There was something in the trunk that Mary Farmer and her husband did n’t need the authorities inHounsfield , New York , to see . When the ship’s officer take whom the trunk belonged to that spring daylight of 1908 , the duet started bickering . At first , Mary insist it go to her married man , James .
“ It ’s a damn lie ! ” James return . Begrudgingly , Mary admitted that the trunk was in reality hers . But when the authorities involve her for the key to open up the iron ringlet , it was nowhere to be found .
When the policeman finally broke receptive the trunk , they made a horrible breakthrough . The newspapers would go on to call Mary Farmer ’s case “ one of themost fiendishin the felonious annals of northern New York”—and Mary Farmer would go on to become the second woman put to death by electric chair in New York country .
Driven by Envy
Like many Irish immigrant in former 20th century America , Mary Farmer struggled . She and James exist in a preponderantly Irishcommunityin Jefferson County , New York , just in the south of the Canadian border . The house they lease , a story - and - a - one-half building across the river from the Greenwich Village of Brownville , was delineate as a “ hutch ” by onepublication .
In the declension of 1907 , when Mary was in her later twenties , two events encounter that put even more pressure on the sodbuster : James lost his job at a local paper mill and Mary gave birth to their son Peter — their first kid since their daughter had died or so seven year before .
If Mary desired something good for her household , she only needed to look outside to be reminded of it . Her landlord , Sarah Brennan , endure next door in a house she owned with her husband , Patrick “ Patsy ” Brennan . Their business firm was a full story taller , and unlike the Farmers , the Brennans did n’t have to worry about tear . In addition to the income they received from the Farmers renting out their 2nd property , the couple also subsist on Patsy ’s paychecks from the paper mill where he had puzzle out as James Farmer’simmediate supervisorbefore James lose his job .
Mary Farmer wanted that house , and in October 1907 , she decided to take it [ PDF ] . She went down to the office of the county clerk in nearby Watertown seeking to transfer possession of the Brennan rest home , as well as her own residence , to her name . Posing as Sarah Brennan , she told the shop clerk that the Farmers had purchased the dimension from her for $ 2100 . She said that all she needed was a text file declaring the Farmers the lawful owners .
If the clerk had any mistrust , he did n’t act on them . He notarise the deed and Mary made it official by forging Sarah ’s signature . Now , the only matter stopping her from propel into the dwelling were its current resident .
A Body in the Trunk
Sarah Brennan was last come across by a neighbor walk into the Farmers ’ yard the morning of Thursday , April 23 , 1908 . When Patsy returned home from work that day , his married woman was overleap . What ’s more , the spotlight behindthe shutterwhere Sarah unremarkably left a house samara when she went out was empty .
Before Patsy had a chance to interest , James Farmer came over to inform him that the Brennan house and all the holding in it now belong to the Farmers . Sarah had sell it to them the premature October and she had been paying the Farmers $ 2 a week to carry on hold up there , James exact . But they were shopworn of collecting rent and intended to move onto the belongings as soon as potential .
Patsy did n’t take his neighbor too seriously . Rumors that Sarah had sold their dwelling house to the Farmers had been circulating around the community for a while , and when Patsy had play them up with his wife , she ’d dismissed them as fictitious gossip .
Patsy ’s dubiety did picayune to stop the Farmers from enacting their plot . The next day , they swear out him an dispossession observation along with the fraudulent documents detail the sale of his home and possessions . He was hale to stay with friends while his former tenants moved into the space . Sarah , meanwhile , still had n’t returned . According to the Farmers , she was visiting a friend in Watertown .
Not buying into the duet ’s tarradiddle , Patsy consult an attorney , who call Sheriff Bellinger and his squad to investigate the old Brennan home that Monday . When they arrived , the already - suspect situation started to front even shadier . In the theater , they found a coat stained with what appeared to be parentage hidden between a bottom and a wall . An axe was disclose in the yard and collected for succeeding analysis . And in the summer kitchen at the back of the main star sign , they were confronted with a locked , wed - up trunk emanating a malodour that was unsettlingly close to spoiled kernel .
After the sheriff smash launch the lock and drew back the palpebra , it was unimaginable to instantly place the body stuffed inside the body . A bootleg skirt had been draped over it , but the stockinged foot poking out from the edges of the cover indicate it was a womanhood . The removal of the cloth dispelled any doubt of the dupe ’s destiny . Already in the first stages of decay , the organic structure was “ mutilated until credit was almost impossible , ” allot to one newspaper [ PDF ] . It lie contort with the feet manoeuvre upwards and the face pressed down against the gore - smeared trunk floor . The head appeared to be the source of the blood ; the back was caved in and an pinna was missing .
Patsy Brennan told the officers the corpse belonged to his wife . The Farmers denied involvement at first , claim they had never see the body before and had no estimate how it receive in the trunk , but it did n’t take long for Mary to confess . She confirm that she had slay Sarah Brennan in a plot to attach her neighbor ’s dimension . But her motives were n’t entirely ego - serving : Before committing the crime , she deeded the Brennan home to her baby Word , Peter , hoping to set him up financially should the worst bump to her .
The contingent of her level kept changing : concord to one version , Mary excise the first blow to Sarah ’s head and her husband finished the job . She afterward change her story to transfer all the inculpation to James . Despite the inconsistencies , both Fannie Farmer were charged with murder .
A Last-Minute Confession
By the end of 1908 , both Mary and James Farmer were found guilty of the murder of Sarah Brennan in the first degree . Mary was sentenced to death by galvanic chair at Auburn State Prison , piss her just thesecond womanfrom New York to be executed that room . James was also condemn to capital penalization . Their Logos was sent to live with an uncle in Watertown as his parents awaited their fate .
Mary Farmer was scheduled to be do first . The complete facts ring Sarah Brennan ’s murder did n’t make out out until she was on death row . In the days direct up to her burning , Mary speak with a priest who severalize her that if she had any information that could examine her husband ’s whiteness , now was the time to apportion it . She sent a written argument to her spiritual adviser the day before her death . It read : " My hubby , James D. Farmer , never had any hand in Sarah Brennan ’s demise nor never knew anything about it till the trunk was open [ … ] I wish to say as strongly as I can that my husband , James D. Farmer , is entirely guiltless . " Indeed , while James was involved in the property dealing , it seemspossiblethat Mary duped him by claiming to have saved up the money for the Brennan house from his paychecks .
On March 29 , 1909 , Mary Farmer was sent to the electrical electric chair at Auburn State Prison . She accepted death “ bravely , croak a prayer for her soul , ” according toThe New York Times . Thanks to Mary ’s last - minute confession , her married man was spared the same end . After he was acquitted in asecond trialin 1910 , he be out the remainder of his years in Jefferson County — the same post where his wife lead Sarah Brennan ’s lifespan and nigh be him his own .
