Author: Carl Johnson

Shall we continue with the recitation of murders from 1902’s “History of the Police Service of Albany”? Yes, let’s do. On April 1, 1858, Emil Hartung of Division Street, just below Green Street, died under suspicious circumstances. “Living in the same house was William Rheinmann, and it was current gossip that his relations with…

Ready for some more murder? After the hanging of Jesse Strang, the “History of the Police Service of Albany” tells us that: “The next recorded execution for murder and the first one away from the eye of the general public, is that of Jacob Leddings, who shot and killed his wife Hannah, in the…

The “History of the Police Service of Albany” from 1902, as we’ve noted before, recorded that there had been about 142 homicide cases in Albany and vicinity from 1687 until 1902, and it took the time to detail a number of the more famous ones. It started with the story of Joseph Bettys, who,…

1902’s “History of the Police Service of Albany” kinda buries the lead in its chapter on homicides and malefactions, leading off its account of notable crimes with this brief mention: “In the latter year [1782], Joseph Bettys was convicted of treason and murder, and conditionally pardoned by George Washington. He subsequently violated the conditions,…

We mentioned yesterday that in the annals of early crime in Albany, one James Hamilton was hanged for the murder of Major Benjamin Birdsall. Before his hanging, Hamilton gave the account of his life to one Calvin Pepper, “who penned the same from the lips of Hamilton.” The Sheriff and Police Justices certified “that…

1902’s “History of the Police Service of Albany” includes a chapter titled “Homicides of Two Centuries.” “Were one to fully describe all of the crimes committed in the City of Albany and vicinity, it would take many books the size of this one, so the best that can be done is to mention some…

“The History of the Police Service of Albany” from back in 1902 noted that at one time, there was a Capital Police District that covered the area. This was long before there was a State Police force. In 1865 the Legislature passed an act creating a capital police district that included the City of…

You’d think a city as old as Albany would have an equally old police force,  but what we think of as police is relatively modern. A 1902 “History of the Police Service of Albany” noted that early records of crime and its enforcement were sketchy at best, such that “much of the early history,…

In 1897, Albany was the scene of a famous kidnapping, the abduction of five-year-old John Conway. He was the son of Michael Conway, 99 Colonie Street, a night dispatcher at the West Albany yards. The “History of the Police Service of Albany: From 1609 to 1902” tells it this way: It was eight o’clock…

A building I never saw and miss dearly all the same: The Albany Savings Bank, North Pearl Street. This graceful beauty was built in 1907 by Henry Ives Cobb, artist and architect from Chicago and later Washington, D.C. The caption here is importantly wrong, as the Albany Savings Bank and the Albany City Savings…