Edward Rulloff

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John Edward Howard Rulloff (born March 3, 1819 in St. John , New Brunswick, † May 18, 1871 in New York City ) was an American-Canadian teacher and linguist . He became known for his criminal activities and his brain size.

Life

Edward Rulofson was born in 1819, 1820, or 1821 near St. John New Brunswick , Canada, to German immigrants. His grandfather, Rulof Rulofson, was an American who emigrated to Nova Scotia, Canada. He had three sisters and two younger brothers. The youngest of his siblings was the photographer William Rulofson . He later changed his name to Edward Rulloff , although he also used other spellings.

In 1841 or 1842 he moved to Ithaca in the United States. In Dryden near Ithaca he worked as a school teacher, although he never studied himself. He married one of his students, Harriet Schutt, on December 31, 1843. He later acquired medical knowledge and practiced as a doctor in Lansing. He was sentenced to 10 years in Auburn State Prison for the disappearance of his wife and daughter. There he began to deal with linguistic topics and taught Albert Jarvis, the prison guard's son, in foreign languages ​​in 1856. He was then convicted again in Ithaca, this time for the murder of his wife and child. On appeal, he was acquitted because of missing bodies. He later moved to New York, where he worked as a petty criminal.

In 1870 he was sentenced to death for the murder of a shop clerk in Birmingham . Because of his fame as a philologist, some demanded that Rulloff be released so that he could continue working in his field. Mark Twain wrote a satirical report a month before the execution, alleging that someone else was hanged for Rulloff.

Rulloff was publicly executed in New York on May 18, 1871. It was the last public hanging in New York State. The sources contradict one another about his last words. According to some statements, he should "Hurry it up! I want to be in hell in time for dinner." (Eng. Make it quick! I want to be there in hell in time for dinner. ) before his execution. According to other sources, his last words were only "I can't stand still" because he had balance problems due to his restraint.

After his death, anatomist George Burr removed his brain, who declared it the world's largest known brain, weighing 59 ounces. The anatomist Burt Wilder acquired it in 1889 and added it to his Burt Wilder Collection , where it is preserved to this day. Since the 1970s it has only been considered the second largest brain.

Linguistic work

In 1869 he presented his theory on the origin of languages ​​( The Method of Languages ) to the newly founded American Philological Association and in 1870 published his book "Method in the Formation of Language" under the name E. Leurio. In it he looked for the origin of thinking and communication. However, his theories remain controversial in the professional world. Towards the end of his life, he began to burn all of his unpublished work.

According to his own statements, he spoke English, German, Latin, Greek, French and Italian, as well as a little Hebrew and Sanskrit. He is said to have taught himself the languages.

Legal charges and trials

As a teenager, he spent two years in prison for allegedly embezzling money at his workplace.

On June 23, 1845, his wife and three-month-old daughter Priscilla disappeared without a trace. Soon after, he fled to Geneva, Rochester, Buffalo and Cleveland, where he was caught. In 1846 the trial began. The charge was kidnapping because no bodies were present. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison at Auburn Prison. Towards the end of the 10 years, the judiciary began to reopen the case. Likewise, this time they tried in vain to link the death of his sister-in-law and her daughter to him. He treated both as a doctor in May 1845. Due to the deteriorating relationship between Rulloff and his brother-in-law, the suspicion arose of poisoning. A later exhumation showed an increased copper content, which could neither be diagnosed as the cause of death nor attributed to Rulloff.

In the spring of 1857 he escaped from prison to avoid being ruled again in the second trial. The second trial opened in 1859. Since the bodies were still missing, he was acquitted on appeal. The search in Lake Cayuga was also unsuccessful, although he was later to confide in an acquaintance that he had sunk it there.

A few years after his release, he moved to New York with his former student Al Jarvis. There they committed more and more thefts with the petty criminal William Dexter. On the night of August 17th, 1870, they broke into a store in Binghamton. They were engaged in a fight by two employees who slept in the apartment above. One was badly wounded, the other was shot in the head. The three perpetrators fled to the Chenango River, where both accomplices drowned. On January 4, 1871, the trial in Binghamton began. He confessed to being involved in the robbery but not the killer. Nevertheless, he was found guilty of "first-degreed murder" by the jury and was due to be hanged on March 3rd. The appeal in Elmira postponed the execution to May 18.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g crookedlakereview.com
  2. ↑ a b c d e f trutv.com
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rulloffs.com
  4. ↑ http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/34_66/62may1993/62wisbey.html
  5. ^ New York Times, Nov. 7, 1972, p. 37

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rulloff, Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rulloff, John Edward Howard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-Canadian linguist
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH at St. John , New Brunswick
DATE OF DEATH May 18, 1871
Place of death New York City