Alice Riley: A Sad Savannah Story

Poster from the Alice Ryley Opera

​Savannah has her tainted history. The Weeping Time: a reference to the time when more slaves than ever were sold, the Wanderer: a slave ship that some prominent leaders of Savannah sponsored to import slaves to the state after the law prohibited this, and Alice Riley. Alice Riley’s story is remembered primarily through the ghost tours found in Savannah. But it is a horrid story of how some indentured servants were treated. She came to America at the age of fifteen looking for a new and better life. But to pay for her trip she had to agree to serve as a servant for a period of time to pay for her passage. So the young Irish Catholic girl disembarked from the boat to be immediately put into servitude.

Showing no regard for her as more than a servant she was placed with a man whom the colony had already decided was of bad character, William Wise. It was said that on the voyage over he was accompanied by a woman who passed as his wife but apparently was a prostitute. Because he was in constant quarrels with other colonists Oglethorpe had sent him across the river to Hutchinson Island to raise cattle for the colony. He was now ailing and needed some assistance. So they assigned Alice to be his servant. She was to assist with the livestock and the task of bathing him. Alice, still a teenager, was forced to pick the knots out of his hair, wash it, and bathe him.

As could be expected he beat her and treated her in horrid ways. It is said she fell in love with another indentured servant named Richard White. What happened next is not exactly known but it ended with William Wise’s death in the bath tub in which Alice was forced to bathe him. One account reports that he was beating Alice and her screams overcame White and he ran into the house and killed Wise. But more than likely they planned the murder.

Most accounts read like this: They waited until Wise called Alice in for his regular bath. Once his head was leaned back into the bucket of water, Alice and Richard allegedly held him under until he drowned. The two then dumped the body into the Savannah River in hopes that this would hide the body for eternity. But instead the current is said to have simply floated the body across the river and it washed up on the shores of the city of Savannah.

They were found and arrested for his murder. At the trial Alice said Richard had committed the murder. Many believed that Riley acted under the influence and direction of White. Although given the situation she probably did not need a lot of coaxing. In the end they were both convicted of murder and scheduled to hang.  They hanged Richard White first. But it was discovered that Alice was pregnant. As to who the father was, it was more than likely William Wise himself. Her hanging was delayed until the baby was born eight months later. Alice was hanged on January 19, 1735. This made her the first woman to be executed in Georgia. Alice maintained her innocence until death. Riley’s baby, James, died two weeks after his mother was hanged.

Why was Alice not shown any mercy? It is believed the fact that she was Irish Catholic influenced the verdict and punishment. The Irish were considered lower class and only a little above blacks in the caste system of America. Catholics were not allowed to worship in the Colony. Georgia's founders feared that Catholic settlers might be sympathetic to the Spanish. A point in fact is that in a letter to Oglethorpe (who was in England at the time) explaining the situation, the fact she was Catholic is mentioned as if to explain why she and White might commit such a deed.

She was hung in Wright Square. Wright Square was often referred as the ‘hanging square”. Today, it is believed by paranormal enthusiasts that her ghost can be found looking for her baby in the Square. Michael Ching, a composer, was commissioned to write three operas about Savannah, chose her story for the first opera of the trilogy.

Alice Riley’s spirit transcends from the early days of the colony to now. It is a most tragic story that leaves a stain on the history of Savannah. And maybe even on some nights leaves a ghost behind.

​ Here is the youtube address to the lullaby sang by Alice to her baby the night before she was to be hanged:
​https://youtu.be/Wdt3oQB5Pfc

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Wright Square once known as the "Hanging Square

Alice Riley from the opera of the same name