by Shannon Butler
In the Local History collection there is a document box marked ‘Miscellaneous Murder Cases in Dutchess County.’ You have to admit, it does sound kind of interesting (any Cold Case Files fans out there?) Well, within the box are a few documents which tell the story of a murder, a trial, and a sentence which all took place within a few months in the winter/spring of 1848. The murder took place in Pleasant Valley in January, the trial began on April 12th 1848 in the courthouse on Market Street in Poughkeepsie, and by May 26th the prisoner would pay for his crime!
Mr. Wesley Pine was rumored to have been a man with some problems. At least that is what the defense would claim. While on the other hand, he may have been a jealous man who wanted money, or love, it’s somewhat hard to say. On January 9th, 1848, Mrs. Elizabeth Russell was at her home, just north of Pleasant Valley, while her husband and sister went off to church. Mr. Wesley Pine entered her home and claimed that she owed him $200. She professed to be unaware of any money that she or her husband may have owed Mr. Pine to which he called her a liar. He then pulled a Allen’s Patent revolver pistol that he had purchased from William Berry, a gunsmith on Main Street in Poughkeepsie just days before. He shot her through the chest and the bullet went through her 7th rib, missed her heart and lodged near her spine. Dr. Calvert Canfield showed the bullet to the courtroom that he had pulled from Mrs. Russell before her death.
The poor sad husband, Mr. Benjamin Russell had gone to church that day and when he returned he found his wife, mortally wounded, being carried into the kitchen with blood on her dress. He said that she knew this shot would be the end of her, and it was. Another man who was in the house at the time of the shooting, John Gheo, said he narrowly escaped with his life, and a little girl who was also there was too afraid to speak. For the prosecution, it was clearly an open and shut case, the man shot down this innocent woman in cold blood. There was some mention that Mr. Pine had been romantically attached to Mrs. Russell in the past, but she had denied it. Perhaps this was the act of a man filled with lust? When he was finally caught a few days after the shooting, the newspapers claimed that his only regret was that he didn’t succeed in killing Mr. Russell as well.
The defense was sure that this poor Mr. Pine was the victim of a mental disease and that the crime was not committed by a sane man, but by a man inflicted with insanity. The defense also claimed that this was an illness that ran in his family. They came armed with several witnesses who all spoke of the many issues including, his father taking his own life by hanging from a tree. Or the fact that his sister had apparently been unwell and that she had “preached in a strange manner” at a Quaker meeting (though it should be noted that the Quaker tradition allows women to preach). A few of the witnesses even claimed to have watched as Mr. Pine attempted to shoot himself, in both cases he was unsuccessful. The defense certainly did a good job of making it seem like Mr. Pine had never been quite right, but the prosecutors used some doctors who claim that they had known Mr. Pine and never saw any form of insanity in him.
The Jury was out for a grand total of one hour and 15 minutes before they returned with a verdict of GUILTY! Wesley Pine was sentenced to death by hanging. Was this killing an act of passion, a man who lost his love and was filled with jealousy? Or was he truly suffering from a mental illness? It didn’t matter to the family of Elizabeth Russell. Wesley was put to death within the walls of the county jail on May 26th 1848.
Resources – Wesley Pine trial booklet – Local History Archives
Poughkeepsie Journal – 3 June 1848*
Poughkeepsie Journal – 22 Apr 1848*
*Newspapers.com features page image newspapers that are keyword searchable from many parts of New York State. The Poughkeepsie Eagle News is available from November 30, 1861 – December 30, 1922 (with some coverage gaps). Also included are the Kingston Daily Freeman (1873-1977), and the Middletown Herald and variant names (1894-1970s). Offsite access limited to Poughkeepsie Public Library District Cardholders. ***If you are inside a PPLD library building, click HERE for immediate access.
