USA > New York > Jefferson County > A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 30
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* This vicious woman had got her husband embroiled in repeated difficulties in Connecticut, and for these he had been compelled to remove. During the war, Lieut. Col. Tuttle, being taken sick at Sackets Harbor, was sent to Wa- tertown and placed in Whittlesey's family for nursing. He grew worse, and died very soon after, under suspicious circumstances, and although he was sup- posed to have large sums of money, none was found. Mrs. Whittlesey, not long after, had money to let. Numerous anecdotes are related which prove her to have been exceedingly vain, penurious and vicious. With decided abilities, and a good education, she possessed a moral depravity, and evinced the absence of those virtues that adorn the sex, to a degree that has been seldom equalled. Her treatment to a domestic had been so barbarous as to call for the interfer- ence of the humane; her ostentatious airs disgusted whoever came into her presence, and her licentious tongue embroiled her neighborhood in quarrels.
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should report the robbery of a part of the money, no one would believe it, as a thief would have taken the whole, if any. In short (to use a homely proverb), she urged that they might as well "die for an old sheep as a lamb," and keep the rest, as they would inevitably be accused of taking a part. Her artifice, en- forced by the necessities of the case, took effect, and he suffered himself to become the dupe of his wife, who was doubtless the chief contriver of the movements which followed. Accordingly, on his reaching home he gave out word that his money had been procured, and would be paid over as soon as the necessary pa- pers and pay-roll could be prepared. In a few days, having set- tled his arrangements, he started for Trenton, on horseback, with his portmanteaus filled, stopping at various places on his way, to announce that on a given day he would return, to pay to those entitled their dues, and in several instances evinced a careless- ness about the custody of his baggage, that excited remark from inn-keepers and others. On arriving at Billings' tavern, at Trenton, he assembled several persons to whom money was due, and proceeded to pay them, but upon opening his portmanteau, he, to the dismay of himself and others, found that they had been ripped open, and that the money was gone! With a pitia- ble lamentation and well-affected sorrow he bewailed this rob- bery, instantly despatched messengers in quest of the thief, offer- ed $2,000 reward for his apprehension, and advertised in staring handbills throughout the country, in hopes of gaining some clue that would enable him to recover his treasure. In this anxiety he was joined by hundreds of others, who had been thus indefi- nitely delayed in the receipt of their needed and rightful dues, but although there was no lack of zeal in these efforts, yet no- thing occurred upon which to settle suspicion, and with a heavy heart, and many a sigh and tear, he returned home, and related to his family and friends, his ruin. As a natural consequence, the event became at once the absorbing theme of the country, for great numbers were effected in their pecuniary concerns by it, and none more than the two endorsers to the securities of Whittlesey. These gentlemen, who were shrewd, practical, and very observing men, immediately began to interrogate him, singly and alone, into the circumstances of the journey and the robbery, and Fairbanks in particular, whose trade as a saddler led him to be minutely observant of the qualities and appear- ances of leather, made a careful examination of the incisions in the portmanteau, of which there were two, tracing upon pa- per their exact size and shape, and, upon close inspection, no- ticed pin holes in the margin, as if they had been mended up.
- Upon comparing the accounts which each had separately obtain- ed in a long and searching conversation, these men became con-
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vinced that the money had not been stolen in the manner alleged, but that it was still in the possession of Whittlesey and his wife. To get possession of this money was their next care, and, after long consultation, it was agreed that the only way to do this, was to gain the confidence of the family, and defend them man- fully against the insinuations that came from all quarters, that the money was still in town. In this they succeeded admirably, and from the declarations which they made in public and in private, which found their way directly back to the family, the latter were convinced that, although the whole world were against them in their misfortunes, yet they had the satisfaction to know that the two men who were the most interested, were still by their side. To gain some fact that would lead to a knowledge of the place of deposit, Messrs. Fairbanks and Keyes agreed to listen at the window of the sleeping room of those suspected, which was in a chamber, and overlooked the roof of a piazza. Accordingly, after dark one would call upon the fam- ily and detain them in conversation, while the other mounted a ladder and placed himself where he could overhear what was said within, and although they thus became convinced that the money was still in their possession, no opinion could be formed about the hiding place. Security upon their real estate was de- manded, and readily given.
