USA > New York > Saratoga County > The bench and bar of Saratoga County, or, Reminiscences of the judiciary, and scenes in the court room : from the organization of the county to the present time > Part 10
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Julia A. Nash, a notorious character who had given much trouble to the courts for several years, was on the third day of July; 1866, serving a sen- tence for petit larceny in the county jail. Wishing to enjoy her liberty the next day, on the night of the third she effected her escape by removing four
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bricks from under the window and escaped by squeezing her body through that orifice. She was re-arrested the next day by officer Henry Harrison and returned to her old quarters. At the following September Oyer she was tried and convicted of jail breaking and sent to Sing Sing for one year. At the same term Charles Johnson, by the advice of counsel, plead guilty of the disgusting crime of rape. He was a negro, and the victim was a small white girl whom he assaulted and. ravished while gather- ing berries. It was his second crime of the kind, and, although he asked the mercy of the court, Judge Bockes sentenced him to a quarter of a cen- tury's imprisonment at hard labor. It was soon discovered that a recent legislative enactment had limited the punishment for this crime to twenty years, and Johnson was again brought into the court room and sentenced to the full extent of the law.
A defense of insanity having been successfully interposed by J. P. Butler in the case of John Mor- gan, indicted for firing a pistol at Michael O'Neil, at Saratoga Springs, June 21, 1867, at the December term of that year he was, on motion of District At- torney. Ormsby, ordered by Judge Hulbert to be confined in the state lunatic asylum at Auburn. That defense has never been a popular one in this county.
Again the records are stained with blood. Wil- liam J. Kirtly was brought to trial for the murder of John T. Jones of Saratoga Springs, August 25,
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1867. This case illustrates the dangers arising from the carrying of fire arms by persons of an easily irritable nature. A dispute arose on the piazza of one of the hotels. Jones unguardedly struck Kirtly a blow, and the latter at once drew a pistol and shot him. The situation of the parties and the motives that led to the blow were such as to easily show that it was a homicide of the lower grade of crime ; one that would not have occurred had Kirtly been unarmed. He was, too, a partial crip- ple and his irritable nature was induced by that misfortune. At the trial in the September Oyer, 1867, before Judge Potter, he was prosecuted on behalf of the people by District Attorney Ormsby and L. B. Pike. He had the assistance in his defense of James P. Butler and William A. Beach, and was convicted of manslaughter in the second degree. He was a native of Marietta, Ga., twenty eight years of age, and was sentenced to serve a of five years at hard labor in Dannemora. This was followed by the indictment of a negro named James Robinson for shooting and killing his white mistress, Sarah C. Crabb, alias Mabee, in the town of Day, March 20, 1869. When arraigned he plead not guilty, but finding that Gen. Winsor B. French, then district attorney, was making a strong case with a tendency to a hempen terminus, he plead guilty to murder in the second degree, and was sentenced to states prison for life by Judge Bockes. The desperado has since escaped from Dannemora, and is yet at large.
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For several years prior to 1870, the notorious Michael H. Hickey, the "wickedest man in Sarı- toga," had defied law and justice at his Lake avenue den in that village. Finally, in one of his drunken orgies, he took a pistol and fired at ran- dom on the street. District Attorney French then determined to rid the county of the monster. At the January Oyer he procured indictments against Hickey for an assault with intent to do bodily harm, keeping a disorderly house, receiving stolen property, grand larceny, and for an assault with intent to kill with a deadly weapon one James Murphy. He was tried at the June Sessions for keeping a disorderly house, convicted and sen- tenced to one year in the Albany penitentiary and to pay a fine of $250. At the December Sessions 'in the same year, he was convicted of the assault on Murphy, and for the shooting the pistol in the street and sentenced to six months in the peniten- tiary on each charge, each sentence to follow the former successively, making his imprisonment two years in all. It was effectual, and Judge Hulbert and Gen. French were congratulated on their suc- cess in removing him from the county. Previous to his first trial he forfeited his bail, and was recap- tured by detective James N. Case as he was about to embark for Ireland at Boston, for he knew that the authorities meant business while he was on American soil.
