Edward H. Ruloff, a compul sive criminal of superior intelligence who was hanged for murder in 1871. Although a school dropout whose adult life was marked by a series of minor and major crimes, he managed to land several good teaching jobs.
His career in this profession was interrupted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife and infant child. His wife and three-months old child were last seen on June 23, 1845. When questioned persistently about their whereabouts by the girl's family, Rulloff fled to Geneva, and then to Rochester, and Buffalo, and finally was captured by his brother-in-law in Cleveland.
Charged with abduction of his wife and daughter, he was tried and found guilty in the Tompkins County Court and sentenced to ten years in Auburn State prison. In prison he had access to books and time to study and developed a proficiency in language. When he had served his sentence, he was re-arrested and tried in Ithaca for the murder of his wife and child. Again, he was convicted but this time a court of appeals set aside the verdict on the grounds that murder could not be proved since the bodies were never recovered.
The story, that was generally believed, based on a reported confession, was that Rulloff murdered his wife by giving her chloroform, opening a vein in her throat and bleeding her to death. He then smothered his infant daughter and put the two bodies in a large chest with weights. He had help to load the chest in a team-drawn wagon, drove to the vicinity of Ithaca, rowed out into the lake and sunk the chest in Cayuga Lake. This could not be proved because the bodies were never found and no trace of the missing persons ever discovered.
While in jail in Ithaca in 1856, he taught the son of the jailor foreign languages and began a friendship with the boy that continued until the ill-fated night in Binghamton. The jailer's son was one of Rulloff's two companions who were drowned in their escape from the scene of the murder.
For several years Rulloff left the Southern Tier for the vicinity of New York City, where he continued to be associated with crime and served time in Sing Sing prison and local jails. He also devoted himself to various studies and, it was reported that he published a book on philology entitled Method of the Language under the name of E. Leurio in 1870. As a linguist he claimed to understand Latin, Greek, German, French, and Italian; and a smattering of Hebrew and Sanskrit, and to have discovered a new theory on the origin of languages.
In appearance Rulloff was described as about 51 years old; five feet, nine inches high; weighing about 170 or 180 pounds. He had an extremely large head, black eyes, black hair, and beard slightly tinged with grey. Visitors noticed his small, sensitive hands and his striking personality. He was an excellent conversationalist and, when animated, his eyes shone "like diamonds." Many scholars and others came to Binghamton to visit him in jail.
His unorthodox views on religion did not increase public sympathy for him.
Even as a school teacher in the 1840s it seems, he argued that the Bible could not possibly be true and denounced Christianity as a myth and foolish deception. While in jail awaiting execution he was asked by a reporter if he believed in Providence. "That is a wonderful question, sir," he replied, "I have this conviction: that religion must be a matter of faith and not of knowledge; that God's decrees are inscrutable."
A month before Rulloff was executed, Mark Twain wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Tribune proposing "A Substitute for Rulloff." With tongue in cheek. Mark Twain declared his belief in capital punishment, but suggested that Rulloff might be of use to society if properly utilized, and Twain agreed to provide a substitute to be hanged in Rulloff's place after the example of Sydney Carton who took the place of Charles Darnay in Dicken's Tale of Two Cities.
Twain wrote, "For it is plain that in the person of Rulloff one of the most marvelous intellects that any age has produced is about to be sacrificed, and that, too, while half the mystery of its strange powers is yet a secret. Here is a man who has never entered the doors of a college or a university, and yet, by the sheer might of his innate gifts has made himself such a colossus in abtruse learning that the ablest of our scholars are but pigmies in his presence...
"Every learned man who enters Rulloff's presence leaves it amazed and confounded by his prodigious capabilities and attainments. One scholar said he did not believe that in the matters of subtle analysis, vast knowledge in his peculiar field of research, comprehensive grasp of subject and serene kingship over its limitless and bewildering details, any land or any era of modern times had given birth to Rulloff s intellectual equal." Twain stated in a private letter to the editor of the Tribune that he hoped to arouse public support for commuting Rulloff's sentence. New York Governor John T. Hoffman rejected all appeals for clemency however.
