Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Friday, August 04, 2017

The Tragic Case of Cassie Haggerty, a Pelham Manor "Servant" Who Died in 1897


By all accounts, Cassie Haggerty was a beautiful 22-year-old "servant girl."  Cassie, however, was not well.  In early 1897, she had some type of "lung ailment" as one report put it.

Cassie had a friend named Mary Sweeney.  The two women, who lived in New York City, learned of a couple who lived in Pelham looking to hire two servants.  The couple, Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Whiting, lived in Pelham Manor.  

On Thursday, January 7, 1897, the two women applied for the positions and were hired.  The following morning they began working in the Whiting home.  Cassie was a "waiting maid."  Mary was a cook.  It appears that the two women were hired for a one-month trial period.

There are numerous differing accounts of what happened during the following six days.  It seems clear, however, that things did not go well the first few days. 

Things came to a head early on the morning of Tuesday, January 12.  Mrs. Whiting awoke expecting her breakfast, but there was none.  She bundled up and tramped downstairs to the kitchen where she found Cassie Haggerty and Mary Sweeney quarreling with no breakfast made.  To make matters worse, Mrs. Whiting thought Cassie Haggerty seemed intoxicated.  

Though accounts differ, it appears that Mrs. Whiting was furious with Cassie and called her to account for the supposed intoxication.  Cassie responded saying she was done and would return to New York City immediately.  Mrs. Whiting told her "the sooner she left the house the better she [Mrs. Whiting] would be pleased."

Cassie packed her things and reportedly trudged into the cold headed for the Pelham Manor Train Station to return to New York City.  She appears to have gotten no farther, however, than the clubhouse of the Manor Club.  

That night, Constable James Burnett was at the Manor Club.  Burnett held a host of positions.  In addition to being a Constable, he also was a janitor at the Manor Club.  The evening of Tuesday, January 12, he went to the woodshed behind the Manor Club to get wood for the clubhouse.  

The shed was dark.  As Burnett stepped inside, he heard a moan.  He discovered Cassie Haggerty lying in the cold darkness of the woodshed.  According to one of many, many accounts:  "She shivered with the cold, her eyes stared wildly up at him, her hands were hot and the skin rustled like parchment."  Cassie then spoke:  "I'm a servant," she said with a laugh.  "A servant dying of cold and exposure.  They said I was drunk.  Who knows?  They may be right."

Burnett also thought she was drunk.  Nevertheless, he coaxed from her not only her name, but also the name of Mrs. Whiting who had employed her.  All accounts agree that Burnett took the poor girl back to the Whiting house.

Some accounts say that Mrs. Whiting was home.  Others say that she was out of the home and returned later to find Cassie Haggerty in bed being cared for by servants.  In any event, accounts agree that Mrs. Whiting told the Constable that she would not house and care for an intoxicated girl and that he should lock her up for intoxication.

Pelham Manor did not have a working jail at the time.  Instead, it used an empty engine room of the firehouse as a village jail.  Burnett took Cassie Haggerty to the firehouse that stood along today's Black Street.  He started a fire in a stove that stood in the room and locked her inside.

First thing the next morning, Burnett hustled off to the firehouse to check on Cassie Haggerty.  When he opened the engine room, she lay motionless on the floor.  According to one news account:  "He found a corpse.  She had died alone."  She died overnight sometime late on Tuesday, January 12 or sometime early on Wednesday, January 13, 1897.

The story of poor Cassie Haggerty wasn't over, however.  Local Doctors, Flemming and Carlisle, performed an autopsy and Coroner Banning of Mount Vernon conducted an inquest.  The autopsy revealed that the "real cause of death was pneumonia" and that "not the slightest trace of alcohol was found in the girl's stomach."  Instead, it was hypothesized, "the girl had taken an overdose of quinine for a cold that eventually turned into pneumonia, and caused her death."

Newspapers throughout the United States wrote of the callousness of turning the poor, sick servant girl out into the bitter cold of a January night.  Within a short time, Mr. Whiting built a grand new home in Larchmont.  He and his wife moved there, leaving forever the little Village of Pelham Manor.


