Lee Bartlett

Batnsheba Spooner's story is well known among the locals (Worcester County). At least we thought that we knew her story. Mr. Noone has brought her among us as she was: the daughter of one of the premier loyalsits during the Revolutionary War; the frustrated wife of a man who could not to make her happy as much as he tried; the woman who sought her freedom in an affair with a run-away soldier which lead to the fatal move (the death of her husband). Her story is more than being the final woman hung by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And then, there is the mystery of her burial site. Andrew Noone has presented us with a great, true tale, so real, that it could be a novel (like Esther Forbes take on the story, the "General's Lady," 1938, Harcourt, Brace and Company). But is is no novel. Mr. Noone has presented us with the facts, and just the facts in the way: Bathsheba Spooner among us for real.