More on the Suicide of the Manager of the Pelham Manor Golf Club on Prospect Hill in 1899

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Yesterday's Historic Pelham article detailed a little of the history of the Pelham Manor Golf Club founded in 1895 by a group of leading socialites from Pelham Manor and New Rochelle.  The tiny golf course was located between today's Washington Avenue and the New York City Boundary and opened on November 6, 1895.  The article noted that the golf course seems to have ended operations after the 1899 season, less than four years after its founding.  The demise of the club seems to have been tied to the founding of the first Pelham Country Club in 1898 with its beautiful nine hole golf course located nearby and the suicide of the manager of the Pelham Manor Golf Club after the close of the golf season in 1899.  Today's Historic Pelham article sheds more light on the terrible suicide of that club manager, Frederick B. Russell.

Frederick B. Russell was the manager, groundskeeper, greenskeeper, and superintendent of the Pelham Manor Golf Club during what appears to be the club's last season in 1899.  He was born in Hudson, New York.  Some reports say he was 35 years old in 1899.  Others say he was 40.  All agree that he was unmarried and had no children.  Russell came from an affluent New York family.

For many years, Russell was employed as a clerk with Davis Collamore & Co.  According to one source:

"Davis Collamore & Co. was a high-end New York City importer of porcelain and glass, headed by Davis Collamore (7 October 1820 — 13 August 1887). The firm, rivals to Tiffany & Co. and Black, Starr & Frost, commissioned designs from Copeland Spode and Thomas Minton Sons, that featured hand-painted details over transfer-printed outlines and often rich gilding."

Source:  "Davis Collamore & Co." in Wikipedia -- The Free Encyclopedia (visited Jun. 17, 2017).  

Russell seems to have lost his clerk position at Davis Collamore & Co. in about 1896.  He turned to the Russell family lawyer, William C. Findlay, for help.  

Findlay had a law office at 19 Liberty Street in New York City.  He provided Frederick Russell with a desk and space in his law office to permit Russell to operate a small real estate business from his law offices.

Russell's real estate business turned out to be a bust.  Over time he attended to the business less and less.  He also spent less and less time at Findlay's offices.  At least one source suggests he was drinking.

It is not known for certain when Russell began working as manager of the Pelham Manor Golf Club.  Sources suggest that although he was in ill health during the summer of 1899, he was hired to manage the club on July 29, 1895 by notable Pelham Manor resident and club member William B. Randall.  It appears that Russell served the club from that date until the end of the 1899 golf season (in November of that year).

While working as Pelham Manor Golf Club manager, Russell lived with an elderly relative named H. H. Hadley at 451 South Seventh Avenue in Mount Vernon.  Hadley was a retired lawyer.  Russell occasionally worked as secretary to Hadley. 

On Monday, December 4, 1895, Russell entered Henry Dreyfus' "Devil's Island Hotel" (known as the Dreyfus House) on Main Street in New Rochelle.  Dreyfus later claimed that Russell told him that he had been employed as manager of the Pelham Manor Golf Club and that his financial accounts were $60 short (some reports said $65 short).  He claimed that the Club had "threatened him with arrest" unless he repaid the money by 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 6, 1899.  

Early in the morning on Wednesday, December 6, Russell approached Dreyfus again and asked to borrow $60.  Dreyfus refused to loan him the money.  Dreyfus later claimed that upon refusal of the requested loan, Russell said that he "would commit suicide before he would allow himself to be arrested."   

A little before 2:00 p.m. that same day, Frederick Russell went to Brady's Hotel on Main Street in New Rochelle.  Brady's Hotel was operated by Alderman Daniel B. Brady who also served as bartender in the hotel bar.  Russell ordered a drink and seated himself in the bar area for a while.  Once the bartender's attention was diverted by another customer, Russell quietly slipped into an anteroom and sat down there.

At about 2:00 p.m., Frederick B. Russell pulled out a loaded pistol and held it to his chest.    He pointed the muzzle directly at his heart and pulled the trigger.

The crack of the gunshot startled all.  Russell was found on the floor with a gunshot wound to his chest.  Dr. O. N. Raymond, who lived across the street from Brady's Hotel, was summoned and was on the scene within three minutes.  It was too late.  Russell already was dead.  

The body was taken charge by Coroner Banning of Mount Vernon.  It was removed to Davis' morgue in Mount Vernon.  

Within days newspapers throughout the region blared headlines and news that Russell had shot himself over a $60 (or $65) debt owed to the Pelham Manor Golf Club.  One headline, for example, read:  "SHOT HIMSELF FOR LACK OF $60. -- Manager of the Pelham Manor Golf Links Committed Suicide Rather Than Face Arrest."

