinating element of the Snyder-Gray crime was the ordinariness of those involved and the vicarious experience of the public as the press painted Snyder a monster and Gray a hero.
Pelizzon, V. Penelope, and Nancy M. West. “Multiple Indemnity: Film Noir, James M. Cain, and Adaptations of a Tabloid Case.” Narrative 13, no. 3 (2005): 211-237. Explores the relationship between tabloid, pulp fiction crime novel, and film noir generated by the Snyder-Gray case. Includes a strong bibliography.
Ramey, Jessie. “The Bloody Blonde and the Marble Woman: Gender and Power in the Case of Ruth Snyder.” Journal of Social History 37, no. 3 (2004): 625-650. Argues that the Snyder-Gray case reveals a process-driven gendered discourse reflected in the press coverage during the trial and popular culture responses to it.