Place was struck in the head by a sleigh at age 23; her brother claimed that she never completely recovered and that the accident left her mentally unstable.

[1] In 1893 Martha went to work as a housekeeper for a man named William W. Place, at 598 Hancock Street in Brooklyn, whom she would marry later that year.

[citation needed] On the evening of February 7, 1898, William Place arrived at his Brooklyn, New York, home and was attacked by Martha, who was wielding an axe.

There is something about her face that reminds one of a rat's, and the bright but changeless eyes somehow strengthen the impression.Martha Place was found guilty of the murder of her stepdaughter Ida and sentenced to death.

The governor of the state of New York, Theodore Roosevelt, was asked to commute Place's death sentence, but he refused.

Martha Place was buried in the family cemetery plot in East Millstone, New Jersey, without religious observances.