A son of the family held a commission in the navy, and was on the point of sailing for the Mediterranean, and it was sus- pected that the money might thus have been sent off; to ascertain which, Mr. Fairbanks, under pretext of taking a criminal to the state prison, went to New York, made inquiries which satisfied him that the son was innocent of any knowledge of the affair, and ascertained at the bank the size of the packages taken. He had been told by Whittlesey, that these had not been opened when stolen, and by making experiments with blocks of wood of the same dimensions, they readily ascertained that bundles of that size could not be got through an aperture of the size reported, and that instead of a seven it required a nineteen inch slit in the leather to allow of their being extracted. Some facts were gleaned at Albany, that shed further light, among which it was noticed that Mrs. W. at her late visits (although generally very penurious in her trades) had been very profuse in her expenses. After a ten-days' absence, Mr. F. returned; his partner having listened nights meanwhile, and the intelligence gained by eave dropping, although it failed to disclose the locality of the lost money, confirmed their suspicions. As goods were being boxed up at Whittlesey's house at a late hour in the night, and the daughters had already been sent on to Sackets Harbor, it was feared that the family would soon leave; decisive measures were
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resolved upon to recover the money, the ingenuity and boldness of which evince the sagacity and energy of the parties. Some method to decoy Whittlesey from home, and frighten him by threats, mutilation or torture, into a confession, was discussed, but as the latter might cause an uncontrollable hemorrhage, it was resolved to try the effect of drowning. Some experiments were made, on their own persons, of the effect of submersion of the head, and Dr. Sherwood, a physician of the village, was con- sulted on the time life would remain under water. Having agreed upon a plan, on the evening before its execution, they re- paired to a lonely place about a mile south of the village, screened from the sight of houses by a gentle rise of ground, and where a spring issued from the bank and flowed off through a miry slough, in which, a little below, they built a dam of turf, that formed a shallow pool. It was arranged that Mr. Fairbanks should call upon Whittlesey, to confer with him on some means of removing the suspicions which the public had settled upon him, by obtaining certificates of character from leading citizens, and officers of the army; and that the two were to repair to Mr. Keyes's house, which was not far from the spring. Mr. Keyes was to be absent repairing his fence, and to leave word with his wife, that if any one enquired for him, to send them. into the field where he was at work. Neither had made confidants in their suspicions or their plans, except that Mr. Keyes thought it necessary to reveal them to his son, P. Gardner Keyes, then seventeen years of age, whose assistance he might need, in keep- ing up appearances, and in whose sagacity, and fidelity in keeping a secret he could rely.
Accordingly, on the morning of July 17 (1815), Mr. Keyes, telling his wife that the cattle had broken into his grain, shouldered his axe, and went out to repair the fence which was thrown down, and Mr. Fairbanks called upon Whittlesey,. en- gaged him in conversation as usual, and without exciting the slightest suspicion, induced him to go up to see his partner, whom they found in a distant part of the field at work. Calling him to them, they repaired as if casually to the spring, where, after some trifling remark, they explicitly charged him with the rob- bery, gave their reasons for thinking so, and told him that if he did not instantly disclose the locality of the money, the pool be- fore him should be his grave. This sudden and unexpected charge frightened their victim; but with a look of innocence he exclaimed, " I know nothing of the matter." This was no sooner said, than he was rudely seized by Mr. Keyes and plunged head foremost into the pool, and after some seconds withdrawn. Being again interrogated, and assured that if the money were restored, no legal proceedings would be instituted; he again pro-
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tested his innocence, and was a second time plunged in, held under several moments, and again withdrawn, but this time insen- sible, and for one or two minutes it was doubtful whether their threats had not been executed; but he soon evinced signs of life, and so far recovered as to be able to sit up and to speak. Per- haps nothing but the certain knowledge of his guilt, which they possessed, would have induced them to proceed further; but they were men of firmness, and resolved to exhaust their resource of expedients, rightly judging that a guilty conscience could not long hold out against the prospect of speedy death. He was ac- cordingly addressed by Mr. Keyes in tones and emphasis of sober earnest, and exhorted for the last time, to save himself from being hurried before the tribunal of heaven, laden with guilt-to disclose at once. In feeble tones he reasserted his innocence, and was again collared and plunged in, but this time his body only was immersed. It had been agreed in his hearing, that Fairbanks (being without a family) should remain to accomplish the work, by treading him into the bottom of the slough, while Keyes was to retire, so that neither could be a