TO WHOMEVER:

	I am trying to assist someone who is researching the 1899 Lunacy Trial of John Armstrong Chanler.  They have uncovered an artifact from the trial - a "flask" inscribed "FIRST PANEL SHERIFFS JURY JANUARY 14, 1899" and bearing what appears to be the court's coat-of-arms..  

	Has anyone heard of such a thing?  Would the jurors be given them as souvenirs?


	The story behind the trial is fascinating,  Chanler, an heir to the Astor fortune,  was found sane in some states and insane in others.  There is a new book out on this -"ARCHIE AND AMELIA, LOVE AND MADNESS IN THE GILDED AGE."

John N. Travis
Albany County Historian/
 
112 State St, Albany NY 12207