A new view of the 1884 Roxy Druse murder case

 

Roxy in her cell at the Herkimer Jail

The Raven Review has been kind enough to publish my short fiction based on the notorious Roxy Druse murder case of 1884, entitled:

My Mother Killed My Father

An imagined witness at the Druse trial,  Jacob Timmerman gives his theory of the case. He is convinced that Roxy took responsibility for her husband's murder in order to save their daughter Mary from the consequences of her act. Although in that era, even the hint of incest or sexual abuse would never be mentioned in a courtroom, Timmerman is certain that was what drove the seventeen year old girl to take an axe to her father in their isolated farmhouse in Jordanville, NY.

As the trial unfolded in 1885, it drew wide attention in the newly sensation-seeking national press, notably The Saturday Globe, based in nearby Utica. On the one hand, Roxy was depicted as a monster for killing and butchering her husband Bill, and then feeding his remains to the family's pigs. On the other, she was defended by many early feminists and anti-capital punishment activists who petitioned the governor to commute her death sentence. Nonetheless, she was hung at Herkimer in 1887 and her daughter served ten years before being released.

In 2011, I published an historical novel inspired by the Druse murder, entitled:

Roxy Druse & The Murders of Herkimer County

In that much longer fiction, the narrator W.H. Tippetts visits Roxy and Mary in their cell act the Herkimer County Jail and eventually comes to a similar conclusion about Roxy's sacrifice of her own life in order to save that of her daughter. Tippetts, as I picture him, is not the most perceptive character and is involved in many mysteries and adventures before reaching a somewhat muddled understanding of what happened. He is based on an actual journalist who interviewed the Druse women and wrote the short history of the county's murders included in my volume.

Here is a link to my much more detailed article from 2011 on the Druse case:

Roxy Druse: Female Fiend or a Woman Wronged?

and here are some sources and suggestions for further research:

The Herkimer County Historical Society maintains extensive files on the Druse case, as well as on the even more notorious case of Chester Gillette, who was executed for the murder of Grace Brown in 1908. The Society also owns the old jail which is occasionally opened for public visits. It is a grim place and after Roxy’s death,  her spirit was said to haunt its dark corridors.

The Little Falls Historical Society holds a vast scrapbook collection compiled by my grandfather,  which includes numerous local articles on the Druse case.

The author of  The Forgotten Central New York Murder Case maintains  that the botched nature of Roxy's hanging led to the invention of the electric as a more "humane" method for taking a life. That instrument made its debut at the state prison in Auburn, NY in 1889, and Chester Gillette was one of its most famous occupants. Gillette was tried at Herkimer for the murder of Grace Brown  and held in the same jail occupied by Roxy a few years earlier.

A search of the New York Times archive under Roxalana Druse will yield several articles from the period of the trial.

The New York State Library has a comprehensive collection of local newspapers from the years of the trail and  appeals.The case attracted many opponents of capital punishment.

New edition of Judge Benton's 1856 History of Herkimer County

 

 

A new edition of Judge Nathaniel Benton’s 1856  A History of Herkimer County is now available for free download as a PDF and in a non-profit paperback edition at $5.45. Both versions are available at Wilderness Hill Books and are intended for students of local history.

 The new edition contains the historical narratives of the Colonial and Revolutionary period but omits sections on the European history of the Palatine Germans, family histories and later events. 

Those interested in consulting the complete book can find it on this link at Google Books.  Chapter VIII will be of interest to genealogists and includes sketches of some of the main Palatine families such as the Bellingers,Caslers, Helmers, Herkimers, Dockstadters, Bowmans and Folts. Chapters IX and X cover historical and local political events from 1791 down to 1855.

In the seven chapters of the Wilderness Hill edition, Judge Benton  traces the arrival of the Palatine Germans in the early 1720’s through the growing storm of the Revolution in the 1770’s and concludes with the aftereffects of that bloody struggle. He  himself was a major political figure in the county during the first half of the 19^th century but does not draw on his experience at all in this book. Born in New Hampshire, he served in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812, where he rose to adjutant general and presided over two courts martial. He came to Little Falls in 1816 to study law under George Feeter, and served as county surrogate judge, U.S. Attorney for the northern district, New York State Senator from 1828-1831, and Secretary of State of New York from 1845 to 1847. In his later years he devoted himself to composing his history of Herkimer County, drawing on old records and the memories of the few who still survived from the early years of the republic, or their children.

