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April 05, 2006
Sile Doty
I finished the Life of Sile Doty 100-1876, the most thief and daring burglar of his time, the terror of Mexico during 1849, a forgotten autobiography by Sile Doty this evening. It had plenty of interesting, if sometimes farfetched tales. Doty claims he went across the Midwest and made a living primarily by stealing horses (and horse related objects) along with watches, cash, and other valuables. He seemed to find like minded criminals wherever he went. Other criminal exploits included passing counterfeit money and the occasional armed robbery, although it seems like he only became more violent with age. At first his serious crimes tended to be night break-ins or burglarizing unattended barns where no one got hurt and then later he turned to violence when trying to escape from police. In his later years he finally murdered an employee on his farm, but that was out of spite and fear of going to jail for thieving, not for greed. He earlier avoided murder and assault because he wanted to avoid getting caught, not because he thought it morally wrong.
Doty claims he worked on ships around Buffalo, New York around the time the Erie Canal was built which gave him opportunities to steal from passengers and at stops. He also claims to have gone to England and stolen while there, often by using tools he made while a blacksmith. He claimed to have escaped from jail on several occasions and convinced juries he was innocent on others. While awaiting trial at one point he claims to have joined up with the US Army in Mexico because soldiers got amnesty for past crimes. He even claimed to have stolen a horse that he gave to General Taylor.
While in Mexico he committed his worse deeds and claimed to have made a habit of dressing up in Mexican army uniforms with his fellow soldiers who spoke Spanish and then killing and robbing many Mexicans. He did not think very highly of Mexicans and also considered Jews to be dishonest and greedy. He claimed to have a fellow thief who knew Joseph Smith and considered Mormons to be knaves mainly interested in polygamy. Doty did steal a slave and bring him to freedom, but that seemed to be more because he felt like stealing something then because he really cared about abolition. After Mexico he served around 20 years in prison on different occasions for various crimes
I first read excerpts of this book about 5 years ago in college for an urban history class. The notable part of the book was that Doty would burglarize houses when theater companies were in town. This served two purposes. First the play would encourage people to be out of their houses at night. Second the townspeople would blame the acting troop for the crime spree that occurred while they were in town. Doty would join the crowd leaving the theater to make it look like he had been there during the performance and would have friends describe the play to give him an even tighter alibi.
For the most part Doty tried to justify his actions and had no remorse for any of them no matter how many innocents he hurt. Doty tried to claim he was a modern day Robin Hood and that he tried to steal from the rich and give to the poor. I think this may have been true, but not for the reasons he claimed. He tended to steal from people who had stuff he fancied or who he did not like, not necessarily because he or anyone else needed it. This quote from the last paragraph in the book sums him up well
from my very infancy I have been so thoroughly imbued with a disposition to steal, that the fear of any punishment, however severe it might be, never for one moment had the least influence on me, in abridging my operations.
I think that makes him more of a sociopath than it does a Robin Hood.
Posted by Pete at April 5, 2006 09:41 PM
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