Rulloff went to his death without the consolation of religion. On the morning of his execution in the yard of the Broome County Jail in Binghamton he demanded of his jailer, "You won't have any prayers nor any damned nonsense down there, will you?" His wishes were respected. He went down quietly to the scaffold, declared that he had "nothing to say, and then his last words were, "I can't stand still," as he had trouble keeping his balance with his arms pinioned and his head hooded.
At about 11:30 of the morning of May 18, 1871, the weight was dropped. Rulloff s body was jerked up and his neck broken. A physician stood by and took his pulse. At the end of five minutes it was 92 beats per minute. After eight minutes it was 84, and after ten minutes it was down to 44. No pulse was discernable after 10 minutes and he was pronounced dead.
Society was not through with Edward H. Rulloff yet. A death mask of plaster was made of his face and his body put on display for the morbid crowd that gathered in Binghamton. One local newspaper estimated that almost 6,600 saw the corpse and not more than 600 of these were local people. When a brother from Pennsylvania failed to claim the body, it was buried in Potter's Field.
His brain was secured for the collection of Professor Burt Green Wilder of Cornell University who declared it was the largest on record. It is presently on display with other brains from the Wilder Collection in Uris Hall at Cornell. So Rulloff, the man designated by the New York Dispatch as "The Most Remarkable Criminal of the Age," lives on in history and in legend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward Ruloff murdered his wife and child in 1845 but the state convicted him of abduction of his wife. After serving ten years, he was then tried for the murder of his child, convicted and sentenced to hang. He escaped while his appeal was pending. Ironically, the Court of Appeals reversed his conviction on a technicality; the absence of his daughter's corpse.
Many years later, in 1870, Ruloff shot and killed a dry goods clerk during a robbery. Ruloff was tried, convicted and hanged for the murder. Since no one claimed his body, his head was removed for study at Cornell University. Body snatchers dug up the rest of his remains.
Ruloff's brain weighed 1,770 grams and is believed to be the second largest on record.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward H. Rulloff (sometimes Rulofson or Rulloffson) (b. 1819 or 1820-d.1871) was a noted philologist and criminal. Rulloff is also notable for his brain which as of 1970 is the second largest on record and can be seen on display at the psychology department at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Rulloff was born near St. John, New Brunswick to German immigrants. As a youth, he served a two-year jail sentence for embezzlement before moving to Ithaca. Self-educated, Rulloff studied many fields, but excelled at linguistics. In 1869, he presented his theory of language origins The Method of Languages to the American Philological Association. Rulloff believed that his book, "Method in the Formation of Language" would prove to be definitive.
Rulloff was accused of many crimes during his lifetime. Notably, he was accused of beating his wife and daughter to death as well as poisoning his sister-in-law and niece. Rulloff spent time in prison on several occasions but was always released due to a dearth of evidence against him. Rulloff moved about Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio for several years.
In 1870, Rulloff was sentenced to death for the murder of a store clerk in Binghamton, New York. Because of his notoriety as a linguist, some people believed that Rulloff's life should be spared so that he could continue to contribute to that field of study. Mark Twain satirically wrote an editorial, proposing that another individual be hanged in Rulloff's place.
Rulloff's execution was the last public hanging in New York. Rulloff's final words were "Hurry it up! I want to be in hell in time for dinner." After his death, Cornell professor Burt Wilder declared Rulloff's brain, the largest on record. Rulloff's brain can be seen on display as part of the Wilder Brain Collection. A tavern in Ithaca bears Rulloff's name.
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
His career in this profession was interrupted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife and infant child. His wife and three-months old child were last seen on June 23, 1845. When questioned persistently about their whereabouts by the girl's family, Rulloff fled to Geneva, and then to Rochester, and Buffalo, and finally was captured by his brother-in-law in Cleveland.
Charged with abduction of his wife and daughter, he was tried and found guilty in the Tompkins County Court and sentenced to ten years in Auburn State prison. In prison he had access to books and time to study and developed a proficiency in language. When he had served his sentence, he was re-arrested and tried in Ithaca for the murder of his wife and child. Again, he was convicted but this time a court of appeals set aside the verdict on the grounds that murder could not be proved since the bodies were never recovered.
The story, that was generally believed, based on a reported confession, was that Rulloff murdered his wife by giving her chloroform, opening a vein in her throat and bleeding her to death. He then smothered his infant daughter and put the two bodies in a large chest with weights. He had help to load the chest in a team-drawn wagon, drove to the vicinity of Ithaca, rowed out into the lake and sunk the chest in Cayuga Lake. This could not be proved because the bodies were never found and no trace of the missing persons ever discovered.
