Since receiving thoughtful emails readers and viewing Mary White's letter concerning the plight of Sarah Bramble, I was compelled to dig deeper into the historical record. The facts of Sarah’s crime weren’t the focus of my recent column, but these perspectives intrigued me.

In a 1999 article in the Connecticut College Alumni News about the plight of Sarah Bramble, author Lisa Brownell cites “an original imprint by New London printer Timothy Green” that is preserved in Conn College’s Linda Lear Center for Special Collections at the college’s Shain Library. Bramble, who was illiterate, reportedly dictated a final statement before her execution in front of three witnesses. There was some confusion over whether she killed her baby, and her trial seems fraught with discrepancies. However, in her statement, Bramble admitted: “I fell an early Prey and Victim to Lust.”

In addition to her taking full responsibility for her pregnancy, Bramble’s is an interesting story and she seems an intriguing lady. Brownell describes Bramble’s final moments thusly in a quote: "I saw the fatal Rope adjusted to her Neck and beheld her Resignation with Astonishment and Surprise," observed Reverend Graves.

"She was a woman fair to look upon," he added, describing her expression as "joyful even as she submitted to her death."

John Steward

Waterford