Suicide over a minor debt made for sensational news, even if the news was not true.  On December 9, 1895, though only two days before it had published a prominent story about the suicide and the debt that reputedly was owed on page 2, the New York Times published a tiny reference buried on page 16 stating, in its entirety, as follows:

"The statement that Frederick B. Russell, manager of the Pelham Manor golf links, who committed suicide  in a hotel at New Rochelle on Wednesday, was worried over his inability to raise $65 which he desired to pay to the club, has elicited from George K. Perry, Secretary of the club, a statement that nothing was owing to it by Mr. Russell.  Mr. Perry says the dead man left the club's employ at the termination of the Summer season with his accounts correct."

We may never know why Frederick B. Russell, manager of the Pelham Manor Golf Club, killed himself that day.  Some reports indicated he was in ill health and may have lapsed into dementia.  Others suggested he was in financial distress.  It does not appear, however, that he was threatened with arrest for a minor debt owed to the Pelham Manor Golf Club.

Hand Colored Half Tone Depicting a Golf Match in 1895.

"A LONG PUTT TO HALVE THE HOLE. -- DRAWN BY A. B. FROST."

1895 Hand Colored Half-Tone.  15 1/2 x 11 Inches.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.  

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

"SUICIDE IN BRADY'S HOTEL.
-----
Frederick B. Russell, a Native of Hudson, N.Y., Kills Himself.

Frederick B. Russell, until recently greenkeeper [sic] of the Pelham Manor Golf Club, committed suicide Wednesday afternoon in this city.  He went into the saloon of Alderman Daniel B. Brady, in Main street, and while the attention of the bartender was attracted to another customer seated himself at a table in a rear apartment and put a bullet through his heart.

Doctor O. N. Raymond, whose residence is diagonally opposite the hotel, was summoned.  When he arrived, in less than three minutes after the shooting, Russell was dead.

Russell was about forty years old, and for many years had been a clerk with Davis Collamore & Co., importers of crockery, in New York city.  A few years ago he opened a real estate office at No. 19 Liberty street but as business grew slowly he closed it up.  On July 29 last his health became poor and he took charge of the links of the Pelham Country Club [sic] as superintendent and greenkeeper [sic], and continued there until about two weeks ago, when he lost his place, it is said, from drinking.  Russell was well educated and came of a good family, and it is supposed that he brooded over his misfortunes and failing health until he became demented.  The body was taken in charge by Coroner Banning, of Mount Vernon, and removed to Davis' morgue.

Russel's home was at No. 451 South Seventh ave., Mount Vernon, where he had an elderly relative, H. H. Hadley, a retired lawyer, to whom he sometimes acted as secretary.  Russell came originally from Hudson.  He was not married.

Henry Dreyfus, proprietor of the Dreyfus House on Main street near Drake avenue, which Russell frequented, made a statement that Russell had informed him that he had fallen $65 behind in his accounts with the golf club, and would have to settle at 2 o'clock Wednesday.  He told Dreyfus, so the latter says, that unless he obtained the money before that time he would kill himself.  The officials of the club deny that Russell was short in his accounts.  The body will be taken to Hudson this morning."

Source:  SUICIDE IN BRADY'S HOTEL -- Frederick B. Russell, a Native of Hudson, N.Y., Kills Himself, New Rochelle Pioneer, Dec. 9, 1899, Vol. 41, 38, p. 1, col. 1.  

"SHOT HIMSELF FOR LACK OF $60.
-----
Manager of the Pelham Manor Golf Links Committed Suicide Rather Than Face Arrest.
-----

NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y., Wednesday. -- Frederick B. Russell, who, according to cards found in his pockets, had a real estate office at No. 19 Liberty street, New York city, committed suicide by shooting himself through the heart in Alderman Daniel B. Brady's hotel on the Boston Post road, at two o'clock this afternoon.

Very little is known of Russell in this city.  He was employed as manager at the Pelham Manor golf links.  

Russell was in Henry Dreyfus' Devil's Island Hotel, in Main street, on Monday.  Dreyfus said to-night that Russell had been employed for the Pelham Manor Club by William B. Randall and his accounts were $60 short.  The club had given him until this afternoon to make good his default and had threatened him with arrest unless he did so.  He tried to borrow $60 from Dreyfus this morning, and when the loan was refused he said he would commit suicide before he would allow himself to be arrested.  Dreyfus believed he made this remark simply to show that he was desperately in need of the money.  Russell was thirty-five years old and unmarried.

-----

Russell Had Been a Real Estate Broker in William C. Findlay's Office.  

At the office of William C. Findlay, in No. 19 Liberty street, who is attorney for the Russell family, it was said yesterday that Russell had had desk room with Mr. Findlay up to about three months ago.  He had done something as a real estate broker, but had not been very successful."