The Van Rensselaer "anti-rent" cases have in several instances led to the loss of life in the conn-
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ties of Rensselaer, Albany and Columbia. In 1869,. Col. Walter S. Church, representing the Van Rensselaer estate, obtained a writ of ejectment from the Supreme Court to dispossess one William Wit- beck from the farm he occupied under a manorial lease in East Greenbush, Rensselaer county. Dep- uty Sheriff Willard Griggs went with a posse to serve the writ July 26, 1869. It was resisted and a combat took place in which several firearms were discharged by both parties. Several wounds were received, and that upon the person of Sheriff Griggs was mortal, and from which he soon afterwards died. District Attorney Timothy S. Banker, after several fruitless endeavors, procured an indictment in the Rensselaer Session in February, 1870, against William Witbeck his sons Benjamin and John P., his son-in-law Zebulon Bass, and hired man William Wood, charging them with the wilful mur der of Willard Griggs. Subsequently, on motion in the Supreme Court; he procured a change of venue to the Saratoga Oyer and Terminer. It was brought to trial at a special term of the court held. by Judge James, July 25 of the same year. The people were represented by Timothy S. Banker, William T. Odell, Matthew Hale and William A. Beach. The prisoners had the aid of Edgar L. Fursman, Lemuel B. Pike, Henry Smith and Mar- tin I. Townsend. Outside of this array were Col. Church, assisting the prosecution and Anson Bing- ham, of the noted firm of lawyers in Albany who have managed the anti rent civil suits, aiding the
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defense. The evidence, argument of counsel and rulings of the court were phonographed by Spencer C. Rodgers of Troy, and his assistant, - - Tinsley, who alternately relieved each other during the five days of the trial and made two copies of their day's work each night. There was a great anxiety on the part of jurors to escape sitting on the trial and one of the panel, who could not learn enough of the case to form an opinion, secured a rejection by telling Mr. Townsend that his "mind was so con- stituted that he always agreed with the man who spoke last." The evidence was thoroughly and exhaustively presented to the jury on the part of the prisoner by Messrs. Smith and Townsend, and on behalf of the people by Messrs. Hale and Beach. Judge James charged the jury fully on the law and committed the case to them. After an absence of about an hour they returned with a verdict of "not guilty."
In the spring of 1870, the people of this section were astonished to hear that in the person of Charles H. Stevens who had been arrested on the charge of stealing a horse from Hiram Parker of Clifton Park, the authorities had secured no less a personage that the notorious Barney Francisco, the most expert horse thief and land pirate since the days of John A. Murrell. As soon as he was jailed, he began to feign penitence for his crimes and divulged where several other horses taken from all parts of the state were Some of them were recovered, and it was noticed that all of them were in the hands of
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innocent purchasers at the time. He wanted to be taken to Pittsfield, Mass., and give evidence against some of his gang there. He also pretended to tell where he had seen the team of James E. Davis of South Ballston, which had been stolen in the pre- vious February, and indicated two fishermen named James and Benjamin Eldred, of Greene county, as the thieves who had taken the horses. The Eldreds were arrested, indicted for this alleged crime, and brought to trial at the June Sessions, 1870. Dis- trict Attorney Ormsby was the public prosecutor and the prisoners were defended by James P. But- ler. Francisco was the chief witness to establish the crime, but he broke down under the fiery cross examination of Mr. Butler, and, forgetting the part. he was assuming, he sat erect in his chair throwing aside the drooping shoulder he had worn as a dis- guise ever since his incarceration here. The pris- oners proved an alibi, and the jury acquitted them. The team were afterwards found near Hudson, where a man with the familiar name of John Smith had sold them shortly after the theft. Francisco, soon after, induced constable Samuel C. Beeman of Ballston to bail him and go with him to Pittsfield. They went there in company with Deputy Sheriff Chapman of Berkshire county, and the wily horse thief slipped from their custody and escaped. He was thought by some to have been the same per- son as the notorious E. H. Ruloft, hung at Bing- hamton in 1872.
The evil practice of corrupting the elective fran-
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chise having been introduced into this county such an extent that at the polls in certain towns at nearly every election a class of men, unworthy of the lib. erty they enjoy, were purchased to the great scan- dal of our county and the lowering of the standard of political morality, the grand jury impaneled at September term 1870, consisting of men of both political parties headed by James L. Cramer of Saratoga Springs, foreman, made a formal present- ment condemning the practice of buying votes at elections as subversive of our political and national liberties. Judge Bockes thanked them in behalf of the court and directed that the presentment be entered upon the minutes by the clerk.
