Still working on Hattie, her children, Frank and Clara Roe and the murder of Hatties fourth husband. Man...it just keeps getting crazier. The testimonies are organized now and the side stories...wowee...my head is spinning. So while I make my way through all of this material and construct the story...I keep in mind that Hatties fate remains a mystery. That last bit of news about her was published in 1908. She was one of three women up for parole, but her case at that time was deferred for consideration. She was 57 at that time and had served 21 years of her life sentence and had returned from the Matteawan Asylum to Auburn Womens Prison...pronounced cured. I checked with a NYS archive in Albany to find out if I can learn about her parole and those records are not available for the public...even if I explained my mission with my most charming and persuasive argument. The best I can do right now is to tell you that 12 women were paroled from Auburn that year. If Hattie was paroled...where would she go. Frank was tucked away in his own cell in Auburn Prison serving his multi-year sentence for Grand Larceny. He had been released from Dannemora just six months before and spent every one of those six months engaged in crime, working his way between Buffalo and Auburn...stealing and selling his ill-gotten gains which included horses, wagons and farm equipment. He made his way to Auburn with a handsome team of horses and worked for local farmer England Morris who ended up with them...selling them to the Auburn Creamery. Selling another horse to Auburnian John Carroll, Roe decided to make his way back to his old stomping grounds and relieve the good folks of Erie County of more of their property. After a crime spree in western New York, he returned to Auburn to sell more horses and equipment. Roe stashed a good amount of his booty in barns located on Lansing and on Court Streets. He was making a nice living with his illegal activities and so it was off to the Avon area to see what he could cull from the locals. He hired himself out again...gained knowledge and access to the farm of Jim Smith. But Smith...worried about his property...had installed an alarm on his barn. When Roe tried to pull off another robbery, it all went awry and the jig was up. He ran. Roe was finally caught by a group of farmers who had given him chase when they suspected him of thievery. He had riled up the farmers in Erie and Cayuga Counties and before the officials could calm things down and return their property, a lynch mob had gathered. Fortunately, Roe had dropped his revolver in the melee and before he could retrieve it, he was met with the revolver of Bert Glaser looking him squarely in the eyes. I found him still in Auburn prison in 1920...either on an extended sentence...or having run afoul of the law. Again. And Clara? She has so far melted into the background...with or without the strange Mr. Curtiss. Meanwhile, I keep keepin on....reading testimonies from the trial...neighbors....who called Hattie off and family...hers...most decidedly off and Emils...heartbroken and angry...the good Dr. Philips who fed Hatties daily morphine needs and pronounced her insane from chronic drug abuse....and Hattie herself...alternating from screaming and raging...and graciously thanking the judge as if at a tea party. Are you hooked on this saga? I am.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 18:27:19 +0000
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