 |
| The Valentine Flats trail, photograph by the author. For a trail map go HERE |
A
couple of Saturdays ago, my wife and I, along with two friends, decided to get
out, get some exercise and go for a trail walk.
We practiced our best “social distancing” and stayed six feet apart,
while we walked, talked and enjoyed the outdoors. It was a lovely spring day, upper 60os
F (16o C), sunny, with no wind -- all-in-all a pretty unusual day
for Western New York.
We
had decided to hike the Valentine Flats Trail, in Zoar Valley, just outside of
Gowanda, NY, and we saw all sorts of spring wildflowers. We saw red trillium (trillium erectum),
trout-lily (erythronium americanum) and northern blue violets (viola
septenrionalis), to mention just a few.
 |
| Red trillium (trillium erectum), photograph by the author. |
 |
| Trout-lily (erythronium americanum), photograph by the author. |
 |
| Northern blue violets (viola septenrionalis), photograph by the author. |
But
this story isn’t about spring flowers.
It is about what we found near the end of the trail, almost on the banks
of Cattaraugus Creek. It’s about Thomas
Dutton, whose gravestone we saw and who was buried near where his body was
found in 1826; but was it an accidental death or was it murder?!
 |
| The Thomas Dutton gravestone at the end of the Valentine Flats Trail, in Zoar Valley, photograph by the author. |
 |
| An excerpt from page 969 of the Historical Gazetteer, 1893 |
So
how did Thomas Dutton, come to be buried near the South Branch of Cattaraugus
Creek, at the end of the Valentines Flat walking trail, in what was known in
1826 as “Darby Flats” and is known today as “Valentines Flats”1.
But,
first and more importantly, who was Thomas Dutton? According to Phil Palen, the historian for
the Gowanda Area Historical Society, it is possible that Thomas Dutton was
originally from New Hampshire, as a person with that name appears on the 1790
New Hampshire census, and that he moved to the area at some time before
1826. According to the legend, he set up a store on Buffalo Street
in the village of Aldrich Mills, as it was called before 1823, as around 1823 name of the
village was changed to Lodi, before being changed finally to Gowanda in 18482. Apparently Dutton, was in the habit of
selling alcohol to the Native Americans and others, which made his store a
rowdy place that it attracted rough people, and this angered the other settlers
of the village, who convinced him to sell his store and move out of the area3.
 |
| An excerpt from the map found on page 9 of the History of Cattaraugus Co., New York, 1873. |
 |
| An excerpt from page 969 of the Historical Gazetteer, 1893. |
According
to the Historical Gazetteer, 1893, in the Fall of 1826, after selling
his store, Thomas Dutton left the village of Lodi intending to travel to the
village of Ashford. Before 1830 if
someone in the village of Lodi wished to travel to the village of East Otto, or
beyond it to the village of Ashford, they first had to travel two miles up
Cattaraugus Creek to “Darby Flats”, ford the South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek
and then follow the path up the “breakers”, as the rugged bluffs which form the
banks of the creek were called3, and then on to East Otto and the
village of Ashford.
 |
| A view of Cattaraugus Creek and the “breakers” which line it, photograph by the author. |
 |
| An excerpt from page 969 of the Historical Gazetteer, 1893. |
Also,
we know, from the fact that his body was found among some flood debris on the tip
of a small island, about 100 rods or 550 yards (500 meters) below the mouth of
the South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek, in the Spring of 1827, that he came this
way. What we don’t know is how he died? Was his death accidental, did he slip and
fall while climbing the path up the “breakers”, crashing to the creek
below? Perhaps he slipped and drowned
while fording the South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek? Or was he murdered?!
When
Thomas Dutton’s body was found in the spring of 1827, among the flood wood on
an island in the middle of the creek, the elected coroner, Ahaz Allen, held an
inquest. But, unfortunately, because
Thomas Dutton’s body was so badly decomposed when it was found, the coroner was
unable to determine if Dutton died accidentally or was murdered4. However, according to the Historical
Gazetteer, 1893, it was known that when he left Lodi, the previous fall,
that “...he had $400 on his person and a silver watch, and as neither money
nor watch were found with him...”, it was assumed that he had been robbed
and murdered.
