Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A Memoir of the Late William Hodge, Sen. Bigelow Bros., Buffalo, N.Y. - 1885 (82-89) PUBLIC EXECUTIONS IN BUFFALO -------- At this mention of the year 1831 I insert the following account of all the public executions of criminals which have taken place in Buffalo, the latest having occurred in that year. At a club meeting of the Buffalo Historical Society held March 24, 1879, at the residence of Capt. E. P. DORR, a paper was read by Rev. SANFORD HUNT, D. D., on the Life and Character of the late ELDER GLEZEN FILLMORE. The discussion which followed concerning his experi- ences as a pioneer of Methodism in Buffalo, and the surrounding country, was particularly full as to his exercise of his ministerial office in attending and officiating on three several occasions at the execution by hanging of men guilty of murder; these executions taking place during the first ten of his fifty years' labors as a minister on this frontier. The present paper was written by me as a volunteer sketch, —which, however, was not read before the Society, called out by this part of the paper and discussion. I had resided in Buffalo some years before there were any executions here, and I have been an eye-witness of all the public executions which have taken place in Buffalo, excepting one. Our newspapers in early times gave but meager accounts of local matters; and as I do not remember to have seen any account of some at least of these occurrences, I give from memory my recollections of those I witnessed. There have been six public executions in Buffalo, of twelve dif- ferent persons, five under the military law, by shooting, and seven under the civil law by hanging. The first and second of these took place within the first two years of the War of 1812. ELDER FILLMORE then resided in the town of Clarence, now in this county, then in Niagara, and I presume did not attend these, as they were military. He did attend the hanging of two soldiers for murder, in 1815; of WILLIAM GODFREY, a soldier, in 1819; and of the three THAYER brothers, in 1825. The first of the military executions was that of four young soldiers at once, by shooting. This I witnessed. Five soldiers had been tried by court-martial for deserting; all were found guilty, and sentenced to be shot. Five graves were dug, in front of which plain board coffins were placed. The five condemned men knelt on these coffins, having their arms pinioned. When the white caps which they wore were drawn down over their faces, a platoon of soldiers with muskets silently marched up in front of them. One, however, having (unbeknown to himself) been reprieved, was to be spared; four only were to receive the volley. After the firing only three of these four fell. One still remained in his kneeling position, when a subaltern officer, near by, quickly walked up quite near with a pistol in his hand, and shot him through the head; when he also fell, on his coffin. An awful thing it was to stand near by and see a young man in full vigor of life thus put out of existence. I remember seeing the brains oozing out of his skull as he was lifted up and laid in his coffin; though, as I was only eight years of age, I of course did not realize the horror of the deed as I would have done if of maturer years. The condemned men as they knelt on their coffins were facing the north. I was standing at their left, about thirty feet away and a little forward toward the front. Two of the three first shot fell backward into their graves, and soldiers standing by jumped down and lifted them up; and when the fourth was shot, the four bodies were put into the coffins and buried. The fifth man, who was to escape by reprieve, after experiencing the horrible dread of being shot, fainted at the report of the muskets and fell upon his coffin. It was some time before he became conscious, and could understand and believe that his life had been spared by a reprieve. His youth and the fact that he had been induced by older men to desert, had operated to free him from the threatened penalty. This execution took place at about the place where Court street now runs, and west of Niagara street a short distance. I should locate it to the northward of the WILKESON homestead and a little further west. At that time the ground in that vicinity was quite uneven, lying in knolls and hollows, and considerably covered with bushes, and many scattering trees. The second execution was also military. This I did not witness. It took place in the spring of 1813, in GENERAL SMYTH'S cantonment on "Flint Hill." This was on part of the GRANGER farm lying between Main street and the present Forest Lawn cemetery. It was also between the CHAPIN farm now owned by Elam R. Jewett and the present residence of Mr. BRAYLEY. The third execution was in 1815. In January of this year the war closed. During the following summer, early one morning, an orderly and two private soldiers with muskets were traveling along the road near the bank of Niagara river, one or two miles below Black Rock, or rather below CONJOCKETY'S creek. Passing a farmer's garden, they saw fit to go in and help themselves to some of its produce. The owner's name was JAMES BURBEE, and his son, a young man, seeing them in the garden, went out and ordered them away. After some altercation the subaltern drew up his musket, and shot young BURBEE down. The three were arrested and put in jail. After lying there some time they broke jail and escaped. The orderly who did the deed was never retaken. The other two, CHARLES THOMPSON and JAMES PETERS, after being hid for two or three days in ROSWELL HOSFORD'S barn, on "The Plains," were discovered, brought back to jail and in due time tried, found guilty of murder and hung. This was in August, 1816. I was present at this and all the remaining executions which I shall mention. This was one of those that ELDER FILLMORE attended, in the exercise of his ministerial office. The gallows was erected near the place where the four soldiers were shot. The graves of these men were dug, and their bodies buried, at the foot of the gallows. As the criminal law has been administered in this State for fifty years or more, these two young men would not have been executed. The fourth capital punishment was the hanging of WILLIAM GODFREY. He was a soldier, —stationed at Fort Niagara on duty as an orderly sergeant. One of his fellow soldiers had been guilty of a misdemeanor, and Godfrey was ordered to put him in the Black Hole, a place of punishment. The soldier resisted, and caused Godfrey much trouble, so that he was obliged to use strong force to get him in. This resistance and his abusive language had greatly excited and enraged GODFREY. After the soldier was finally in the prison hole, and the sergeant had turned to leave him, he applied some bitter epithets to GODFREY, who then made a backhanded thrust with his musket, the bayonet of which entered the soldier's body, and caused his death. Fort Niagara being in Niagara County, which