Henry Judd Gray was born 8 July 1892 in Courtland, NY to Charles B Gray (1864-1920) and Margaret Ursula Carr (1868-1947). He had a sister Margaret Ann Gray (1890-1936).
When he arrived in Queens Village, where the Snyder's lived, he walked around for an hour, stopping under street lights to take drinks from his flask. It was almost as if he hoped to be spotted and arrested breaking the law. No one paid any attention to him though and finally, he had to enter the Snyder home. He came in through the back door, as he and Ruth had planned. The Snyder family was away at a party and would return late. Judd had promised to hide in a spare room, where Ruth had left a window weight, rubber gloves and chloroform -- all of the tools of murder.
The Dumb-Bell (Murder Weapon)
The family returned around 2:00 am and Ruth opened the bedroom door a crack. "Are you in there, Bud, dear?" she whispered. She soon returned wearing only a slip and the two had sex with her husband asleep just down the hallway. Finally, after about an hour, Gray grabbed the window sash weight and Ruth led him to the master bedroom, where Albert Snyder slept with the blankets up over his head. The two of them stood on opposite sides of the bed and then Gray raised the sash weight and brought it down clumsily onto Snyder's head. The weak blow merely glanced off the man's skull and while stunned, he let out a roar and tried to seize his attacker. Judd became terrified and let out a whining scream: "Momsie, Momsie, for God's sake, help!" They were both mad, completely mad, but she was somewhat clever. She clearly had more guts than Henry did, but she also had more to gain.
There was no panic in Ruth Snyder however and with a snort of disgust and anger, she grabbed the weight from Judd's hands and crashed it down on her husband's skull, killing him. After that, the two of them went downstairs, had drinks and chatted about the rest of their plan. They faked a robbery by knocking over some chairs and loosely tying Ruth's hands and feet. Minutes after Gray left, Ruth began banging on Lorraine's door. The child ran out and removed the gag from her mother's mouth. She told her to get help and Lorraine ran next door to the neighbor's house, where the police were called. Her own daughter!!!!!
The police didn't buy the "Robbery" at all, they had really botched that up. All of the items that Ruth said had been taken by the mysterious burglar were found hidden in the house and detectives began to question her. Surprisingly, she gave it up almost at once and confessed but not surprisingly, she blamed everything on Judd Gray. He was found hours later, hiding in his Syracuse hotel room. He shrieked his innocence and insisted that he was not in New York. When confronted with the train ticket stub that he had carelessly tossed in the trash can of the hotel room though, he broke down and confessed. Like Ruth, he blamed everything on his accomplice. Not surprising at all.
Of by the time the trial started they were arch enemies. They had separate attorneys, Henry's attorney claimed he was duped by Ruth, and had always been a upstanding citizen. As he played the victim in the witness stand he would look over at his elderly mother.
Ruth said Henry was dragging her to speakeasy's and night spots where she would watch him drink himself senseless. That he was the one who had tempted her by setting up a $50,000 double indemnity insurance policy on Albert Snyder.
She put on the ignored housewife act and said she made sure her daughter went to Sunday School.
Henry's lawyer played this card, and said in court that he was "the most tragic story that has ever gripped the human heart." He was dominated by a "designing, deadly conscienceless, abnormal woman, a human serpent, a human fiend in the disguise of a woman." He then added that he had been "drawn into this hopeless chasm when reason was gone, mind was gone, manhood was gone and when his mind was weakened by lust and passion."
He married Isabel Kallenback on 6 Nov 1915 in Kings, NY
They had a daughter named Jane Gray born in 1917.
He was a corset salesman and frequented a diner in New York City where he met a women named Ruth May Snyder.
Ruth May Snyder was born Ruth May Brown 27 Mar 1895 in New York City to Harry Brown (1866-1920) and Josephine I Anderson (1866-1939). She married Albert E Snyder (1883-1927) in 1915 in New York. They had a daughter Ruth Lorraine Snyder born 1918.
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| Ruth May Snyder |
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| Ruth May Snyder |
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| Ruth May Snyder |
Henry & Ruth started an affair in 1927, meeting at her house during the day while her husband was at work and her daughter was at school, on a few occasions they would meet in motels and leave her daughter in the lobby while they carried on.
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| Snyder Home |
As their affair got more serious and they fell in love, Ruth started telling Henry that her husband would mistreat her and he needed kill him. Henry would refuse and this would be a pattern for a while, and Henry couldn't take it anymore and started drinking heavily. This was during prohibition. But he continued to refuse.
Then on 19 Mar 1927 he finally gave in.
Long Island was cold that day and Henry had spent the day drinking heavily to muster up the courage to commit murder.
