An interesting site I was to, to work on testing for archaeology resources was on Shelter Island, NY, with a company called Tracker Archaeological Services. A murder, the first in its history had occurred out on the island between the peninsulas of eastern Long Island, NY. It has an early Quaker history, many sites on Long Island were and they were involved in the shipping of cotton and mail to Liverpool, England in the early days out of South Street Seaport, NYC and grew from the 1820s into the 1880s or so. The first defense I heard was over Lyme disease the "tick fever" that the alleged killer had. With the number of deer there I might agree in a jury. In fact a small fawn lay in the shadows while we spoke not four feet from us. A small boat capsized that day too, causing a drowning.
What was interesting about this, in West Creek, was that it was the former location of the Lord Shipyard, a family name. One of the award winners of preservation in New York State government was recently a Mr. Philip Lord, who indirectly I was connected to through Edward Johanneman, MA who used to work for the State Museums when he worked on D.O.T. projects out of Stony Brook University with Phil Weigand, Ph.D.
Historically, the shipyard was known for producing the fast ship "Paragon" which out-ran General Napoleon's blockade of Liverpool, England in 1803. The Liverpudlians cheered it's arrival. Napoleon later became Emperor. The rest is history...
In the 17th century, a woman wanted in Boston for religious beliefs (or lack thereof) escaped to Quaker "Shelter Island" and sought council there. He or they advised her to return there with her convictions. She did. They hung her, the first woman hung in New England.
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