Two offenses against human life were brought to the attention of the court at the May Oyer, 1871. One was the indictment of Henry Husher of Sara- toga Springs for the murder of Samuel Young, March 7, previous, in an affray ; and the other that of Wallace Vandercook for shooting Andrew Fel- lows of Clifton Park, February 7. He was also indicted for robbery of the person of Fellows. Husher was allowed to plead guilty of man- slaughter in the first degree and was sentenced to states prison for ten years. Vandercook's crime was a most dastardly one, and in some respects rivaled the shooting of Halpine by John I. Filkins, the express robber. Both shot their intended vic- tim through the head making similar wounds, and in each case there was a recovery from the nearly fatal shots. The object of each was to obtain money ;
8
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Vandercook having decoyed Fellows, a farmer, into his barn yard and there shot and robbed him and then fled. Both were convicted on the robbery charge, as being the most serious count under the statute. Vandercook was sentenced to states prison for a term of fifteen years. At the January Oyer, 1872, William Cherry of Saratog Springs was tried before Judge James on the charge of murdering his wife. He was ably and successfully defended by L. B. Pike, P. H. Cowen and John Foley, and after hearing the evidence the jury acquitted the prisoner. The woman fell, while both were intoxi- cated, and received fatal injuries.
Next in order comes the trial, the result of which has done much to lower the standard of the Sara- toga county juries. That was the acquittal of the notorious Peter Curley. The state at large as well as our county were astounded in October, 1872, to. hear of the robbery of the Saratoga County Bank at Waterford, by an organized gang of thieves, and of the cruelties and indignities practiced by them upon D. M. Van Hovenburgh, the cashier, and his family at the dead of the night. Suspicion soon fell on Peter Curley, a well known professional burglar, formerly of Troy, who had hitherto escaped con- viction. Pending a watch of his motions by the New York detectives, one William C. Brandon was discovered selling some of the stolen bonds in the city of New York. He was arrested by detec- tive Edward Radford who recognized him as a well known "fence," or concealer of stolen goods. Cur-
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ley was arrested about the same time, and in default of $500,000 bail they were committed by Justice Wil- liam Shepherd to the Ballston jail to await indict- ment. They were duly indicted at the January Oyer, and a special term of the court was set down for their trial March 6. The court duly convened with Justice Bockes presiding. The people were represented by District Attorney Ormsby and Edward F. Bullard. Curley, who was brought to trial, was defended by Messrs. Fursman, Pike, Odell, Miles Beach, P. H. Cowen and Henry Smith. The evidence showed Curley at Hudson, the next day after the robbery, tampering with officers to be released from arrest, and was quite direct in fol lowing him from the bank to Albany and thence to Hudson. The case was summed up by Mr. Smith for the prisoner, and Mr. Bullard for the prosecu- tion. Judge Bockes' charge was pointed and was one of the ablest ever given from the bench in this county. The jury disagreed, ten standing for con; viction and two for acquittal. He was re-tried at the May Oyer, again before Justice Bockes. The same evidence was given, it was explained to the jury by the district attorney and Mr. Fursman, and the court substantially reiterated its former charge. To the astonishment of all, themselves and some of Curley's friends alone excepted, the jury rendered a verdict of acquittal, and followed it up by going to a hotel and partaking of a banquet provided by the funds stolen from widows and orphans on deposit in the bank. Curley was thus turned loose,
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and the legitimate fruit of this dereliction of duty by two Saratoga county juries was the Barre, Vt., bank robbery by Curley, who to escape conviction a few months since turned state's evidence and ;on- victed George E. Miles, another of the gang. Bran- don gave bail to the next term, and finally a nolle pros. was entered. Rumors that the felony was compromised by a committee of the losers were generally believed.
The difference between New York and Vermont justice was again illustrated at the January Oyer, 1874. One Daniel J. Shaw was indicted for. com- mitting bigamy in this county. He claimed that he thought that an agreement signed by himself and wife to live apart was a valid divorce. He was bailed on his own recognizance to appear at the next Sessions. He then went with his new wife to Rutland, where the old spouse followed him, had arrested for adultery, (a crime in Vermont) and he was consigned to Windsor prison for two years before the time arrived for him to appear for trial here.