Source:  SHOT HIMSELF FOR LACK OF $60 -- Manager of the Pelham Manor Golf Links Committed Suicide Rather Than Face Arrest, N.Y. Herald, Dec. 7, 1899, p. 8, col. 5.  

"GOLF CLUB MANAGER'S SUICIDE.
-----
Frederick B. Russell of the Pelham Manor Links Shoots Himself.

NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y., Dec. 6. -- Frederick B. Russell, manager of the Pelham Manor golf links and formerly a real estate broker, with an office at 19 Liberty Street, Manhattan, shot and killed himself to-day in Alderman Daniel D. Brady's hotel here.  He had been connected with the golf club about two months.  He had a room there, and took table board at the home of a relative at 451 South Seventh Street, Mount Vernon.  Business troubles are supposed to have led to the suicide.

According to Henry Dreyfus, proprietor of the Dreyfus House, who made a statement to the police, Mr. Russell was worried over his inability to raise $65, which he desired to pay to the club.

Mr. Russell was about forty years old, and had been employed with Davis, Collamore & Co., glassware up to about three years ago.  William C. Findlay, attorney for the Russell family, said that Mr. Russell had not been well of late, and he knew of no reason for the suicide unless ill-health had brought about despondency.  Mr. Russell came originally from Hudson, N. Y."

Source:  GOLF CLUB MANAGER'S SUICIDE -- Frederick B. Russell of the Pelham Manor Links Shoots Himself, N.Y. Times, Dec. 7, 1899, p. 2, col. 3.  

"BROKER COMMITS SUICIDE.
-----
Frederick B. Russell, of This City, Shoots Himself in a Cafe at New Rochelle.
-----

Frederick B. Russell shot himself through the heart yesterday afternoon in an anteroom of Alderman Daniel A. Brady's hotel at New Rochelle.  Russell was a real estate broker, and had an office at 19 Liberty street, Manhattan.  He entered the hotel about an hour before he shot himself and called for a drink.  He remained about the cafe, and when he entered the anteroom nothing was thought of it.

Russell had been in this vicinity only a few days, passing most of his time on the links of the Pelham Manor Golf Club.  He stopped at a hotel on the Boston post road.  There were no papers in his pockets to show why he killed himself.

Mr. Russell, it was said, lived in Seventh avenue, Mount Vernon, and came of a prominent family.  It is understood that his health was not of the best, and that of late he had gone to his office at infrequent intervals."

Source:  BROKER COMMITS SUICIDE -- Frederick B. Russell, of This City, Shoots Himself in a Cafe at New Rochelle, The Morning Telegraph [NY, NY], Dec. 7, 1899, p. 4, col. 6.  

"Mr. Russell Not in Debt to the Club.

The statement that Frederick B. Russell, manager of the Pelham Manor golf links, who committed suicide  in a hotel at New Rochelle on Wednesday, was worried over his inability to raise $65 which he desired to pay to the club, has elicited from George K. Perry, Secretary of the club, a statement that nothing was owing to it by Mr. Russell.  Mr. Perry says the dead man left the club's employ at the termination of the Summer season with his accounts correct."

Source:  Mr. Russell Not in Debt to the Club, N.Y. Times, Dec. 9, 1899, p. 16, col. 2.  

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Sketch Published with Story of Gruesome Suicide in 1902 May Contain Only Known Depiction of the Original Pelham Manor Train Station

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He was a well-liked, athletic, and young Harvard-educated lawyer who was quite popular in Newport, Rhode Island and in New York City.  He was 32 years old.  His name was George Griswold 2d, only son of Mr. and Mrs. John N. A. Griswold of Newport, Rhode Island.  His uncle was W. J. Emmett, a member of the family that owned the famed "Kemble House" located at 145 Shore Road in Pelham Manor.   The original portion of the Kemble House was built before the Revolutionary War, likely in about 1750.  It still stands, with the original section now forming the left (southern) wing of the home when viewing it from Shore Road.

In the autumn of 1902, something changed about George Griswold 2d.  Mrs. Griswold arrived in New York City with her son and rented a studio apartment for herself and another for her son in Carnegie Hall.  In November, Mrs. Griswold quietly sent her son to a "retreat" in Bay Ridge, then arranged for her and her son to board in the Kemble House at 145 Shore Road in Pelham.  By the time she and her son moved into the Kemble House, George was suffering from severe mental illness.  He constantly attempted to harm himself and spoke frequently of suicide.  His condition was so bad that in addition to servants, Mrs. Griswold hired two burly male nurses to stay with them in the Kemble House so that at least one male nurse was with George every minute of the day.  Their names were Charles Hill and A. A. Walters.

Young George Griswold 2d was no longer permitted to have a razor to shave.  Soon his hair was quite long and he had sprouted a beard.  The nurses "guarded him" constantly in the Kemble House to keep him from harming himself.  

