Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Walworth Patricide.


The name Walworth was an old and venerable one in the state of New York. William Walworth arrived there from London in 1689; during the American Revolution, Benjamin Walworth fought in the Battle of White Plains; Reuben Hyde Walworth, in 1828, was named Chancellor of New York, the state’s highest judicial office. But in 1873 the name Walworth was forever tarnished when Frank Walworth murdered his father Mansfield Walworth.

Date: June 3, 1873

Location:   New York, New York

Victim:  Mansfield Walworth

Cause of Death:  Gunshot

Accused:   Frank Walworth

Synopsis:
Reuben Walworth was an up and coming young attorney when he married Maria Avery of Plattsburg, New York. They settled in at Pine Grove, outside of Saratoga Springs, which would become the Walworth estate.  Maria died in1848 leaving Reuben a widower with five children. Two years later, on a trip to Louisville, Kentucky, he met a thirty-nine-year-old widow named Sarah Hardin. After only one meeting he proposed to her and she accepted. That is when the trouble began.

Sarah and her children, two sons and a daughter, moved in with Reuben’s family at Pine Grove. Reuben’s youngest son, nineteen year old Mansfield, became infatuated with Sarah’s daughter Ellen, also nineteen, and they began courting in secret. In 1852 Mansfield and Ellen revealed their romance and were married in a lavish ceremony at Pine Grove.

Reuben Walworth had educated his son to follow in his footsteps, but Mansfield had no love for the law and instead became a novelist. Though prolific, as an author Mansfield Walworth was not particularly successful either critically or financially and had to rely on his father’s money to support his family. Reuben Walworth had little respect for the life his son had chosen and on his death he left Mansfield a small portion of his fortune, to be held in trust by his older brother, to support Mansfield’s wife and children. Mansfield felt emasculated by this disinheritance and took out his frustrations on his wife.

The marriage had always been tumultuous and Mansfield Walworth was an abusive husband. He spent extended periods away from his wife and had affairs with other women. At the time of Reuben’s death, Mansfield and Ellen were separated; she had taken their children back to Kentucky. They tried several times to reconcile, in Kentucky and at Pine Grove, and though they always began with the best of intentions, the meetings invariably would end with Mansfield beating Ellen over some perceived insult or jealousy. And Ellen, bruised and often pregnant, would leave him once more.

Ellen Hardin Walworth
In January 1871, while Ellen was pregnant with their eighth child, she and Mansfield tried one last time to reconcile. While they were in Ellen’s New York City apartment, calmly discussing where and how they would live, Mansfield went into a rage and accused Ellen of conspiring with his family to drag him back to Saratoga. Ellen raised her arms to shield herself from Mansfield’s blows, and he grabbed her hand and bit one of her fingers to the bone. Her screams awakened everyone in the household, and their seventeen year old son Frank broke up the fight. Two weeks later Ellen filed for divorce and never saw her husband again.

Frank Walworth assumed the role of protector for his mother, who was now living at Pine Grove. Though Mansfield could no longer physically abuse Ellen, he would send her abusive and threatening letters. Frank was able to intercept these letters before they could disturb his mother. But Frank had his own problems; he was subject to spells where he would lie stiff and pallid, his face unnaturally “convulsed.” He became absentminded and forgetful and would sometimes cry out in his sleep.
Frank never forgave his father for the way he treated Ellen. During a chance meeting with his father in Saratoga Frank told him if he did not leave Ellen alone he would shoot him.
“There are bounds,” Frank told him, “which I will not allow any man to go beyond with impunity, especially when my mother is being insulted.”
On June 2, 1873, Frank intercepted another letter from his father to his mother. In it Mansfield accused Ellen of turning his children against him. He said that unless she convinced him that she had not taught their children to hate him he would kill her and himself. This was the last straw for Frank; he took the train to New York City and went to the boarding house where his father was living. His father was out so he left a note with the landlady:
“I want to settle some family matters. Call at the Sturtevant House. If I am not there I will leave word with the clerk. Frank Walworth.”
Mansfield did not return until midnight so did not go to the Sturtevant House until six o’clock the next morning. The bellman escorted Mansfield to room 267 where his son was waiting for him. After the door was shut, guests in adjoining rooms heard shouting, then four gunshots fired in quick succession. Frank walked out of the room and went quickly to the front desk; he told the clerk that he had shot his father and wanted a policeman.