While in jail in Ithaca in 1856, he taught the son of the jailor foreign languages and began a friendship with the boy that continued until the ill-fated night in Binghamton. The jailer's son was one of Rulloff's two companions who were drowned in their escape from the scene of the murder.
For several years Rulloff left the Southern Tier for the vicinity of New York City, where he continued to be associated with crime and served time in Sing Sing prison and local jails. He also devoted himself to various studies and, it was reported that he published a book on philology entitled Method of the Language under the name of E. Leurio in 1870. As a linguist he claimed to understand Latin, Greek, German, French, and Italian; and a smattering of Hebrew and Sanskrit, and to have discovered a new theory on the origin of languages.
In appearance Rulloff was described as about 51 years old; five feet, nine inches high; weighing about 170 or 180 pounds. He had an extremely large head, black eyes, black hair, and beard slightly tinged with grey. Visitors noticed his small, sensitive hands and his striking personality. He was an excellent conversationalist and, when animated, his eyes shone "like diamonds." Many scholars and others came to Binghamton to visit him in jail.
His unorthodox views on religion did not increase public sympathy for him.
Even as a school teacher in the 1840s it seems, he argued that the Bible could not possibly be true and denounced Christianity as a myth and foolish deception. While in jail awaiting execution he was asked by a reporter if he believed in Providence. "That is a wonderful question, sir," he replied, "I have this conviction: that religion must be a matter of faith and not of knowledge; that God's decrees are inscrutable."
A month before Rulloff was executed, Mark Twain wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Tribune proposing "A Substitute for Rulloff." With tongue in cheek. Mark Twain declared his belief in capital punishment, but suggested that Rulloff might be of use to society if properly utilized, and Twain agreed to provide a substitute to be hanged in Rulloff's place after the example of Sydney Carton who took the place of Charles Darnay in Dicken's Tale of Two Cities.
Twain wrote, "For it is plain that in the person of Rulloff one of the most marvelous intellects that any age has produced is about to be sacrificed, and that, too, while half the mystery of its strange powers is yet a secret. Here is a man who has never entered the doors of a college or a university, and yet, by the sheer might of his innate gifts has made himself such a colossus in abtruse learning that the ablest of our scholars are but pigmies in his presence...
"Every learned man who enters Rulloff's presence leaves it amazed and confounded by his prodigious capabilities and attainments. One scholar said he did not believe that in the matters of subtle analysis, vast knowledge in his peculiar field of research, comprehensive grasp of subject and serene kingship over its limitless and bewildering details, any land or any era of modern times had given birth to Rulloff s intellectual equal." Twain stated in a private letter to the editor of the Tribune that he hoped to arouse public support for commuting Rulloff's sentence. New York Governor John T. Hoffman rejected all appeals for clemency however.
Rulloff went to his death without the consolation of religion. On the morning of his execution in the yard of the Broome County Jail in Binghamton he demanded of his jailer, "You won't have any prayers nor any damned nonsense down there, will you?" His wishes were respected. He went down quietly to the scaffold, declared that he had "nothing to say, and then his last words were, "I can't stand still," as he had trouble keeping his balance with his arms pinioned and his head hooded.
At about 11:30 of the morning of May 18, 1871, the weight was dropped. Rulloff s body was jerked up and his neck broken. A physician stood by and took his pulse. At the end of five minutes it was 92 beats per minute. After eight minutes it was 84, and after ten minutes it was down to 44. No pulse was discernable after 10 minutes and he was pronounced dead.
Society was not through with Edward H. Rulloff yet. A death mask of plaster was made of his face and his body put on display for the morbid crowd that gathered in Binghamton. One local newspaper estimated that almost 6,600 saw the corpse and not more than 600 of these were local people. When a brother from Pennsylvania failed to claim the body, it was buried in Potter's Field.
His brain was secured for the collection of Professor Burt Green Wilder of Cornell University who declared it was the largest on record. It is presently on display with other brains from the Wilder Collection in Uris Hall at Cornell. So Rulloff, the man designated by the New York Dispatch as "The Most Remarkable Criminal of the Age," lives on in history and in legend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward Ruloff murdered his wife and child in 1845 but the state convicted him of abduction of his wife. After serving ten years, he was then tried for the murder of his child, convicted and sentenced to hang. He escaped while his appeal was pending. Ironically, the Court of Appeals reversed his conviction on a technicality; the absence of his daughter's corpse.
