Sile Doty
Encyclopedia
Sile Doty was an infamous robber, burglar, horse thief
, highwayman
, counterfeiter
, and criminal gang leader. Doty's criminal career is known primarily through his autobiography
, compiled by J. G. W. Colburn and published four years after Doty's death as The Life of Sile Doty The Most Noted Thief and Daring Burglar of His Time. As this title suggests, the tone of the autobiography is boastful and unapologetic. Doty excuses his crimes as stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Except where otherwise noted, what follows is taken from the autobiography and may contain exaggerations and self-serving distortions.
, Vermont
. As a child, he stole toys from his siblings, a pen knife from his teacher, and a horseshoe
from a blacksmith
, not because he needed or wanted these things, but for the excitement and pleasure he took from evading detection. When Doty was about nine years old, his family moved west to Bangor
, New York
, a fur trapping
region, where he began a lucrative three-year career of stealing animals from traps and selling their fur
s. About 1815, Doty joined a band of thieves and counterfeiter
s operating in the Bangor area. In a few years, Doty became the leader of this gang, whose depredations now extended throughout New England
and the Mid-Atlantic states
.
In the winter of 1818, Doty learned blacksmithing and used his new skills to outfit himself with a complete set of skeleton key
s and burglary
tools. Throughout his criminal career Doty specialized in making such tools and employing them with great stealth and skill. Doty typically employed disguise
s, false identities, misdirection, and other nonviolent means, but when directly challenged he would resort to brass knuckles
or whatever was at hand. Doty learned to pass counterfeit money
from Ed Cooper, a resident of New York City
, who would wholesale
such money to him for 30 cents on the dollar.
, Doty would go on a spending spree, all the while scouting out where stores kept their money. If a tempting prize was guarded by a watch dog
, Doty would feed it poisoned meat. At night he and his associates would break
into homes, places of business, and stable
s using skeleton keys and relocking doors after leaving. He would deposit his loot
with a confederate
. By the time Doty was ready to leave town, he would have scouted out a fast horse to steal, in order to make his getaway. A favorite tactic was to have an associate show up at the location of the horse to be stolen with a legitimately rented horse. Doty would steal both the horse and a sulky
, wagon
, or other rig, which would be attached to the legitimate horse and driven by the associate in the opposite direction from that taken by Doty and the stolen horse. Several miles out of town, the stolen rig would be abandoned and the legitimate horse returned to its owner. It never failed that when the theft was detected, the aroused citizens would pursue the tracks of the stolen rig.
Each year, Doty would go on a campaign of crime through the towns and cities of New York State and New England. He was part of an extensive network of criminals with whom he cooperated and to whom he could sell his stolen goods. During the summer of 1822, Doty learned sailing
by working on a boat traveling up and down the Saint Lawrence River
, and in the process managed to fill a trunk
with pilfered valuables. In the fall, Doty made use of his new sailing skills by stealing a pleasure boat in Kingston
, Ontario
, loading it with stolen property, and sailing it down the Saint Lawrence to a place near Ogdensburg, New York
, where he unloaded the boat and sank it.
, from which he took passage first to Halifax
, thence to Liverpool
, England
. Doty soon found a thriving underworld
in Liverpool, from which he selected four rogues for his English gang. After engaging in some thievery in Liverpool, the gang took a ship
to the north of England near the Scottish border
where they stole nine horses. After a five-day ride, the gang reached London
, where they sold the stolen horses. Doty spent the winter of 1823-1824 committing burglaries in London. In the spring, he was forced to flee London on foot, one step ahead of the law. Having walked all the way to Liverpool, he booked passage to New York City under an alias
.
skills and courting Sophia Adams, whom he married in the spring of 1825. Doty tried to lead a settled life of farming, but he could never resist the temptation to go on another campaign of thievery. Finally by 1834, Doty was wanted for crimes throughout the northeast and his evil reputation had followed him home to Bangor, so he moved with his wife to Adrian
, Michigan
, and shifted his criminal operations to Michigan, Indiana
, Ohio
and Illinois
. In 1838, Doty extended one of his campaigns into Kentucky
, where he helped a slave
to escape and cross the Ohio River
to the free state of Ohio. Doty was motivated less by abolitionist sentiment than by the challenge of stealing a slave.
