(Part 1 of 2)
In the 1920s, a minor story out of Whitehall, New York, evolved into a fascinating, convoluted tale involving bootlegging, robbery, and murder. And, it caused an international dispute over crimes committed along the border between the United States and Canada.
Anyone who lives along New York's border with Canada, especially in rural areas, understands the unique element it brings to life. Prior to the 1980s, except during wartime, locals routinely crossed the border at inspection stations, courtesy of nothing more than a "Where are you headed?" and the wave of a hand (truth be told, it was often just the wave of a hand).
Many more crossings were made daily without inspection stations; it was just neighbors visiting neighbors (I'm speaking from both knowledge and experience). The American-Canadian divide is an unfenced border, but when the occasional dispute arises, that invisible line can mean the difference between life and death.
This story begins, in part, with a crime that was routine for the times: a car loaded with 250 bottles of bootleg Canadian ale, and local constables in hot pursuit. Whitehall police caught up with the vehicle just south of the village, where the occupants, a woman and an older teenage boy, had pulled over and fled on foot. Several shots were fired by police during the ensuing chase. The woman was captured, but the boy escaped arrest until the following day.
The federal court in Albany handled Volstead violations (Prohibition), and a few weeks later, the woman was fined the grand sum of one dollar. Her Hudson car remained confiscated by authorities. Accomplice (and driver of her car) Francis Aiken, 18, was ordered to pay $1,000. That fine set off a chain of unlikely events with more than one tragic result.
Two months later, about 100 miles north of Whitehall as the crow flies, a terrible crime was reported near the US-Canada border. Farmer George Benton, of Roxham, Quebec, just a short distance north of the US hamlet of Perry's Mills, was doing his chores when he was accosted by two masked men, one of whom carried a shotgun. When they demanded money, Benton dropped his lantern and ran to escape.
With his assailants in hot pursuit, Benton attempted to cross a fence, but a blast from the 12-gauge shotgun brought him down. He was robbed, roughed up, and left bleeding on the ground. A few minutes later, Goldie Clark, Benton's neighbor in Perry's Mills, came to his aid. A doctor was summoned, and after Benton's injuries (to both legs and one arm) were tied with tourniquets, Clark took him to Physician's Hospital in Plattsburgh.
Benton had told both men about the attack, and in Chazy, the doctor noticed a Ford truck matching the description he had been given. The sheriff was notified, and not long after, Francis Aiken and his younger brother Charles were in police custody. Their truck had been seen near Benton's home by several witnesses, and in the truck was a double-barrel shotgun, with one barrel discharged. The two boys, giving their ages as 16 and 15, denied everything, claiming they had been on a hunting trip to Chazy.
Plattsburgh's sheriff took the boys to the hospital so Benton could identify them. However, the boys were about the same size as each other, and both had worn masks, so he couldn't offer a positive ID. The money found in their pockets presented less of a problem for Benton: it was Canadian currency, obviously the money they had stolen. Later, after intense questioning by the sheriff, the boys admitted to the crime and said Francis had done the shooting. Additional money was found in their pockets, along with the handkerchiefs used to disguise their identity.
Now this was great news. The victim was being treated for his injuries, the criminals had admitted their guilt, and assorted evidenced confirmed the events as reported by several witnesses. Other than a few loose ends to tie up, it was an open-and-shut case.
The next day, the boys offered a revised version of their story, but the details seemed insignificant. They now gave their ages as 18 and 16, and said the gun had gone off accidentally while they were chasing Benton. At least the shooters were in custody, and it could all be sorted out in court.
However, the next day brought one more change. George Benton died.
Doctors determined he had succumbed to blood poisoning and loss of blood, and both were attributed to the shooting. This presented some unique problems. The boys had confessed, and then changed their confession, but had offered both stories with the full expectation Benton would recover. The first confession mandated a murder charge, and the second likely called for manslaughter. And those were the EASY issues.
The victim was from Canada, but the perpetrators were US citizens. Who had jurisdiction? Where would they be prosecuted? Who would prosecute them—the Canadian government, the US government, or New York State? Was extradition likely, considering the claim that one of the accused might be less than mentally competent by legal standards? Were they minors in both countries, or adults? That alone could determine their fate for the rest of their lives.
With Benton's death, a warrant was issued. The Aiken boys were once again taken into custody and held without bail until the case could be considered by the grand jury. On their behalf, prominent attorney J. W. Davern requested dismissal, a move that was successfully opposed by DA Harold Jerry, who was representing the Canadian government. (Perhaps his parents should have given it a little more thought when choosing his name … or maybe they were poets).
Davern promised to vigorously rebut any attempts at extradition, citing the possibility that the crime had actually been committed in the US (since it was so close to the border). He also noted a supposed "trace of hereditary insanity in the [Aiken] family," and promised to use the defense of mental incapacity if the case was tried in Canada. In the meantime, Canadian authorities prepared warrants for the transfer of the boys to their custody.
All appearances of a murder investigation soon appeared. Witnesses on both sides of the border were questioned, evidence was gathered and examined, and many possibilities for prosecution were discussed. Accounts by several witnesses who lived near Benton suggested there was little hope for acquittal. It was also determined that the crime had, in fact, occurred in the Dominion.
It looked like the Aiken boys might soon be heading north for a date in Canadian court.
Tomorrow: The Rest of the Story
© 2010 Lawrence P. Gooley