The June 10, 1882 "Outrage" that Enraged the Pelham Manor Protective Club
That day Kate Folz finally reached a rather desolate and unpopulated area known as Pelham Woods near Pelham's border with New Rochelle between the New Haven Branch Line and the Pelham border. There, where the railroad tracks crossed Boston Post Road, she encountered a local gang of five young ruffians from New Rochelle, some of whom already had criminal records and had served jail time. The brutal encounter that followed became fodder for a host of newspaper reports throughout the region and a massive manhunt to track down the ruffians.
The gang robbed Ms. Folz of her earrings. They tore up her carpet bag as they searched for valuables and destroyed the clothing within. They demanded money and forced the poor woman to beg for her life. They stole nearly all the money she had, a little more than seven dollars. The thugs next assaulted her repeatedly.
Given the sensibilities of the time, no newspaper reported that the thugs raped their victim. Yet, the brutal attack became widely known, euphemistically, as the "Outrage." A local newspaper warned, ominously, as follows: "had the scamps come across any other woman, a wife, daughter or sister of some of the better known citizens might have been as grossly outraged." In short, most reports made clear that Kate Folz had been raped repeatedly.
The brutal repeated assaults of Kate Folz ended only when a man named Peter Berger, a New Rochelle trustee, approached the area driving his wagon on Boston Post Road and heard the woman's screams and cries. The thugs fled the scene. As one report put it: "They only desisted from their brutal outrageous assaults when they saw Peter Berger, one of the village trustees, approaching. Mr. Berger kindly put the woman in his wagon and brought her to the village.'" Peter Berger saw the fleeing ruffians and recognized them as a gang of no-goods from New Rochelle. Mr. Berger helped the poor woman into his wagon and returned to New Rochelle to get her help. I have written before about the brutal crimes committed against Kate Folz. See Tue., Mar. 01, 2005: The "Outrage" of June 10, 1882 -- A Sad Mystery Solved.
Residents of both Pelham and New Rochelle were outraged by the robbery and assault. The Pelham Manor Protective Club was willing to pledge a $100 reward for the arrest and conviction of the robbers – a considerable sum. In addition, the citizens of New Rochelle participated in a crowded town meeting to address the situation and even decided to organize a “Citizens’ Protective Association,” much like the nearby Pelham Manor Protective Club, as a result of the attack.
Indeed, the Pelham Manor Protective Club had been organized only the year before to help guard against precisely such violations of the law. During the early 1880s, a decade before the Village of Pelham Manor was incorporated in 1891, local residents founded the Pelham Manor Protective Club as a "vigilance committee" intended, principally, to deal with crimes committed by so-called "tramps" who roamed the region hopping on and off the New Haven Branch Line trains. The founders, however, had broader foresight and organized the "Club" as a means of working together for the good of their community. Nearly the entire adult male population of the area – 52 local residents – subscribed as members. Only one household chose not to subscribe to the organization.
Within two days the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club met to address what the minutes of the meeting described as "a reported outrage committed on June 10th at or near the town line of Pelham." At the time, the Executive Committee consisted of Robert C. Black, William E. Barnett, Hamlin Q. French, and Thomas D. De Witt (who served as Secretary and kept the minutes). The minutes of the June 12, 1882 special meeting of the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club included the following entry:
"Mr. French moved, that Mr. T. D. De Witt, be appointed a committee of one to ascertain the truth of a reported outrage committed on June 10th at or near the town line of Pelham, and to offer, if he considers it necessary, to the proper persons of New Rochelle, our assistance in the amount of One Hundred Dollars provisional on the conviction of one or more of the ruffians, and he is instructed to report progress as soon as possible. Carried."
New Rochelle was just as outraged as its neighbor, Pelham Manor. Town Supervisor Henry D. Phelps issued a call for a mass meeting to address the outrageous crime. On Thursday, June 15, New Rochelle residents crowded into Town Hall for the meeting. Col. Richard Lathers who owned land in New Rochelle and Pelham (including the area known today as Pelhamwood) was chosen Chairman of the meeting. After rousing speeches, a motion to raise $500 by subscription to serve as a reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of one or more of the thugs was passed. The money was raised immediately, with one person giving $100 and several others giving $50 each. Additionally, a motion to organize a "Citizens’ Protective Association" like the Pelham Manor Protective Club was also adopted unanimously.