In 1839, Doty moved to Steuben County, Indiana
where he hired Lorenzo G. Noyes to work for him as a farm hand. When Noyes learned of Doty's criminal activities he threatened to go to the authorities, whereupon Doty struck him with a hickory
walking stick
, killing him. Doty hid the body in a swamp
. In 1841, Doty was arrested for stealing a span
of matched bays and confined to the jail in Huntersville, Virginia
, now in West Virginia
, but an accomplice smuggled him a saw
and auger
, which he used to saw through the log structure and make his escape. He made his way to the notorious Tamarack House near Rome, Indiana
, the hangout of outlaws from throughout the Midwest. Sile Doty, most likely, knew of and had connections with the Banditti of the Prairie
in Illinois
. The following winter Doty was arrested in Michigan for stealing a large number of buffalo
robes and several sets of harness
and sent to the penitentiary
for two years. In June 1842, a body said to be that of Lorenzo Noyes was discovered, and as a result Doty was removed to the jail in Angola, Indiana
to stand trial for Noyes' murder. In 1844, Doty was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to life in prison.
granted Doty a new trial, and he was returned to the Angola jail to await the retrial. In the spring of 1846, he escaped by cutting a hole through the jail floor and got as far as Logansport, Indiana
before being identified and returned to jail. Using two knives hidden in his belt, Doty broke out of jail once more and headed for the Mexican-American War, reaching General Zachary Taylor
's army at Camargo
about September first. Congress had passed a law forgiving all past offenses of those who enlisted for the duration of the war, so Doty sent letters to his home saying that he had enlisted until the end of the war, although he had done no such thing.
After Monterrey
fell to the Americans Doty joined other scoundrels in a binge of looting and murder. About December 1846, Doty stole the best horse he could find in General Taylor's camp at Monterrey and rode it to General Winfield Scott
's camp at Camargo, where he won General Scott's good will by presenting him with the stolen horse. Scott employed Doty to take care of the horse and used him as a messenger
during the Battle of Veracruz. Doty followed the American army all the way to Mexico City
, disguising himself as a Mexican
at night in order to waylay and rob Mexican citizens, selling the plundered goods to soldiers in the American army.
because of his participation in the Mexican-American War. In August 1849, Doty was arrested for robbing a peddler
, and spent several months in jail in Hillsdale, Michigan
before being bailed out. Doty was able to get his trial postponed repeatedly, during which time he stepped up his criminal activity stealing more property, he claimed, than at any other time in his career. When he finally came to trial in the spring of 1851, Doty was found guilty and sentenced to 17 years in the State Prison of Southern Michigan. Even though Doty could not resist stealing small items like horseshoes, he was trusted by his jailors to work alone outdoors at various farm chores, and he was released two years early for good behavior on September 1, 1866. The following summer, Doty stole a horse from a lawyer
who, he thought, had wronged him years before. He was apprehended and returned to prison for four years. Upon release, Doty immediately returned to his life of crime, and was again convicted of theft and returned to prison for another two years. Despite being in his seventies by the time he completed this sentence, Doty continued his criminal career until his death at the home of his son in Reading, Michigan
.
Sile Doty appears as a character, played by Robert Wilke
, in the 1956 film Raw Edge.
Horse thief
-United States:The term horse thief came into great popularity in the U.S. during the 19th century. During that time the Great Plains states, Texas, and other western states were sparsely populated and negligibly policed. As farmers tilled the land and migrants headed west through the Great...
, highwayman
Highwayman
A highwayman was a thief and brigand who preyed on travellers. This type of outlaw, usually, travelled and robbed by horse, as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot. Mounted robbers were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads...
, counterfeiter
Counterfeit money
Counterfeit money is currency that is produced without the legal sanction of the state or government to resemble some official form of currency closely enough that it may be confused for genuine currency. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery. Counterfeiting is probably...
, and criminal gang leader. Doty's criminal career is known primarily through his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, compiled by J. G. W. Colburn and published four years after Doty's death as The Life of Sile Doty The Most Noted Thief and Daring Burglar of His Time. As this title suggests, the tone of the autobiography is boastful and unapologetic. Doty excuses his crimes as stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Except where otherwise noted, what follows is taken from the autobiography and may contain exaggerations and self-serving distortions.
Early life
He was born Silas Doty in St. AlbansSt. Albans (city), Vermont
St. Albans is a city in and the shire town of Franklin County, Vermont, in the United States. At the 2000 census, the city population was 7,650. St Albans City is completely surrounded by St. Albans town, which is incorporated separately from the city of St. Albans...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
. As a child, he stole toys from his siblings, a pen knife from his teacher, and a horseshoe
Horseshoe
A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...
from a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
, not because he needed or wanted these things, but for the excitement and pleasure he took from evading detection. When Doty was about nine years old, his family moved west to Bangor
Bangor, New York
Bangor is a town in Franklin County, New York, United States. The population was 2,147 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Bangor in Wales.The Town of Bangor is an interior town of the county, located west of the Village of Malone....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, a fur trapping
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
region, where he began a lucrative three-year career of stealing animals from traps and selling their fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
s. About 1815, Doty joined a band of thieves and counterfeiter
Counterfeit money
Counterfeit money is currency that is produced without the legal sanction of the state or government to resemble some official form of currency closely enough that it may be confused for genuine currency. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery. Counterfeiting is probably...
s operating in the Bangor area. In a few years, Doty became the leader of this gang, whose depredations now extended throughout New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and the Mid-Atlantic states
Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...