In
United States criminal law, “means, motive, and opportunity”, is a
popular way to summarize the three parts of a crime that have to be established
before a verdict of guilty can be determined: the ability and the tools to
commit the crime are the “means”, the reason to commit the crime is the “motive”
and the chance to commit the crime is the “opportunity”.
Since
the coroner was unable to determine if Thomas Dutton’s death was a violent
death or due to an accident, that means there was no evidence of the means or method
of his death. So, why did the coroner
and the townsfolk have “the prevailing opinion that he met his death by the
hand of some unknown assassin”. Was
there enough motive and opportunity for them to guess that it was murder?
Was
there a motive for murder? It was
alleged that Thomas Dutton was selling liquor to the Native Americans and that
this angered his neighbors. Perhaps the
motive was revenge, since it was possible that he had been getting the Native
Americans drunk and then cheating and swindling them, which angered someone,
who felt that they had been taken advantage of.
Or perhaps one of his neighbors in the village was angry enough at some
incident to want to take revenge. In any
case it would have been widely known that he was selling out and moving on, and
maybe people even knew where he was headed to.
It is even possible that people knew how much his store had sold for, in
which case, the motive might simply have been “the love of money”.
Thomas
Dutton was likely carrying a large amount of silver coins, the proceeds of the
sale of his store, with him on his journey up the Cattaraugus valley, which
would have been heavy, bulky and easy for a robber to spend5. Presumably, he was wearing a backpack or
carrying a sack which contained a bag or a chest of coins, in addition to the
rest of his belongings, and he would have kept his watch in his pocket. So, even if he had died accidentally by falling
or drowning and the backpack or sack had been dropped or fallen away, his watch
should have remained in his pocket. Since
his watch was also missing, it would appear from the lack of evidence, that his
pockets had been rifled and that he had been robbed!
Now
in 1826, $400.00 was a lot of money, and since in the early 1800’s, when an
unskilled laborer could only expect to make about $2.00 a week6, this
amount was almost four years wages and would certainly have been a motive for
murder.
 |
| The trail near the Thomas Dutton gravestone and the confluence of Cattaraugus Creek and the South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek, pictures by the author. |
It
appears that there would have been plenty of motive for his murder and as far
as opportunity goes the banks of the Cattaraugus creek and the woods and
thickets of Darby Flats would have been lonely places full of opportunities for
ruthless robbers and murderers.
So
it is likely that the coroner, Ahaz Allen, and the townsfolk were correct in
their guess that Thomas Dutton was killed and robbed near the fording spot
of the South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek, on the trail to East Otto and Ashford,
by parties unknown. And unless a cache
of coins is ever found in the Zoar Valley to contradict this assumption, the verdict
will have to be murder!
 |
| Thomas Dutton’s original gravestone, courtesy of Phil Palen and the Gowanda Area Historical Society. |
Thomas
Dutton’s “ashes”7 or remains were buried near where he had
been found and presumably been murdered, on the flats near the mouth of the South
Branch of Cattaraugus Creek. In 2001 the
original gravestone was found broken in two and was replaced by the current granite
marker that you can see today. The
original stone is on display at the Gowanda Area Historical Society and their
website can be found HERE
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.
Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
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announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1
From
William Adam’s Historical Gazetteer And Biographical Memorial of Cattaraugus
County, NY, page 969
2
According to Phil Palen, the historian for the Gowanda Area Historical Society, Gowanda's original name was Aldrich Mills, and the village was named after the pioneer Turner Aldrich, who settled there in 1810. The name of the village was changed around the year 1823, to Lodi. It was named after a city in Lombardy Italy, which is on the River Adda, where in 1796, Napoleon's army defeated the Austrians. A man who had been at the battle, remarked when the first bridge was built across Cattaraugus Creek, that the new bridge looked like a bridge that crossed the River Adda, in Lodi, Italy. In 1848, the village was renamed Gowanda, which is a Seneca Indian phrase that means "below river cut banks". From a personal correspondence with Mr. Palen, May 2, 2020.
