FAMOUS TRIALS OF PEOPLE FROM NEW YORK
1 6 6 5 Trials for Witchcraft in New York 1 7 3 5 John Peter ZENGER Trial 1 7 4 1 New York Conspiracy (excerpts) These three links go together The Negro Plot trial A). The Trial of Caesar (VARCK's) & Prince (AUBOYNEAU) B). The Trial of John HUGHSON Sara his wife & Sarah his daughter 1 8 0 7 Aaron BURR Trial 1 8 5 8 Ira STOUT Trial, Rochester, New York 1 8 6 0 Trial of William FEE, Rochester, New York Murderer Mounts Scaffold To Die Just 77 Years Ago Lyons- All morning they came, tight-lipped farmers from Wayne County's green hills, their dry hair plastered close against their ruddy foreheads. Behind them, steaming in the spring sun of March 23, 1860, rolled their freshly-turned fields. It was a epochal day in Lyons for the only hanging ever to be recorded in Wayne County's annals was scheduled. At 1:30 in the north hall of the jail, WiIliam FEE would step from the oak timber scaffold to die for the murder of "an unknown woman..." The last nail had been driven and the 250-pound rock which would lift the prisoner into the air when he took the fatal step had been put in place. Today, 77 years afterward, there is nothing more than a yellowed document found last week in the County Building to testify that on the 23rd day of March, 1860, "one Williarn FEE who was sentenced by the court of oyer and terminer for murder was executed by hanging by the neck until he was dead." The six-foot rope made of "linen shoe thread closely wound" that had been used to execute one Ira STOUT of Rochester in 1858 had been eaten by mice in some dark attic. The scaffold was chopped for kindling wood and the great stone was rolled into the river and forgotten. A small man, not over 5 feet and weighing but 130 pounds, William FEE had a thoroughly "Hibernian countenance," so the papers of his day claim, "and an indescribable hard look which rendered his appearance anything but prepossessing." During the fast-moving three-day trial which jarred the complacent village, he was accused of robbery and murder. and his visage, during the recounting, did not change. Seats were at a premium in the court room and in the gallery behind the curtains there was a crowd of ladies, listening breathlessly to the testimony. During the noon hour, seats were bargained for and sold at 10 cents to 50 cents apiece. So great was the pressure in the small room that "at one point a young man fell down in a fainting fit." "The man with the Hibernian countenance" sat quietly in the prisoner's bench, apparently disinterested in the stream of witnesses who mounted the stand. Among those was H. D. WHITBECK, the coroner, who said the woman had been strangled; fluttery Mrs. Sarah FULLER, who claimed the "unknown female" had come to her home begging for food and that she had carried a carpetbag and wore a bright red plaid shawl;" and Nathan FITCH, the man who found the body. When the verdict, at last, was read, FEE spoke for the first time. "Damn tough," he muttered. "But I'm not going to lie awake thinking about it." Judge KNOX, stern and sepulchered in his black gown, glowered at the prisoner and boomed, "no power on earth can extricate you from the toils you have woven about you." Tears streamed down many faces. Fee struggled to retain his feelings but, as sentence was pronounced, he "burst into an agony of sobs." Even when he stood on the scaffold, resplendent in a new suit of clothes purchased for the occasion, Fee protested his innocence. On either side of him stood a Catholic priest. In one hand he held a black Crucifix. The hood came down over his white face. In five minutes it was all over. Outside, in the yard, Lyons Light Guard rode in and out of the lanes of people. They were silent. But when the priests walked slowly through the arched door, signifying the epoch had ended, there was a thunderous applause and the hearty laugh of farmers on a holiday. This is an excerpt from the following link: http://www.cgazette.com/common/standing/WC-historical_society Then scroll down to and click on: wchistoricalmurderer.htm 1 8 7 3 The Trial of Susan B. ANTHONY for Illegal Voting 1 9 0 1 The Trial of Leon F. CZOLGOSZ (Assasination of Pres.McKINLEY) 1 9 0 6 The Harry THAW Trial (Sanford WHITE , famous architect, Murder in New York City) 1 9 0 9 The Croton Lake Murder Six Italian immigrants were tried, convicted & executed for the same murder. It was legal, but was it just? 1 9 1 1 The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Trial 1 9 3 5 The Bruno HAUPTMANN (LINDBERGH Kidnapping) Trial (A New York City Resident) 1 9 5 1 The TOSENBERG Trial Thanks to Miriam Medina Return to COURT MAIN Return to CIVIL MAIN Return to Newspaper: BROOKLYN STANDARD UNION MAIN Return to BROOKLYN MAIN