1879: Troy Dye and Ed Anderson, estate salesmen

ExecutedToday.com ^ | May 29, 2014 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

On this date in 1879, Sacramento County public administrator Troy Dye was hanged for murder, along with the Swedish goon whom he’d hired to do the dirty work.

A 36-year-old father of three, Dye was a prosperous tavern owner in the California capital who volunteered at the Sunday school. In 1877, voters entrusted him with the necessary public office of managing intestate estates.

In retrospect one can safely say that Dye was not cut out for the public trust.

The position entailed a percentage claim on the estate so handled, which meant in practice that it was a thankless burden for long periods when only paupers died without their wills made out, punctuated by rare jackpots when the occasional wealthy fellow kicked off without heirs.

All Dye did was speed that cycle up a little, by arranging to murder a fifty-five-year-old bachelor in order to lay hands on his 650-acre farm and plunder the “rich old son of a bitch.”

Dye hired a Swedish sausage-maker named Ed Anderson and a young tough named Tom Lawton at three grand apiece to handle the labor....

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I have a personal connection to this. My sister handles intestate estates for Queens County, in New York. (Birth place of Donald J. Trump, inter alia.) Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, she is paid hourly and does not benefit from any surplus from the estate.

H.L. Mencken told a story of his early days as a cub reporter. He was assigned to follow a police sergeant and coroner around Baltimore as they attended to individuals found dead on the street, generally hoboes and tramps, destitute and homeless. He got to know the police on the assignment pretty well, but one evening they set out with a new doctor, unfamiliar to either of them. They attended an individual who had died during the night. The policeman looked through his pockets and found $500, a princely sum in the early Twentieth Century. The policeman looked sadly at H.L. Mencken, and at the doctor, and stated, “I declare that this son of bitch died intestate, and this $500 is escheated to the State of Maryland.”

Later on, weeks later, Mencken ran into the doctor again. They discussed that evening’s events. The doctor shook his head and said, “I really wanted that $133.34, but I didn’t trust that cop.” And that’s how Mencken missed out on a $133.33 bonus. (Notice the doctor kept the extra penny for himself.)

[zeestephen]

Re: "three grand apiece"

$3,000 in 1879 - adjusted for inflation - equals $100,000 in 2024.