A Hundred Years Ago Today

Three years ago, Gossips told the story of Malcolm Gifford, Jr., the young Hudson man of wealth and privilege, eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son of Elihu Gifford, who was accused and tried twice for murdering a chauffeur named Frank Clute somewhere near Watervliet. It was a hundred years ago today, on July 3, 1914, that young Gifford's case went to the jury after closing arguments in his first trial, and today, on the 100th anniversary of that event, the Troy Record re-published its account of what happened that day at the Albany County courthouse: "100 years in The Record: Gifford's fate in hands of jury."

The trial, of course, ended in a hung jury. Seven jurors thought Malcolm Gifford, Jr., was guilty; five thought he was innocent. He would be tried a second time in February 1915, with a similar outcome.
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Thanks to a reader calling himself "Murphy the Mink with Moxie" for bringing this to Gossips' attention