Late in the evening on Monday, December 22, 1902, it was Charles Hill's turn to watch Griswold during the overnight shift.  Griswold seemed agitated most of that night and paced the floor of his room, smoking a pipe and muttering.  About 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 23, the whistle of a train traveling on the Branch Line that passed the Pelham Manor Train Station about a mile away blew its whistle.  Hill heard Griswold mutter "Oh, those trains, those trains.  How can I live with their rattle always in my ears?"  Griswold then became quiet.

Once Griswold grew quiet, Charles Hill stepped into his own room in the house for a moment.  When Hill returned, Griswold's room was empty.  An open window revealed how Griswold had made his escape.

Hill sounded the alarm.  He and A. A. Walters began a search of the neighborhood which, at the time contained only a handful of homes between Shore Road and the Branch Line railroad tracks.  They were still searching when word arrived that a man had just been killed on the Branch Line railroad tracks near the Pelham Manor Station. 

Hill and Walters raced to the scene.  What they found was gruesome.  George Griswold 2d, tormented by his own demons, had cast aside his hat, kneeled next to the train tracks, and laid his neck on one rail.  A passing train decapitated the young man.  

The nurses and the family tried to keep the matter private.  The body was taken to the distant Village of Westchester where the nurses informed the Coroner that they knew the deceased and his name was "G. G. Martin."  Although local police knew it was the body of George Griswold 2d, the Coroner issued a permit for removal of the body under the name of G. G. Martin to a funeral home even more distant on West Farms Road in preparation to have the body shipped to Newport, Rhode Island for burial.

Given the gruesome nature of the death, sensationalized newspaper accounts appeared in many newspapers throughout the region.  One such report appeared in the New York Herald on December 24, 1902.  Significantly, the newspaper report included not only photographs of Griswold, the Kemble House, and the two male nurses, but also a sketch of the area from a "bird's eye view" that included a depiction of the Pelham Manor Station near the spot where the body was found.

The published sketch appears below, with an additional detail of the station taken from the sketch.  The sketch may be significant because there do not appear to be any extant images of the Pelham Manor Train Station that was replaced with a station designed by noted architect Cass Gilbert that opened in 1908, six years after the suicide of George Griswold 2d.

Images Published with the News Article Published by the New York Herald

That is Quoted and Cited in Full Below.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail Showing the Pelham Manor Station as Depicted in the

Sketch Above Published by the New York Herald.  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

The sketch must be taken with a grain of salt.  It does not appear to be a true-to-life depiction of a bird's-eye-view of the region at the time.  Clearly it is not intended to be to scale.  Additionally, there were more structures actually present in the neighborhood than depicted in the sketch.  For example, though the sketch includes a fairly accurate depiction of the Christ Church sanctuary building, it does not show associated church structures that existed at the time.  Likewise, the sketch only shows two residences located in the Manor Circle area, though several more existed (and the ones shown are generalized views of homes in that area).  Nevertheless, the sketch does purport to depict the train station.  Moreover, a comparison of the sketch of the station is at least consistent with a map published in 1899 that depicts the footprint of the same station.  

Moreover, there are elements of the sketch of the station that seem to ring true.  The structure is depicted as a long "shotgun style" station adjacent to the tracks.  A map of the area published by John Fairchild in 1899, only three years before Griswold's suicide, indicates that the Pelham Manor Station was a long "shotgun style" structure adjacent to the tracks, as the detail from the Fairchild Map shows immediately below.  

Detail of John Fairchild Map Published in 1899 Showing

the Pelham Manor Train Station and Surrounding Region.

Source:  Fairchild, John F., Atlas of the City of Mount Vernon

and the Town of Pelham.  Compiled from Official Records,

Personal Surveys and Other Private Plans and Surveys,

Plate 24 (Mount Vernon, NY:  John F. Fairchild, 1899).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

As the detail of the station from the sketch suggests, there may have been an "eyebrow" style roof dormer facing the plaza side of the station.  There appears to be an entrance door flanked by a single row of windows on each side of the door on the plaza side as well.  On the side of the building facing the New York City boundary (the side depicted above the words "PELHAM MANOR STATION" in the sketch) there appears to have been a door flanked by a single window on each side.  It looks as though there is a wooden walkway outside that door and that the walkway extended around to the side of the station facing the railroad tracks as a wooden station platform.  It is very difficult to tell from the sketch, but there is at least a suggestion that a portion of the platform along the tracks was covered by an extension from the roof.  Interestingly, in 1902 there were three tracks adjacent to the station -- just as the sketch seems to depict.  

Although the station appears to have been a single story, the existence of the eyebrow-style dormer in the roof and a small window visible above the side door facing the New York City boundary both suggest that there was an attic above the ground floor of the station.  

