The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-11 00:00:00

THE MURDER AT ALBANY.

The following account was given by the New
York Tribune as General Cole's version to his inti-
mate friends of the troubles that led to his encounter
with Mr. Hiscock :--4' Fifteen years ago Dr. Cole
married Miss Barto of 'rrumansburg, New York,
daughter of the late Judge Barto. It was a love
match, and for 12 years their home was the scene
of unalloyed happiness. Within two or three years,
however, the husband had noticed that his wife was
at times moody and unhappy. He could not ac-
count for it. He had sent his wife $15,000 during
the war, and she now possesses $lO,OOO in her own
right, left to her by her father's will. He consulted
her friends and his, but could arrive at no conclu-
sion. He was compelled by his duties to reside at
or near New York, and he determined to bring his
wife to Brooklyn, where she might be near her
sister, and there he engaged and furnished rooms.
Meanwhile he visited Syracuse and met Mr. Hiscock
in the street. Mr. H. asked him, Why, general,
when did you come ? When shall you go away ?"
He thought the latter question a singular one, and
then at once remembering that the same ques-
tion had been asked him on several previous oc-
casions, said nothing, but looked -his questioner full
in the face, and Mr. Hiscock turned away down-
cast, and without a word. Returning to Brooklyn,
brooding over the matter, he wrote to a cousin of
his wife's, with whom she resided, asking if there
had ever been any rumour in Syracuse prejudicial
to his wife. The reply came, There is room for
the gravest suspicion.' Almost frenzied, he has-

,ened to Syracuse, and there, when he questioned

her, his wife fell on her knees and confessed that a
criminal intercourse had existed between herself
and Mr. Hiscock for nearly three years. It made
him almost crazy, to use his own words. All
day on Thursday he stayed in the house, lest he
should meet Hiscock in the street and till him. On
the day of the murder, with his wife and Mr. and
Mrs. Cuyler, he started for Brooklyn. They were
necessarily compelled to stop at Albany, and
while there he thought he should be happier if
it were settled in some way, and was off his
mind.' He sent for his brother-in-law, Mr. Barto,
a member of the Constitutional Convention; and
asked him to go with him to see Mr. Hiscock,
pledging his word that he would not take his life,
but would only " make him get down on his kness
and beg like a dog for it." This Mr. Barto refused
to do, and said that he had no advice to give in the
matter. It should be stated here that Mr. Barto
and General Cole have not been friendly ever since
the latter took a commission in the first of General
Butler's coloured cavalry regiments. Thus left to
himself, the frenzied man started for Stanwix Hall,
intending to go quietly in by the side entrance, in-
quire the number of Hiscock's room, and go up to
it. But as he went in he saw the seducer of his
wife before him, a frenzy seized him, and without a

moment's thought he fired. Although the act was
not premeditated, he thinks it was justifiAble, and
expresses no remorse for it.

His wife is now in Albany and administers to
his wants, visiting him daily. lie professes to con-
sider her a guilty woman, but not as guilty as the
man he shot. The prejudicial features of the case
are the statement written by himself as above, the
letter written by his wife at his dictation, the manner
in which he approached his victim, and his false
statements as to the cause of his action, made upon
the spot and immediately afterward. For he now con-
fesses that there was no violence used, and that this
plea was gotten up by him for the purpose of shielding
his wife and children. -Ou the other hand, there is no
doubt but that his able counsel (Nlr. Hadley and
General Butler, the Later of whom is the prisoner's
warm friend), will make the most of his terrible pro-
vocation, and the undeniably brilliant war record of
General Cole.