“I was drunk all day, I did not mean to steal the child.” -Lizzie Colbert
On October 26, 1879, Lizzie Colbert, entered a guilty plea before the Police Justice at the First District Police Court in Manhattan. She had been charged with “decoying child.” The details of this unfortunate incident, and thousands of other felony offenses, can be found in the Municipal Archives collection of New York County Court of General Sessions Indictments, also known as the New York District Attorney Felony Indictment files.
Criminal Courts, a.k.a. “The Tombs,” Valentine’s Manual, 1864. NYC Municipal Library.
The felony indictment series date from 1790 through the 1970s and are a significant component of the Archives’ collections related to the administration of criminal justice. Beginning in 1990, the Archives received federal funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for projects to preserve, index and reformat these materials. The Archives successfully persuaded the Endowment that the records had national importance based on their volume (thousands of cubic feet), date span (1686 to through the 20th century), and for their intellectual content. Generations of both academic and family historians have mined these records for unique information about the people of the city, specifically, and more generally, American urban history.
In 1997, the Archives received support from the NEH to index and microfilm the felony indictment files from 1879 through 1892. A second award from the NEH supported digitization of the microfilm. Creation of the index to this series greatly expanded researcher access. Two years ago, the ongoing demand for information from the records prompted the Archives to launch a project to continue indexing the series. The work began with cases filed in 1879, and has proceeded in reverse chronological order. Currently, case files from 1868 are being indexed. For the Record described the indictment record indexing project in What We're Working on Now - Indexing Felony Indictment Files. Since then, the names of 28,665 defendants have been added to the index.
The indexing project includes entering names of the defendants, the offense, and date of indictment, into a searchable database. As noted in the previous article, the types of cases found in this series include indictments for a wide variety of felony crimes. As expected, there are hundreds of larceny, assault, and robbery cases. Prosecutors also charged numerous defendants with fraud, libel, forgery, arson, perjury, and keeping a disorderly house. The high volume of homicide, murder, and manslaughter cases points to the harsh reality of life in a densely populated growing city. Similarly, cases of cruelty to animals are a reflection of the vast equine population at that time.
As noted above there are a wide variety of offenses handled by the prosecutors. Among the more notable cases, at least in terms of quantity, are the bigamy files. The case of the people vs. Marie Wellerdick, from June 1879, may be typical. A letter from her attorney in the file informed the District Attorney that the defendant “was abandoned by her [first] husband.” Then, some years later she “lived with Albert Weber as his mistress and had two children by him.” Two years later, Weber became very ill and “on his death bed he requested her to marry him.” She, believing her former husband dead, “complied with his wishes and the ceremony was performed on the 18th day of August 1873.” Inconveniently, the first husband was not dead. The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Horace Russell, however, decided to withdraw the charge. In a note added to the case file, he wrote that the defendant “was not of such a character as that she should be prosecuted further. A death bed marriage to satisfy the conscience of a dying man might not to be made an occasion of a criminal conviction.” June 7, 1879.
The People vs. Thomas O’Connor, June 15, 1869, New York District Attorney Case Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Not all of the cases involve grievous harm to persons or property. In the newly indexed case files, there are about a dozen prosecutions related to the distribution of “obscene” materials. On June 15, 1869, prosectors indicted Thomas O’Connor, a.k.a. James Dexter, for “selling obscene books.” The file helpfully includes a copy of a flier listing the available publications and products. Books titled “Amours of a Modest Man,” and “Scenes in a Nunnery,” along with “French Transparent Cards,” and stereoscopic pictures, are just some of the items offered.
It is not entirely clear what prompted the indictment, but the case file includes a short letter, dated May 10, 1869, from Stuart A. Wilson of Nebraska City, Nebraska. In the letter to “James Dexter” he complained that he had sent 50 cents along with a request for one of his publications from “Cupid’s Own Library,” but had not received the requested item. He added that his order for another book had also not been fulfilled. Wilson warned Dexter that “if I do not hear from you within 20 days I will positively have you punished.” He added, “it is not the money I want but justice.” Apparently, Wilson followed through on his threat as the letter found its way to the prosecutor’s office.
The O’Connor/Dexter case file also includes the deposition of Riley A. Brick. He stated that on January 30, 1869, he called at Dexter/O’Connor’s place of business, 60 Warren Street. He saw the defendant there and “inquired if he could purchase some obscene books.” Dexter said yes. Riley went on to state that he was a “member of the Young Men’s Christian Association of the City of New York and that “his purpose in this proceeding is to protect families and society against the circulation of said obscene and indecent books sold by [the defendant] and to punish him therefore.” It is not entirely clear from the documents, but it appears that O’Connor/Dexter switched his plea to “guilty,” and the charges may have been dismissed.
County Jail, Valentine’s Manual, 1870. NYC Municipal Library.
Lizzie Colbert was not the only defendant accused of “Decoying Child” in the autumn of 1879. On September 17, 1879, prosecutors charged that Rebecca Kelly “... did maliciously forcibly and fraudulently take, carry away, decoy and entice away” the child Prince Matthews from his sister Eugenia. The native-born Kelly, 20 years old, listed her occupation on the plea statement as “I do anything I can get to do.” She initially plead ‘not guilty,’ but then later “acknowledged that she found said child on the Bowery near Houston Street and that he was not her child.” The jury at her trial could not agree to convict and on October 24, 1879, the Court discharged Kelly.
Lizzie Colbert did not fare as well. Even though she voluntarily brought the child she admitted was not her own to the 27th Police Precinct Station, and offered the seemingly reasonable excuse that she had been drunk all day, the jury voted to convict. The Court sentenced her to one year in the State penitentiary.
The People vs. Rebecca Kelly, September 17, 1879; The People vs. Lizzie Colbert, November 6, 1879, New York District Attorney Case Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Researchers are invited to access and further explore the collection. Look for future For the Record articles that chronicle project progress.