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No records exist of the English elm's planting
in Washington Square Park, but the tree has
been witness to many significant events in the
park's history, one of which I will share here.
Between 1787 and 1825, the City operated a burial
ground for the poor, indigent victims of yellow fever
epidemics. The potter's field, as it was known, was on
the eastern two-thirds of the current parkland. People
were also executed by hanging on the potter's field.
The legend that the English elm was a hanging tree
for traitors to the American Revolution, prisoners, and
enslaved people is just that, a legend. There are no
records that the elm was a hanging platform. I find the
perpetuation of this myth problematic. It obscures a
significant public execution that occurred in the park.
Rose Butler was born in November 1799, the year in
which New York State established its gradual aboli-
tion law. Under this law, children born of enslaved
mothers after July 4, 1799 would be freed after
laboring for their owners for 25 years (28 years for
males)! In 1818, Rose Butler's owners, the Morrises,
accused her of attempting to burn down their house.
Her crime resulted in "light damage and no injuries."
Butler was arrested on March 5, 1818. The lower courts
ruled for death by hanging. Because no woman in the
state had been hung previously, Butler's case made it
to the State Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the State
upheld the ruling of the lower court. Rose Butler was
hung on July 10, 1819. She was the last person to be
executed by hanging in the State. On March 31, 1827,
New York State abolished slavery but it was not until
July 4, 1827 that enslaved people were emancipated.
Butler's race and the nature of the crime played a sig-
nificant role in her prosecution. She was an enslaved
person, and both the country and the state of New
York were not completely committed to abolition
and emancipation. Furthermore, Black people have
always been prosecuted more severely than White
people. In addition, nineteenth-century New York
City was a wooden city so fire could be devastating.
Fire was so greatly feared that in 1808, New York
State declared residential arson a capital crime. >>
The Washington Square Park English elm in late winter/early spring.
