This week, we feature a guest post by Don Everett Smith Jr., author of The Goffle Road Murders of Passaic County (History Press, 2011). In a previous post on Murder by Gaslight, “Revisiting the Goffle Road Murders,” Don presented an excerpt from his book. This week’s post, “The Three Hangings, Lycoming County,” examines the 1880 murder of Andrew Miller in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and the prosecution of his killers.
The Three Hangings, Lycoming County.
Murder
Lycoming County, Pennsylvania; 1880 – 1881
It was near springtime in 1880 when a small Lycoming County town, of Pine Creek, was shocked by the brutal death of a beloved Civil War veteran named Andrew Miller. According to Feb. 4th, 1881 The Daily Banner, Miller was described as being 58 years old in 1880 and married to a woman 20 years younger named Catherine Rush. They had three girls and he supported them as “a laborer by occupation, working for a livelihood at such work as he could get in a farming community.”
Miller was described as a “plain unassuming man, poor and industrious.” He was “faithful and good to his wife’s parents” and a “hard and ready worker, kind and obliging to everybody.” However, on March 19th, 1880, in the early morning, “Andrew Miller had committed suicide by hanging himself” in the barn on his rented homestead.
His wife was named Catherine, often called Kate. “She was born in Bald Eagle Township, Clinton County, Pa., on the 3rd day of September 1851,” a newspaper writer said. Academically, she was described as having “only received about one year of schooling her whole life.” She was called a “poor scholar, barely able to read and write.” She was kept at home “being the youngest child…to aid her mother in the household work.”
She and her parents moved to Porter Township in 1866, and there met Andrew Miller, who was two decades her senior in 1867. She was 16 years old, and he was a veteran of the Civil War. “They at once became quite fond of each other and in this intimacy, notwithstanding the great difference in their ages, continued,” the writer said.
Eventually the two of them married in 1868. However, there was a rumor “that her father compelled her to marry Andrew Miller.” Yet, another family member of Mrs. Miller said that was not the case. When Miller had proposed to Catherine Rush, she “very readily accepted.”
To take things further, Andrew Miller said to Mr. and Mrs. Rush, Catherine’s parents, “that they would have a home with him and his intended wife as they (the old folks) lived,” the writer said. He explained that all four of them “lived peacable…together.”
Catherine’s mother died after moving in, and Catherine’s father lived with them until he passed away in 1878.
The Millers had three daughters, and at the time of their deaths, Mary was 12 years old, Jennie was nine, and Eliza was six.
Andrew seemed to have everything to live for, but like many stories of suicide, it can come when least expected. “Many of those [residents of the area] who assembled to look upon the supposed suicide were convinced that Andrew Miller had not taken his own life,” the newspaper writer said, “But that he [Andrew Miller] had been foully murdered and hung up to a beam in the barn.”
The next question was obvious, if he did not commit suicide, who killed Andrew Miller?
“Certain suspicious conduct on the part of one George Smith and Mrs. Miller led to their arrest,” reported the newspaper writer.
A Coroner’s Inquest was empaneled with several local officials along with Catherine Miller and their oldest daughter.
The inquest found:
● “Four wounds…on the back of the head…made with some blunt instrument.”
● “The jaw was fractured.”
● “A hole cut in the chin.”
● “The body was bruised at the lower right ribs.”
● Wounds to the stomach and liver
● Abrasions of the shoulder, face and right arm pit.
● The brain was covered in blood
● Liver was lacerated
● A great deal of blood in the abdominal cavity.
The coroner said, “...the deceased came to his death by violence.” It was added that, “We believe from the evidence that…Andrew Miller came to his death at the hands of George Smith, and that Catherine C. Miller…was accessory before and after the fact.”
On March 20th, Constable Joseph Stevenson and Deputy Daniel Strayer took both of them via train from Jersey Shore to Williamsport, where they were “confined in the county jail.”
“Both the prisoners vehemently protested their innocence of the murder,” the writer said.
Based on the confession of George Smith, this is essentially what happened. On the night the deed was to be committed, Mrs. Miller put a light to the window as a signal the two were going to go to bed. At which time, Smith began to make all kinds of noises near the barn. Mrs. Miller told Andrew, “There is a noise at the barn; get up and go down and see what it is.” And being the good husband he was, he went down and checked it out.
