Thomas Dutton, Died 1826...Was It Murder?!©

 

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 60^os F (16^o 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 the 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

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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