.
In the winter of 1818, Doty learned blacksmithing and used his new skills to outfit himself with a complete set of skeleton key
Skeleton Key
Skeleton Key is a rock band based in New York City. The band is the brainchild of bassist and singer Erik Sanko, who is the only constant member of the band...
s and burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
tools. Throughout his criminal career Doty specialized in making such tools and employing them with great stealth and skill. Doty typically employed disguise
Disguise
A disguise can be anything which conceals or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, costume or other ways. Camouflage is one type of disguise for people, animals and objects...
s, false identities, misdirection, and other nonviolent means, but when directly challenged he would resort to brass knuckles
Brass knuckles
Brass knuckles, also sometimes called knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, or knuckledusters, are weapons used in hand-to-hand combat. Brass knuckles are pieces of metal, usually steel despite their name, shaped to fit around the knuckles...
or whatever was at hand. Doty learned to pass counterfeit money
Counterfeit money
Counterfeit money is currency that is produced without the legal sanction of the state or government to resemble some official form of currency closely enough that it may be confused for genuine currency. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery. Counterfeiting is probably...
from Ed Cooper, a resident of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, who would wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
such money to him for 30 cents on the dollar.
Criminal methods and tactics
Doty typically entered a town with one or more associates, who would pretend not to know Doty in order to gather intelligence about whether he had been detected -- and if so, what actions were being taken to pursue him. If he had counterfeit moneyCounterfeit money
Counterfeit money is currency that is produced without the legal sanction of the state or government to resemble some official form of currency closely enough that it may be confused for genuine currency. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery. Counterfeiting is probably...
, Doty would go on a spending spree, all the while scouting out where stores kept their money. If a tempting prize was guarded by a watch dog
Guard dog
A guard dog, an attack dog or watch dog is a dog used to guard against, and watch for, unwanted or unexpected people or animals. The dog is discriminating so that it does not annoy or attack familiar people.-Barking:...
, Doty would feed it poisoned meat. At night he and his associates would break
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
into homes, places of business, and stable
Stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
s using skeleton keys and relocking doors after leaving. He would deposit his loot
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
with a confederate
Business partner
Business partner is a term used to denote a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a highly contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties...
. By the time Doty was ready to leave town, he would have scouted out a fast horse to steal, in order to make his getaway. A favorite tactic was to have an associate show up at the location of the horse to be stolen with a legitimately rented horse. Doty would steal both the horse and a sulky
Sulky
A sulky is a lightweight cart having two wheels and a seat for the driver only but usually without a body, generally pulled by horses or dogs, and is used for harness races...
, wagon
Wagon
A wagon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals; it was formerly often called a wain, and if low and sideless may be called a dray, trolley or float....
, or other rig, which would be attached to the legitimate horse and driven by the associate in the opposite direction from that taken by Doty and the stolen horse. Several miles out of town, the stolen rig would be abandoned and the legitimate horse returned to its owner. It never failed that when the theft was detected, the aroused citizens would pursue the tracks of the stolen rig.
Each year, Doty would go on a campaign of crime through the towns and cities of New York State and New England. He was part of an extensive network of criminals with whom he cooperated and to whom he could sell his stolen goods. During the summer of 1822, Doty learned sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
by working on a boat traveling up and down the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
, and in the process managed to fill a trunk
Trunk (luggage)
A trunk, also known as a travelling chest, is a large cuboid container for holding clothes and other personal belongings, typically about wide, and each deep and high. They were most commonly used for extended periods away from home, such as for boarding school, or long trips abroad...
with pilfered valuables. In the fall, Doty made use of his new sailing skills by stealing a pleasure boat in Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, loading it with stolen property, and sailing it down the Saint Lawrence to a place near Ogdensburg, New York
Ogdensburg, New York
Ogdensburg is a city in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 11,128 at the 2010 census. In the late 18th century, European-American settlers named the community after American land owner and developer Samuel Ogden....
, where he unloaded the boat and sank it.