With a “three foot long, [club of] hard wood” that had been leaning up against the barn, Smith struck Andrew Miller from behind. “Once in the head, once in the face and once in the stomach,” Smith said when asked about the beating. Smith dragged the body to the barn. He described Miller’s condition as he had “life enough to stiffen himself up a little.”
He then procured a rope from Mrs. Miller.
“She then proposed throwing him down a well before I hung him up,” Smith said.
When asked about it, Jersey Shore newspaper reporter Seely asked Smith about the “why” of it all.
“Did you and Miller have any difficulty?”
“No, sir,” Smith said. “We always spoke when we met.”
“Did you intend to marry Mrs. Miller after having committed the crime?” was asked.
“No, sir,” Smith answered.
Finally, Seely asked the following.
“Did you realize what would come of you when you contemplated the crime?”
“I did,” Smith said. “I knew just what would become of me; I told her so; [and] she said there would be nothing of it; It would never be found out.”
The Trial
It was a Wednesday in early May of 1880 when Mrs. Miller and George Smith appeared before Judge Cummin pleading “Not Guilty”.
A little history of Judge Hugh Cummin, which comes from the Lycoming Law website:
When Judge Cummin was elected to the bench [in 1878], the civil business of the court was about two years behind schedule. But within two years the business of the court was brought up to date, and ever after during his administration, when the trial list was made up, everything was put down that was ready for trial.
In criminal court likewise, two years of his austere and prompt administration of justice had produced most efficacious results. The third year there were 100 less cases than the year before. At the next May term of court, no one was sent to the penitentiary, and none even to jail. Judge Cummin kept an accurate record of all trials and the expense of the trials, and was thus enabled to know where the public money was wasted and how to introduce reforms. For the year 1881, the expenses were reduced over the previous year by $8,000 and for 1880 the reduction was more than $7,000 over the year 1879.
Of over 2,000 cases tried before him in a period of three years, about fifty were appealed, of which but a small number were modified or reversed. Notwithstanding the fact that he was then one of the youngest judges in the state, he was held in high esteem by nearly all the other President Judges.
The Banner’s Feb. 4th, 1881 article explained that it was on Thursday, May 6th at 9 AM that the trial began (a jury had been selected the day before). What was presented by the D.A. made for a “a strong circumstantial case” and the State rested on May 7th. The Defense responded by not calling any witnesses. The defense rested, and the case was sent to the jury.
“It is your duty…to give the defendants…the benefit of every reasonable doubt,’ Judge Cummin told the jury. “You are to find the facts, and you are to apply the law as we have given it to you. Carefully weigh all the evidence in the case. You must see to it that no guilty person escapes, as well as no innocent person shall be convicted.”
The jury was excused to deliberate, but on May 8th, on Saturday at 3 PM, “the courthouse bell rang to indicate the jury arrived at a verdict.” This drew a large crowd to the court house and once all were assembled inside, a “guilty [verdict] was given by the jury.”
The judge then gave the following punishment for Mrs. Miller and Mr. Smith. “George Smith and Catherine Miller…you have been…convicted of the high crime of murder, in the first degree,...Your guilt was fully established by unequivocal evidence…”
He continued to review the trial, but said, “I will not recall the bloody details of your horrible crime…I cannot think that either of you alone would have killed this poor old man, who neither did harm to either of you. If there is mercy for you in another state of existence, there...can be none here.”
Cummin concluded for both Catherine Miller and George Smith that both “be taken…to the jail of the county of Lycoming…to the place of execution, within the walls of said jail, and that you be hanged by the neck until you are dead. And may God have mercy on your [souls].”
Following the trial and sentence pronouncement, the lawyers for the two of them worked and pleaded for a commutation to life in prison. Ultimately, the “Higher Ups” in Harrisburg decided to let the judgement take its course.
Execution
Before their execution, The Daily Banner described how Miller and Smith spent their last night in prison. A constable carried two of Mrs. Miller’s daughters to visit her in her cell.
Rev. Resser, of the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, had been in the cell with Miller. “He administered the sacrament to [her]...[she] gave every evidence of having made her peace with God,” the writer said.
