Ann Bilansky
Encyclopedia
Ann Bilansky (c. 1820 Fayetteville, North Carolina
– March 23, 1860 Saint Paul, Minnesota
) was an American housewife convicted in 1859 of poisoning her husband with arsenic
. She is the only woman to receive the death penalty and the first White person executed in Minnesota
. She was executed by hanging
.
's stage play, A Piece of Rope, which premiered in St. Paul in March 2000.
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....
– March 23, 1860 Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
) was an American housewife convicted in 1859 of poisoning her husband with arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
. She is the only woman to receive the death penalty and the first White person executed in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. She was executed by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
.
In popular culture
Ann Bilansky's trial and execution was the basis for Jeffrey HatcherJeffrey Hatcher
Jeffrey Hatcher is a playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty, which he later adapted into a screenplay, shortened to just Stage Beauty...
's stage play, A Piece of Rope, which premiered in St. Paul in March 2000.
Further reading
- Bessler, John D., Legacy of Violence: Lynch Mobs and Executions in Minnesota, University of MinnesotaUniversity of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
Press, 2003. Chapter 3: "The Execution of Ann Bilansky."