Though the grisly death by suicide of George Griswold 2d in the early hours of December 22, 1902 was a terrible tragedy, it is possible that as a consequence of his tragic demise we have one of the only known images of the Pelham Manor Station that preceded the one designed by Cass Gilbert built in about 1908. 

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Below is the text of the New York Herald article that forms the basis of today's article.  It is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"George Griswold 2d Ends His Life While Demented; Eludes His Nurses and Throws Himself Under a Train
-----
Had Been Cared For in a Cottage by His Mother and the Two Attendants.
-----
FLED BY AN OPEN WINDOW
-----
Body Found Later on Tracks and is Identified by Men Who Sought Him.
-----
KNOWN BY AN ASSUMED NAME
-----
Scion of Wealthy and Socially Prominent Family Lost Reason Just as Career Opened.
-----

In an undertaker's establishment in West Farms road lies the body of George Griswold 2d, scion of a prominent family.  Demented, he had escaped the nurses who had guarded him in a cottage, where his mother lived with him,  and after a wild scurry in the biting cold and over the frozen country, he had placed his head on a railroad track and had been decapitated by a train.  

But as far as is known officially he was in life G. G. Martin.  As such his death is recorded on the blotter in the police station in West Chester village.  This is the name by which he is known to the undertaker, and under this same name the Coroner granted a permit for the removal of the body.  Yet there are policemen who knew he was George Griswold 2d; the undertaker has heard this was his name, and the nurse who reported the death to Coroner Williams says he told that official the true name of the dead man and his family history.

MYSTERY IN HIS CASE.

That such mystery should be observed, it is admitted, was to conceal the fact that he was the only son of John N. A. Griswold, an octogenarian, who makes his home in Newport, R. I.; that his uncle is W. J. Emmett, of New Rochelle; that his cousin is George Griswold, of Tuxedo Park, and last that he had lived with his aged mother and two men nurses in a cottage in Pelham road for the last three weeks, the restraint of the nurses being necessary because in his mania he had developed suicidal tendencies.

Thirty-two years old, a graduate of Harvard and the University of Oxford and recently admitted to the Bar, young Mr. Griswold was as well and favorably known in this city, as he was in Newport.  When in that city he lived with his father in his handsome residence in Bellevue avenue, opposite Touro Park.  Every summer he was there, and, with an inclination to athletics, he took part in the lawn tennis tournaments in the Casino.  For some years his mother had resided in Colorado.

About three months ago Mrs. Griswold took a studio in Carnegie Hall and soon thereafter her son took a studio in the same building.  There was nothing in his manner there to show he was erratic, but about a month ago he went to a retreat in Bay Ridge.  A week later his mother closed her studio, and a few days afterward she and her son took possession of a cottage in Pelham road, Pelham Manor.  With them were several servants and two nurses -- Charles Hill and A. A. Walters.

PRECAUTIONS TAKEN.

These men soon saw the young man's mind was affected -- in fact, this was not hidden from them by Mrs. Griswold.  His one idea was to kill himself, and so one of the nurses was constantly by his side.  He was not permitted to shave, because it was feared he might use the razor to take his life, and his hair grew long and his beard sprouted.  A dull silver knife was given to him at meal time, and whenever he went out for a walk one of the nurses was by his side.  

It was Hill's turn to watch him between midnight on Monday and six o'clock yesterday morning, and as the family deemed it best for the nurses not to be in the same room, at times Hill was in an adjoining room.  He noticed Mr. Griswold did not sleep; he walked about his room constantly, talking to himself and smoking a pipe.  About five o'clock he heard a freight train on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad rattle along the tracks, almost half a mile distant, and he said: --

'Oh, those trains, those trains.  How can I live with their rattle always in my ears.'

Going to his room for a minute the nurse did not hurry back, as all was quiet in Mr. Griswold's room.  But when he did re-enter, it was to find it empty.  An open window showed how the young man had made his exit.

JUMPED UNDER TRAIN.

Alarming his fellow nurse, Hill ran from the house without delay.  But the country is wild there; the ground was frozen; no one is abroad at that time of the morning and there are few watchmen to guard the half dozen houses between the home of the Griswolds and the railroad station.

They were still searching when it was learned that a man who had been killed on the railroad track had been found where the tracks pass over Prospect Hill road, just above Bartow, and almost three miles from Mrs. Griswold's cottage.  When the nurses went there they saw the body was that of their patient.  It was taken to the police station in West Chester village, where Hill said he recognized it as that of G. G. Martin.  The Coroner O'Gorman was called and he made out a permit for the removal of the body, as that of Martin, to the establishment of Bernard J. Lavan, in West Farms road.

No attempt was made to deny the young man had been irrational.  That he must have deliberately placed his head on the rail and awaited the approach of a train was shown by the fact that his only other injury was a broken arm.  He had even thrown aside his hat before he threw himself on the track.