Within a short time, Thomas De Witt of the Pelham Manor Protective Club approached New Rochelle officials to offer an additional $100 toward the proposed reward. The approach was not successful, though. According to the minutes of the August 22, 1882 meeting of the Executive Committee of the organization, Thomas De Witt issued the following report:
"In regard to the Outrage committed in New Rochelle, I have failed to learn anything from the authorities in New Rochelle, and therefore I have not deemed it my duty to take any steps in the matter or offer them any assistance. Therefore I ask to be discharged as a committee."
In the meantime, Peter Berger was able to help New Rochelle police identify the five thugs who fled New Rochelle as the police closed in. They were: Floyd Fowler, John Cody, William McRedmond, James Killeen, and William Brennan.
Floyd Fowler, one of the five, was the first to be caught. On Tuesday, July 4, 1882, he was arrested and, the following day, was taken before Police Justice C. E. Keene. He was committed to the County Jail to await the action of the Grand Jury. He promptly was indicted and agreed to become an informant and turn State's evidence against his co-conspirators, whom he identified to the authorities.
John Cody and William McRedmond were the next to be captured. On the morning of Wednesday, August 23, 1882, the two men were riding downtown on a Second Avenue elevated train. Also on the train were two New York City police officers as well as a New Rochelle resident named Charles E. Van Beuschaatten. Van Beuschaatten recognized the two thugs and alerted the two patrolmen on the train, pointing out that they were wanted for the brutal assault in Westchester County. The officers approached and questioned the young men who admitted that they were from New Rochelle. The police arrested the pair and took them to the Police Central Office.
With James Killeen and William Brennan still on the run, criminal proceedings went forward against John Cody. At a criminal trial in the fall of 1882, Kate Folz was unable to identify Cody as one of the men who assaulted her. Based on the testimony of Fowler (who had agreed to turn State's evidence), Cody was found guilty in a jury trial and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment at hard labor in the Albany Penitentiary. McRedmond, it appears, was tried shortly thereafter and was similarly convicted and sentenced.
James Killeen was the next to be caught. After the crime he had fled from New Rochelle to escape capture. He took a job in the blacksmith shop of the West Shore Railroad Company at the Wilbur Tunnel in Kingston, Ulster County. On Thursday, December 28, police who had tracked him to Kingston arrested Killeen in the blacksmith shop without incident. Killeen was quickly tried and convicted in a jury trial that ended on Wednesday, February 21, 1883. According to one news report, once again Kate Folz was unable to identify her attacker during the trial. But, "the evidence of Fowler, who turned State's evidence, proved sufficient to convict, the jury being absent but fifteen minutes."
William Brennan was the last remaining fugitive. He apparently was never caught. According to one report published in 1884, he fled the country.
The story was not over, however. On January 1, 1883, future U.S. President Grover Cleveland took office as Governor of the State of New York. During his brief two-year term as governor, Cleveland was a Democrat who portrayed himself as a progressive reformer. Soon, the citizens of Pelham Manor and New Rochelle were outraged to learn that on Thursday, September 18, 1884, Governor Cleveland pardoned William Cody, one of the five thugs who assaulted Kate Folz. Local newspapers expressed the outrage of the local citizenry. One newspaper fumed:
"Governor Cleveland in exercising executive clemency in behalf of this man Cody invites from every law abiding citizen of New Rochelle and the whole country, the most scathing criticism. While we have observed with alarm the great number during the last few weeks pardoned by our reform executive, we did not expect this demoralizing blow to strike so near to the homes and legal government of this community. It is for the people to say if they approve of the course pursued by the man who poses before the world as a reformer."
Though the end may have been unsatisfying, the Outrage of 1882 thereafter faded into obscurity. Its impact, however, did not. The Pelham Manor Protective Club and its inspirational spinoff, the Citizens' Protective Association of New Rochelle, redoubled their efforts as "vigilance committees." Indeed, the Pelham Manor Protective Club hired security personnel to patrol the region, clocking in on punch clocks throughout the night as they worked to keep Pelham Manor safe in the years before the settlement existed as a village and had a police department.
Detail of 1881 Bromley Map Showing Boston Post Road Where
It Crossed Pelham's Border with New Rochelle Through the Jessup
Estate Where the Assault on Kate Folz (also Foltz) on June 10, 1882.
