The year was 1837, and Rochester, New York was growing rapidly. People were attracted to the bustling community on Lake Ontario, and the population had doubled over the last decade. The city enjoyed a reputation of having friendly residents and a low crime rate; in fact, violent crime was virtually nonexistent in Rochester…until the night of October 20, 1837. On that cool fall evening, a heinous crime would take place that would stun the people and leave them clamoring for justice, and Rochester would be forever changed.
Octavius Barron woke up with a plan on that fateful day. A French-Canadian dock worker who was known around town as a petty thief and gambler, 18-year old Barron spent the day watching and waiting. His target was William Lyman, a successful businessman who was respected and well-liked. Lyman’s honesty in his business deals was widely noted, and he was often entrusted with large sums of money to be deposited for his company. October 20, 1837, happened to be one of those deposit days, and when he finally left his office around 9:00 p.m., Barron made his move. Sneaking up behind Lyman, he fired a single shot into the back of Lyman’s head, killing the man instantly. He quickly found several hundred dollars that Lyman had in his coat pocket, but Barron missed the thousands that were hidden in Lyman’s hat. He fled with the money he found, and spent the rest of the evening at a tavern, boasting to his friends about the killing.
Investigators arrived at the crime scene shortly after the murder took place and immediately began combing the area for clues. Eye witnesses who reported seeing Barron hanging around Lyman’s office all day offered the best evidence for the police about the identity of the killer. Ten year old Thomas Dixon also provided important clues; it was he who heard the gunshot and rushed to the window in time to see a man in a shiny dock-worker’s cap running away. With these accounts, police had enough evidence to pinpoint the crime on Barron, and he was arrested less than 12 hours later at the train station trying to make his getaway.
Barron’s trial proved to be something of a spectacle. Rochester had never had a murder before, and the ensuing trial was an exciting distraction from everyday life. With one of the city’s more prominent citizens dead and a foreign killer behind bars, everyone’s interest was piqued. The trial lasted 10 days, had 39 jurors, 40 witnesses, and 12 city officials contributing. Barron didn’t stand a chance. His guilty verdict surprised no one, and neither did his sentence: execution by hanging. Interestingly, his sentence was almost pardoned due to his young age, but it seems his fate was already sealed. Though many of Rochester’s citizens wanted a public execution, New York’s “Act to Abolish Public Executions” denied them their wish. On July 25, 1838, a total of 49 people filled the jail, eager to watch Octavius Barron breathe his last and bear witness to their fine city’s first execution.