It was decided to keep the body in the undertaker's until Friday, when it will be taken to Newport for burial.  Young Griswold's other sister is the wife of Colonel H. R. O. Cross, of the British army, and she lives in England."

Source:  George Griswold 2d Ends His Life While Demented; Eludes His Nurses and Throws Himself Under a Train, New York Herald, Dec. 24, 1902, p. 5, col. 1.  

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The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle

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There once stood a magnificent elm that towered above the Manger Circle neighborhood in the Village of Pelham Manor.  It stood on the property known today as 5 Manger Circle. An ancient elm, it towered as a solemn sentinel.

By 1953, the once-magnificent sentinel was at the end of its days, victimized by Dutch Elm Disease. That dastardly disease, first reported in the United States in 1928, was in the midst of its relentless and brutal spread across the nation. The disease was killing the giant elm of Manger Circle.  

The owner of 5 Manger Circle was saddened by the imminent death of the beautiful tree. The dying elm cast sadness over the neighborhood. Bare, gnarled limbs hung heavily from its wrinkled and twisted trunk. 

Its owner noticed that ne'er a day ended without at least one passing traveler staring forlornly at the stricken tree. Each time such a passerby stared, a look of sadness seemed to cast a pall across the staring face.  Often it seemed as if a painful memory was welling within.

The owner knew.  It was time. The dying elm would be taken down.

The heartsick owner and his son (who tells this story even today) were on hand for the gloomy event the day the ancient elm was taken down. That day, the heaviest limbs of the gnarled tree hung lower, slumping like broad but defeated wooden shoulders resigned to a sorrowful fate.

The owner's son recounts this tale even today.  He never will forget that melancholy day as he often has told his own sons.  

As the giant elm was taken down, neighbors poured into the yard.  Each was alarmed. Each arrived and asked the same question: if the old elm is destroyed, what will happen to the ghost of the man who hung himself from its limbs?

Shocked by the revelation, the owner and his son listened to a despairing tale that explained the sense of sadness that pervaded the area and the constant forlorn stares of passersby. Years and years before, a sadly-desperate man had chosen a heavy limb of the magnificent elm.  From that he hung himself. Neighbor after neighbor came forward to say that ever since, on particularly dark and gloomy nights, the ghost of the man could be seen wandering near the tree, just as gloomy and just as grief-stricken as the specter's living predecessor most likely had been in his desperate final hours. The phantom confined its wanderings to the area around the tree, somehow still tethered to the ancient elm that was used to end the living days of the specter's predecessor.

The owner's son remembers to this day how the neighbors seemed genuinely concerned about what would happen to the forlorn ghost once the tree was removed. Yet, the owner had no choice.  The old tree came down.

Today the Manger Circle neighborhood is one of the loveliest places in Pelham. For those who live there and others who visit, however, care should be taken on particularly dark and gloomy nights. Pay close attention to the darkness for It may be possible even now to see the Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle wandering the area, perhaps in search of the giant elm whose gnarled limbs once hung heavily from the wrinkled and twisted trunk of the giant tree that stood at 5 Manger Circle.

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I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for more than fifteen years.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see: 

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 

Bell, Blake A., Bibliography of Pelham's Ghost Stories and Legends (Oct. 2002).

Tue., Oct. 25, 2016:  The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle.

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016:  The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

Mon., Sep. 19, 2016:  The Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

Fri., Oct. 30, 2015:  The Shrieking Ghosts of Execution Rocks: Yet Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 29, 2015:  The Apparition of Wolfs Lane:  Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street:  A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.

Tue., Oct. 27, 2015:  The Ghostly Gardener of Bolton Priory:  A Pelham Apparition.

Mon., Oct. 26, 2015:  The Ghostly Matron of the Manor Club:  Even a Ghost Whisperer's Nightmare!

Fri., Oct. 31, 2014:  Ghosts in Pelham! Yet Another of Many Accounts of the Haunted Cedar Knoll.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 17, 2014: The Phantom Bell Ringer of Christ Church in Pelham Manor.

Fri., Jan. 30, 2009:  Article Published in 1901 Detailed Ghost Stories and Legends of Pelham.

Mon., Feb. 19, 2007:  Another Manor of Pelham Ghost Story: The Whispering Bell.

Fri., Aug. 18, 2006:  The Ghost Gunship of Pelham: A Revolutionary War Ghost Story.

Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.