  

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"A WOMAN FOUND DEAD.
-----
AFTER A NIGHT IN A LOCK-UP.
-----
A Servant Suffering With An Over-Dose of Quinine, Supposed to be Drunk, Was Set adrift to Die Alone and Neglected.
-----

In Pelham Manor's shanty of an engine house, now used as an apology for a lock-up, was found the dead body of Cassie Haggerty, twenty-two years old, on Wednesday morning, the 13th inst.  She had been arrested for supposed intoxication, on the evening previous, on complaint of her employer, Mrs. H. S. Whiting, of the same place.

It appears that Mrs. Whiting had hired two servants in New York city not many days before.  On Tuesday morning, Mrs. Whiting found no breakfast ready, inquired into the cause of it, and found the servants quarreling in the kitchen.  Mrs. Whiting, upon seeing the girl, supposed that she was intoxicated, and called her to account for it, whereupon the girl said she would return to New York, which she later attempted to do.  It is said that she proceeded on her way to the railroad station, and got as far as the Pelham Manor club house where she rested.  She was found there by Constable Jas. Burnett, in a helpless condition, and later conveyed her back to Mrs. Whiting's home.  The cook, Mary McSweeney, took the girl in and cared for her by putting her into a bed.  Mrs. Whiting had gone to New York in the meantime and did not return until the evening, and then insisted that the girl was intoxicated.  It is alleged that Dr. Washburn was summoned, and agreed with Mrs. Whiting.  It was then that Constable Burnett was sent for and he arrested the girl for intoxication and locked her up for the night in the discarded engine house and airy place at best.  The next morning the policeman found the dead body of the girl stretched upon the floor.

Coroner Banning, of Mount Vernon was notified and he is holding the inquest.  Drs. Flemming and Carlisle held an autopsy, which revealed that the real cause of death was pneumonia, not the slightest trace of alcohol was found in the girl's stomach.

It is now supposed that the girl had taken an overdose of quinine for a cold that eventually turned into pneumonia, and caused her death.  She should have informed her employer as what she had done, and it is more than likely the sad termination of her life would not have occurred."

Source:  A WOMAN FOUND DEAD -- AFTER A NIGHT IN A LOCK-UP -- A Servant Suffering With An Over-Dose of Quinine, Supposed to be Drunk, Was Set adrift to Die Alone and Neglected, The New Rochelle Press, Jan. 16, 1897, Vol. XXII, No. 33, p. 1, col. 3.  

"TURNED ADRIFT TO DIE.
-----
CASSIE HAGGERTY, ILL WITH PNEUMONIA, REFUSED A SHELTER.
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Alone in a Fire-Engine House, She Passed Away in the Bitter Cold Night.
-----
Her Former Mistress Would Not Take Her In When the Policeman Said She Was Sick.
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DOCTOR SAID SHE WAS DRINKING.
-----

The New York World tells the following true story.

While delirious with pneumonia, Cassie Haggerty, a pretty servant girl, twenty-two years old, was turned out of the house in which she had sought shelter Tuesday night, handed over to Constable Burnett, of Pelham Manor, and died of her malady in the lock-up at 4:30 a.m. yesterday.

Cassie and Mary Sweeney were engaged as servants by Mrs. H. S. Whiting of Pelham Manor, Thursday, and entered upon their duties Friday morning.  Mary Sweeney was engaged as cook and Cassie as waiting maid.  They did not like the place, and decided to leave.  

Cassie's trunk arrived from New York Tuesday and she determined to remain until her month was up.  But later in the morning she felt so ill that she told Mrs. Whiting she would leave then.  Mrs. Whiting told her that the sooner she left the house the better she would be pleased.  In fact the girl acted so queerly that Mrs. Whiting thought she had been drinking.  Cassie went down to the kitchen to inform the cook of her intention, and behaved so peculiarly while there that the cook said:

'Cassie, you act so funny that if you were in any other place than this little village I would think you were under the influence of liquor.'

The girl laughed and answered:

'Maybe I have been drinking -- who knows?  What do these people care for [a] poor creature like me?  I have taken too much quinine.  You see, I dare not let this mistress of ours know that I was ill with lung trouble when I came here, or she would have discharged me at once.  I cannot go on any longer.'

She kissed her fellow-servants and walked down the gravel path as if to go to the railway station.  Hours passed by; morning changed to afternoon, afternoon to evening.  In Pelham Manor they have one constable, James Burnett.  When he is not arresting tramps he fills his time in attending to the Manor Club house.

