Doomed ship : the autobiography of Judd Gray

Description

Prepared for Publication by His Sister Margaret Gray A death-house memoir written by Gray while awaiting execution for his part in the murder of his lover's husband. "The publishers issue this book only after confirming its authenticity beyond the shadow of a doubt. It was composed in the death cell at Sing Sing, and finished less than an hour before the execution. Gray gave it to his sister, who arranged it for publication. It remains as he wrote it, except for the omission of a few repetitions and occasional incoherent passages. It is by his wish that it is published in book form, and not serialized" (from the dust jacket). Ruth Snyder and Henry Judd Gray (known as the 'Granite Woman' and 'Lover Boy') were executed by electrocution at Sing Sing prison, on January 12, 1928, for the murder of Albert Snyder after a sensational trial. This autobiography in manuscript was written with a pencil on both sides of the sheets of an ordinary scratch pad. The lines were close together. The complete work covered 229 pages. The work was finished by Judd Gray on January 11, 1928, less than an hour before his execution. He had left instructions that the manuscript was to be given to his sister, Mrs. Margaret Gray Logan. This was done after his death. In preparing this extraordinary document for publication Mrs. Logan was careful not to add or delete any matter of the slightest meaning or importance. Unfortunately there was matter without meaning in the original, occasional hysterical religious expressions, repetitions, very obscure sentences, which if left in, would have made the work practically unreadable. The title and chapter quotations were added by Mrs. Logan. The work was a unique document in the annals of American criminal history.