HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
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a gun. The father snatched the weapon away, and each tried to assist the wounded brother. In this position they were disc covered by other parties, and the brother soon expired. At the trial Joseph accused his father of having committed the deed, and the father as strenuously accused the son. The wounded brother was unable to tell which was the guilty one; and as the father had the gun in his hand when first seen, the preponderance of evidence was against him, and he was executed. Joseph some years after, when on his death bed, confessed that he himself was the murderer, and that his father was innocent of the crime for which he was hung. A man named
Court House.
Shaffer was tried about the same time, having murdered his sister by splitting her skull open with an ax. The evidence being conclusive, he too was sentenced to suffer the extreme penalty of the law. Executions in those days took place in public, and were made the occasions of a general gathering of the people for miles around. The gallows on which Shaffer and Wood were hung was erected on the grounds a short distance below the southern terminus of South Hamilton street, between the residence of Hon. J. O. Whitehouse and Springside. Thousands upon thousands were present, covering all the surrounding elevations. The morning of the execution opened bright and clear. Joseph Thorn, Sheriff of DUCHESS County, had previously issued ,an order to Capt. Slee, directing him to parade his company of artillery, for the purpose of escorting the condemned
Dutchess County Historical Society