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The Body of Eldest Son of U.S. President John Quincy Adams Washed Ashore in Pelham in 1829

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George Washington Adams was the eldest son of John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, and Louisa Catherine Adams.  He also, of course, was a grandson of John Adams, first Vice President and second President of the United States.  He was born in Berlin, Prussia on April 12, 1801 while his father was serving as a U.S. diplomat there.  According to a brief biography of George Washington Adams: 

“In 1809 John Quincy was appointed minister plenipotentiary to Russia.  Despite Louisa’s objections, John Quincy and his parents decided that George and his younger brother John 2d would remain at home to be educated.  Only the youngest son, Charles Francis, would accompany his parents to Russia.  The separation lasted for nearly six years, during which time Louisa gave birth to a daughter, Louisa Catherine, who died in infancy.  George and John 2d boarded with their great-aunt and uncle, Mary Smith and Richard Cranch, in Quincy.  With the death of both Mary and Richard in 1811, the two boys went to live with the Peabodys, and a year later they entered Derby Academy in Hingham, Massachusetts, residing with the school’s preceptor, Daniel Kimball.  John Quincy was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James in 1815, and in May of that year George and John 2d were reunited with their parents and Charles Francis in London.  The family resided in Ealing where the boys attended David Nicholas’ school, George as a day student.  With John Quincy’s appointment as secretary of state in 1817, the family returned to the U.S.  In August George enrolled at Harvard, and although he was disciplined for taking part in a student rebellion, he received his degree in August 1821.  He then studied law with his father, and in October 1823 he entered his third year of legal education in Daniel Webster’s Boston law office.  The following October, after being admitted to the Suffolk County Bar, George began to practice law in Boston.” 

Source:  “Third Generation – George Washington Adams” in Adams Biographical Sketches by the Massachusetts Historical Society (visited Oct. 12, 2016). 

George Washington Adams had a reputation as a womanizer and a heavy drinker.  Although he began practicing law in Massachusetts, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1826, serving one year.  In 1828 he served briefly on the Boston City Council. According to one account, “Adams had a troubled life. . . . He was said to be predisposed to gloom and paranoia, a combination that would probably be classified as depressive illness.”  

On April 30, 1829, George Washington Adams was traveling on board the steamship Benjamin Franklin in Long Island Sound on his way from Boston to Washington, D.C. when he appears to have committed suicide in the middle of the night.  According to one account: “He was last seen at about 2 A.M., and his hat and cloak were found on deck, leading to the conclusion that he had intentionally jumped.  His body washed ashore on June 10.  Adams had left notes hinting that he intended to kill himself, and earlier on the ship he had seemed delusional, asking the captain to return to shore, and declaring that the other passengers were conspiring against him.  The consensus in news accounts of the time and among historians subsequently is that he committed suicide by drowning after he jumped from the Benjamin Franklin.” 

Source: “George Washington Adams” in Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia (visited Oct. 2, 2016).  

A Hell Gate pilot named Ferris living on City Island in the Town of Pelham found the body of George Washington Adams after it washed ashore, virtually on the pilot’s doorstep, on Wednesday, June 10, 1829.  One newspaper reported:

“We learn from Mr. Ferris, one of the Hurl [sic] Gate pilots, that the body of Mr. G. W. Adams, son of the late President Adams, was found on Wednesday afternoon on City island directly in front of his door. 

Ex-President Adams, with his family, was to leave Washington last week for Massachusetts, there to take up his permanent residence.” 

Source: [Untitled], The Geneva Gazette and General Advertiser, Jun. 17, 1829, p. 3, col. 3. See also [Untitled], The Evening Post [NY, NY], Jun. 11, 1829, p. 2, col. 3 (“We learn from Mr. Ferris, one of the Hurl Gate Pilots, that the body of Mr. G. W. Adams, son of the late President Adams, was found yesterday afternoon on City Island, directly in front of his door”; Note: access via this link requires paid subscription). 

Although George Washington Adams never married, he is believed to have had a mistress named Eliza Dolph who, some claim, gave birth to a child only a few months before George Washington Adams committed suicide.  Eliza Dolph was a chambermaid to Dr. Welch, the family doctor of the Adams family in Boston.  Shortly before Adams committed suicide, Eliza became ill.  Although she recovered from the illness, by July 1829 her baby, possibly a child of George Washington Adams, had died.

George Washington Adams in Portrait Painted Ca. 1820.

Painting by Charles Bird King On Exhibit in Brooks' Adams'

Bedroom of the Old House (National Park Service).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Attempted Suicide of City Island's Long-Time Horse Car Driver

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I have been working hard for the last year or so to document the history of the "horse railroad" that ran from Bartow Station to City Island during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  For a few examples of Blog postings transcribing just a little of my research, see::

Wed., February 3, 2010:  Early Information Published in 1885 About the Organization of the "City Island Railroad", a Horse Railroad from Bartow Station to City Island

Tue., February 2, 2010:  Information About the Pelham Park Railroad at its Outset

Fri., January 22, 2010:  1884 Account of Early Origins of Horse Railroad Between Bartow Station and City Island

Tue., September 1, 2009:  Pelham News on February 29, 1884 Including Talk of Constructing a New Horse Railroad from Bartow to City Island

Wed., December 2, 2009:  Accident on Horse-Car of the Pelham Park Railroad Line in 1889

 Thu., December 31, 2009:  1887 Election of the Board of Directors of The City Island and Pelham Park Horse Railroad Company

Mon., January 4, 2010:  1888 Local News Account Describes Altercation on the Horse Railroad Running from Bartow Station to City Island

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes a sad article published in 1916 describing the attempted suicide of Patrick Byrns, the man who operated the City Island horse car for about 30 years.

