er changed his last name to Stewart. It can be surmised that he did not want to be associated with the murder of his father. Frank Gates went to live on the family farm in Warren and later moved to Utica. To learn more about this case, read the book Last Woman Hanged by James Greiner, available for sale at the Herkimer County Historical Society’s gift shop. •
Interior of the Druse house showing the axe and wood stove.
The New York State Woman Suffrage Association had written Governor Hill in November 1886 asking that Roxalana not be executed. On Feb. 28, 1887, Roxalana Druse was sentenced to die by hanging. The gallows were built in Fort Plain, Montgomery County. They were made to come apart and be reassembled. Roxalana was the last woman hanged in New York State. She is
buried in an unmarked grave in Oak Hill Cemetery. Mary Druse was placed in Onondaga State Penitentiary in Jamesville, NY. She was pardoned 10 years in 1895. She married John Gannon, who was a harness maker, and lived out her life in Syracuse. George was an orphan and placed in the care of his uncle Newton Chamberlain, who was Roxalana’s brother-in-law. George lat-
“Roxy,” a play by Jack Sherman, will be presented by the Herkimer County Historical Society in association with the Ilion Little Theatre at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11 and 12 and Sept. 18 and 19, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13 and 20 at the Ilion Little Theatre Playhouse. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and can be purchased ahead of time at the Historical Society. Sue Perkins is the Executive Director of the Herkimer County Historical Society and historian for the town of Manheim.
This Geoffrey Cornish designed golf course features:
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