Criminal. He was hanged for the murder of his sister Sarah's abusive husband, Charles Littles, in the most sensational Upstate New York homicide investigation and trial until Arthur Shawcross came along. If not for his family history - often in trouble with the law, sometimes quite famously - and his unusually close relationship with Sarah (they frequently shared a bed, even after her marriage), all of which gave rise to sensationalist reporting in East Coast newspapers, plus a few friends in high places, it might have been just another domestic spat turned bad. Despite the allegations of incest and a public carousel of a trial, the unassuming Stout remained a sympathetic character for saving his sister from her knife-wielding fiend of a husband, and following his trial and condemnation, motions were put forward for a new trial and both Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass petitioned the State Governor for a reprieve. Their efforts failed; Ira Stout was executed and now lies in an unmarked grave in Section D close to some of the wealthiest and most respectable of Rochester’s early Victorian citizens.

Criminal. He was hanged for the murder of his sister Sarah's abusive husband, Charles Littles, in the most sensational Upstate New York homicide investigation and trial until Arthur Shawcross came along. If not for his family history - often in trouble with the law, sometimes quite famously - and his unusually close relationship with Sarah (they frequently shared a bed, even after her marriage), all of which gave rise to sensationalist reporting in East Coast newspapers, plus a few friends in high places, it might have been just another domestic spat turned bad. Despite the allegations of incest and a public carousel of a trial, the unassuming Stout remained a sympathetic character for saving his sister from her knife-wielding fiend of a husband, and following his trial and condemnation, motions were put forward for a new trial and both Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass petitioned the State Governor for a reprieve. Their efforts failed; Ira Stout was executed and now lies in an unmarked grave in Section D close to some of the wealthiest and most respectable of Rochester’s early Victorian citizens.

Bio by: Mount Hope NY