Prevod
V steno nad vrati sodne palače v Goshenu v zvezni državi New York je vzidana lobanja. Vzeli so jo iz krste, ki so jo izkopali leta 1842, ko so polagali temelje stavbe. Ljudje so govorili, da ni nobenega dvoma: ta lobanja je lahko pripadala le Claudiusu Smithu, ki si je zaslužil, da ga tako javno postavijo na pranger. Pred vojno za neodvisnost je bil Smith kmet v Monroeju v zvezni državi New York. Ker je bil dovolj premožen, da mu kraljevi davki niso bili v breme, da niti ne omenjamo njegove nevoščljivosti ob prednostih, ki bi jih neodvisna vlada prinesla njegovim revnejšim sosedom in njihovim upom, se je postavil na kraljevo stran. Po objavi deklaracije o neodvisnosti je svojo pripadnost pokazal na neprijetno otipljiv način: okoli sebe je zbral četo drugih torijcev in se, opogumljen z odsotnostjo večine mož iz okolice, ki so služili v kolonialni vojski, lotil plenilskih pohodov, s katerimi je deželo pestil prav tako hudo, kakor so jo rdečesuknjičniki na odprtem bojišču.
Plenil je hiše in skednje ter jih nato požigal; žalil je ženske, odganjal živino in konje ter ubil več ljudi, ki so skušali braniti svoje imetje. Njegove »vojne pohode« je obdajala tolikšna skrivnostnost, da nihče ni vedel, kdaj in od kod ga lahko pričakuje. Umor majorja Nathaniela Stronga iz Blooming Grova je vzbudil tolikšno ogorčenje, da so združili moči, da bi ga ujeli. Denarna nagrada za uspeh je še podžgala budnost njegovih zasledovalcev in nazadnje so ga prijeli na Long Islandu. Poslali so ga nazaj v Goshen, mu sodili, ga spoznali za krivega in ga 22. januarja 1779 obesili skupaj s petimi člani njegove tolpe. Trupla zločincev so pokopali na zaporniškem dvorišču, na mestu, kjer stoji sodna palača, in ko so Smithovo okostje po naključju izkopali, so ga stari prebivalci prepoznali po njegovi nenavadni velikosti. Kmet iz sosednjega kraja je odnesel stegnenico, zidar pa je prazno lobanjo napolnil z malto in jo vzidal v steno, kjer je ostala še dolgo.
Izvirnik
A skull is built into the wall above the door of the court-house at Goshen, New York. It was taken from a coffin unearthed in 1842, when the foundation of the building was laid. People said there was no doubt about it, only Claudius Smith could have worn that skull, and he deserved to be publicly pilloried in that manner. Before the Revolutionary war Smith was a farmer in Monroe, New York, and being prosperous enough to feel the king's taxes no burden, to say nothing of his jealousy of the advantage that an independent government would be to the hopes of his poorer neighbors, he declared for the king. After the declaration of independence had been published, his sympathies were illustrated in an unpleasantly practical manner by gathering a troop of other Tories about him, and, emboldened by the absence of most of the men of his vicinage in the colonial army, he began to harass the country as grievously in foray as the red-coats were doing in open field.
He pillaged houses and barns, then burned them; he insulted women, he drove away cattle and horses, he killed several persons who had undertaken to defend their property. His “campaigns” were managed with such secrecy that nobody knew when or whence to look for him. His murder of Major Nathaniel Strong, of Blooming Grove, roused indignation to such a point that a united effort was made to catch him, a money reward for success acting as a stimulus to the vigilance of the hunters, and at last he was captured on Long Island. He was sent back to Goshen, tried, convicted, and on January 22, 1779, was hanged, with five of his band. The bodies of the culprits were buried in the jail-yard, on the spot where the court-house stands, and old residents identified Smith's skeleton, when it was accidentally exhumed, by its uncommon size. A farmer from an adjacent town made off with a thigh bone, and a mason clapped mortar into the empty skull and cemented it into the wall, where it long remained.