 

The author shares relatively few of the racial and gender prejudices of his own time, and his book is a reliable source for many otherwise unrecorded incidents from the colonial and Revolutionary eras. His observations on Iroquois culture, for example, are quite candid on the freedoms enjoyed by Iroquois women in contrast to the second class citizenship of American women of his own era:

 

"Another peculiarity marked these people. The matrons of the tribe, in council, could always propose a cessation of hostilities, and this could be done without compromising the warriors and chiefs. For this purpose a male functionary, the messenger of the matrons, who was a good speaker, was designated to perform an office which was deemed unsuitable to the female. When the proposition to drop the war club was resolved upon, the message was delivered to this officer, and he was bound to enforce it with all the powers of eloquence he possessed.

    Marriage among the Iroquois was a mere personal agreement between the parties, requiring no particular sanction and in no respect affected the rights of property, if the wife had any. Whatever goods, effects or valuables of any kind the wife had before marriage, she continued to hold absolutely, and if a separation took place, the wife was entitled to take with her all her property."

 

It is the Palatine Germans who most concern Benton and he goes to some length describing the many legal and political difficulties which these pioneers faced in attempting to escape from indentured servitude in the Hudson Valley and gaining their own land in the Schoharie and Mohawk Rivers in the 1720s. And he is very compassionate in describing their hard lives and the violent attacks they experienced, first from the French in 1757-1758, and from the British and their allies during the Revolution.

 

The Oriskany Battlefield

 

 

Although he admired Nicholas Herkimer, Judge Benton’s description of the subsequent battle of Oriskany in 1777 acknowledges that the general’s decisions cost the lives of hundreds of local militiamen who followed him:

 

 

"All previous accounts had fixed St. Leger's forces at 2000 strong, nearly half of which were Indians led by Brant, a brave, active and artful Mohawk sachem. Herkimer knew this, and he no doubt believed, as well he might, that a force superior to his own, could be sent against him, which would select its own battlefield, without in any way interfering with the investment of the fort. But noisy insubordination prevailed, and precipitated the little band of patriots into the jaws of death. Smarting under the repeated accusations heaped upon him, and irritated no doubt, the General gave orders to take up the line of march, which was received with cheers by the men, who proceeded rapidly on their way, two deep, having thrown out the usual advanced and flanking parties.

     At 10 o'clock, on the 6^th, the main body of troops passed over a causeway on a marshy ravine, the advance having commenced an ascent of the westerly slope, when a well directed fire from the enemy, in front and on both flanks, accompanied with the dismal Indian war-whoop, unfolded to the American general that his division had become involved in an almost inextricable ambuscade. Retreat was impossible, for the causeway over the marsh was already blocked up with teams; and the rear guard, just commencing the descent of the eastern declivity, commanded by one of the officers who in the morning had taunted his general with cowardice, turned a fled on the first fire of the enemy. But light did not save them from the fate that awaited their comrades on the west side of the ravine; the enemy, knowing well the ground, had gained the rear, and shot down the fugitives as they ran away from their companions. As might well be expected, the suddenness of the attack and the intensity of the enemy's ire, not only produced great disorder among the provincials, but annihilation seemed almost inevitable for a time.

 Hanyost Schuyler's mother pleads

with Benedict Arnold

(from 1877 Harpers Magazine)

 

Annihilation was averted, although losses were very high among the militia force of about a thousand. According to Benton, American reports listed 200 dead while British listed 400 Americans dead and 200 captured. The British only retreated from Fort Stanwix due to a clever ruse perpetrated on them by Herkimer's nephew, Hanyost Schuyler, popularly thought to be a madman:

 

"Hanyost Schuyler was the instrument made use of to scatter the besieging forces surrounding Fort Schuyler, and send them helter-skelter back to Canada in double quick time. The home of this strange and singular being, was near the upper Mohawk Indian castle in the present town of Danube, where he resided with his mother and brother Nicholas, and hence in early life had much intercourse with the Indians. He is described as coarse and ignorant, and but little removed from idiocy, and still possessing shrewdness enough to be made the instrument of accomplishing an important object. Hanyost was somewhat tainted with loyalty, and had been captured at Shoemaker's with Walter N. Butler, and others' he was tried by a court martial and sentenced to death. Hi mother and brother, on hearing this sad new, of course hastened to headquarters to intercede for his life. For a time their efforts were unavailing, but finally it was proposed he should repair to St. Leger's camp with a friendly Oneida Indian, and so manage to alarm the enemy as to produce an abandonment of the siege.