Source: "Town of Pelhham. [with] Pelham Manor" in G. W. Bromley
& Co., Atlas of Westchester County, New York. From Actual Surveys
and Official Records by G. W. Bromley & Co., Civil Engineers, pp.
56-57 (Philadelphia, PA: G. W. Bromley & Co., 1881). NOTE: Click
on Image to Enlarge.
* * * * *
Below is the text of a number of items that relate to the Outrage committed against Kate Folz in Pelham Woods on Saturday, June 10, 1882 and its aftermath. Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.
"At a special meeting of the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club, held at the residence of T. D. De Witt, Jun 12th 1882. Messrs. Black, Barnett, French and De Witt were present.
Minutes of last meeting read and adopted.
Mr. French moved, that Mr. T. D. De Witt, be appointed a committee of one to ascertain the truth of a reported outrage committed on June 10th at or near the town line of Pelham, and to offer, if he considers it necessary, to the proper persons of New Rochelle, our assistance in the amount of One Hundred Dollars provisional on the conviction of one or more of the ruffians, and he is instructed to report progress as soon as possible. Carried.
On motion Committee adjourned.
Thos D. De Witt
Secretary. . . .
At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club, held at the residence of Mr. Geo. H. Reynolds, Aug. 22nd 1882. Messrs. Reynolds, French, Barnett, and De Witt, were present. . . .
The following report of Thos. D. De Witt in regard to the Outrage committed in New Rochelle, read and adopted.
'In regard to the Outrage committed in New Rochelle, I have failed to learn anything from the authorities in New Rochelle, and therefore I have not deemed it my duty to take any steps in the matter or offer them any assistance. Therefore I ask to be discharged as a committee.' . . ."
Source: RECORDS OF THE PELHAM MANOR PROTECTIVE CLUB OF PELHAM MANOR, N.Y. pp. 23, 24, 27, 28 (Handwritten records in leather-bound volume in the collections of The Westchester County Historical Society, Elmsford, NY).
“HIGHWAY ROBBERY IN WESTCHESTER.
The New-Rochelle policemen are looking for five young highwaymen, residents of that place, who on Saturday last stopped a woman named Kate Folz on the Boston turnpike, robbed her of her earrings, a little over $7, leaving her only 25 cents, and then rifled her carpet-bag and nearly destroyed it, tearing up the clothing that was in it. She said yesterday that they demanded her money or they would kill her. She begged for her life and gave them her money. They then outrageously assaulted her, and only desisted when they saw Mr. P. Berger, one of the village Trustees, approaching. They then fled, and Mr. Berger brought the unfortunate woman to New-Rochelle.”
Source: Highway Robbery in Westchester, N.Y. Times, Jun. 14, 1882, Vol. XXXI, No. 9600, p. 8, col. 5 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).
“NEW-ROCHELLE RESIDENTS AROUSED.
The robbery and assault upon Kate Folz, on the Boston turnpike in New-Rochelle, last Saturday, has created wide-spread indignation in the town. The Police have the names of the five desperadoes who did the deed, but they are not yet revealed to the public. Town Supervisor Henry D. Phelps issued a call for a mass-meeting, and last evening the Town Hall was crowded with citizens anxious to punish the perpetrators. Richard Lathers was chosen Chairman of the meeting, and Mr. Phelps was Secretary. Earnest speeches were made by the Chairman and by Messrs. J. F. Harrison, Charles Roosevelt, George W. Lloyd, J. Q. Underhill, George Ferguson, and L. M. Ferguson. Mr. Harrison moved that the meeting subscribe $500 as a reward for the capture of the offenders, and the motion, being seconded by George Ferguson, was unanimously adopted. A motion to organize a ‘Citizens’ Protective Association’ was also adopted unanimously.”
Source: New-Rochelle Residents Aroused, N.Y. Times, Jun. 16, 1882, Vol. XXXI, No. 9602, p. 5, col. 3.
"Outrageous Assault. -- Who Next.
-----
Kate Foltz, a German woman was grossly assaulted by some ruffians, Saturday week. An exchange says:
'She was directed to a lady in Pelham Manor who wanted help, and about eleven that morning crossed the bridge over the Harlem Branch R. R., near the Ronald's place, when she was seized by two young ruffians -- who were assisted by five others -- hurried their victim into the woods where she was treated in a shocking and revolting manner. Her stiffled [sic] cries attracted Mr. Berger who immediately repaired to the spot. The ruffians disappeared but not soon enough, Mr. Berger recognizing five of them. Warrants for the arrest of the five recognized were issued. The ruffians also stole a pocket book containing over $7 from their victim. Miss Foltz is about forty years of age.'