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| Evidence from the murder case |
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| Few hours after the murder |
The family returned around 2:00 am and Ruth opened the bedroom door a crack. "Are you in there, Bud, dear?" she whispered. She soon returned wearing only a slip and the two had sex with her husband asleep just down the hallway. Finally, after about an hour, Gray grabbed the window sash weight and Ruth led him to the master bedroom, where Albert Snyder slept with the blankets up over his head. The two of them stood on opposite sides of the bed and then Gray raised the sash weight and brought it down clumsily onto Snyder's head. The weak blow merely glanced off the man's skull and while stunned, he let out a roar and tried to seize his attacker. Judd became terrified and let out a whining scream: "Momsie, Momsie, for God's sake, help!" They were both mad, completely mad, but she was somewhat clever. She clearly had more guts than Henry did, but she also had more to gain.
There was no panic in Ruth Snyder however and with a snort of disgust and anger, she grabbed the weight from Judd's hands and crashed it down on her husband's skull, killing him. After that, the two of them went downstairs, had drinks and chatted about the rest of their plan. They faked a robbery by knocking over some chairs and loosely tying Ruth's hands and feet. Minutes after Gray left, Ruth began banging on Lorraine's door. The child ran out and removed the gag from her mother's mouth. She told her to get help and Lorraine ran next door to the neighbor's house, where the police were called. Her own daughter!!!!!
The police didn't buy the "Robbery" at all, they had really botched that up. All of the items that Ruth said had been taken by the mysterious burglar were found hidden in the house and detectives began to question her. Surprisingly, she gave it up almost at once and confessed but not surprisingly, she blamed everything on Judd Gray. He was found hours later, hiding in his Syracuse hotel room. He shrieked his innocence and insisted that he was not in New York. When confronted with the train ticket stub that he had carelessly tossed in the trash can of the hotel room though, he broke down and confessed. Like Ruth, he blamed everything on his accomplice. Not surprising at all.
Of by the time the trial started they were arch enemies. They had separate attorneys, Henry's attorney claimed he was duped by Ruth, and had always been a upstanding citizen. As he played the victim in the witness stand he would look over at his elderly mother.
Ruth said Henry was dragging her to speakeasy's and night spots where she would watch him drink himself senseless. That he was the one who had tempted her by setting up a $50,000 double indemnity insurance policy on Albert Snyder.
She put on the ignored housewife act and said she made sure her daughter went to Sunday School.
Henry's lawyer played this card, and said in court that he was "the most tragic story that has ever gripped the human heart." He was dominated by a "designing, deadly conscienceless, abnormal woman, a human serpent, a human fiend in the disguise of a woman." He then added that he had been "drawn into this hopeless chasm when reason was gone, mind was gone, manhood was gone and when his mind was weakened by lust and passion."
Ruth's husband Albert had many lovers and after their daughter was born Ruth had taken on a few of her own. Eventually, Ruth decided to rid herself of Albert, whom she called 'The old crab'. She took out a $48,000 life insurance policy on him with a double-indemnity clause. Twice, she disconnected the gas while Albert slept and slipped from the house - but both times he woke up and saved himself from asphyxiation. He never suspected it was her.
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| Albert Snyder |
Ruth wanted more, she wanted money, and so insured Albert for $96,000. Then she tried gassing him, adding poison to his food, and arranging near fatal household ‘accidents’; when she told Henry what she was doing, he naively asked her why. ‘To kill the poor guy!’ she replied, and she persisted in keeping up the pressure on her lover until he agreed to help her. She was dubbed "The Granite Women" in the newspapers and he was dubbed "Putty Man."
Ruth wrote this before her execution, "You’ve blackened and besmeared a mother Once a man’s plaything – a Toy – What have you gained by all you’ve said, And has it brought you Joy?"
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| Snyder & Gray |
On 12 January 1928, wearing a brown smock over a black, knee-length calico skirt, she was led to the execution chamber. Her blonde hair had been freshly combed; once thick, the tresses were now so thin that it was not necessary to clip it short where the electrode was to be positioned. On seeing the electric chair she swayed and almost collapsed, a wardress having to assist her to sit in it. There, she broke down and wept: ‘Jesus, have mercy on me, for I have sinned,’ she sobbed.
A newspaperman by the of Tom Howard had a camera strapped around his ankle to take photos of the execution. The United States would not allow any executions to be photographed.
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| Ruth Snyder being electrocuted |
Both were incarcerated at Sing Sing Prison i New york before they were both executed.
Here are their mugshots and prison records.
The following are crime scene photos that show Albert murdered, they are graphic.
The daughter of Albert and Ruth named Lorraine, who was nine at the time of her father's murder, was sent to live with her grandmother, who also was awarded guardianship of the girl.
This was verified from Findagrave.
Henry Judd Gray was executed 12 Jan 1928
Before they were executed they were both housed at the Death house, at Sing Sing.
Two families destroyed, two little girls with no parents. Pretty tough to swallow for $96,000 dollars.
I hope the children didn't let this ruin their lives, I hope they became strong women that went to college and had great careers and found happiness in the world.
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| For Jane Gray & Ruth Lorraine Snyder |
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