Warren Township in southern Herkimer County has been the scene of more than one gruesome event. In January 1885, locals reeled in horror when abused wife Roxalana Druse shot her husband and dismembered his corpse to incinerate it in a farmhouse store. Her trail and hanging were followed in May 1901 with two murders in yet another farmhouse kitchen. John C. Wallis allowed his ex-wife, Arvilla, to return home one year after running off with hired farmhand Ben Hoyt. Wallis then rehired Hoyt, and within months, both Ben Hoyt and Arvilla Wallis were dead. The ensuing inquest to determine if Ben Hoyt murdered Arvilla in cold blood or if John C. Wallis killed them both transfixed the region.

Author James M. Greiner investigates a case of marriage, infidelity and multiple murders in turn-of-the-century Herkimer County.