Nord and Kunk. Here's an excerpt from my 1992 book The Pa-Ky Rifle: A Lancaster Legend, long out of print and sold out.
Documents paint a rather clear picture of what occurred in Lancaster on Oct. 7, 1846. The tragic events unfolded in broad daylight, in front of witnesses whose accounts were recorded in newspaper stories and in a printed transcript of the subsequent trial. John Haggarty, a neighbor of Fordneys with a troubled past, entered Melchior's gunshop at 508 Queen St . shortly after 9am and asked Fordney to shoot a horse that had been bothering him . Fordney refused and Haggarty grabbed a rifle and went outside to shoot the beast himself. He snapped the rifle twice but it did not discharge.
Then Haggarty went into his own house, got a rifle and an axe and shot the horse. Haggarty claimed that he had killed the demon horse with silver bullets, and, to be certain, silver coins were extracted from the horse's carcass.
The noise caused a commotion, and neighbors, including Fordney and his common-law wife, Catherine Tripple, came out and ordered Haggarty to give them the gun. He gave the gun to Tripple and immediately brandished the axe, lunging toward Fordney. In short, Haggarty dashed out Fordney's brains, bludgeoned Tripple to death, and critically injured one daughter, as Melchior, Jr. saved one of his sisters and ran down the street yelling "murder."
I'll skip the trial, which is fascinating, as you are getting the book and I don't want to ruin it for you. I will tell you this much. It is an important trial, as it was the first one I know of to employ the insanity defense in this district. Jury deliberated 16 1/2 hours. Can't wait for the transcript, now, can you? I know, I'm rotten. Regards, JWHeckert
