Samuel Frost (murderer)

Murders

On September 23, 1783, Frost killed his father John while they were digging a ditch. He knocked him over and stabbed him repeatedly in the head with a handspike until his brains were exposed, acting in retaliation for his mother's death four years earlier. Frost was quickly apprehended and charged with murder, but at his trial in April of the same year he was acquitted by reason of insanity. Afterward, Frost was homeless, often working for temporary lodging and living in the woods when necessary.

One employer, Captain Elisha Allen, reportedly treated Frost like a slave; Frost ran away several times and was whipped as punishment. On July 16, 1793, while helping Allen in a cabbage patch, Frost struck him in the head with a hoe. At his second trial, Frost pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death.

Execution

Before his execution, Frost read the bible and banged his head against his cell walls to feel how his victims had felt. When asked what he would do if free, he said there was one more person he wanted to kill. On October 31, 1793, on a hill in Worcester, Massachusetts, before an audience of 2,000, Frost confessed to his murders.

He was blindfolded, his hands tied behind his back, and hanged. His last words expressed aversion to stealing and lying, stating he always meant to tell the truth and never stole except perhaps for taking apples from orchards. The hill became known as Frost Hill.

Did You Know?

• His mother died in 1779 after falling ill when Frost was 14.
• Frost believed his father's abuse toward his mother caused her death.