The New Rochelle authorities offer $500 reward for the arrest of the young scoundrels, and the people of the vicinity are intensely excited over the affair, and well they may be, for had the scamps come across any other woman, a wife, daughter or sister of some of the better known citizens might have been as grossly outraged. It is time that some united action is taken by the men folk of the vicinity, and arrest and punishment made prompt and sure!"
Source: Outrageous Assault. -- Who Next, The Port Chester Journal [Portchester, NY], Jun. 29, 1882, Vol. XIV, No. 710, p. 1, col. 6.
"COUNTY NEWS IN A LUMP. . . .
The town and village authorities of New Rochelle, have offered a reward of $500 for the arrest and conviction of the persons who committed an outrage upon Miss Kate Foltz and robbed her on Saturday afternoon, June 10. . . ."
Source: COUNTY NEWS IN A LUMP, The Greenburgh Register [Dobbs Ferry, NY], Jul. 1, 1882, Vol. 2, No. 47, p. 2, col. 4.
"WESTCHESTER COUNTY. . . .
NEW-ROCHELLE. -- Floyd Fowler, one of the young men who about ten days ago committed a felonious assault upon the person of Kate Folz, was arrested on Tuesday night, and yesterday was taken before Police Justice C. E. Keene. He was committed to the County Jail to await the action of the Grand Jury. The complainant, Kate Folz, was detained as a witness. . . ."
Source: WESTCHESTER COUNTY, New-York Tribune, Jul. 6, 1882, Vol. XLII, No. 13017, p. 8, col. 4 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).
"NABBED ON AN ELEVATED TRAIN.
TWO YOUNG VILLAINS FROM WESTCHESTER COUNTY CAPTURED.
While Patrolmen Leonard and Cox, of the steam-boat squad, were riding down town on a Second-avenue elevated train early yesterday morning, Mr. Charles E. Van Beuschaatten, a resident of New-Rochelle, pointed out to them two rough young men, who, he said, were being sought for by the authorities of Westchester County to answer charges of rape and robbery. The officers spoke to the young men, who admitted that they were from New-Rochelle, and they were thereupon arrested and taken to the Police Central Office. They gave their names as John Cody and William McCudden as two of a gang of five young men who had assaulted and robbed a German woman named Kate Foltz. The crime was committed on the 10th of June. The woman had been in service at Greenwich, Conn. and at Stamford, and on the day in question was making her way on foot to this City. She was walking along the railroad track between New-Rochelle and Pelham Manor when she was met by Cody, McCudden, James Killeen, William Brennan, and Floyd Fowler, all residents of New Rochelle, who dragged her into the woods. After assaulting her they robbed her of $9. She was found some hours later in the woods. An iceman who was driving along the road saw the five young ruffians coming out of the woods and he gave information to the authorities. They fled the county, and a reward of $500 was offered by the Trustees of the village of New-Rochelle for their apprehension. Fowler surrendered himself and gave testimony against his companions. Killeen and Brennan are still at large. Cody and McCudden were taken to New-Rochelle by Chief Molloy last evening. The Chief said that Cody, McCudden, Killeen, and Brennan were members of a gang of young ruffians who have long been the terror of the respectable residents of New-Rochelle and the neighboring villages."
Source: NABBED ON AN ELEVATED TRAIN -- TWO YOUNG VILLAINS FROM WESTCHESTER COUNTY CAPTURED, N.Y. Times, Vol. XXXI, No. 9661, Aug. 24, 1882, p. 8, col. 2.
"CAPTURED AND IN JAIL.
John Cody and William McRedmond, two of the New Rochelle ruffians who committed the assault upon and afterwards robbed Kat Folz, in the Pelham woods, near the railroad track, on the 10th of June last (as reported in the JOURNAL at that time), were arrested in New York city on Wednesday of last week, and are now in the County Jail, to await the action of the Grand Jury. The offense for which these young ruffians are now held is one that, if convviction follows, will undoubtedly doom them to the prison walls of Sing Sing for years to come. Fowler, one of the gang, it will be remembered, surrendered himself and gave testimony against his companions. Killeen and Brennan, the other two of the gang, are still at large."