Many years later, in 1870, Ruloff shot and killed a dry goods clerk during a robbery. Ruloff was tried, convicted and hanged for the murder. Since no one claimed his body, his head was removed for study at Cornell University. Body snatchers dug up the rest of his remains.
Ruloff's brain weighed 1,770 grams and is believed to be the second largest on record.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward H. Rulloff (sometimes Rulofson or Rulloffson) (b. 1819 or 1820-d.1871) was a noted philologist and criminal. Rulloff is also notable for his brain which as of 1970 is the second largest on record and can be seen on display at the psychology department at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Rulloff was born near St. John, New Brunswick to German immigrants. As a youth, he served a two-year jail sentence for embezzlement before moving to Ithaca. Self-educated, Rulloff studied many fields, but excelled at linguistics. In 1869, he presented his theory of language origins The Method of Languages to the American Philological Association. Rulloff believed that his book, "Method in the Formation of Language" would prove to be definitive.
Rulloff was accused of many crimes during his lifetime. Notably, he was accused of beating his wife and daughter to death as well as poisoning his sister-in-law and niece. Rulloff spent time in prison on several occasions but was always released due to a dearth of evidence against him. Rulloff moved about Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio for several years.
In 1870, Rulloff was sentenced to death for the murder of a store clerk in Binghamton, New York. Because of his notoriety as a linguist, some people believed that Rulloff's life should be spared so that he could continue to contribute to that field of study. Mark Twain satirically wrote an editorial, proposing that another individual be hanged in Rulloff's place.
Rulloff's execution was the last public hanging in New York. Rulloff's final words were "Hurry it up! I want to be in hell in time for dinner." After his death, Cornell professor Burt Wilder declared Rulloff's brain, the largest on record. Rulloff's brain can be seen on display as part of the Wilder Brain Collection. A tavern in Ithaca bears Rulloff's name.
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
Edward H. Ruloff, a compul sive criminal of superior intelligence who was hanged for murder in 1871. Although a school dropout whose adult life was marked by a series of minor and major crimes, he managed to land several good teaching jobs.
His career in this profession was interrupted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife and infant child. His wife and three-months old child were last seen on June 23, 1845. When questioned persistently about their whereabouts by the girl's family, Rulloff fled to Geneva, and then to Rochester, and Buffalo, and finally was captured by his brother-in-law in Cleveland.
Charged with abduction of his wife and daughter, he was tried and found guilty in the Tompkins County Court and sentenced to ten years in Auburn State prison. In prison he had access to books and time to study and developed a proficiency in language. When he had served his sentence, he was re-arrested and tried in Ithaca for the murder of his wife and child. Again, he was convicted but this time a court of appeals set aside the verdict on the grounds that murder could not be proved since the bodies were never recovered.
The story, that was generally believed, based on a reported confession, was that Rulloff murdered his wife by giving her chloroform, opening a vein in her throat and bleeding her to death. He then smothered his infant daughter and put the two bodies in a large chest with weights. He had help to load the chest in a team-drawn wagon, drove to the vicinity of Ithaca, rowed out into the lake and sunk the chest in Cayuga Lake. This could not be proved because the bodies were never found and no trace of the missing persons ever discovered.
While in jail in Ithaca in 1856, he taught the son of the jailor foreign languages and began a friendship with the boy that continued until the ill-fated night in Binghamton. The jailer's son was one of Rulloff's two companions who were drowned in their escape from the scene of the murder.
For several years Rulloff left the Southern Tier for the vicinity of New York City, where he continued to be associated with crime and served time in Sing Sing prison and local jails. He also devoted himself to various studies and, it was reported that he published a book on philology entitled Method of the Language under the name of E. Leurio in 1870. As a linguist he claimed to understand Latin, Greek, German, French, and Italian; and a smattering of Hebrew and Sanskrit, and to have discovered a new theory on the origin of languages.