England
In the spring of 1823, finding himself hotly pursued by his victims from throughout the northeastern United States, Doty decided to ship out for Quebec CityQuebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, from which he took passage first to Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
, thence to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Doty soon found a thriving underworld
Underworld
The Underworld is a region which is thought to be under the surface of the earth in some religions and in mythologies. It could be a place where the souls of the recently departed go, and in some traditions it is identified with Hell or the realm of death...
in Liverpool, from which he selected four rogues for his English gang. After engaging in some thievery in Liverpool, the gang took a ship
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
to the north of England near the Scottish border
Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border is the official border and mark of entry between Scotland and England. It runs for 154 km between the River Tweed on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. It is Scotland's only land border...
where they stole nine horses. After a five-day ride, the gang reached London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where they sold the stolen horses. Doty spent the winter of 1823-1824 committing burglaries in London. In the spring, he was forced to flee London on foot, one step ahead of the law. Having walked all the way to Liverpool, he booked passage to New York City under an alias
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
.
Midwest
Doty spent the winter of 1824-1825 at his father's home in Bangor, New York, perfecting his metalworkingMetalworking
Metalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large scale structures. The term covers a wide range of work from large ships and bridges to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry. It therefore includes a correspondingly wide range of skills,...
skills and courting Sophia Adams, whom he married in the spring of 1825. Doty tried to lead a settled life of farming, but he could never resist the temptation to go on another campaign of thievery. Finally by 1834, Doty was wanted for crimes throughout the northeast and his evil reputation had followed him home to Bangor, so he moved with his wife to Adrian
Adrian, Michigan
As of the 2010 census Adrian had a population of 21,133. The racial and ethnic makeup of the population was 84.1% white, 4.4% black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 5.9% from some other race and 4.0% from two or more races...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, and shifted his criminal operations to Michigan, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. In 1838, Doty extended one of his campaigns into Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, where he helped a slave
History of slavery in Kentucky
The history of slavery in Kentucky dates from the earliest permanent European settlements in the state until the end of the Civil War. Although Kentucky was generally classified as the Upper South or a Border state, rather than the Deep South, enslaved African Americans made up a substantial...
to escape and cross the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
to the free state of Ohio. Doty was motivated less by abolitionist sentiment than by the challenge of stealing a slave.
In 1839, Doty moved to Steuben County, Indiana
Steuben County, Indiana
Steuben County is a county located in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 34,185. The county seat is Angola...
where he hired Lorenzo G. Noyes to work for him as a farm hand. When Noyes learned of Doty's criminal activities he threatened to go to the authorities, whereupon Doty struck him with a hickory
Hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...
walking stick
Walking stick
A walking stick is a device used by many people to facilitate balancing while walking.Walking sticks come in many shapes and sizes, and can be sought by collectors. Some kinds of walking stick may be used by people with disabilities as a crutch...
, killing him. Doty hid the body in a swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
. In 1841, Doty was arrested for stealing a span
SPAN
The Saudi Payments Network is the only and major payment system in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It connects all ATM and point of sale terminals throughout the country to a central payment switch which in turn re-routes the financial transactions to the card issuer,...
of matched bays and confined to the jail in Huntersville, Virginia
Huntersville, West Virginia
Huntersville is an unincorporated census-designated place located in Pocahontas County, West Virginia in the Alleghany Mountains. As of the 2010 census, its population was 73. It is located six miles east of Marlinton and four miles west of Minnehaha Springs. Huntersville received its name because...
, now in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, but an accomplice smuggled him a saw
Saw
A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...
and auger
Auger
An auger is a drilling device, or drill bit, that usually includes a rotating helical screw blade called a "flighting" to act as a screw conveyor to remove the drilled out material...
, which he used to saw through the log structure and make his escape. He made his way to the notorious Tamarack House near Rome, Indiana
Rome, Indiana
Rome is an unincorporated community along the Ohio River in southeastern Tobin Township, Perry County, Indiana, United States. It lies across the river from Stephensport, Kentucky and just off Indiana State Road 66 above the city of Tell City, the county seat of Perry County. Its elevation is...
