History, Natural History & the Arts
Fred Currier of Waterford, NY was a man of many interests. His actual name was Alfred, but he was known as Fred. For 17 years, he was a Waterford Town Constable.
In 1921, Governor Nathan Miller appointed him Division Superintendent of Canals. When that commission was up, he returned to law enforcement as a Deputy Sheriff, later becoming a Day Jailer. [Read more…] about The Black Hand & Shootings of Constable Fred Currier
During the summer of 1869, four men would occasionally meet at Dutcher’s Boarding House in Troy, New York. All were experienced railroad men; Charles Conklin was a baggage man with the New York Central Railroad, while brothers George and William Harrison were railroad hands. The fourth man, William Allen, who had a room at the boarding house, had once been a railroad brakeman.
During one of these gatherings, the conversation turned to robbery, and more specifically, the idea of stealing the gold and silver often carried in the American Express car on Conklin’s express train. [Read more…] about An 1869 New York Central Express Train Heist
The Palmer Raids are generally understood by professional historians to have been unconstitutional, aggressive and abusive mass arrests and deportations of political enemies in 1919 and 1920. The raids and deportations in 36 cities, but especially in New York State, provoked a national reaction focused on protecting the human rights and civil liberties won during the American Revolution.
The Palmer Raids, in conjunction with raids conducted by New York State’s Lusk Committee, were some of the most egregious constitutional violations in the era now known disreputably as “The First Red Scare.” At the time the American understanding of the social contract was being intensely debated as part of a great international war between the haves and the have-nots. [Read more…] about New York State Deportation Raids & The First Red Scare
On March 24, 1800, Forlorn Hope was published within a prison in New York state, edited by an incarcerated person. In the intervening 200+ years, over 700 prison newspapers have been published from U.S. prisons in all fifty states.
The NYS Library has provided JSTOR with access to rare prison newspapers from their holdings. JSTOR has digitized those newspapers and made them freely available to the public as part of their collection, American Prison Newspapers, 1800s-present: Voices from the Inside. [Read more…] about New York State Prison Newspapers: Voices from the Inside
How does someone growing up in a family of school teachers along the Connecticut River in northeastern Vermont become a notorious criminal by the time he’s in his twenties?
“Dell” Fellows never revealed why, but his notorious reputation was more than justified. [Read more…] about School Teacher to Bandit: The Notorious Dell Fellows
I was first introduced to Joe Bolio in Camps & Tramps in the Adirondacks when author Ansel Judd Northrup encountered Bolio during the summer of 1878, while he and some friends were on a fishing trip into the Cranberry Lake region of St. Lawrence County.
Joe Bolio was said to have been a caretaker at a dam on the Grasse River, possibly in the area that is now the Grasse River Flow. [Read more…] about Joe Bolio: Adirondack Guide, Hunter, and Hermit
Louis W. Emerson made a victory lap the day after he was elected to the New York state Senate.
“Senator-elect Emerson of Warrensburg was in town yesterday and smiled on his friends and ‘friends,’” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on November 7, 1889. [Read more…] about Louis W. Emerson: Warren County Industrialist & Political Leader
The geology of Clinton County has shaped the county’s history in complex ways. There are five major geologic rock types in the county, each mined for its beauty and strength. You can see them in the buildings. [Read more…] about The Geology of Clinton County and History
A little more than a century ago, a horrendous description of an Adirondack village appeared in newspapers, including the Mail and Express published in New York City. At issue was the placement of a yet-to-be-built tubercular sanitarium. Feelings ran so high at the time, you’d swear they were selecting the next Supreme Court justice. But taking sides is nothing new, as proved by use of the written word back then to describe one of the candidate locations. As you’ll see, it’s hard to believe they were talking about the same place. [Read more…] about The Most Negative Sales Pitch Ever: An Adirondack Story
The Adirondacks in Northern New York covers approximately 5,000 square miles. Widely known for its natural beauty, recreation opportunities and tourism, it may surprise many of those travelers to learn that the Adirondacks’ trails and amenities are intrinsically connected to New York’s carceral history. [Read more…] about Prison In the Woods: Environment & Incarceration in Northern NY
You could see Charles F. Dumbleton coming for blocks. Although he wasn’t exactly well-dressed, he held his head high and had a swagger that said “I’m coming to YOU.” This despite his uncertain gait, a limp supported by his ever present crutches, which confirmed from a distance it was Taffy – the name given to one of the most notorious men in the city of Troy in the mid-nineteenth century.
