Drugged and Robbed

A local Kingston newspaper, in October 1904, described the crime perpetrated by Richard Chase as a “daring robbery and ruse.” No one knew this better than Sheriff Isaac Carmen as he made his way to the Chase residence located in Mount Pleasant. It had to be one of the more amusing cases that the sheriff helped solve.

It all started when Seymour Woolheater embarked on a trip from Shokan to Kingston. While en route, he stopped at Bush’s Hotel at Ashton for a drink. If Ashton still existed it would be considered part of the Town of Hurley. However, Ashton was at a later time removed to make way for the Ashokan Reservoir. After drinking for a bit, Woolheater unhitched his horse and wagon to continue to Kingston. However, just before he departed the hotel, he announced to the patrons that he was on his way to Kingston, and if anybody wanted a ride he would be more than happy to take on some passengers. Two gentlemen took Woolheater up on his offer. These two men were William Davis and Richard Chase.  Davis asked to be dropped off at a place called Higginsville, which according to The History of Ulster County, “applied to the lower end of North Front Street in Kingston.” Davis wanted to have his clothes cleaned and then continue on for supper at Lane’s Hotel.

North Front Street, Kingston, N.Y.Digital
Friends of Historic Kingston

Woolheater and Chase, at some point, made their way back towards Shokan. It was while on their way back they stopped several times along the way for drinks at various bars and hotels. Each time they pulled up in front of a new establishment Chase told Woolheater that he would bring his drinks out to him. Once past the Kingston toll gate, according to local papers, Woolheater became disoriented.

This is the last thing he remembered when he awoke several hours later face down in the mud. He was thankful that his horse was a short distance away tied to a tree. Still groggy, Woolheater searched for his watch which was gone. He looked in his other pockets, all his money was missing as was a check for $100. Slowly, he rose to his feet to go retrieve his wagon and his horse where he did find the check he had been carrying. It had been discarded in the mud. He turned back to Kingston where he called on a local lawyer named Arthur E. Rose. The lawyer promptly called the Sheriff who took down the names, descriptions and details of what appeared to be a drugging and robbery.

The following day Woolheater was on a train back to Kingston when who should be sitting on the train, but Richard Chase. Woolheater rose from his seat and confronted the man he now believed robbed him, dragging the sobbing man from his seat to the Ulster County Jail. Once at the jail the man wept that he did not rob Seymour Woolheater. However, he could shed some light on who he thought had robbed Woolheater. What he said next dropped the jaws of all the indivdiuals in the room.  He calimed it was the work of his evil twin. When the sheriff asked the man in custody where his brother could be found? He replied that he was on his way to Stamford.

This Richard Chase look alike continued to describe to the sheriff that his brother was frequently in trouble for these types of behaviors and that he would take care of it all to spare his brother jail time. He offered Woolheater the $15 he currently had in his pocket. His evil twin, he lamented, bought a new bike and spent the rest of the money on sundry items. According to local papers, he wept so pitifully that the authorities let the man go continuing their search for the real Richard Chase. The newspapers were silent about what name this man gave to authorities if indeed he was not Richard Chase.

Later that month, law enforcement arrested Davis. He denied that he had any knowledge of Chase robbing Woolheater. The officers were able to verify his story. After they verified the story, they asked if Chase had a twin brother. Davis replied that, “the only brother that Chase had was a six-foot man who looked no more like him than a barrel of beer looked like a plate of sandwiches.” The police made their way to the residence of Richard Chase with Davis in tow. Chase admitted immediately to the police that the whole story was made up and it was him who bought the bicycle and given his uncle 25 dollars. He would later be indicted for grand larceny in the second degree on October 8, 1904.  He was sentenced to 30 days in jail on March 1, 1905. His counsel George C. Eckert pleaded for mercy claiming that both men had been drunk, and that Chase had been in jail for a long period of time awaiting trial.

One local paper of the day concluded the case with a comment overheard by Eckert, “never mind, thirty days is only a short time, and the snow will be off the ground when you come out.” As for Seymour Woolheater, he would make the news again in 1916, this time for his death. His body would be found in an old cement company slip in Ponckhockie.