Source: CAPTURED AND IN JAIL, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Sep. 1, 1882, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 21, p. 3, col. 2.
"CODY SENTENCED. -- John Cody, one of the scoundrels who committed the assault upon Kate Folz, at New Rochelle, on the 10th of July last, was on Wednesday last week sentenced by Judge Gifford to seven years' imprisonment at hard labor in the Albany Penitentiary. Cody's accomplice, McRedmond, will be tried at the next term of the Court."
Source: CODY SENTENCED, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Oct. 13, 1882, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 27, p. 3, col. 4.
"WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
James Killeen, the fourth of the New Rochelle roughs who assaulted Kate Foltz, on the highway last Spring, has been captured at Kingston, N.Y. . . ."
Source: WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. Times, Dec. 23, 1882, Vol. XXXII, No. 9765, p. 10, col. 4.
"A SCOUNDREL CAUGHT. -- On Thursday Jas. Caleen [sic], one of a gang of ruffians who criminally assaulted Kate Folz, a German woman, near New Rochelle last June, was arrested in the blacksmith shop of the West Shore Railroad Company at the Wilbur Tunnel, Kingston, Ulster County, where he had secured work when he fled from New Rochelle to escape the consequences of his crime."
Source: A SCOUNDREL CAUGHT, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Dec. 29, 1882, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 38, p. 3, col. 3.
"One More Convicted.
James Killeen, one of the scoundrels who committed the assault upon Kate Folz in the Pelham woods, last summer, as fully reported in the PIONEER of that time, was on Wednesday tried and convicted before County Judge Gifford and a jury, of the said offence. Mr. Keogh appeared in behalf of the people against the accused, and Francis Larkin defended Killeen. Kate Folz could not identify Killeen as one of the parties who assaulted her, but the evidence of Fowler, who turned State's evidence, proved sufficient to convict, the jury being absent but fifteen minutes. Judge Gifford will pass sentence next Wednesday."
Source: One More Convicted, The New Rochelle Pioneer, Feb. 24, 1883, Vol. XIII, No. 46, p. 3, col. 1.
"THE INFORMER
-----
IN our last week's issue, in an article captioned 'One More Convicted,' which referred to the conviction of Jas. Killeen, one of the scoundrels who assaulted Kate Folz, in the Pelham woods, last summer, we stated that the corroborated evidence of Fowler, who turned States' evidence, proved sufficient to convict. On the same day, the article in question was shown Fowler by one Cashin, who asked him to read it, and then told him that he would kill him. Fowler immediately made complaint before a magistrate, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Cashin. It is indeed difficult for casuists and pluralists to classify the informer. Those against whom the informer informs are inclined to place him in the category of the condemned; while those who are interested in the triumph of truth and justice regard him as a minister of judgment, but they do not welcome him as an angel of light. Much depends, however, upon the relation which the informer bears to the criminals upon whom he informs. The testimony of Tompkins, who testified upon the preliminary examination of Charles H. Clark, recently committed by Justice Kene to the County Jail, is entirely of a different nature. Tompkins in no way was shown to be implicated, although a daily companion of the accused. On the other hand, Fowler is one of the parties accused of crime, and told all he knew about it, to mitigate his own punishment, to the discomfiture of his partners in vice, and their friends. Cordial's statement about his companion in crime, McCabe, concerning Miss Moulton's watch, is another instance of a treacherous informer.
The case of Carey, the Irish informer, who claims to have been led into connection with the recent assassinations in Ireland, believing the cause of Ireland justified assassination and murder, is one of a peculiar nature. Speaking of Irish treachery, the New York 'Times,' in alluding to Carey's recent dramatic confession, says: 'But the truth of history compels us to say that there has never been an Irish conspiracy that has not been betrayed by an Irish informer.'
No man admires an informer. There is in the human breast implanted a sentiment of fairness and justice, which reprobates the action of the man who tells against those who have been partners in his guilt. It was passed to the lasting credit of a certain Prince, who will some day be a King, that when confronted in the witness box with a lady in the case, 'he perjured himself like a gentleman,' rather than cast one filament of a web of scandal on a lady's name.
The foregoing is strong -- too much so, doubtless, for many. Perjuring one's self 'like a gentleman' is a decidedly questionable quotation.
