Thread: 8/8 Wm. Stenton & Son, ca. 1846-1860

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

Oh, Tom, Stenton was a character and a half.

As far as I can tell, all the razors marked STENTON are the same guy.

He got his start (supposedly) working a grocer's warehouse, then hooked up with Greaves in the late 1700's. He left there in the early 1800's to work for the Sanderson brothers as a warehouse manager, then moved to Wostenholm in early 1830's. He supposedly helped little Georgie get his American operations up and running, but personality conflicts sent him packing after just a few years.

Then he moved to America with his son, Robert, and the two of them took over a cutlery factory in NYC that used prison labor from Sing Sing (formerly a file manufacturer, if memory serves -- and that's all I've got to go on because I can't find the documentation to back up this prison labor part of the story). In any event, it was in NYC that he started using the AGAIN SUPERIOR stamp.

His son married local and got in good with the Vanderbilts. The Vanderbilts, in turn, provided Robert with all sorts of wonderful financial advice that completely ruined them.

William died in 1863, and his son went off to live on the street in San Francisco where he died of pneumonia. His wife Louisa however, continued to live in their mansion in what would later become the Bronx with their daughter Alice.

In 1906, Alice was murdered on the steps of the by-then-ramshackle mansion by Louisa's attorney.

It gets weird from there!

Man! I have read your other posts about 'Devil' Stenton. Interesting goings-on. You seem to be close to putting the entire story together. Most anticipated!

I think the attorney was a mob lawyer for the Irish mafia.

Specifically, the O'Dwyer family. (His wife was Maud O'Dwyer, and he lived with the whole O'Dwyer clan despite raking in serious money by murdering clients).

There were, however, a LOT of O'Dwyer families in NYC around then, and I can't be sure I'm looking at the right one.

Behavior and associates strongly suggests yes, though, as the Murder Lawyer's OWN lawyer also had a history of attempting to kill people and getting nothing more than a stern glance.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

I think the attorney was a mob lawyer for the Irish mafia.

Specifically, the O'Dwyer family. (His wife was Maud O'Dwyer, and he lived with the whole O'Dwyer clan despite raking in serious money by murdering clients).

There were, however, a LOT of O'Dwyer families in NYC around then, and I can't be sure I'm looking at the right one.

Behavior and associates strongly suggests yes, though, as the Murder Lawyer's OWN lawyer also had a history of attempting to kill people and getting nothing more than a stern glance.

Were there not 'River pirates' involved? A lead-lined vault discovered at the mansion? Intriguing!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Were there not 'River pirates' involved? A lead-lined vault discovered at the mansion? Intriguing!

Whether *actual* river pirates were involved or not, I haven't been able to figure out. The newspapers thought so.

Because of the treasure-filled, lead-lined hidden chamber.