In appearance Rulloff was described as about 51 years old; five feet, nine inches high; weighing about 170 or 180 pounds. He had an extremely large head, black eyes, black hair, and beard slightly tinged with grey. Visitors noticed his small, sensitive hands and his striking personality. He was an excellent conversationalist and, when animated, his eyes shone "like diamonds." Many scholars and others came to Binghamton to visit him in jail.
His unorthodox views on religion did not increase public sympathy for him.
Even as a school teacher in the 1840s it seems, he argued that the Bible could not possibly be true and denounced Christianity as a myth and foolish deception. While in jail awaiting execution he was asked by a reporter if he believed in Providence. "That is a wonderful question, sir," he replied, "I have this conviction: that religion must be a matter of faith and not of knowledge; that God's decrees are inscrutable."
A month before Rulloff was executed, Mark Twain wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Tribune proposing "A Substitute for Rulloff." With tongue in cheek. Mark Twain declared his belief in capital punishment, but suggested that Rulloff might be of use to society if properly utilized, and Twain agreed to provide a substitute to be hanged in Rulloff's place after the example of Sydney Carton who took the place of Charles Darnay in Dicken's Tale of Two Cities.
Twain wrote, "For it is plain that in the person of Rulloff one of the most marvelous intellects that any age has produced is about to be sacrificed, and that, too, while half the mystery of its strange powers is yet a secret. Here is a man who has never entered the doors of a college or a university, and yet, by the sheer might of his innate gifts has made himself such a colossus in abtruse learning that the ablest of our scholars are but pigmies in his presence...
"Every learned man who enters Rulloff's presence leaves it amazed and confounded by his prodigious capabilities and attainments. One scholar said he did not believe that in the matters of subtle analysis, vast knowledge in his peculiar field of research, comprehensive grasp of subject and serene kingship over its limitless and bewildering details, any land or any era of modern times had given birth to Rulloff s intellectual equal." Twain stated in a private letter to the editor of the Tribune that he hoped to arouse public support for commuting Rulloff's sentence. New York Governor John T. Hoffman rejected all appeals for clemency however.
Rulloff went to his death without the consolation of religion. On the morning of his execution in the yard of the Broome County Jail in Binghamton he demanded of his jailer, "You won't have any prayers nor any damned nonsense down there, will you?" His wishes were respected. He went down quietly to the scaffold, declared that he had "nothing to say, and then his last words were, "I can't stand still," as he had trouble keeping his balance with his arms pinioned and his head hooded.
At about 11:30 of the morning of May 18, 1871, the weight was dropped. Rulloff s body was jerked up and his neck broken. A physician stood by and took his pulse. At the end of five minutes it was 92 beats per minute. After eight minutes it was 84, and after ten minutes it was down to 44. No pulse was discernable after 10 minutes and he was pronounced dead.
Society was not through with Edward H. Rulloff yet. A death mask of plaster was made of his face and his body put on display for the morbid crowd that gathered in Binghamton. One local newspaper estimated that almost 6,600 saw the corpse and not more than 600 of these were local people. When a brother from Pennsylvania failed to claim the body, it was buried in Potter's Field.
His brain was secured for the collection of Professor Burt Green Wilder of Cornell University who declared it was the largest on record. It is presently on display with other brains from the Wilder Collection in Uris Hall at Cornell. So Rulloff, the man designated by the New York Dispatch as "The Most Remarkable Criminal of the Age," lives on in history and in legend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward Ruloff murdered his wife and child in 1845 but the state convicted him of abduction of his wife. After serving ten years, he was then tried for the murder of his child, convicted and sentenced to hang. He escaped while his appeal was pending. Ironically, the Court of Appeals reversed his conviction on a technicality; the absence of his daughter's corpse.
Many years later, in 1870, Ruloff shot and killed a dry goods clerk during a robbery. Ruloff was tried, convicted and hanged for the murder. Since no one claimed his body, his head was removed for study at Cornell University. Body snatchers dug up the rest of his remains.
Ruloff's brain weighed 1,770 grams and is believed to be the second largest on record.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward H. Rulloff (sometimes Rulofson or Rulloffson) (b. 1819 or 1820-d.1871) was a noted philologist and criminal. Rulloff is also notable for his brain which as of 1970 is the second largest on record and can be seen on display at the psychology department at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Rulloff was born near St. John, New Brunswick to German immigrants. As a youth, he served a two-year jail sentence for embezzlement before moving to Ithaca. Self-educated, Rulloff studied many fields, but excelled at linguistics. In 1869, he presented his theory of language origins The Method of Languages to the American Philological Association. Rulloff believed that his book, "Method in the Formation of Language" would prove to be definitive.
