Dubbed the "American Borgia" in the national press, Mrs Martha Grinder was executed for murder in Pittsburgh in the early afternoon, the third woman hanged in Pennsylvania history. Grinder had been convicted in October 1865 of poisoning two women in seperate and curious cases without clear motives. She confessed to these but denied guilt in other cases in which she was suspected. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
"The American Borgia: Execution of Martha Grinder," New York Times, January 20, 1866, p. 8.
"Execution of Mrs. Grinder: Particulars of the Last Scenes," New York Times, January 21, 1866, p. 1.