, the hangout of outlaws from throughout the Midwest. Sile Doty, most likely, knew of and had connections with the Banditti of the Prairie
Banditti of the Prairie
The Banditti of the Prairie also, known as "The Prairie Bandits," "Pirates of the Prairie," "Prairie Pirates," or simply "The Banditti," in the U.S. state of Illinois, were a group of loose-knit outlaw gangs during the early-mid-19th century...
in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The following winter Doty was arrested in Michigan for stealing a large number of buffalo
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
robes and several sets of harness
Horse harness
A horse harness is a type of horse tack that allows a horse or other equine to pull various horse-drawn vehicles such as a carriage, wagon or sleigh. Harnesses may also be used to hitch animals to other loads such as a plow or canal boat....
and sent to the penitentiary
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for two years. In June 1842, a body said to be that of Lorenzo Noyes was discovered, and as a result Doty was removed to the jail in Angola, Indiana
Angola, Indiana
Angola is a city in Pleasant Township, Steuben County, Indiana, United States. The population was 8,612 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Steuben County . Angola was founded by Thomas Gale and Cornelius Gilmore. Angola is home to Trine University...
to stand trial for Noyes' murder. In 1844, Doty was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to life in prison.
Mexico
In the fall of 1845, the Supreme Court of IndianaSupreme Court of Indiana
The Supreme Court of Indiana is the state supreme court of Indiana. The court was established by Article Seven of the Indiana Constitution and is the highest judicial authority within Indiana...
granted Doty a new trial, and he was returned to the Angola jail to await the retrial. In the spring of 1846, he escaped by cutting a hole through the jail floor and got as far as Logansport, Indiana
Logansport, Indiana
Logansport is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Indiana, United States. The population was 18,396 at the 2010 census. Logansport is located in northern Indiana, at the junction of the Wabash and Eel rivers, northeast of Lafayette.-History:...
before being identified and returned to jail. Using two knives hidden in his belt, Doty broke out of jail once more and headed for the Mexican-American War, reaching General Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
's army at Camargo
Camargo, Chihuahua
Santa Rosalía de Camargo, originally called Santa Rosalia, and now known as "Camargo City", is a city in the eastern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It serves as municipal seat of Camargo municipality. It is a colonial town steeped in history. The Mission Santa Rosalía has a beautiful park...
about September first. Congress had passed a law forgiving all past offenses of those who enlisted for the duration of the war, so Doty sent letters to his home saying that he had enlisted until the end of the war, although he had done no such thing.
After Monterrey
Monterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
fell to the Americans Doty joined other scoundrels in a binge of looting and murder. About December 1846, Doty stole the best horse he could find in General Taylor's camp at Monterrey and rode it to General Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....
's camp at Camargo, where he won General Scott's good will by presenting him with the stolen horse. Scott employed Doty to take care of the horse and used him as a messenger
Courier
A courier is a person or a company who delivers messages, packages, and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of express services, and swift delivery times, which are optional for...
during the Battle of Veracruz. Doty followed the American army all the way to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, disguising himself as a Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
at night in order to waylay and rob Mexican citizens, selling the plundered goods to soldiers in the American army.
Home, prison and old age
In the fall of 1847, Doty returned to his home in Steuben County, Indiana and continued his depredations on the citizens of northern Indiana and southern Michigan, having convinced his neighbors that he had been granted amnestyAmnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
because of his participation in the Mexican-American War. In August 1849, Doty was arrested for robbing a peddler
Peddler
A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a canvasser, cheapjack, monger, or solicitor , is a travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used for travellers hawking goods in the countryside to small towns and villages; they might also be called tinkers or gypsies...
, and spent several months in jail in Hillsdale, Michigan
Hillsdale, Michigan
Hillsdale is a city in the state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,305. It is the county seat of Hillsdale County, and is run as a council-manager government....
before being bailed out. Doty was able to get his trial postponed repeatedly, during which time he stepped up his criminal activity stealing more property, he claimed, than at any other time in his career. When he finally came to trial in the spring of 1851, Doty was found guilty and sentenced to 17 years in the State Prison of Southern Michigan. Even though Doty could not resist stealing small items like horseshoes, he was trusted by his jailors to work alone outdoors at various farm chores, and he was released two years early for good behavior on September 1, 1866. The following summer, Doty stole a horse from a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who, he thought, had wronged him years before. He was apprehended and returned to prison for four years. Upon release, Doty immediately returned to his life of crime, and was again convicted of theft and returned to prison for another two years. Despite being in his seventies by the time he completed this sentence, Doty continued his criminal career until his death at the home of his son in Reading, Michigan
Reading, Michigan
Reading is a city in Hillsdale County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,134 at the 2000 census.The city is situated within Reading Township on M-49, but is politically independent.-Geography:...
.
Sile Doty appears as a character, played by Robert Wilke
Robert J. Wilke
Robert J. Wilke was a prolific American film actor noted primarily for his villainous roles, mainly in westerns.Wilke started as a stuntman in the 1930s and his first appearance on screen was in San Francisco...
, in the 1956 film Raw Edge.