Groping around in the woodshed outside the kitchen of the Manor House on Tuesday night, he was stopped by the sound of a moan. 

He bent forward, peering into the darkness, and presently came upon a woman lying huddled in a corner of the shed.  She shivered with the cold, her eyes stared wildly up at him, her hands were hot and the skin rustled like parchment.

'I'm a servant,' she said, with a laugh.  'A servant dying of cold and exposure.  They said I was drunk.  Who knows?  They may be right.'

Burnett learned her name and the name of the woman who had employed her.  Dr. Washburn, of Pelham Manor, an intimate friend of the Whiting family, came into the club-house at this juncture.

'Looks like alcoholism,' he said.  

At last, as the easiest way out of the difficulty, Burnett led the girl back to Mrs. Whiting's house.

'They'll turn me out?' she said.  'Don't take me.  I can't face them again.'

Mrs. Whiting had not returned from a shopping expedition in New York when Burnett and the girl reached the house.  Mary McSweeney, the cook, laid the girl in her own bed.

Mrs. Whiting returned soon and told Burnett to lock her up.  

And so the unhappy creature, too weak to protest, was led out into the bitter wind.  Burnett took her to the fire-engine house, which also serves as a police station.  He lit a fire in the stove and with an encouraging word left her.  

With the first light of day Burnett hurried over to the lock-up and bent over the prostrate figure.  He found a corpse.  She had died alone."

Source:  TURNED ADRIFT TO DIE -- CASSIE HAGGERTY, ILL WITH PNEUMONIA, REFUSED A SHELTER -- Alone in a Fire-Engine House, She Passed Away in the Bitter Cold Night -- Her Former Mistress Would Not Take Her In When the Policeman Said She Was Sick -- DOCTOR SAID SHE WAS DRINKING, The Hartford Herald [Hartford, KY], Jan. 27, 1897, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, p. 1, col. 4.  

"She Was Turned Away to Die.

Cassie Haggerty, 22 years old, a domestic employed by Mrs. H. S. Whiting of Pelham Manor, was found dead on Wednesday in the Pelham Manor fire house which also serves as the village lock-up.  The girl left her home Tuesday morning and appeared to be under the influence of liquor.  She later returned to the house where she was examined by Dr. Washburn, who said she was intoxicated.  The girl was locked up in the station house that night and the next morning was found dead.  Drs. Fleming and Carlisle of this city held an autopsy and pronounced the cause of death as congestion of the lungs, a primary stage of pneumonia.  Coroner Banning was notified and had the body removed to Van Arsdale's morgue and will hold an inquest to-night in the City Court room."

Source:  She Was Turned Away to Die, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Jan. 15, 1897, No. 1776, p. 1, col. 6.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

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Tuesday, June 06, 2017

James Burnett of Pelham Manor: Chief Pooh-Bah and Jack of All Trades


James D. Burnett was a celebrated citizen of Pelham Manor during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  He served as Chief of Constables for the Town of Pelham and, later, became a member of the Village of Pelham Manor Police Department where he served into the 1920s.  

In 1896, newspapers in the region made much of the many jobs James Burnett held simultaneously.  In 1896, Burnett served simultaneously as:  (1) Deputy Sheriff; (2) Westchester County Game Constable; (3) Town of Pelham Chief of Constables; (4) Street Commissioner of the Village of Pelham Manor; (5) Lamp-Lighter for the Village of Pelham (Pelham Heights); (6) Lamp-Lighter for the Village of Pelham Manor; (7) Janitor of Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church; (8) Janitor of the Manor Club; and (9) Janitor of a local school.  

James D. Burnett, it seems, was Pelham Manor's Chief Pooh-Bah and Jack-of-All-Trades.  At times, however, he was a little too busy with all his duties to perform his work.

For example, when New York City annexed a large portion of the Town of Pelham in 1895, it set the boundary of Pelham Bay Park with the Village of Pelham Manor, but also annexed a long, narrow strip of Pelham Manor just outside of Pelham Bay Park.  The area became known as "No-Man's Land."  I have written before about "No-Man's Land" in Pelham.  See:

Thu., Feb. 27, 2014:  More About the Fabled "No-Man's Land" of Pelham Manor: A Tiny Strip of New York City.

Mon., Dec. 5, 2005:  The Fabled "No-Man's Land" of Pelham Manor: A Tiny Strip of New York City.