3
“...For several miles above this point the banks of both
streams continue high and precipitous, rising in some places to the height of
300 feet. These rugged bluffs along the
main creek have received the local designation of " the breakers;"
and the narrow gorge through which the stream flows (contracted at one point to
a width of about 350 feet) is usually known as "the narrows."...”,
an excerpt from page 284 of HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS: Illustrations
And Biographical Sketches Of Some Of Its Prominent Men And Pioneers,
edited by Franklin Ellis
4 Today
we assume that coroners are medical examiners and forensic experts, who can glean
evidence from a dead body, but that wasn’t so during the early 1800’s. In 1826, in the United States, a coroner was
elected to a two to four-year term and had no special medical training. A coroner’s job was to hold an investigation when
a death was suspicious, to determine if the death was murder or an accident. Ahaz Allen, who built and operated several
mills, was the first settler in Gowanda, arriving in 1810, and was the elected
coroner, but he likely had no specialized medical training or experience.
HISTORY
OF CATTARAUGUS: Illustrations And Biographical Sketches Of Some Of Its
Prominent Men And Pioneers, edited by Franklin Ellis, page 375.
5
Since paper currency at the time was issued by state-chartered banks and was
not backed by the federal government, it wasn’t always reliable or desired. Unfortunately, silver coinage, which was reliable
and desired, although scarce in 1826, was heavy. Capped bust half dollars which were issued
from 1807-1839, weighed each about ½ ounce (13.5 grams), and Spanish dollars, or
as they were also known “pieces of eight”, and were excepted as legal tender in
the United States until 1857 and were valued at a U.S. dollar, each weighed
about 1 ounce (about 28 grams). This
means that $400.00 in silver would have weighed about 25 pounds (about 11 kg).
From
Christopher Klein, “8 Things You May Not Know About American Money”, from “1807-1839
Capped Bust Half Dollars” and from “Pieces of Eight and Doubloons -- Reales and
Escudos”.
6 From
“Cost of Food Prices and Wages in the 1800's”, which featured information from Milton
Meltzer’s, Bread- And Roses, The Struggle Of American Labor: 1865-1915, p.
14-15.
7 According
to Phil Palen, the historian for the Gowanda Area
Historical Society, the term “ashes” most likely meant mortal
remains and did not literally mean that he was cremated. From a personal correspondence with Mr. Palen,
April 28, 2020
Sources
Adams, William; Historical Gazetteer And
Biographical Memorial of Cattaraugus County, NY, [Lyman, Horton & Co.
Limited, Syracuse, NY, October 1893], page 969,
https://archive.org/details/historicalgazett00adam/page/n4/mode/2up,
accessed April 27, 2020
“1807-1839 Capped Bust Half Dollars”,
https://cappedbusthalfdollar.org/capped-bust-half-dollar-specifications/,
accessed May 1, 2020
Ellis, Franklin; Editor, History
Of Cattaraugus: Illustrations And Biographical Sketches Of Some Of Its
Prominent Men And Pioneers, [Philadelphia, L.H. Everts, 1879], page 284, https://archive.org/details/history_of_cattaraugus_county_new_york_1879/page/n12/mode/2up,
accessed April 27, 2020
Klein, Christopher; “8 Things You May Not
Know About American Money”, Updated, August 22, 2018, Original, February 25,
2013 [History Channel], https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-american-money,
accessed May 2, 2020
“Cost
of Food Prices and Wages in the 1800's”,
http://oldrecipebook.com/1800s-livingcost.shtml,
accessed April 27, 2020
National
Institutes of Health, “Coroner vs. medical examiner”, June 5, 2014, https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/visibleproofs/galleries/cases/examiner.html,
accessed May 2, 2020.
“Pieces of Eight and Doubloons -- Reales
and Escudos”, Pirates of the Caribbean: Pirate Money http://pirates.hegewisch.net/money.html,
accessed May 2, 2020
“Persia”,
Historic Path of Cattaraugus County, [Cattaraugus County Historical Advisory
Committee and the Dept. of Economic Development, Planning & Tourism], https://historicpath.com/history/persia,
accessed April 30, 2020
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