The Board of Supervisors of 1873, having dis- covered gross irregularities in certain constables' bills, caused the indictment of Samuel C. Beeman, Erastus R. Fort and Jacob Devoe for perjury in swearing to false items in their bills. Also, against Charles Rosekrans and Jacob Devoe for forgery in the third degree, in presenting for audit i forged constables' bill in the name of Samuel Johnson. The indictments were found at the January term,
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1874. After various dilatory measures had been taken, they plead guilty at the April Sessions, 1875, and thereupon Charles S. Lester, county judge, sentenced them each to pay a fine of $250. Michael Rattigan and William W. Garrett, excise commissioners of the village of Ballston Spa, were at the same term each fined $25 for violation of the excise law, in refusing to revoke a license on due proof of its terms having been broken. James Mullen was tried and convicted at the February Sessions, 1875, for having made an assault with an intent to kill James Norris at the latter's residence in the town of Providence, in the previous summer. Mullen, who was a tanner working at Barkerville, was an alleged paramour of Norris' wife, who was much the junior of her husband. A plot was arranged to shoot Norris, and he was severely wounded by a pistol shot in his head while drawing some cider to treat his would-be murderer. It proved to be one of those instances where the thread of life is not snapped under the strongest tension, and the hardy Celt, with the ball in his brain, fully identified his assailant on the witness stand. Mul- len was defended on his trial by George W. Hall. He was sentenced to states prison for nine years and six months. James H. Standish was tried at an adjourned Oyer and Terminer, August 25, 1874, for the murder of George W. See in Wilton, Feb- ruary 28, previous. The deed was done in an affray. See lived in Standish's house, and the latter as- saulted the former's wife in his absence. On the
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husband's return, he called Standish to account, when the latter seized a flat iron and crushed poor See's skull. He was prosecuted on his trial by District Attorney Ormsby and Hon. Lyman Tre- main, and defended by Gen. French and Hon. Henry Smith. He was convicted of murder in the second degree, and Judge Judson S. Landon passed on him the life sentence.
At the September Oyer, Charles F. Betts plead guilty to the charge of an assault with intent to kill with a deadly weapon, one Josiah Stratton in Gal- way, at the "reservoir, and was sent to states prison for five years James McEnery and Michael Dwyer, the Waterford cemetery ghouls, were also convicted, notwithstanding the ingenious defense put in by their assigned counsel, Theodore F. Hamilton, and sent to the penitentiary for six months.
An unfortunate affair occurred at Saratoga Springs on the night of April 22, 1875. John F. Dennin, a constable, while intoxicated attempted to arrest George W. Rogers for intoxication. During the melee which ensued, Rogers' skull was crushed by a blow from a blunt instrument, from the effects of which he died. Dennin was indicted in May for manslaughter, and tried in the Febru- ary Oyer, 1876, before Justice Joseph Potter. The people were represented by District Attorney Ormsby and N. C. Moak of Albany. Notwith- standing the efforts of his counsel, L. B. Pike, J. Van Rensselaer, C. H. Tefft, Jr., and E. L. Furs-
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man, Dennin was convicted of manslaughter- in the third degree, and sentenced to Dannemora for two years.
The year 1875 was an "off year" for pickpockets in Saratoga Springs, by reason of the efforts of an able corps of detectives from New York being employed at the hotels. John D. Sanburn, a sneak thief, was caught at the Grand Union by detectives Joel Pike and Edward Radford. He was identified by John T. Saxe of West Troy, as the man whom he saw stealing his diamond studs in his room in Congress Hall, and to Mr. Saxe's credit beit stated he refused to "compromise," and prosecuted him to a conviction in the September Oyer. He was sent to states prison for two years. James Ander- son, a sneak thief, caught by detective Thomas Dusenbury in Congress Hall, plead guilty to an attempted burglary, and was sent to the peniten- tiary for three months. W. H. Stanley. alias Jackson, was shadowed by detective James M. Tilley from the United States Hotel to the Wilb ur Honse, where he took rooms and was caught at midnight by Deputy Sheriff Brown in the act of trying to open the doors of guest's rooms. He plead guilty at the November Sessions. Being sentenced to two years and a half in Clinton prison, he was the first prisoner from this county sunt up over the New York and Canada railroad.
