Bio

Mary O'Brien Farmer was born in 1880 in Ireland. She came to the United States in 1900.

She worked for a time as a domestic in Binghamton. After that she went to Buffalo.

In Buffalo she married James D. Farmer in 1904. James worked as a mill worker.

Early in 1905 the Farmers moved to Brownville. At first they stayed with Farmer relatives. They later kept boarders in a nearby village.

In May 1907 Mary and James moved into part of an old building known as Barton Tavern on Paddy Hill in Brownville. Their son Peter was born on September 2, 1907. Mary was described in accounts of the time as a slight woman with partial facial paralysis. She was raised Catholic.

Murder Story

Mary Farmer killed one person, her neighbor and landlady Sarah Brennan, on April 23, 1908 in Jefferson County, New York. Sarah went to the Farmer house that morning and was not seen alive again. Her body was later found inside a large trunk that belonged to Mary Farmer.

Months before the killing, Mary had gone to a lawyer and, using Sarah's name, had a deed to the Brennan house transferred. The deed was later recorded and then placed in the name of Mary and, in January 1908, in the name of the Farmers' infant son. After Sarah disappeared, Mary and her husband moved into the Brennan house and tried to take possession of the property.

On April 27, 1908 Sheriff Ezra Bellinger and others searched the house. They broke the lock on a trunk and found Sarah Brennan's body. The head showed injuries consistent with blows from a blunt instrument. The trunk and other papers tied the case to Mary Farmer.

Mary and her husband James were arrested. Mary gave several statements to police. She first blamed James, then said she had struck Sarah in the back of the head with an axe. At times she described other versions of the event. The couple were held and later tried.

Mary's trial began on June 16, 1908. Her lawyers argued she was insane or acted in self-defense. The all-male jury found her guilty after about three hours of deliberation. She was sentenced to death. Her appeals failed and she was executed by electrocution at Auburn State Prison on March 29, 1909. The night before her execution she signed a statement saying her husband knew nothing of the crime.

James Farmer was tried separately. He was convicted at one trial but that conviction was reversed on appeal. He later faced another trial for the murder and was found not guilty in 1910. He was also tried for forgery of the Brennan deed and was acquitted.