In 1896, shortly after annexation became finalized, Mount Vernon barbers had a bright idea.  Blue Laws in Mount Vernon barred them from providing barber services on Sunday.  New York City, however, had no Blue Laws applicable to barbers at the time.  In early February of that year, Mount Vernon barbers set themselves up in "backrooms" in buildings located in "No-Man's Land."  They told their customers that that could take a trip to No Man's Land on Sundays and that "a shave, shampoo, mustache curl and trolley ride from and to Mount Vernon could be had for 25 cents."  

Though No-Man's Land was part of New York City, not Pelham, some complained that the Mount Vernon barbers were violating the Sunday Blue Laws and that Burnett should do something about it.  Chief of Constables James D. Burnett, however, said that "he was too busy to look after the law violators" noting not only that he held so many positions, but also that he had begun "studying law."  He told complainants, however, he would "find time" on a subsequent Sunday to look into the matter. . . . .



1899 Map by John Fairchild Showing Beech Tree Lane Section of Pelham.
White Strip Extending from Lower Left to Upper Right with Words "New York
City" Shows Portion of No-Man's Land That, Today, Includes Elm Tree Lane.
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Below is the text of a pair of articles published in 1896 that touch on the subject of today's Historic Pelham article.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"James Burnett's Nine Offices.

PELHAM MANOR, Feb. 8. -- James Burnett of Pelham Manor, who was recently appointed County Gamekeeper, is village constable, janitor of the public school, lamp-lighter for Pelham Manor and Pelham Heights, janitor of the Manor Club, janitor of the Presbyterian Church, village Street Commissioner, and Deputy Sheriff."

Source:  James Burnett's Nine Offices, N.Y. Times, Feb. 9, 1896, Vol. XLV, No. 13,875, p. 1, col. 5 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  

"SHAVE AND TROLLEY RIDE. 
----- 
Go Together in Pelham, Which Has a Pooh-Bah Constable. 

When the recent annexation act went into effect, that part of the town of Pelham wherein lived the town officials was gathered in by New York City. The remainder is now know as No Man's Land. Mount Vernon barbers against whom the Sunday law operates resolved to do business in No Man's Land. Word was passed around among their customers that by taking a trip to No Man's Land on Sunday, a shave, shampoo, mustache curl and trolley ride from and to Mount Vernon could be had for 25 cents. The barbers established themselves in saloon backrooms, restaurants and hotels last Sunday and did a rousing business. 

James Burnett, who is town constable of the territory, said he was too busy to look after the law violators. Burnett, as well as being Chief Constable, is County Game Constable, janitor of the Presbyterian Church, Street Commissioner of the Village of Pelham Manor, village policeman, janitor of the public school, street lamplighter for Pelham Manor and Pelham Heights, janitor of the Manor Club and Deputy Sheriff. He expects shortly to run an express between New York and No Man's Land. In the interval between his labors, he is studying law. He says he will find time next Sunday to watch the Mount Vernon barbers." 

Source:  Shave and Trolley Ride, The World, Feb 11, 1896, p. 15, col. 5.


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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Prohibition Rum-Runners Delivering A Boatload of Booze Were Foiled in Pelham in 1925


During Prohibition, Pelham had bootleggers.  Pelham had illegal stills.  Pelham had speakeasies.  Pelham even had a speakeasy section.  Now research reveals that Pelham also had rum-runners who attempted to deliver illegal liquor by the boatload to the shores of Pelham Manor.  

I have written extensively about Pelham's struggles with Prohibition and the enforcement of the unpopular laws that it spawned.  See:

Fri., Apr. 24, 2015:  The North Pelham "Speakeasy Section" Created Quite a Stir During Prohibition.

Tue., Nov. 18, 2014:  More Bootleggers and Speakeasies Raided in Pelham in 1929 During Prohibition.

Fri., May 23, 2014:  How Dry I Am -- Early Prohibition Efforts Succeed in Pelham in 1896.

Thu., Apr. 03, 2014:  The Prohibition Era in Pelham:  Another Speakeasy Raided.

Tue., Feb. 18, 2014:  Pelham Speakeasies and Moonshiners - Prohibition in Pelham: The Feds Raid the Moreau Pharmacy in Pelham Manor in 1922.

Thu., Feb. 07, 2008:  Village Elections in Pelham in 1900 - New York Athletic Club Members Campaign Against the Prohibition Ticket in Pelham Manor.