Rulloff was accused of many crimes during his lifetime. Notably, he was accused of beating his wife and daughter to death as well as poisoning his sister-in-law and niece. Rulloff spent time in prison on several occasions but was always released due to a dearth of evidence against him. Rulloff moved about Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio for several years.
In 1870, Rulloff was sentenced to death for the murder of a store clerk in Binghamton, New York. Because of his notoriety as a linguist, some people believed that Rulloff's life should be spared so that he could continue to contribute to that field of study. Mark Twain satirically wrote an editorial, proposing that another individual be hanged in Rulloff's place.
Rulloff's execution was the last public hanging in New York. Rulloff's final words were "Hurry it up! I want to be in hell in time for dinner." After his death, Cornell professor Burt Wilder declared Rulloff's brain, the largest on record. Rulloff's brain can be seen on display as part of the Wilder Brain Collection. A tavern in Ithaca bears Rulloff's name.
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
His career in this profession was interrupted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife and infant child. His wife and three-months old child were last seen on June 23, 1845. When questioned persistently about their whereabouts by the girl's family, Rulloff fled to Geneva, and then to Rochester, and Buffalo, and finally was captured by his brother-in-law in Cleveland.
Charged with abduction of his wife and daughter, he was tried and found guilty in the Tompkins County Court and sentenced to ten years in Auburn State prison. In prison he had access to books and time to study and developed a proficiency in language. When he had served his sentence, he was re-arrested and tried in Ithaca for the murder of his wife and child. Again, he was convicted but this time a court of appeals set aside the verdict on the grounds that murder could not be proved since the bodies were never recovered.
The story, that was generally believed, based on a reported confession, was that Rulloff murdered his wife by giving her chloroform, opening a vein in her throat and bleeding her to death. He then smothered his infant daughter and put the two bodies in a large chest with weights. He had help to load the chest in a team-drawn wagon, drove to the vicinity of Ithaca, rowed out into the lake and sunk the chest in Cayuga Lake. This could not be proved because the bodies were never found and no trace of the missing persons ever discovered.
While in jail in Ithaca in 1856, he taught the son of the jailor foreign languages and began a friendship with the boy that continued until the ill-fated night in Binghamton. The jailer's son was one of Rulloff's two companions who were drowned in their escape from the scene of the murder.
For several years Rulloff left the Southern Tier for the vicinity of New York City, where he continued to be associated with crime and served time in Sing Sing prison and local jails. He also devoted himself to various studies and, it was reported that he published a book on philology entitled Method of the Language under the name of E. Leurio in 1870. As a linguist he claimed to understand Latin, Greek, German, French, and Italian; and a smattering of Hebrew and Sanskrit, and to have discovered a new theory on the origin of languages.
In appearance Rulloff was described as about 51 years old; five feet, nine inches high; weighing about 170 or 180 pounds. He had an extremely large head, black eyes, black hair, and beard slightly tinged with grey. Visitors noticed his small, sensitive hands and his striking personality. He was an excellent conversationalist and, when animated, his eyes shone "like diamonds." Many scholars and others came to Binghamton to visit him in jail.
His unorthodox views on religion did not increase public sympathy for him.
Even as a school teacher in the 1840s it seems, he argued that the Bible could not possibly be true and denounced Christianity as a myth and foolish deception. While in jail awaiting execution he was asked by a reporter if he believed in Providence. "That is a wonderful question, sir," he replied, "I have this conviction: that religion must be a matter of faith and not of knowledge; that God's decrees are inscrutable."
A month before Rulloff was executed, Mark Twain wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Tribune proposing "A Substitute for Rulloff." With tongue in cheek. Mark Twain declared his belief in capital punishment, but suggested that Rulloff might be of use to society if properly utilized, and Twain agreed to provide a substitute to be hanged in Rulloff's place after the example of Sydney Carton who took the place of Charles Darnay in Dicken's Tale of Two Cities.