"GRIEVING OVER WIFE'S DEATH, HE GASHES THROAT
-----
Patrick Byrnes, Who for Years Drove Only Car on City Island, Prisoner in Hospital.
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SURGEONS FEAR HE WILL DIE FROM WOUNDS.
-----

Brooding and grieving over the death of his wife two ago is believed to have caused Patrick Byrnes, fifty-seven years old, of No. 121 Pell street, City Island, to attempt suicide to-day.  He  is a prisoner in Fordham Hospital with an ugly wound in his neck and throat.  It is not believed he will recover.

When Byrnes' son John, twenty-two years old, awoke to-day he heard groans coming from his father's room.  He found his father lying on the bed with a gash in his neck and a razor lying near by.

Policeman Neggersmith, of the City Island station, was informed and took Byrnes, a prisoner, to Fordham Hospital.  Dr. Conboy, the ambulance surgeon, stated that he did not believe Byrnes would survive.

Byrnes for the last thirty years was the best known man on City Island.  Every man, woman and child on the Island knew him, for he was the driver and conductor on the lone horse car which connected City Island with the Bartow station on the New Haven Railway. 

A year ago, when the line was electrified, he went into the express business on the Island.  Two months ago his wife died, and his son to-day told the police that Byrnes had been grieving over her death ever since."

Source:  Grieving Over Wife's Death, He Gashes Throat, The Evening Telegram - New York, Aug. 10, 1916, p. 4, col. 2. 

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More on the Work of the Pelham Manor Protective Club in 1884

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For the last several days I have been posting information about the work of the Pelham Manor Protective Club first established in 1881 as a "Vigilance Committee" to oversee the health and welfare of Pelham Manor residents a decade before the incorporation of the Village of Pelham Manor.

Today's posting transcribes a brief reference to the work of the Club in preventing hunters from bagging game out of season in Pelham Manor.  The article is transcribed in its entirety because it contains other interesting information about Pelham and City Island.

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

--Pelham Manor and Larchmont are the two tony summer resorts between New York and New Haven. 

--Now that the Park Bill is law, and a large portion of the little town of Pelham is included within the limit, what is to become of the balance is the question.

--It would be well for some of the sportsmen of Pelham and Westchester to discontinue the shooting of woodcock until after the 1st of August.

--The very valuable horse belonging to Mr. David Carll died very unexpectedly Wednesday.  The animal appeared to be in perfect health and had been driven by the owner shortly before it died.

--Why should not the County of Westchester help to maintain and support the City Island Bridge, as well as some of the bridges in the upper towns of the County.  It is a heavy burden for the little town of Pelham, and flavors of a little unfairness somewhere.

--The Pelham Manor Protective Club is doing good work in the way of preventing the killing of woodcock and other game out of season, protecting from the heartless sportsmen the killing of song and other harmless birds, also preventing the pasturing of cattle, etc., upon the highway.

--Messrs. Jenkins and Cameron will sell on Monday, July 7, a number of valuable pieces of real estate, situated at City Island, the property of Capt. Joshua Leviness.  Doubtless an opportunity will present itself upon this sale for those desirous to invest in real estate property.  See advertisement in another column.

--Choice building lots upon City Island will command a good price within a few years.  The new park and a number of other schemes now on foot, including the proposed rail road across to Yonkers, would make the place central and add greatly to its many natural attractions.

--What is wanted is a ferry from City Island across to some point on Long Island.  At present it is a very inconvenient matter to cross to and from Long Island to Westchester County.  If a ferry was established at this point how soon would City Island bridge be a great thoroughfare.

--The body of Mrs. Heany, the lady who committed suicide by jumping from the steamer, C. H. Northam on the 23 inst, was found floating off City Island on Wednesday by Joshua Banta.  Coroner Tice held an inquest which resulted in verdict in accorance with the facts above stated.  The mother, brother and husband of the unfortunate lady and the companion who was with her when she threw herself overboard attended the inquest and took charge of the remains."

Source:  Pelham and City Island, New Rochelle Pioneer, Jul. ?, 1884, p. ?, col. 7 (date and page number were not included at the time on the newspaper page; believed to be July 1884 based on reference on the page that event will take place on Monday, July 7 which would place the date in 1884, likely shortly before July 7).

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