Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

From the Albany Argus.

Dreadful Accident—On Friday last an accident occurred at Cooperstown, at the execution of Levi Kelly, for the murder of Abr. Spafford, which has no parallel in the history of accidents on such occasions.

A very great concourse of persons had assembled to witness the execution; and a platform had been erected by Mr. Griffin, keeper of the hotel, for the accommodation of spectators. The platform, which was a sort of amphitheatre, was built near the scaffold, upon upright posts placed in the ground. It was of considerable length and width, and was crowded with people. It is estimated that 2000 persons were upon it. Owing to the inclemency of the weather, nearly an equal number had assembled under it. When Kelly was taken from prison, and, surrounded by the sheriff and the guard, was approaching the scaffold, the crowd upon the platform instinctively leaned forward to see the prisoner and the ceremony; when the entire mass moved forward and fell to the ground, carrying with it all its occupants, and crushing such beneath it as could not escape. Fortunately its course was horizontal; had it been direct, hundreds would have been immediately killed. As it was, report states variously the death of from five to ten persons.

Mr. Tracy, the engraver, was instantly killed. Mr. Williams died the same evening. A woman and child were also killed. More than this, we have no knowledge of, except by report. Many were wounded; and several so severely by, that it was not believed they would survive.

In the midst of the confusion caused by this disaster, Kelley was executed. He met his fate with a sullen indifference.

For these particulars, we are indebted to a gentleman, who, passing in the stage at the time, gathered the facts from credible persons.

Since the above was in type, we have received the Cooperstown paper, from which we copy the following particulars.

The Execution.—The sentence of the law was carried into effect upon the person of Levi Kelly, for the murder, of Abraham Spafford, on Friday last, at about 2 o'clock P. M. The weather, during the preceding day and night, had been tempestuous, and on the morning of Friday the rain fell in torrents; yet our village was thronged with men, women, and children, before 12 o'clock M., at about which time the military, composed of Capt. Clark's company of cavalry, Capt. Bourne's corps of artillery, Capt. Dixen's company of infantry, and two companies of militia, were formed into a hollow square, under the direction of Captain Comstock and Qr. Master Sabin, as Marshals, and marched to the Jail, from which the convict was taken by Sheriff Hiester, apparently in a very feeble state of health, and placed upon a bed in a sleigh drawn by his own horses.

He was dressed in his usual apparel. The sleigh with two others in which were the Rev. Mr. Smith and the Rev. Mr. Potter, entered the hollow square, and the whole mass moved to the ground fixed upon for the place of execution, situate south of the Court House and not far from the Methodist Chapel.

On arriving at the gallows a scene ensued which beggars all description. A staging of 100 feet in length, and 12 in depth, the front being elevated 6 and the rear 8 feet from the ground, erected for the accommodation of spectators, and under and upon which it is computed there were at least 600 persons, suddenly gave way, and fell with a tremendous crash. Then came the lamentations of the multitude for the safety of their friends and relatives, and the rush to their relief. A scene so unexpected and horrifying, was eminently calculated to absorb every other feeling, an assemblage of more than 4000 persons seemed for the instant enchained in their tracks.

Efforts at relief, however, were promptly made, and a number of bodies were drawn from under the fallen timber in a state of total insensibility. Among them was the body of Mr. Elisha C. Tracy, engraver of this village, the upper part of whose face was actually crushed in more than an inch. Life was wholly extinct. An elderly man resident at Richfield, named Daniel Williams, had his leg and arm broken, and died at about 5 o'clock P. M. Mrs. Patten, wife of Mr. David Patten, of Otsego, had a limb fractured, and a daughter of Mr. Jacob M. Planter, of this village, had her leg broke and body much bruised. Twenty or thirty other persons, among whom is a young man from Springfield, named Stanard, were severely hurt.

So soon as the high excitement of this calamitous had in some degree subsided, by the ascertainment of the injuries received and the removal of the dead and wounded from the ground, the Convict was taken from the sleigh and assisted to ascend the gallows, and upon the rope being noosed round his neck by the sheriff, and his soul commended to the mercy of God in a short prayer from the Rev. Mr. Smith, in which he appeared to participate, the drop fell, and after a few slight twitchings of his limbs, his body hung for thirty minutes, a monument of the vengeance of the law for the wrongful taking the life of a sensible being in the violence of passion. Upon cutting the rope and letting down the body, it was committed to the care of his relatives for christian burial.

Thus ended a scene, similarity to which we hope and pray may never again be witnessed in this country. These public executions always bring with them more or less disasters, and besides, they are so demoralizing in their tendency, that there needs to be some other statutory provision on the subject. And we trust that the Legislature of the State, which convenes to morrow, will not rise until the subject is well reviewed and a remedy provided.

Mr. Tracy, whose sudden death is above noticed by the disastrous falling of the staging, was 40 years of age, and has left a wife and five children, who were wholly dependent on his mechanical labor for their support. Mr. Williams was an old and infirm man. Some of the others that were wounded, lie in dangerous situations—hopes are, however, entertained of the recovery of all of them.