witness of murder if appre- hended; and that on a given day they were to meet in Kingston. Keyes paid over about ninety dollars to bear expenses of travel, and was about to leave, when the wretched man, seeing these serious arrangements, and at length believing them to be an awful reality, exclaimed, "I'll tell you all I know about it!" Upon this, he was withdrawn, and when a little recovered, he confessed, that all but about $9,000 (which he now, for the first time, stated to have been stolen at Schenectady) would be found either under a hearth, at his house, or quilted into a pair of drawers in his wife's possession. Mr. Keyes, leaving their prisoner in charge of his associate, started for the house, and was seen by his wife, coming across the fields, covered with mud, and, to use the words of the latter, " Looking like a murderer;" and although in feeble health, and scarcely able to walk, she met him at the door, and enquired with alarm, " What have you been doing?" He briefly replied, " We have had the old fellow under water, and made him own where the money is;" and hastily pro- ceeding to the village, related in few words to his friends, Dr. Paul Hutchinson, and John M. Canfield, the facts, and with them repaired to the house of Whittlesey. Seeing them approach, Mrs. Whittlesey fled to her chamber; and on their knocking for admission, she replied, that she was changing her dress, and would meet them shortly. As it was not the time or place for the observance of etiquette, Mr. Keyes rudely burst open the door, and entering, found her reclining on the bed. Disregard- ing her expostulations of impropriety, he rudely proceeded to search, and soon found between the straw and feather bed, upon
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which she lay, a quilted garment, when she exclaimed, " You've got it ! My God, have I come to this!" The drawers bore the initials of Col. Tuttle, who had died in that house, under very suspicious circumstances; were fitted with two sets of but- tons, for either the husband or wife to wear, and contained about thirty parcels of bills, labeled: "For my dear son C-, 250 of 5;"' " For my dear daughter E-, 150 of 3;" &c., amount- ing to $15,000 to her five children; the remainder being reserved for her own use. The garment also contained a most extraor- dinary document, which might be called her Will, and about which she expressed the most urgent solicitude, imploring that it might be destroyed, by the earnest appeal that, " You have children as well as me!" It was soon after published in the papers, and was as follows:
" It is my last and dying request, that my children shall have all the money that is contained in the papers which have their names on, which is three thousand dollars for each; and let there be pains and caution, and a great length of time taken to ex- change it in. God and my own heart knows the misery I have suffered in consequence of it, and that it was much against my will that it should be done. I have put all that is in the same bank by it, that I had from prudence, and a great number of years been gathering up; and when I used to meet with bills on that bank in your possession, or when I could, I used to ex- change others for them, as I supposed it was the best, and would be the most permanent bank. You know the reason of your tak- ing this was, that we supposed that from the lock of the small trunk being broken, and the large one being all loose, and the nails out, that we were robbed on the road of $8,700. You know that I always told you, that I believed it was done in the yard, where you, as I told you then, put the wagon imprudently in Schenectady. Oh! how much misery am I born to see, through all your improper conduct, which I am forced to con- ceal from the view of the world, for the sake of my beloved offsprings' credit, and whereby I have got enemies undeservedly, while the public opinion was in your favor! But it fully evinces what false judgments the world makes. Oh! the God who tries the hearts, and searches the reins of the children of men, knows, that the kind of misery which I have suffered, and which has riled and soured my temper, and has made me appear cross and morose to the public eye, has all proceeded from you, and fixed in my countenance the mark of an ill-natured dispo- sition, which was naturally formed for loves, friendships, and all other refined sensations. How have I falsified the truth, that you might appear to every advantage, at the risk and ill-opinion of the sensible world towards myself, when my conscience was telling me I was doing wrong; and which, with everything else
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that I have suffered since I have been a married woman, has worn me down and kept me out of health; and now, oh! now, this last act is bringing me to my grave fast. I consented, because you had placed me in the situation you did. In the first place you were delinquent in the payment to government of eighteen or nineteen hundred dollars. Then this almost $9,000 missing, I found when you come to settle, that you never could make it good without sacrificing me and my children, was the reason I consented to the proposal. I did you the justice to believe that if the last sum had not been missing, that you would not have done as you did; but I am miserable! God grant that my dear children may never fall into the like error, that their father has, and their poor unfortunate mother consented to! May the Al- mighty forgive us both, for I freely forgive you all you have made me suffer."
