It was the year 1837 and Rochester, New York, was growing rapidly. People were drawn to the bustling Lake Ontario community, and the population had doubled over the past decade. The city enjoyed a reputation for friendly residents and a low crime rate; in fact, violent crime was virtually non-existent in Rochester … until the night of October 20, 1837. On that cold autumn afternoon, a heinous crime would take place that would stun people and leave them crying out for justice, and Rochester would be forever changed.

Octavius ​​Barron woke up with a plan that fateful day. Barron, a French-Canadian dockworker known in the city as a petty thief and gambler, spent the day watching and waiting. His target was William Lyman, a successful businessman who was respected and loved. Lyman’s honesty in his business dealings was widely noted, and he was often entrusted with large sums of money to deposit for his company. October 20, 1837 turned out to be one of those warehouse 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 through 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 lost the thousands that were hidden in Lyman’s hat. He fled with the money he found and spent the rest of the night in a tavern, bragging to his friends about the murder.

Investigators arrived at the crime scene shortly after the murder occurred and immediately began combing the area for clues. Eyewitnesses who reported seeing Barron hanging around Lyman’s office all day provided the best evidence for the police on the identity of the killer. Ten-year-old Thomas Dixon also provided important clues; it was he who heard the shot and ran to the window in time to see a man in a shiny dockwork cap flee. With these accounts, the police had enough evidence to point to the crime in Barron, and he was arrested less than 12 hours later at the train station trying to escape.

Barron’s trial turned out to be something of a spectacle. Rochester had never had a murder before, and the trial that followed was an exciting distraction from everyday life. With one of the city’s most prominent citizens dead and a foreign assassin behind bars, everyone’s interest was piqued. The trial lasted 10 days, had 39 jurors, 40 witnesses and 12 city officials who contributed. Barron had no chance. His guilty verdict did not surprise anyone, nor did his sentence: execution by hanging. Interestingly, his sentence was almost forgiven due to his young age, but it seems his fate was already sealed. Although many of the citizens of Rochester wanted a public execution, the “Law to Abolish Public Executions” in New York denied them their wish. On July 25, 1838, a total of 49 people packed the jail, eager to see Octavius ​​Barron take his last breath and witness the first execution of his beautiful city.