Thu., Jan. 12, 2006:  The Beer Battle of 1933.

Thu., Aug. 11, 2005:  How Dry I Am: Pelham Goes Dry in the 1890s and Travers Island Is At the Center of a Storm

Bell, Blake A., The Prohibition Era in Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 25, June 18, 2004, p. 12, col. 2.


Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog details an interesting rum-running incident that was foiled by Pelham Manor police in early August, 1925.  The beloved motorman of the Pelham Manor Trolley -- the trolley that inspired Fontaine Fox to create the Toonerville Trolley -- was making the last run of the evening to Pelham Manor at about 1:10 a.m.  

Skipper "Louie" was the motorman that night.  "Louie" was a nickname used by Emil Matter who worked for 35 years as a motorman for the Third Avenue Railway system.  He lived for many years in Mount Vernon and piloted the little Pelham Manor trolley for 25 years.  See Fri., Jun. 17, 2005:  "Skipper Louie" of Pelham Manor's Toonerville Trolley.  



Trolley car that ran from Pelham Station along Wolfs Lane
with a short stint on Colonial Avenue then along the length
of Pelhamdale to Shore Road where it turned around and
repeated the trip. The two trolley operators standing in
front of the car were Skippers Dan and Louie (on Right).
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Skipper Louie's senses were somewhat heightened that night because robbers recently had murdered a trolley operator and trolley inspector during a robbery at Mount Vernon's border with the Village of North Pelham.  He noticed near the end of the trolley line where Pelhamdale Avenue intersects with Shore Road that there were two men who were acting "suspiciously."  

He hurried the trolley back to "Red Church Corner" (known today as "Four Corners," the intersection of Boston Post Road and Pelhamdale Avenue).  There he flagged down Pelham Manor police officer Arnt H. Arnsten and expressed his concern.  Officer Arnsten alerted headquarters and joined with Police Chief Philip Gargan and three other officers who quickly headed to the desolate, dark, and then-unpopulated area where Skipper Louie had seen the two men.

The police searched the nearby woods and checked along Shore Road, Pelhamdale Avenue, Bolton Road, and Mt. Tom Road.  They found two trucks hidden from sight.  One had a fake license plate.  They also found a Hudson motorcar.  They rounded up a man from New Rochelle and seven men from New York City.  

The police seized the trucks and car.  They charged the men with loitering and vagrancy.  They interrogated all the men.  Only one had anything to say.  He admitted the men were there to accept delivery of "cases," but clammed up after that admission.

After completing their investigation, the police concluded that the trucks and their crew were awaiting the arrival of a boatload of liquor and that they planned to unload the liquor to small boats off Travers Island and carry it to the trucks near Shore Road.

Below is the text of a news article about the foiled rum-running incident.  it is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"Police Capture Gang Loitering On Shore Road
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Domenick Trotta, His Hudson Car, And Two Trucks, Seized in Secluded Spot.
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Ten men, including Domenick Trotta of New Rochelle, were taken in custody by the Pelham Manor police shortly after midnight Monday, after they were found loitering in the vicinity of Mt. Tom Road, Pelhamdale avenue, and Boston Post Road.  Two trucks and a Hudson touring car were taken to headquarters.  No charge was made against Trotta.  Seven of the crew were charged with loitering.  The trucks had no lights.  It is believed by the police a plan for transportation of a cargo of liquor was frustrated.

'Louie' the motorman of the 'dinky' trolley car, on his final trip to Pelham Manor, noticed two men acting suspicious at the end of the car line, near the Shore Road at 1:10 a.m.

Having in mind the recent murder of a trolley inspector and a motorman in Mount Vernon, he drove his car to the Boston Post Road, where he informed Policeman Arnt H. Arnsten, at the Red Church Corner, of his suspicions.  Chief Philip Gargan, with Sgt. James Burnett, and Policemen Gennerrazzo and Fowler, scoured the woods in the vicinity.  

The big Hudson touring car of Trotta, 5V-2504 was discovered in a secluded section near Travers Island.  Nearby were two trucks.  One had wrong license plates.  Harry Margolis, 704 Coster street, Bronx, and Charles Newman, 516 West 111th street, New York, with Trotta, and his brother-in-law, Caneo Nannerello, of 203 Union avenue, New Rochelle, were at the scene.