Trial: June 24, 1873

Frank Walworth’s trial was a sensation in an era when murders always generated headlines in New York City. His fellow inmates in the Tombs prison included other famous murderers such as Edward Stokes and William Sharkey, whose stories had been followed in daily papers throughout America. All of the Walworth family’s dirty linen—though hardly a secret in Saratoga—would be exposed by the New York press.

There was no question that Frank Walworth had murdered his father; what was at issue was whether the murder was in self-defense, and whether or not Frank Walworth was insane at the time. There was some debate over the extent that Mansfield Walworth’s letters constituted direct threats and the judge hesitated to include them. He finally allowed all to be read except those that were “entirely too filthy to be repeated.” If nothing else, the letters made the trial as much about Mansfield’s behavior as about Frank’s.

The defense brought out evidence of Frank Walworth’s deteriorating mental health. They examined an expert witness who declared that Frank Walworth was epileptic. The prosecution countered with their own experts who asserted that Frank was not having a fit when he committed murder.
This would be the first murder case tried under a new state law that distinguished between first and second degree murder—both were intentional murder but first degree required “deliberation and premeditation.” The jury took advantage of the new law and found Frank Walworth guilty of second degree murder. It meant life in prison rather than execution.

Verdict: Guilty of second degree murder

Aftermath:
Frank Walworth was taken first to Sing Sing prison then within the first year he was transferred to Auburn Prison; fellow inmates there included murderers, Kate Stoddard and Henrietta Robinson. In 1877, after four years in prison, Frank was pardoned by newly elected Governor Lucius Robinson who, as a lawyer, had served before Chancellor Walworth. Frank returned to Pine Grove where he lived until his death in 1886 from a lung condition contracted in prison.

The death of her husband had been liberating for Ellen Hardin Walworth; she became an author, a lawyer and an educator. She was one of the founders of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Another of her sons, Clarence Augustus Walworth, wrote The Walworths of America, a history of the Walworth family which makes no mention of the murder.


This is one of 50 stories featured in the new book
The Bloody Century
Sources:
 
Books:

Brien, Geoffrey. The Fall of the House of Walworth: A Tale of Madness and Murder in Gilded Age America New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2010.

Walworth, Clarence A.. Walworths of America; comprising five chapters of family history, with additional chapters of genealogy Albany, N.Y: Weed-Parsons Printing, 1897.

Walworth, Frank H. The Walworth Parricide a full account of the astounding murder of Mansfield T. Walworth by his son, Frank H. Walworth, with the trial and conviction of the parricide and his sentence for life to the state penitentiary at Sing Sing.. New York: Thomas O'Kane, 1873.

5 comments :

SRF says:
May 10, 2017 at 10:28 PM

This statement is not correct: "Another of her sons, Clarence Augustus Walworth, wrote The Walworths of America, a history of the Walworth family which makes no mention of the murder." Clarence was Ellen's brother-in-law, brother of Mansfield.

Unknown says:
May 29, 2017 at 6:15 PM
This comment has been removed by the author.
VerizonSucksBigOne says:
October 22, 2019 at 11:55 PM

I enjoy this website, and this is a well-done article. However, as a member of the Walworth family I can confirm that Clarence Augustus Walworth was my cousin Ellen's brother-in-law, not her son. This can also be confirmed on Wikipedia, Ancestry.com and Geni.com, and in fact in Clarence's book on our family. Ellen had only two children - Frank and Reubena - and it is by God's grace that there were no more children to be brutalized by Mansfield.

How To Use Promos Well says:
December 26, 2020 at 9:45 PM

While watching the show, #MostTerrifying with host Jason Hawes your family's history was featured. Very intriguing I did a simple search and came across this article. It gave much more detail than the show did. Air date on Travel Channel is December 26.

John K. Mathues says:
January 20, 2023 at 6:40 PM

The Judge that tried Frank's case was my ggg grandfather, Judge Noah Davis.

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