‘Murder and Mayhem in the Catskills’

A read for the season

By FRITZ MAYER

CATSKILL MOUNTAINS, NY — If the Halloween season has you in the mood to read about murder and related creepy matters, a new book by Caroline Crane may fill the bill. It’s called “Murder and Mayhem in the Catskills,” and it gives a brief overview of some of the more notorious crimes that have been perpetrated throughout the history of these glorious hills.

Crane, who lives in Wurtsboro, said she normally writes fiction but took up this challenge after being approached by The History Press, which specializes in books relating to distinct geographical areas such as cities or towns. Crane suggested concentrating on the Catskills for her book, and the publisher agreed.

Perhaps the most famous crime committed in the area in the 19th century was one known as the Hex Murder, which took place on the Stone Arch Bridge, which still stands off Route 52 several miles west of Jeffersonville. The Hex Murder got it’s name because one of the men who reportedly did the murdering believed the victim had put a hex or spell on him.

Farmer Adam Heidt and his son Joseph killed farmer George Markert while he was crossing the bridge on a night in January in 1892. They used a club and five shots from a revolver to get the job done, and were soon caught. According to the book, Joseph was sent to prison, but Adam was sent to a state hospital in Middletown because the judge thought he was mentally ill.

In the following decades, people reported seeing a ghost on the bridge, and it was assumed to be that of Market’s spirit.

But the Hex murder wasn’t the first grisly tale to spring from the area. According to “Murder and Mayhem,” there was another one in the Town of Cochecton in 1880.

It was the case of a Jacob Gerhardt who fell deeply in love with his late brother’s widow, Mena. Although Jacob had a wife of his own, he desperately wanted to marry Mena and help manage her farm. Mena wanted no part of it, but Jacob pursued her for nearly a year. One Sunday, Mena was feeding her cows when she told Jacob she was going to marry a man from Binghamton. Jacob responded by beating her to death with a crowbar and a club. He was arrested in Cochecton Center and was sentenced to prison. He got out early, but was sent back after burning down his sister’s barn.

Those two stories are part of what might be called the agricultural vein of Catskill mayhem. But as the decades progressed, and the area became known as a resort destination, the spectacular crimes tended to have less to do with framers and more to do with mobsters and their violent lives.

Crane said she included a lot of material about the gangsters not only because that’s what people tend to think of when they hear the words “murder in the Catskills,” but also, she said, because “they really did murder.”

Crane writes, “Sullivan County became the summer resort of choice for mobsters. It was also a convenient place, with its open land and many lakes, for disposing of corpses. Along with the gangsters came their usual jealousies and rivalries. And murder.”

And the mobsters did quite a bit of disposing of bodies in lakes. According to one of the stories in the book, bodies were dumped in Loch Sheldrake and Swan Lake, and the case in Swan Lake was particularly gruesome.

It seems there was a young gangster named Walter Sage who was in charge of collecting proceeds from slot machines for the mob in Sullivan County. But he was suspected of skimming off profits, and so was killed when, in the summer of 1937, three associates put 32 holes in his body with ice picks. They then tied his body to a slot machine and threw him into the lake. They thought that all those holes would allow the gas to escape from his body, and it would stay at the bottom. But, according to the book, because “the holes were made while the heart was still pumping’ the holes closed up. Ten days after the murder, the body went floating to the top of the lake, bringing the slot machine with it. The murderers were caught years later.

Other gangster tales in the book involved such storied mobsters as Legs Diamond, Dutch Shultz and Joe Bannano, and show that the Catskills was not only a paradise for middleclass couples and their kids, but also for those who earned their livings through murder and other crimes.

The book, which was published in September, can be found at history press.net.

‘Murder on the Stone Arch Bridge’

“Murder on the Stone Arch Bridge” is a documentary drama about the Stone Arch Bridge hex murder in Jeffersonville, made by Narrowsburg filmmakers Ron Littke and Benita Abrams. This DVD, available for rental at area libraries or for sale at icehousearts@hotmail.com, stars local talent as members of the two feuding families in period costumes. It was filmed on location, of course, and gives a whimsical version of events to tunes ranging from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake to Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag.

Littke and Abrams are also the creators of “A Brief History of Narrowsburg, Part I,” and they are now completing Part II. The pair is also working on a DVD titled “Wheels of Fire,” about skateboarding in Sullivan County, and a radio play, “No U Turn,” based on several B movies. Littke is offering free “videotoons” workshops at the Narrowsburg library on Saturday, November 1; see page 16 for details.