This day in The Record in 1915

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 1915

Marie Hastings shot Ignatius Hantow to death in his Fourth Street home last September 27. Today a special commission hears testimony on whether Hastings is mentally competent to stand trial.

The Hastings and Hantow families lived at 342 Fourth, near Ida Street. The shooting climaxed an argument that started when Marie Hastings reportedly attacked Hantow’s three year old son. Hantow reportedly threw a milk bottle at Hastings to keep her away from his wife, while Hastings shot Hantow in the stomach as he confronted and – according to Hastings – threatened her son.

Today is the second day of Hasting’s sanity hearing. Since yesterday afternoon, The Record reports, she’s sat quietly, “apparently not appreciating what was going on.” The commission continues to hear testimony from fellow prisoners at the Rensselaer County Jail who portray Hastings as violent, deranged and unrepentant.

Bertha Grant testified yesterday that Hastings “insists that enemies of hers enter her cell nightly and persecute her, and that Hastings “has attacked other women prisoners without any provocation.” She reports that Hastings “felt perfectly justified in killing Hantow” because “It was either Hantow or herself.”

“The least noise upset her,” Grant said, “even the singing of hymns when the religious services were held at the jail on Sundays.” Gladys Gregory told the commission that Hastings “walks in her cell practically all night, and as constantly prays, crying: ‘Oh, God, I wish I were dead. I’m so tired of this.’” She described Hastings as “violent without any cause, suspect[ing] that every one about her was conspiring against her.”

Testifying today, prisoner Eliza Christiansen says that Hastings has lost track of time, convinced that she’s spent three years in jail rather than eleven months. She tells the commission that Hastings has threatened to kill herself and has claimed that Hantow “came to her cell at night and would not let her sleep.”

Isabel Milne is a law-abiding citizen who knew Hastings as a onetime roommate and co-worker at the Gifford Hotel. She testifies that Hastings has been delusional for years, having claimed that her healthy son was dying of tuberculosis. Hastings also claimed that her first husband was haunting their apartment, Milne recalls.

After marrying a second time, Hastings became paranoid, telling Milne that “several women … were trying to win her husband, and that one woman was lurking behind a tree waiting to shoot her.” Milne claims that she warned Hastings’ brother that Marie needed treatment well before the Hantow shooting.

As today’s hearing adjourns, Hantow’s widow breaks down in tears after hearing “wild statements of the accused reflecting upon her husband.”