     Hanyost gladly embraced the alternative, leaving his brother as a hostage for the faithful execution of his mission; being assured that Nicholas should die if he faltered in the enterprise. Schuyler having procured sundry shots through his garments, that he might show he had run for dear life, departed with his Indian comrade for the enemy's camp. They had arranged between them to approach St. Leger's position from opposite directions, and were not to appear acquainted with each other, if they should meet. This affair was wisely planned, and most skillfully and adroitly executed. The instrument was well chosen. He was well known as a loyalist, and the parties to whom he first addressed himself were no unwilling auditors, no in an unfavorable mood to be deeply impressed and even awed by his ambiguous language and mysterious manner. The native American Indians, like the followers of Mahomet, were ever inspired with a peculiar respect and even reverence for idiots and lunatics. Fraternal regard strongly prompted Hanyost to apply all his energies and to leave no effort untried to secure the complete success of his mission, and relieve his brother from the fate that was hanging over him. He was completely successful, and having followed the retreating enemy to Wood Creek, he there left them, and returned to Fort Schuyler the same evening, and gave Col. Gansevoort the first intimation of Arnold's approach. It was not until Schuyler's arrival at the fort, that its commandant was able to solve the problem of St. Leger's sudden departure and precipitate flight."

 

 

I do not share the Judge’s estimation of Hanyost and made him the protagonist of my novel, Neither Rebel Nor Tory, which includes much of the same history included in Benton’s book, also available in paperback at Wilderness Hill Books and on Kindle.

 

 

The Judge's  history also has good descriptions of the Tory and Iroquois raids which followed the British defeats at Fort Stanwix and at Saratoga. This period paralleled 20^th century colonial conflicts in that the British could attack the American insurgents, freely engaged in war crimes and atrocities, but could not hold any territory.  Looked at another way, the Tories and the Iroquois raiders proved to be as elusive as the Viet Cong or the Taliban, striking from a sanctuary in Canada. which their enemies would not breach.

 

A year after Oriskany, the massacre at Andrustown in the town of Warren was intended as a prelude to a full-scale assault on Valley settlements but John Adam Helmer managed to outrun Brant’s marauders in time to warn the settlers to flee into the forts at German Flatts – thus becoming the Paul Revere of this part of the country.

 

A monument marking the massacre site near Jordanville is on Route 167 about half mile north on the left from Holy Trinity Monastery.

 

 

 

 Site of the 1780 mill in Little Falls

In July of that same year about 60 Tory/Iroquois raiders attacked Rheimenschneiders Bush, a small settlement and grist mill north of Little Falls. According to Benton, 19 captives were carried off to Canada. And according to legend, the raiders also carried off two small brass cannons but abandoned them in the forest somewhere near Stewarts Landing at the outlet of Canada Lake.  (I have searched for both Rheimenschnieders Bush and for the lost cannons, without success)
 

Benton  describes the attack on the mill at Little Falls and the dramatic escape of several local residents:

 "In June, 1782, a party of the enemy, Tories and Indians as usual, appeared at the Little falls for the sole purpose of destroying a gristmill at that place, for they do not seem to have achieved any other valorous exploit that way. The grist mill on the falls of the Mohawk became quite important to the inhabitants of the upper valley, as well as to the garrisons of Forts Herkimer and Dayton, after the destruction of those at German Flats, by Brant, a year and a half before. The enemy came upon the party at the flouring mill at night, and accomplished their designs without much difficulty. At any rate, only a few shots were fired, and one man, Daniel Petri, was killed. When the Indians entered the mill, the occupants attempted to escape the best way they could. Two of them, Cox and Skinner, secreted themselves in the raceway, under the waterwheel, and escaped death and captivity; but two others, Christian Edick and Frederick Getman, jumped into the raceway, above the mill, and there endeavored to conceal themselves, but the burning mill disclosed their hiding place and they were taken prisoners. After burning the mill the enemy retired, taking with them several prisoners."

 
Judge Benton's memory is preserved today by Benton Hall Academy and Bentons Landing in Little Falls. His stately residence on Garden Street in Little Falls, the longtime home of the YWCA, fittingly serves as the usual meeting place for the town’s historical society.

 

 

 

The Ghosts of Beardslees Mills

Beardslee Castle is a fine restaurant and wedding venue along route 5 between Little Falls and St. Johnsville, New York. It is also widely believed to be one of the most haunted places in the state. The resident spirits of the old castle were featured last Halloween on the Science Fiction Channel, and ten years earlier on the History Channel. And the voices of the spirits and their wispy images can be found on You Tube.


