Men and Things in Albany Two Centuries Ago. 55 



attempt. At last a merchant, by the name of McDole, 

 exclaimed, '^give me an Irishman's gun, and I will go first." 

 He was provided with a formidable cudgel, and with this 

 he descended, and the moment he struck the floor he 

 leveled the prisoner near him, and continued to lay about 

 him valiantly until the room was filled with a strong party, 

 who came to his assistance. After a hard struggle the 

 culprits were secured, and the door, which had been barri- 

 caded by brick taken from the fire-place, was opened. 

 They were taken, seven in number, and marched up State 

 street, dressed in white, and executed near Elk street upon 

 the gallows. 



The last person who was marched through the streets in 

 this way, clothed in white, preceded by a cart bearing his 

 coffin, was Hamilton, who shot Maj. Birdsall, in 1818. 

 Strang who shot Whipple in 1827, and was the last 

 murderer executed in public, was taken from the jail, 

 corner of Eagle and Howard streets, a short distance to 

 the gallows erected in the ravine, where High street now 

 crosses Hudson street, and there executed in the presence 

 of 30,000 spectators, who tilled that natural amphitheatre 

 in which no house then existed. 



It was this ancient Stadhuis that the first convention 

 of the provinces was held in 1764. The legislature 

 held its sessions in it at a later day, until 1806, after 

 which it was converted into a museum, where a few 

 will remember the marvels of the phantasmagoria, the 

 array of wax figures, the Witch of Endor, and other at- 

 tractions that for so many years excited the wonder and 

 admiration of the juvenile citizen and the unsophisticated 

 rustic, under the management of Harry Meech. When 

 removed from this place, that depot of relics, natural and 

 artificial, had a long sojourn on the ancient Johnny Robison 

 corner (from 1830 to 1855), in what is still known as the 

 Museum building; and it may be interesting to know that 

 when the institution was broken up, its celebrities were 



