PHANTOM OF THE CAPITOL
Will tribute purge the ghost of 1911 Albany inferno?
SAMUEL Abbott paid his dues fighting for the Union in the Civil War, starting as a volunteer ensign and rising to first lieutenant. But at age 78, with his wife recently dead of typhoid fever and their son to care for, he still needed to work.
The night-watchman shift — specifically, guarding the door to the library at New York’s lush Capitol building — was seemingly the perfect job for the old, but still spry, veteran.
He had spent 50 years as a state civil servant and was considered as trustworthy as a piece of steel.
On March 28, 1911, Abbott, still in his first year on the job, showed up for his 9 p.m. shift and entered the fourth-floor library, locking himself in to better guard its 500,000 books and 300,000 manuscripts.
About five hours later, a blaze believed to have been sparked by faulty electrical wiring engulfed the building.
The inferno began on the thirdfloor Assembly Library before spreading to the State Library and climbing to the fourth and fifth floors.
The fire melted the stairway, consumed 10,000 of the State Museum’s most prized archaeological and ethnographic objects stored in tall glass cases — and reduced most of the documents and books to a pile of cinders.
Reports say that as the fire raged, Abbott didn’t think about escaping.
Witnesses say he was seen trying to open windows to save records in the Education Department section of the building.
But Abbott was no match for the blaze that filled the Albany sky with smoke and would take two days to extinguish.
The bespectacled old man was the single human casualty of what became known as The Great Fire of 1911.
His charred remains were found locked inside the library, a silver-handled cane by his side.
A key, with which he might have escaped, was in his pocket.
His son, George W., identified the body by recognizingcognizing his father’s pocket watch.
IN the hubbub of re-rebuilding the Capitol and replacingg de-destroyed documents,nts, the story of Abbott’ss sacri-sacrifice somehow gotot lost.
There was neverer a dedi-dedication or officiall tribute.
But now, 106 years after his death, Gov. Cuomo says he wants to set things right. On Tuesday, he signed legislationn to di-direct the Office ofof General Services to install a plaque in Abbott’s name that will depict his withered but trustworthy face and describe his service.
Cuomo called the memorial “a fitting honor of his life and the tragic events that claimed it.”
But Cuomo acknowledged there was something else at play: the legend of Abbott’s ghost — and how to appease it.
SAMUEL AAbbottbott wwas born in up-u statestate SyrSyracusecuse on SeSept. 18, 1833. During tthe Civil War, he served in Com-Com panypany EE ofof the 1212th New York StaState Volunteer InfantInfantry. There are no ddetailstails about hhis educeduca- tion, but he is listed as joining the army as ensign, or junior officer, a beginning rank usually reserved for those who are well schooled.
In records, he is listed as serving as a second lieutenant between May 13, 1861, and Aug. 3, 1861. He was promoted Aug. 2 to first lieutenant and served in the army until Sept. 19, 1861.
It is unclear why he left the battlefields almost four years before the end of the war in 1865.
The Albany Evening Journal wrote Abbott had an “enviable war record.”
He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, joining his wife, Jane, who had died on Jan. 1 of that year at age 69 from typhoid fever.
Lawmakers were said to have passed the hat for George W., who was believed to be Abbott’s only son, hoping he would continue with his education. It is unclear how old George was at the time of his father’s death.
They also gave him $280.16 for funeral and burial expenses, documents show.
Mourners poured out in droves for Abbott’s funeral at St. Peter’s Church, and many had to be turned away because there wasn’t enough room.
The Capitol was quickly rebuilt, and government business continued. But something wasn’t right.
Lawmakers and staff working in the new building swore the night watchman was still around.
There were multiple reports of people hearing keys jangle and doorknobs rattle, as if he were still making his rounds, walking the wide halls, making sure every door was locked.
In the 1960s, a cleaning woman, demanded to be taken off the night shift after she was frightened out of her wits.
Others reported that mops
floated across the halls and that the telephone switchboard lights flashed and beeped even when calls weren’t coming in.
A young legislative aide who worked in the building in the 1970s said it was downright spooky.
“I’ve had a few run-ins with [Abbott]. Doors shutting, leaving the office and coming back to find the door locked,” the aide told the Albany Times Union. “And no one else was there.”
In 1981, a TV crew trying to get to the bottom of the ghost stories held a late-night seance with a psychic.
The crew recorded weird sounds as a blast of cold air shot through the Assembly Chamber. The psychic said the spirit identified itself as Abbott.
Guided tours of the building began to include the spooky stories and point to where he died, now the office of state Sen. Catharine Young (R-Cattaraugus County).
Stuart Lehman, one of the state’s education coordinators who leads Halloween tours of the building, said the story is an important part of its history.
“There have been apparitions seen, and every once in a while, maintenance people report their equipment is moved when no one was around to move it,” Lehman has said.
BECAUSE her office is near where Abbott died, Young began thinking about a way to memorialize him.
“Staff people have sincerely claimed that they have heard keys jingling and have seen lights flickering while working late at night and on the weekends. But this man’s valiant actions and bravery closing doors and keep- ing the fire from spreading shouldn’t be reduced to a simple ghost story,” she told The Post.
Young talked it over with Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy (DAlbany), who agreed Abbott needed a higher honor.
Together, they put together a plan for the memorial plaque.
“I agreed he should be remembered as more than just a ghost story, as someone who served the people of this state,” Fahy said.
When Cuomo signed the legislation, he tipped his hat to the significance of drama.
“This fire was a significant part of the history of the Capitol, and this measure will help ensure this story continues to be told and Samuel Abbott continues to be remembered,” he said.