The money being counted, and to their surprise found to em- brace a part of the sum supposed to be stolen, Mr. Keyes went back to release Whittlesey. The latter, meanwhile, had related the circumstances of the robbery, and anxiously enquired whether, if the whole was not found, they would still execute their pur- pose; to which Mr. Fairbanks replied in a manner truly character- istic, "that will depend on circumstances." No one was more sur- prised than Whittlesey himself, to learn that most of the money was found, and that he had been robbed at Schenectady by his own wife. He begged hard to be released on the spot, but it was feared he would commit suicide, and he was told that he must be delivered up to the public as sound as he was taken, and was led home. The fame of this discovery soon spread, and it was with difficulty that the villagers were restrained from evin- cing their joy by the discharge of cannon. Mr. Whittlesey was led home, and placed with guard in the room with his wife, until further search; and here the most bitter criminations were exchanged, each charging the other with the crime, and the wife upbraiding the husband with cowardice, in revealing the secret. The guard being withdrawn in the confusion that ensued, Mrs. Whittlesey passed from the house, and was seen by a person at a distance, to cross the cemetery, of Trinity church, where on passing the grave of a son, she paused, faltered, and fell back, overwhelmed with awful emotion; but a moment after, gathering new energy, she hastened on, rushed down the high bank near the ice cave, and plunged into the river. Her body was found floating near the lower bridge, and efforts were made to recover life, but it was extinct!
With a remarkable familiarity with death, she had years be- fore prepared her own shroud, and chosen the text* and psalm
* II Corinthians, v, 1.
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she wished to have used at her funeral; but the Rev. Mr. Banks, who officiated on the occasion, not deeming these applicable to the case, selected the sixth commandment, for a text, and a hymn in Watt's Collection, commencing with,
" Death, 'tis a melancholy day."
She was buried beside her son, and near Colonel Tuttle, whom she is supposed to have poisoned. Her husband remained in town nearly a year, and then removed to Indiana, where he afterwards became a justice, and a county judge, and by an ex- emplary life won the respect of community; and although the details of this affair followed him, yet the censure of opinion rested upon the wife. He has been dead many years. The sympathies of the public were not withheld from the children of this family, who were thus cast penniless and disgraced upon the world. Many details connected with the affair we have not given; among which were several attempts to throw suspicion upon innocent parties by depositing money on their premises, writing anonymous letters, &c., which serve but to aggravate the crime, by betraying the existence 'of a depravity on the part of the chief contriver in the scheme, which has seldom or never been equaled. The marked bills, amounting to $400, had been dropped on the road to Sackets Harbor, and were found by Mr. Gale, who prudently carried them to a witness, counted and sealed them, and after the disclosure brought them forward. Mr. Whittlesey stated that he expected some one would find and use the money, when he could swear to the marks, and implicate the finder. Mr. Gale, upon hearing this, was affected to tears, and exclaimed: " Mr. Whittlesey, is it possible, you would have been so wicked as to have sworn me to state prison for being honest!"
Congress, on the 11th of January, 1821, passed an act di- recting the secretary of the treasury to cancel and surrender the bond given by Whittlesey, and endorsed by Fairbanks & Keyes, on condition of the latter giving another, payable with interest in two years.
To give interest to this account, we offer the portrait of one of the parties, engraved from a recent daguerreotype; and in the appendix will insert some anecdotes illustrative of the peculiar characteristics of Mr. Fairbanks, whose public life and promi- nent business operations have made him extensively known.