He wasn’t always notorious. He had built that reputation over years of street fights, petty thievery and bullying his betters. He was a frequenter of bawdy houses, a bartender, a saloon operator, a gambler and political operative. He was one of the leaders of a band of men. Newspapers and night watchmen called them a gang – “a terror of the town,” but loyal friends on the make is a more accurate description. [Read more…] about Taffy Dumbleton: Troy’s ‘Terror of the Town’
On the evening of June 27, 1892, in a St. John’s Street boarding house in South Troy, New York, 66-year-old Thomas Jones was nearing the end of a three-day bender. He was fond of drawing a .32-caliber pistol and showing it off, something Jones had done repeatedly that day, much to the alarm of others. He hadn’t been on the job for several days at the Burden iron works, and had argued repeatedly with a coworker and co-resident of the boarding house, 22-year-old William Wesson, even offering to fight him in a duel. It was dismissed as nothing more than the ramblings of an old, annoying drunk. [Read more…] about The 1892 Troy Murder of William Wesson
Near the end of his twenty-two-year career, Gerald Chapman’s several reputations came together in headlines touting him as a Spectacular Mail Bandit, Jail Breaker, and Criminal Extraordinaire. But above all, he was most often referred to as a “super-crook,” placing him beyond the level of most American criminals, one whose exploits were followed closely by the public. A worldwide manhunt finally resulted in his capture in 1925, but a decade earlier, he had done hard time at Clinton Prison.
Chapman, whose real name was believed to be George Chartres, or Charters, first ran into trouble in New York in 1908 and served a three-year stint in Sing Sing. After release, he was again arrested for grand larceny, and in January 1912 returned to Sing Sing, this time for ten years. As a brilliant criminal, and a handful to keep track of in any prison, he was sent north to the state’s most secure facility, Clinton Prison at Dannemora, where he quickly assumed a gang leadership position. As the source of many problems for guards and administration, he was finally relegated to an isolation cell, which at Clinton offered a very stark existence. [Read more…] about Gerald Chapman: Clinton Prison Alum, America’s First ‘Super-Crook’
The one-year anniversary of the infamous Dannemora prison break recently passed, so here’s the story of an inmate linked to a pair of unusual breakouts, excerpted from my book, Escape from Dannemora.
Despite media stories claiming early on that Richard Matt and David Sweat were the first-ever escapees from Clinton Prison, some in the past did it in even more spectacular fashion, and overall, hundreds managed to escape under various circumstances. Among them was Jack Williams, a participant in two Clinton exits involving unusual components featured in no other Dannemora escapes. [Read more…] about Dannemora Escapee Jack Williams: At First, Too Big to Succeed
On July 29, 1928, Herbert R. Mackie, an inmate at what was then known as Clinton Prison (today called the Clinton Correctional Facility) in Dannemora was being escorted to a practice session for the prison’s band. He told an officer that he had forgotten something, and asked for permission to return to his cell. He was not seen again by prison staff for six weeks.
He was not at liberty during most of that time, however. He was still within the facility, busily digging a tunnel that would be a key part in what seems to have been a carefully planned plot for Mackie to escape the prison with fellow inmate Otto Sanford. [Read more…] about The Dannemora Prison Break of 1928
The hunt by law enforcement officials for two escaped convicts from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora became a nonstop reality show in the media. For several weeks, each and every movement of the convict hunters was chronicled. When one was killed and the other wounded and captures, the show was over. So was the economic windfall. [Read more…] about The Dannemora Prison Break and Extreme Tourism
Among the several dozen correctional institutions in New York State, Dannemora (officially Clinton Correctional Facility) is the largest maximum-security prison. It is located in northern Clinton County, where the cold winter weather led to a variety of nicknames incorporating the word “Siberia.” It is also known as home to the worst of the worst, housing many of our most dangerous criminals.
For more than 160 years, the North Country’s famous lockup has confined inmates guilty of the most heinous crimes: murder, rape, arson, assault, bank robbery, serial killing … and chicken theft.
Chicken theft? About now, you might find that cool Sesame Street song going through your head: “One of these things is not like the others ….” But any crime is serious, especially if you’re the victim, and the seriousness of stealing chickens was once elevated in stature for a few reasons. [Read more…] about Chicken Theives: History’s Low-Down Dirty Crooks
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