The restaurant’s Facebook page contains mysterious images of the many entities that have been seen, heard and felt within the castle:

One of the earliest images I have is that of a ghostly boy from 1955, who rises up behind a gravestone in an abandoned cemetery a mile north of Beardslee Castle.

As October 31 neared, I determined to visit this haunted region once again. Arriving at the castle I found busy preparations for this year’s Halloween gala, but experienced no unusual sense of chill or dread. Undeterred, I proceeded up a gravel road that parallels the East Canada Creek just east of the Castle.

It was on this very road that an old friend of mine, Pete Murphy, ran his car full of teenagers into a ditch after sighting a mysterious ghostly man carrying a lantern. I saw him right afterwards and he was definitely shaken by the experience. He said that the light veered directly at his car, blinding him and forcing him off the road. Such incidents have been reported many times over the years.

Passing across a corn field and into the woods beyond, I approached the old Beardslee Mausoleum, empty now as it has been for decades. I remembered the mausoleum as it was many years ago. The walls were lined with marble sarcophagi and the door was of iron bars. At some point in the 1960s, the teenagers who were drawn here by ghost stories broke into the mausoleum and desecrated the graves of the Beardslee family.

The mausoleum's interior is filled with empty bottles and the charred remains of old fires. An acquaintance of my father’s, Jean Marie Parsons, had some connection to the Beardslees and was outraged by the treatment of the dead. It was she who arranged for the scattered bones to be reinterred in the Little Falls Cemetery on West Monroe Street. It would seem that their spirits are now at rest but perhaps Guy, Augustus and the others are still annoyed, or at least restless, after such a disturbing interrruption of their eternal sleep.

In the same woods as the mausoleum is a small cemetery, the only trace of the larger story of the Beardslees. The graves date from 1825 to 1850, well before the castle was built around 1860, and like many cemeteries of that era, many infants and children were memorialized here by their grieving parents.

Those resting here were almost certainly residents of Beardslees Mills, a long forgotten village that grew up around the mills built by Augustus Beardslee on the East Canada Creek in the early decades of the 19th century. With the coming of the Erie Canal in 1825, commerce shifted away toward Little Falls, which boasted both waterpower for mills and access to the canal for shipment of manufactured products. I cannot be sure when the village was abandoned but its location was somewhere beneath the reservoir that backs up behind the nearby dam.

Although their village faded away, the wealth and influence of the Beardslee family did not, as evidenced by the building of their mansion, patterned after an Irish castle, many decades later. Guy Beardslee, a West Point graduate and grandson of Augustus, is said to have been a major owner of the New York Central railroad who had his own train stop near the mansion. It was Guy who first developed the waterfalls as a hydroelectric source, selling electricity to St. Johnsville and other local customers, beginning in 1898. Guy also commanded the local Home Guard, a predecessor of the National Guard, which was disarmed in the early 20th century after a drunken spree which involved the murder of several cows near Camp Jolly. (Much of this history was featured in a presentation at the Herkimer County Historical Society in 2001 by Betsy Voorhees)

Just beyond the mausoleum is a good view of the National Grid (originally Niagara Mohawk) hydroelectric plant, and beyond it the ruins of the early Beardslee mill. The site is now completely fenced off, as are the glacial era potholes that were once the scene of much partying and skinny-dipping decades ago.

Directly across from the power plant is the filled-in entrance of what was once a silver mine, whose history is quite obscure. In a 1928 article Guy Beardslee shared reminiscences of the mine, which evidently contained lead as well as silver, but which never proved profitable. The entrance was open in my boyhood and my father told me of Mexican miners who had brought north to work the ore. However, I have been unable to find any corroboration of that story. Perhaps it is their ghosts who seek to make themselves known, but I have not heard that any of disembodied voices speak Spanish.

Thinking of the lost village, I set out to find a good access point to the very sizeable lake beneath which it lies. Just east of the Castle, state route 5 crosses the East Canada Creek. Taking the first right onto Old State Road and then another right up Clay Hill Road leads to Beardslee Road. Following the dead end Beardslee Road will soon bring you to the Beardslee Reservoir Special Fishing Area.

On a beautiful late October day this point of public land reaching out onto the lake is a magical place. The lake itself was deserted, not a boat nor a person in sight, an ideal place for quiet canoeing and kayaking. This point was a popular swimming hole that my brother and I enjoyed many years ago and has not changed at all.

And out there, beneath the quiet water are the remains of a lost and forgotten village, whose spirits never seem to join the busy throng of revenants at Beardslee Castle.