Il labirinto

Maria Barbella (October 24, 1868 - 1902 --last we know of her) was the first woman sentenced to die in the electric chair. She was involved in a controversial trial.
Life

Maria Barbella was born in Ferrandina, Italy. Her family immigrated to Mulberry Bend, New York in 1892. After living in the United States for nearly a year, Maria Barbella met Domenico Cataldo, who was from her same region of Italy. She worked in a factory and every day she would pass by Cataldo’s shoeshine booth. They spent lots of time together but these meetings were kept a secret from Michele Barbella, Maria's overprotective father. Michele found out about Domenico and he forbade Maria from ever seeing or speaking to him again. Domenico continued to pursue Maria until she finally gave in and agreed to meet with him again. One day Cataldo took her to a boarding house, where he seemingly drugged her with the drink he bought her, and took advantage of her. Because of her very strong morals about intimacy and marriage, Barbella said that they would have to get married to make everything right. He promised they would marry in several months, but they never did because he was already married to a woman in Italy, with whom he had children. Domenico said he was going back to Italy so he wouldn’t be able to marry her, leaving her devastated. Maria told her mother about the situation. Her mother confronted Domenico and insisted he marry Maria but he said the only way he would do that was if they paid him $200. After hearing this, Maria stabbed him. On April 27 of 1895 the Times printed a story on how Maria had cut his throat.
Trial

She was arrested and put in New York Prison a.k.a the Tombs for 2 months and a half. Her appointed attorneys were Amos Evans and Henry Sedgwick. The trial began on July 11. This case stirred up controversy because Italians felt that the verdict was unjust since there were no Italians in the jury. Maria admitted everything: how she slit his throat and how he ran after her, but couldn’t reach her and had dropped dead. Even though Judge Goff felt pity for her because he knew she was intimidated by Domenico and didn’t know how to handle the situation. However he felt that the jury should make their decision based on the guidelines of justice. The jury declared Maria guilty and she was sent to Sing Sing prison where she would have been the first woman to be executed by electric chair. Many complained to the Governor about how the situation was handled, but it seemed nothing could be done. She was granted an appeal in 1896 when she was suddenly said to be epileptic and mentally ill because of everything that had happened. She was found not guilty, remarried and had a son, named Frederick. Her husband left her and remarried in Italy in 1902. She was the first female convict in 18 years that was sent to Sing Sing and the first woman to be sentenced to execution by electric chair. After 1902 nothing is known about her .