The discussion of the subject of informers invariably recalls the oft-quoted saying of a thoughtless, yet brilliant, genius -- Aaron Burr -- who, on coming into church as the services were about to close, was greeted from the pulpit by the rough old clergyman of that day, who at that moment had but ended a tirade against coming into church after the beginning of services, with, 'The old belated sinner now coming down the aisle. I hope to be in heaven on that great day to bear witness against him!' Burr's ready repartee was equal to the emergency. Straightening himself to his full height, and looking his accuser full in the face, he said, 'I have mangled much in vice, and practised criminal law among the hardest villains of this or any other land for more than a quarter of a century, and of all the rascals I ever met or knew, it was the men who turned State's evidence.'"
Source: THE INFORMER, The New Rochelle Pioneer, Mar. 3, 1883, Vol. XXIII, No. 47, p. 2, col. 1.
"NEWS AND NOTES. . . .
On Wednesday last week a motion was argued in the County Court before Judge Gifford and Justices Howe and Baxter, for a new trial for James Killeen, of New Rochelle, who was recently convicted for committing an atrocious assault upon Miss Kate Folz, which occurred a few months ago in this village. The motion was denied, and the Court sentenced Killeen to seven years imprisonment in Sing Sing Prison."
Source: NEWS AND NOTES, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Apr. 6, 1883, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 52, p. 3, col. 1.
"Cody Pardoned.
Governor Cleveland on Thursday pardoned Cody, one of the parties accused and convicted of a criminal assault upon Kate Folz, near the Pelham Woods over two years ago. The following is taken from the PIONEER of June 17, 1882: 'On Saturday last five desperadoes, well known to the authorities of this village and the county jail and some of them but recently from the State Prison at Sing Sing, by the names of McCredmond, Cody, Brennan, Fowler and Killeen, stopped a woman named Kate Folz near the Pelham Woods, and under the pretext of conducting her to some house she inquired for in Pelham Manor, one of the number led her a short distance from the line of the road, where he and his companions committed a brutal outrage upon the helpless woman, and robbed her of all the money she had, amounting to a little over seven dollars, leaving her only twenty-five cents. They then rifled her carpet bag, nearly destroying it, and tore up the clothing that was in it. The woman says they demanded her money or the would kill her. She says she begged for her life and gave them money. They only desisted from their brutal outrageous assaults when they saw Peter Berger, one of the village trustees, approaching. Mr. Berger kindly put the woman in his wagon and brought her to the village.' Fowler pleaded guilty, and Brennan left the country. The people of New Rochelle were at the time thoroughly aroused, a public meeting was called in the Town Hall by Supervisor Phelps. Col. Lathers presided. Mr. Harrison moved that $500 reward be offered for the capture of the guilty offenders. The motion on being seconded by Mr. George Ferguson was unanimously adopted. A subscription list the very same evening was circulated and liberally subscribed to. Mr. Ferguson put his name down for $100. Mr. Phelps, $50. Col. Lathers, $50, Mr. Harrison, $50, Mr. C. O. Iselin $50, and many others gave liberally. Cody and McCredmond were captured through the instrumentality of Chas. E. Van Benschoten, while they were riding down town on the morning of August 23, 1882, near Chatham Square, New York city, on the elevated road. The prisoners, where brought to New Rochelle before a Justice and sent to the County Jail. They were subsequently indicted, and Cody was found guilty on the 26th of Sept. Miss Folz upon trial could not fully identify Cody, but the evidence of Fowler, who turned States' evidence, with admissions made to the officers at the time of the arrest, together with the testimony of Supervisor Phelps, Messrs. Lambden, Traphagen, and Justice LeCount as to the general bad character of the accused was sufficient for the jury. On October 4th, 1882, Judge Gifford sentenced Cody to seven year's imprisonment at hard labor in the Albany Penitentiary. Governor Cleveland in exercising executive clemency in behalf of this man Cody invites from every law abiding citizen of New Rochelle and the whole country, the most scathing criticism. While we have observed with alarm the great number during the last few weeks pardoned by our reform executive, we did not expect this demoralizing blow to strike so near to the homes and legal government of this community. It is for the people to say if they approve of the course pursued by the man who poses before the world as a reformer."
Source: Cody Pardoned, The New Rochelle Pioneer, Sep. 20, 1884, Vol. XXV, No. 25, p. 3, col. 5.
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Labels: 1882, 1883, 1884, Crime, Floyd Fowler, James Killeen, John Cody, Kate Folz, Pelham Manor Protective Club, William Brennan, William McRedmond
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