Loitering in the vicinity were John Burke, 303 E. 91st street, Patrick Murphy, 446 E. 146th street; Harry Freeman, 324 E. 118th street; John Haigh, St. Nicholas Baths, New York; Robert Kennedy, 623 Cortlandt street; John Kelly, 328 E. 70th street, and Louis Kaufer, of 3214 Cortelyou Road, and 109 Lenox avenue.  All reside in New York city.

Kaufer told police he maintained two addresses.  He was found over on the Shore Road where he had his taxicab parked.

Morris Feiger, 60 St. Nicholas avenue, New York, who the police believe is chauffeur of a G. M. C. truck, Model 16, X-706369, could show no motor number.  Chief Gargan after investigation announced the license plates on the G. M. C. truck belonged to a Ford truck.  The card for the license plates bore no motor number.  

The Stewart truck, X-739540, which the police believe was operated by Harry Margolis, 704 Coster street, Bronx, carried authentic license plates.  Chief Gargan took the fictitious license plates off the G. M. C. truck.

None of the men would talk.  In reply to questions by the police each said he knew nothing.  One of the gang finally admitted he had been notified at his home in the Bronx, his services would be needed to move some 'cases' in Pelham Manor.  He would say nothing more.

Employees of the New York athletic club on Travers Island told the police they saw the two trucks on Travers Island in the evening.  Patrolman Fowler drove one of the trucks from Mt. Tom Road to police headquarters.  Patrolman Generrazzo drove the other.

It is the impression in the minds of the police that the trucks and their crew were awaiting the arrival of a boat load of liquor and it may have been planned to unload it in small boats off Travers Island and carry it to the trucks near the Shore Road.

In Pelham Manor police court on Tuesday night, Freedman and Kaufer were each fined $5 on loitering charges.  Sentence was suspended on charges of vagrancy.  

Charges against five other men in the crew were continued until tonight.  Trotta promised he would have the men in court.  He explained to Judge L'Esperance that they were employed at daily occupations and often had to work 'quite late' at night in addition.

The two trucks are at police headquarters.  No one has claimed them, according to Chief Philip Gargan.  He told a reporter of the Sun that the owners, when they appear, will be held, one on a charge of having wrong license plates, and both for having no lights.  One truck was discovered on Bolton Road.  The other on Mt. Tom Road."

Source:  Police Capture Gang Loitering On Shore Road -- Domenick Trotta, His Hudson Car, And Two Trucks, Seized In Secluded Spot, The Pelham Sun, Aug. 7, 1925, Vol. 16, No. 23, p. 1, col. 1.  


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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

A Tragic Death in the Pelham Manor Fire House in 1897


The Manor Club, it seems, had an odd history of stricken women found on its steps in its early years. I previously have written of one such incident. See Wednesday, December 28, 2005: The Mystery of the "Manor Club Girl" That Set Pelham Tongues Wagging in 1913.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes an article that appeared in the January 14, 1897 issue of the New-York Tribune about a young woman found at the Manor Club seemingly drunk. It turned out that she was not. She was deathly ill. The text of the article appears beneath the photograph below that shows the original Manor Club club house as it appeared at the time.


"MOUNT VERNON.
Cassie Haggerty, twenty-two years old, a servant employed by Mrs. H. S. Whiting, in Pelham Manor, was found dead yesterday morning in the Pelham Manor Fire House, which is also used as a police station. The girl had a disagreement with her employer on Tuesday, and had started to leave for her home in New-York. Before leaving the house she had complained to Mary McSweeney, a companion that she did not feel well. On her way to the station she stopped at the house of the Manor Club to rest. She then seemed to be suffering from the effects of drink. Constable James Burnett took her back to the house. The cook took the girl in and gave her a bed. Mary McSweeney alleges that Mrs. Whiting returned from New-York City in the evening and she said the girl had been drinking, and that there was no sickness about it. Dr. Washburn was summoned and agreed with Mrs. Whiting. The constable was again sent for, and locked the girl in the police station where she died. Drs. Flemming and Carlisle held an autopsy, which revealed that the real cause of death was congestion of both lungs, the primary stage of pneumonia. Not the slightest trace of alcohol was found in the girl's stomach."
Source: Mount Vernon, New-York Tribune, Jan. 14, 1897, p. 12, col. 1.

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