The village of Watertown was incorporated April 5, 1816. The act provided for the election of five trustees, who were to possess the powers and immunities usually vested in similar cor- porations. These extended to the formation of a fire department, the construction of water works, regulation of markets, streets,
Engraved by J.C. Buttre, from a Daguerreotype .
basan fairbanks
Fagrazed for the History of Jefferend County, NY in Fraulein B Hough
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&c .; the building of hay scales, supervision of weights and measures, and whatever related to the preservation of health, or the suppression of nuisances. Three assessors, a treasurer, col- lector, and five fire wardens were to be also elected. Fines, not exceeding $25, might be imposed. The annual election was to occur on the first Monday of May, and the trustees were to choose one of their number for president, and some proper person for clerk. The president, with the advice of the trustees, was to appoint a company, not exceeding twenty, of firemen, and to enforce, in the name of the trustees, the ordinances and regula- tions which they might establish. The village of Watertown was constituted one road district, and exempted from the jurisdic- tion of the town commissioners.
On the 7th of April, 1820, an act was passed altering the bounds of the village, and amending the charter; and on the 17th of April, 1826, and 26th of April, 1831, the charter was still further amended. On the 22d of March, 1832, the trustees were empowered, by an act, to borrow a sum not exceeding $2,000, to improve the fire department of the village, and supply it with water to be used in fires, and April 21, 1832, the doings at an election were confirmed. An act was passed April 23, 1835, granting additional powers to the trustees, repealing former pro- visions of the charter, and authorizing the erection of a market. The village charter was amended by an act of April 16, 1852, by which its bounds were increased, the district included directed to be divided into from five to seven wards. A president, three assessors, a clerk, treasurer, collector, and two police constables, were to be elected annually, and one trustee to each ward, of which there are five. Elections are held on the first Monday of March, and the powers and duties of the trustees were much extended.
The first village election was held at the house of Isaac Lee, in May, 1816, David Bucklin, Esq., presiding, and the following officers were chosen: Timothy Burr, Egbert Ten Eyck, Olney Pearce, Marianus W. Gilbert, and Norris M. Woodruff, trustees; Reuben Goodale, William Smith, Orville Hungerford, assessors; Micah Sterling, treasurer; Seth Otis, collector; Jabez Foster, Samuel Watson, Jr., Rufus Backus, William Fletcher, Joseph Henry, fire wardens.
Trustees of the village of Watertown since its incorporation. (The one elected president is placed first in Italics.)
1816, Timothy Burr, Egbert Ten Eyck, Olney Pearce, Mari- anus W. Gilbert, Norris M. Woodruff.
1817, Isaac Lee, Silas Marvin, Wm. Tanner, Andrew Newell, Jason Fairbanks.
1818, Orin Stone, Wm. Smith, Chauncey Calhoun, Reuben Goodale, Dyer Huntington.
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1819, William Smith, Orin Stone, Chauncey Calhoun, Reuben Goodale, Dyer Huntington.
1820, Egbert Ten Eyck, Marianus W. Gilbert,* David W. Bucklin, Andrew Newell, N. M. Woodruff.
1821, Olney Pearce, Andrew Newell, James Q. Adams, Charles E. Clarke, David W. Bucklin.
1822, David W. Bucklin, Calvin Mcknight, Marianus W. Gilbert, Dyer Huntington, Adriel Ely.
1823, Orville Hungerford, Dyer Huntington, John Sigourney, James Q. Adams, Loveland Paddock.
1824, Orville Hungerford, Dyer Huntington, Silas Marvin, John Sigourney, Norris M. Woodruff.
1825, Olney Pearce, Noah W. Kiniston, Marianus W. Gil- bert, Andrew Newell, John Safford.
1826, Olney Pearce, Marianus W. Gilbert, Noah W. Kiniston, Andrew Newell, John Safford.
1827, Norris M. Woodruff, Marianus W. Gilbert, Orin Stone, William D. Ford, Chauncey Calhoun.
1828, Norris M. Woodruff, Chauncey Calhoun, Loveland Paddock, Jeremiah Holt, John Sigourney.
1829, Norris M. Woodruff, Dyer Huntington, John Sigourney, Robert Lansing, Isaac H. Bronson.
1830, Norris M. Woooruff, Dyer Huntington, John Sigourney, Robert Lansing, Isaac H. Bronson.
1831, Norris M. Woodruff, Dyer Huntington, Nathaniel Wi- ley, Otis Colwell, Rufus Sherman.
1832, Jason Fairbanks, Alanson Tubbs, Isaac H. Bronson, Milton Carpenter, Marianus W. Gilbert.
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