Twain wrote, "For it is plain that in the person of Rulloff one of the most marvelous intellects that any age has produced is about to be sacrificed, and that, too, while half the mystery of its strange powers is yet a secret. Here is a man who has never entered the doors of a college or a university, and yet, by the sheer might of his innate gifts has made himself such a colossus in abtruse learning that the ablest of our scholars are but pigmies in his presence...
"Every learned man who enters Rulloff's presence leaves it amazed and confounded by his prodigious capabilities and attainments. One scholar said he did not believe that in the matters of subtle analysis, vast knowledge in his peculiar field of research, comprehensive grasp of subject and serene kingship over its limitless and bewildering details, any land or any era of modern times had given birth to Rulloff s intellectual equal." Twain stated in a private letter to the editor of the Tribune that he hoped to arouse public support for commuting Rulloff's sentence. New York Governor John T. Hoffman rejected all appeals for clemency however.
Rulloff went to his death without the consolation of religion. On the morning of his execution in the yard of the Broome County Jail in Binghamton he demanded of his jailer, "You won't have any prayers nor any damned nonsense down there, will you?" His wishes were respected. He went down quietly to the scaffold, declared that he had "nothing to say, and then his last words were, "I can't stand still," as he had trouble keeping his balance with his arms pinioned and his head hooded.
At about 11:30 of the morning of May 18, 1871, the weight was dropped. Rulloff s body was jerked up and his neck broken. A physician stood by and took his pulse. At the end of five minutes it was 92 beats per minute. After eight minutes it was 84, and after ten minutes it was down to 44. No pulse was discernable after 10 minutes and he was pronounced dead.
Society was not through with Edward H. Rulloff yet. A death mask of plaster was made of his face and his body put on display for the morbid crowd that gathered in Binghamton. One local newspaper estimated that almost 6,600 saw the corpse and not more than 600 of these were local people. When a brother from Pennsylvania failed to claim the body, it was buried in Potter's Field.
His brain was secured for the collection of Professor Burt Green Wilder of Cornell University who declared it was the largest on record. It is presently on display with other brains from the Wilder Collection in Uris Hall at Cornell. So Rulloff, the man designated by the New York Dispatch as "The Most Remarkable Criminal of the Age," lives on in history and in legend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward Ruloff murdered his wife and child in 1845 but the state convicted him of abduction of his wife. After serving ten years, he was then tried for the murder of his child, convicted and sentenced to hang. He escaped while his appeal was pending. Ironically, the Court of Appeals reversed his conviction on a technicality; the absence of his daughter's corpse.
Many years later, in 1870, Ruloff shot and killed a dry goods clerk during a robbery. Ruloff was tried, convicted and hanged for the murder. Since no one claimed his body, his head was removed for study at Cornell University. Body snatchers dug up the rest of his remains.
Ruloff's brain weighed 1,770 grams and is believed to be the second largest on record.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward H. Rulloff (sometimes Rulofson or Rulloffson) (b. 1819 or 1820-d.1871) was a noted philologist and criminal. Rulloff is also notable for his brain which as of 1970 is the second largest on record and can be seen on display at the psychology department at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Rulloff was born near St. John, New Brunswick to German immigrants. As a youth, he served a two-year jail sentence for embezzlement before moving to Ithaca. Self-educated, Rulloff studied many fields, but excelled at linguistics. In 1869, he presented his theory of language origins The Method of Languages to the American Philological Association. Rulloff believed that his book, "Method in the Formation of Language" would prove to be definitive.
Rulloff was accused of many crimes during his lifetime. Notably, he was accused of beating his wife and daughter to death as well as poisoning his sister-in-law and niece. Rulloff spent time in prison on several occasions but was always released due to a dearth of evidence against him. Rulloff moved about Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio for several years.
In 1870, Rulloff was sentenced to death for the murder of a store clerk in Binghamton, New York. Because of his notoriety as a linguist, some people believed that Rulloff's life should be spared so that he could continue to contribute to that field of study. Mark Twain satirically wrote an editorial, proposing that another individual be hanged in Rulloff's place.
Rulloff's execution was the last public hanging in New York. Rulloff's final words were "Hurry it up! I want to be in hell in time for dinner." After his death, Cornell professor Burt Wilder declared Rulloff's brain, the largest on record. Rulloff's brain can be seen on display as part of the Wilder Brain Collection. A tavern in Ithaca bears Rulloff's name.
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
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