y who suspects a concealed significance in this desire to
emphasize the exact hour of Abraham Spafard's death is not mistaken.
Abraham Spafard was murdered, shot to the heart by Levi Kelley, and died
almost instantly, at 8 o'clock in the evening, September 3, 1827, just
ten days after Kelley had witnessed the hanging in Albany.

The murderer is buried in the same churchyard with his victim. For
Kelley, on the maternal side, was a connection of the Cooper family.
During his imprisonment before and after the trial he was frequently
visited at the jail by Mrs. George Pomeroy, daughter of William Cooper,
a lady noted for her many works of Christian charity, and after Kelley
had paid the penalty of his crime, she brought it about that his body
was interred in the Cooper plot in Christ churchyard, although no stone
was ever raised to mark the place of his burial, and the exact spot is
now unknown.

The murder occurred in the house of Levi Kelley, in which Abraham
Spafard lived as tenant in Pierstown, about three miles north of
Cooperstown. Kelley was noted for his furious outbursts of temper, while
Spafard was of an amiable and peaceable disposition. Kelley violently
attacked a lame boy who was employed about the place, and when Spafard
interposed, Kelley's anger turned against Spafard, so that a struggle
ensued. The evidence at the trial showed that Spafard struck no blow and
committed no violence, using no more force than was necessary for his
defence. He besought Kelley to desist, and at last, unclenching Kelley's
hands from his throat, Spafard retired quietly into the house. Kelley
then ran for his gun, and following Spafard into his room, shot him to
the heart. Kelley's own wife, as well as the members of Spafard's
family, were the terrified witnesses of the murder.

Kelley's trial, which was held in Cooperstown, began on the twenty-first
of November, and was concluded on the next day. The judge in the case
was the Hon. Samuel Nelson, afterward associate justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States. In passing sentence Judge Nelson addressed
to the prisoner a homily which created a deep impression upon the
crowded court room.

The execution of Levi Kelley was attended by an immense concourse of
people. The hanging of a murderer was still regarded by many, in that
day, not only as fit method of punishment, but as offering a spectacle
of great moral and educational value. It was at once a deterrent from
crime and