A Century of Murder Upstate Nestled in the heart of upstate New York, Steuben County's rural scenery belies a sinister past. Since the hanging of Robert Douglass in 1825, the county has been the center of a series of murders that resulted in controversial outcomes. Seaman Simons, part of an alleged love triangle, cheated his death sentence after killing his rival. "The Wayland Murderess" Mary Hess inexplicably shot her neighbor and brother within minutes of each other. David Dunn became the only person from the county to die in Auburn Prison's electric chair, and Hugh Bray's delusions about a young man breaking up his landlord's home climaxed in a fatal scene. R. Marcin, author of Murder and Mayhem in the Finger Lakes , presents a century of this picturesque county's darkest history.