Historic Barber Chair on Display at County Clerk’s Office

The historic Barber Chair is now on display at the County Clerk’s Office at the Cortland County Courthouse at 46 Greenbush Street in the City of Cortland. The chair is an ornate replica of the electric chair that was hand-carved by Richard Barber when he was an inmate at Auburn State Prison. Barber lived from 1861 to 1939.

According to a release provided by Supreme Court Justice Mark Masler, the chair was a gift from Barber to George B. Davis, who was Barber’s defense attorney and saved him from death by hanging.

Barber was convicted of murder in the 1st degree and was sentenced to death for the killing of Ann Mason in Podunk back in 1888. Podunk was a former hamlet near Trumansburg. Following a successful appeal by Davis, the Court of Appeals set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial to allow the jury to consider Barber’s claim of not guilty by reason of insanity. Barber would later plead guilty to second degree murder the following year, 1889, and sentenced to life in prison. 

While at Auburn State Prison, Barber was reported to be a model inmate and an expert craftsman. His work would be shown at world’s fairs in Buffalo and St. Louis. Barber would be granted parole in 1910 at 50 years old after serving 20 years.

According to the release, the historic chair has many connections to the Cortland legal community. George Davis was the nephew of Rowland Davis, who was a Supreme Court Justice in Cortland from 1915-1941. 

“Justice Davis gave the chair to Cortland attorney Edmund J. Hoffman, Sr., in the early 1950s. Mr. Hoffman practiced law in Cortland for 58 years, and his law partner, Charles J. Mullen, served as Cortland County Judge from 1976 to 1994. The chair was displayed in the law office of Hoffman and Mullen from approximately 1954 until 1986.”

Following Hoffman’s retirement, he gave the chair to the Cortland County Bar Association for display at the Louis H. Folmer Law Library at the Courthouse. Following recent changes, the chair is now on display at the Clerk’s Office. The public is welcomed to view the chair.