Among the characters imprisoned in the jail in recent years was an Englishman who gave the name of Charler H. Baker. He was arrested in the sum-
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mer of 1874 for attempting to purchase machinery of Barber & Baker of Ballston Spa, under the false pretense that he was the agent o: a mining firm in Montana territory, to which section the machinery ordered was to be sent by his directions. His true character having been divulged, the firm did not fill his order ; but instead, procured one for his arrest, which was effected at Fort Edward, whither he had gone, by deputy sheriff D. S. Gilbert. He was committed to the county jail to wait the action of the approaching grand jury. This was a turn of affairs not laid down in the programme of his sum- mer's tour, and he soon tired of the monotony of prison life. He first sought to alarm Jailor Jeffers by informing him that he had developed a case of small pox, having been exposed to that disease shortly before his incarceration. Another pris- oner weakened the dubious faith of the jailor in that story, by informing him that Baker had been putting croton oil on his face and arms to cause the eruptive blotches which were apparent. Dr. Noxon, the jail physician, on examining the prisoner ex- posed the fraud. This attempt to "break out" having failed, he next confessed to a pretended murder in Paris during the Commune siege, saying that he was a member of the "Foreign Legion" and had murdered a comrade by throwing him over the parapet of a bridge across the Seine. His object was to have the story reach the ears of the French minister at Washington, and thus cause his extra- dition for a crime against the French republic. He
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knew that a conviction could not be had for a cap. ital offense on his unsupported confession, and he would thus be set at liberty. A few days subse- quent to the publication of his so-called confession in one of the city papers, Mr. Thompson, of the Troy Daily Press, and the author interviewed him in the jail. Mr. Thompson was in Paris in the days of the commune and readily detected the falsity of the fellow's statements from his own knowledge of the city. The French authorities refusing to notice him, he plead guilty to the indictment found against him. His offense not having fully perpetrated, and in consideration of the time he had been in prison, he was sentenced to be confined in the county jail for the term of five days. At the expiration of that time he departed, and soon wended his way to New Hampshire, where he began his old tricks and before the end of the year had secured a situation for five years. "Self-preservation is the first law of nature."
Next to that, in all civilized nations, is the preserv- ation of the public health. - For that purpose our legislature has wisely directed that "Boards of Health" may be established in all the cities, vil- lages and towns of the state, and has conferred upon them seemingly arbitrary and summary powers. It has been the practice for years for the several village boards, as soon as possible after they have been constituted, to meet and adopt sundry "rules and regulations" for the ensuing year. Usually they adopt those of the preceding year, with any
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amendments that may be neccessary. In the spring of 1875, the Board of Health of Saratoga Springs, composed of Dr. Frank M. Boyce, Justice Phineas F. Allen and Trustee George Hinkley, by due appointment under the laws, met and adopted the by-laws of the previous year and caused them to be published. The fifteenth by-law read as follows :
"All physicians having any case or cases of small pox, or chol- era, shall immediately report such case or cases to the board of health ; also, all persons having on their premises any case or cases of small pox, or persons known to have been exposed to the same, or of cholera, shall immediately report the same to the board of health, or any member of the same.
In the latter part of the month of November, 1875, the child of Mrs. Carrie Chase, residing on Washington street in a thickly settled part of the village, became sick with an eruptive disease. Dr. Thomas E. Allen, a physician practicing in the vil- lage, was called. The child died and several matrons in the vicinity went in to perform the last offices. About a fortnight later they were taken with a similar disease. Other physicians were called and it was pronounced the small pox, or in some instances, the varioloid. A strict quarantine was at once established and Dr. Allen was severely censured by the public for not reporting the case of
the Chase child. He replied that it did not have the small pox, but variocella, or chicken pox. Several deaths followed from the foul disease, but the excitement had about died away when on the third day of January, 1876, it became known that
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Allen had privately buried his cook, a colored woman named Ella Lewis, in Green Ridge ceme- tery, the night before. He was at once arrested and held to bail for violating the by law before quoted. His boarding house was put in quaran- tine with its inmates, including Rev. Mr. Woods, pastor of the First Baptist church, and family and Miss Alice H. Burt, a teacher in one of the public schools. Other fatal cases followed which were indirectly traceable to his negligence besides some not fatal in his house, which resulted from this exposure. He was indicted on three several charges at the February Oyer, and brought to trial at the March Sessions on the indictment alleging criminal negligence in the Lewis case. County Judge Lester presided with Justices of the Sessions John Brown and John Peck. District Attorney Ormsby had the assistance of John Van Rensselaer of Saratoga Springs ; and Dr. Allen in his defense had secured the legal services of Lewis Varney, James M. Andrews, Jr., and James P. Butler. Their first endeavor on the moving of the indict- ment, for trial was a motion to quash the indict- ment on the ground of the unconstitutionality of the law under which the by-laws were drawn. It was at once denied by Judge Lester They then endeavored to put the case over the term on affida- vits. It was met with a counter affidavit by the district attorney. Judge Lester left the question of the sufficiency of the affidavits to his associates on the bench, and they decided that the case must
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