Hartwick students create exhibit on Eva Coo

MILFORD — It was during a tasting session at the local brewery that the Hartwick College students first heard about Eva Coo, the notorious murderess, and her dark deed.

"Our museum studies class all wanted to know more, so we picked her story as our class project to research and prepare an exhibit," said Hartwick student Lawrence George, who designed "Good vs. Eva: the `mallet murderess' of Milford."

The exhibit, which features period costumes, reproductions of newspaper clippings, copies of photographs and original court documents, is mounted at the former Presbyterian Church, now the Upper Susquehanna Cultural Center at Four Corners.

Hartwick's Yager Museum helped students create the exhibit, which is open to the public Tuesday-Saturday from 1-5 p.m. through September.

Jim Havener, lecturer in museum studies, said his class selected the Coo story from a list of major events in Milford history. Spurred by their interest in the dramatic case, they worked with the New York State Historical Association to reproduce materials from its archives, and tapped scrapbooks, courthouse records, and other sources for clippings that told the story, Havener said.

"For our class it was interesting just going through the process and dealing with the different sources to piece together the events," George said.

Eva Coo operated the Woodbine Inn, a town of Maryland speakeasy and brothel that was frequented by some of the most prominent citizens of Otsego County, Havener said.

The ambitious woman devised a scheme to get friend Harry Wright, a part-time painter who frequented local taverns, to take out a number of life insurance policies naming her as his beneficiary — and then kill him.

Helping her carry out the scheme was Martha Clift, a young mother from Oneonta who frequented the Woodbine Inn. The two women took Wright for a ride in the country and then hit him over the head with a mallet and ran over him in a secluded spot they had scouted out.

Just after they accomplished their dire deed, a car pulled in and some neighbors stopped by to see what the two women and their friend might be up to in this hidden-away nook.

These neighbors became witnesses as the Otsego County sheriff investigated the crime. Clift confessed. The body was returned to the scene of the crime, and a re-enactment took place.

The two women were brought to trial. Coo was found guilty and earned the distinction of being the last woman to be executed in New York state. Clift served her jail term and moved out of the area.

The Hartwick students are not the first to be intrigued by Coo's crime. Local writer Niles Eggleston came to the exhibit opening last Wednesday with his collection of scrapbooks relating the story. "I got the idea for my book on Eva Coo from a scrapbook that a woman brought to me," he said.

"We may think we live in a safe area, but there have been quite a few crimes committed over the years. Eva seems to stand out and hold everyone's interest because there are so many unique things," Eggleston said.

Standing next to Eggleston was Gary Woodrow, who also owns a collection of Coo memorabilia. "It belonged to my father-in-law and I found it in the trunk of his car when he died. I've held onto it and sometimes swap material with other collectors," he said.

People are interested in the Coo story because it involves all social classes in the area, Havener said. "We tend to see local history in a nostalgic way. But life is life and this was a real event in this area."

The case has drawn attention far beyond the local community.

"Anything to do with Eva Coo is very popular and researchers from Florida, California all over the U.S. come to us asking for information on her case," said Marie Bruni, director of the Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta. "The famous journalist Kitty Killgallen wrote extensively about her. Coo is a part of our local folklore."

Havener agreed.

"The whole story is wonderful," he said. "You have murder — the ultimate act. But then there is the whole comedy of human errors and how the best plans can be disrupted by curious neighbors."

Among those seeking to learn more about the Coo case was Martha Clift's grandson, according to Eggleston. Clift had assumed her maiden name after her jail term. But her grandson knew her married name and had heard rumors about her.

A few years ago, he came to this area to look up his grandmother's origin and learn the true story. He found what he was looking for in the records at the Otsego County courthouse.

"The grandson then talked to various descendants of people connected with the case," Eggleston said. "He came to see me and looked through the scrapbooks people had put together about the case."