then included Buffalo, as county-seat, GODFREY was arrested and brought to Buffalo, put in jail, and tried for murder and found guilty. His case was taken to the Court of Appeals, and several months elapsed before it was examined. Our then sheriff, COL. JAMES CRONK, who resided on his farm on Harris' Hill in the town of Clarence, was so confident that GODFREY would have a new trial, that he took the responsibility of bringing him home with him, and allowing him to remain there several months, doing chores and working about the house and garden. When the time came near for receiving the decision of the Court of Appeals, Sheriff CRONK mounted his horse and accompanied GODFREY, who was on foot, to Buffalo. The sheriff stopped a little while at my father's tavern, while GODFREY walked on toward the village. After "taking something" at the bar, Col. CRONK told my father that he was taking GODFREY back to jail. Being asked if he was not afraid that he would run away, he answered " No," saying that he had the fullest confidence in him; that if he should not overtake him he would go straight to the jail and wait there until he came, which he actually did. Not many days after this, the decision of the Court of Appeals came, confirming the verdict, and the penalty was inflicted December 3, 1819. This was the second of the three executions attended by ELDER FILLMORE. The gallows was erected a little north of the Terrace, be- tween Pearl and Franklin streets, there being no buildings very near the spot. A grave was dug at its foot, and after the hanging the body was placed in a plain pine cofifin, and buried there. Whether it remained there I cannot say. Probably some of the medi- cal profession of that day could give some information on this point which I am unable to furnish. In this case a different result had been expected by most people. The sheriff was disappointed, and GODFREY had expected at least a new trial, if not an acquittal. I well remember how, when he was standing on the platform of the gallows, with the rope around his neck, I did not believe that he would really be hung. And when the drop fell and left him swinging by the neck, I felt that a great wrong had been done to a fellow mortal, in the name of the Law. After hanging a few moments his hand relaxed from holding his white pocket-handkerchief, when it dropped and was carried by the wind some distance away, falling to the ground. The Law was intended to mete out justice to all, but I never be- lieved it was just in GODFREY'S case. The fifth public execution which I witnessed was that by hanging, of the three brothers THAYER, June 17, 1825, for the murder of JOHN LOVE. The story of this affair has so often been told that the people of the city and county have become familiar with the main facts of it, yet I will state particularly, as 1 remember them now, some incidents connected especially with the execution, which I have never seen published. The day was fine; the people for two hundred miles around had begun to arrive the day before, and continued to come all through the night, and the morning before the hanging. The roads were full of persons coming to the village to see the "hanging-bee" as they called it. There were more people here on that day than ever before, and all our merchants had profitable day's business of it, as did also our tavern- keepers. The military forces were called out, and toward noon formed in a hollow square in front of the old jail on Washington street. I was at the time a member of a uniformed rifle company, BARENT I. STAATS, Captain. The condemned men with some other persons were received within the square, when we were ordered to march, the band playing that solemn tune called "Roslyn Castle." We marched to the gallows, which had been erected on or very near the spot where the four soldiers were shot, and the two soldiers hung for murder, as before related, —that is, where Court street now is, a little west of Niagara street. Upon reaching the place the military were again formed in a large hollow square around the gallows. Our rifle company composed a part of the front line. "The THAYERS" ascended the steps, to the platform. Some little time was occupied in seating them, reading the death-warrant, and adjusting the ropes around their necks, after which a most impressive prayer was offered by ELDER GLEZEN FILLMORE, which was distinctly heard by the many thousands present. During this the condemned brothers knelt with the minister, and the silence was almost breathless, naught but the words of prayer being heard. When these were ended all rose from their kneeling posture; the doomed men shook hands with those on the platform and then with each other. It was a most impressive scene! When each had been placed by the sheriff so as to stand under the beam and on the fatal drop (which was made to swing back), and directly under the hook to which the rope was attached, their white caps were drawn down over their faces; and then the awful silence was broken by the terrible wailing of the three brothers, which grew more loud and intense each moment, until the sharp sword of the sheriff severed the rope that held the scaffold. Nor did it cease or lessen even then, till their heels had left the platform, which was distinctly heard sliding down, as it sprung from under their feet, —and they had dropped to the length of their ropes; when it seemed echoed a thousand-fold by a simultaneous and involun- tary exclamation from the thousands of spectators, who till then had stood as if almost breathless, silently gazing on the dreadful scene. The gallows stood facing the east, our rifle company exactly in front, forming a part of the front line. There had that morning been some hand-bills sold about the streets by the boys, representing the gallows as erected, and the Three THAYERS hanging thereon. One was figured as having one of his legs drawn up, which proved a true representation, this circumstance actually occurring. While we were yet standing in the line, a question arose among us as to the relative position of the three corpses. I was allowed to walk up near the gallows, to ascertain the fact. The coffin of each had been placed in front of him with his name painted on it. I found that the eldest brother, ISRAEL, was on the right. NELSON, the second, was next, and ISAAC, the youngest, was on the left. After the bodies were taken down and placed in the cofitins, they were delivered to the friends of the brothers. The military were then marched up to Main street, and dismissed. The sixth and last public execution was that of DIBDELL HOLT, for the murder of his wife. This I also witnessed — but there was nothing so peculiar in the event that I need to add particular description of it. The specially noticeable feature of it, was the speedy admini- stration of the penalty. The crime was committed in the month of October. HOLT plead guilty, and was executed November 22, 1831. ===========================================================================