Featured Murder...

40. A Savage Ruffian!

James Fennimore Cooper recalled a day in June 1806 when he joined the population of Cooperstown, New York, to witness an eclipse of the sun. The eclipse was not the only memorable sight he saw that day, a prisoner had been brought up from his windowless dungeon to view the event. The man “with haggard face and fettered arms…the very picture of utter misery,” was Stephen Arnold, convicted of beating to death his six-year-old adopted daughter Betsey Van Amburgh for mispronouncing a word.

Date: January 10, 1805
Location: Burlington, New York
Victim: Betsey Van Amburgh
Cause of Death: Beating
Accused: Stephen Arnold
© 2014-2024 - Robert Wilhelm, Night Stick Press