By Shannon Butler Sitting on top of a hillside and overlooking the Hudson sits a monument to a man who had faith in his God, and in his country’s system of justice. The epitaph inscribed therein gives us a glimpse of who he was: “In Society an Ornament; In the State, a Judge, fearless, dignified, and incorruptible; In Habit, Simple and Pure. He died young, but mature in usefulness and fame. Adorning Jurisprudence by the clearness of his decisions, and Illustrating Religion by the Strength of his faith!” To this modern writer, that sounds[...]

By Bill Kleppel His Quaker minister father was a successful Main Street businessman with a penchant for outlandish muttonchops. His Civil War hero uncle was a powerful judge, who became a New York State Supreme Court Justice. So why did Alexander Haviland Gildersleeve turn into  such a dastardly, high society reprobate? The side story, which aligns well with the young Gildersleeve’s lecherous mayhem, is the early onset of trans-continental tabloid journalism, and the public’s insatiable thirst for it. Today, tales of vice, tawdriness, and violence explode into our modern media cycle one day, only[...]

In January of 1904, up the road from the Hudson Day Line Pier, and near the Poughkeepsie Train Station, a deadly shooting took place outside Frank Long’s Elberon Hotel at 50 Main Street. This crime wasn’t “cut and dry,” nor was it random. There was pre-meditation on both sides of the story. Yet one simple fact was clear. Wilbur Van Tassell was shot dead by an enraged James Newman. …And it seems as if the local and national press, along with most of the public, thought the murder was justifiable. The Poughkeepsie Eagle[...]