As the children entered, she “seized them eagerly and affectionately [embraced] them.” They stayed with her until 8 p.m. that night. The writer called their parting “very affecting, Mrs. Miller exhibiting the most intense agony and grief of spirit.”
At 2 AM, local publisher C.B. Seely and minister Rev. Bright visited Smith and administered sacraments. Seely took Smith’s criminal confession and “seemed in very excellent spirits.”
At 4 AM, Seely and the minister departed.
With the same images used of George Smith and Catherine Miller, The Daily Banner on Feb. 4th, 1881 headline said it simply, in large font, “HANGED!” Followed by the graphically titled “Both of the Culprits Necks Broken.”
It was just 11 AM when Smith and Miller were brought from their cells by law enforcement officials.
“Several hundred persons had assembled in the jail yard to witness the execution,” the news writer described. The “sad procession” stopped to hear the charges and the sentence read, then it was next to the scaffolding where other members of law enforcement and the Revs. Bright and Reeser. Miller had to be supported while she ascended the steps to the platform followed by Smith.
“On the scaffold had been placed two chairs, so arranged that when the prisoners stood up they occupied the proper position for the springing of the trap doors,” the unknown journalist described. “In ascending the stairs Mrs. Miller groaned in anguish of spirit, and those who supported her were almost compelled to carry her bodily. Smith also showed great distress of mind, and until the trap was sprung ushering them into eternity they both exhibited much distress, while their bodies shook and trembled like aspen [trees].”
Bright stepped forward and pulled out a confession that Smith had composed that morning.
“Friends, I did the deed myself. She laid the plan,” Smith’s confession said.
He confessed that he killed Andrew Miller, and Mrs. Miller gave him the rope to hang Mr. Miller with it. Catherine then helped clean his clothes with her apron.
“I want you all to forgive me as I forgive everybody,” he said, “If I had read the Bible as much (as I have) before as I have since I [came] in here, I would not have come here.” He concluded, “Good bye friends. I am going home.”
The other reverend, Resser, read Miller’s statement.
Each of them were left with different families. Mary was left to be cared for by a Mr. Guilden, Jane was left to a Mr. Peter Cable and Eliza was left to “Mr. Aaron Wills, until my pastor…Rev. Mr. Bright can find suitable persons who are willing to receive her and take charge of her.”
She concluded, “I hope and pray that my daughters will be watched over and cared for, and that they will not go astray as their poor mother did.”
The Daily Banner writer said, “They are all bright and intelligent looking children, and at present have good homes.”
Smith also had a will and most of his meager household items were left to other members of his family.
Smith’s full confession was also read. The more salient point was that he said he met Mrs. Miller ten years previous but “have only been intimate with her during the past two years.” He said that she would chase after him wherever he was.
But she eventually started suggesting ways to murder Andrew Miller. “She either wanted me to take a gun…and shoot him, or take a club and knock him over…” he said.
She continued to ask Smith to murder Andrew Miller and even suggested poisoning him. This continued for weeks and weeks, she would see Smith and suggest different ways of doing Miller in.
Smith said that it was on the night of March 18th, 1880 that she finally confronted Smith and said “I want it done this night.” Mrs. Miller explained the plan and Smith mentioned he was reluctant to do it, but he did it. He went into detail about how he killed Miller and afterwards, Mrs. Miller said, “You need not run off, for it will never be found out.”
However, Mrs. Miller would pin the blame on Smith. She said it was he who got poison and she would “take it myself.”
On the night of the murder, Catherine Miller said that it was Andrew who heard the noise and he was the one who wanted to investigate. She went on to say that Smith had told her children, “He told my children that he had killed their father and strung him up in the barn.” She then said Smith “threatened to whip” the kids if they told anyone. However, Mary and Jennie Miller said their mother had coerced them in what to say. They told one of the constables what they really did or did not see.
After that had been completed, “the prisoners were prepared for the execution.” “The hangman’s noose was adjusted about their necks, their hands were tied behind their backs, the black caps were placed over their heads and the prisoners were assisted to stand…” said the reporter.
Just as Reeser read “some religious exercises”, Sheriff Wilson - “before anyone was aware of it” - pushed the lever and Smith and Miller “were ushered into eternity.”
The “workings of the machinery of execution were most perfect throughout,” the writer said and added, “[When] the two prisoners dropped…scarcely a perceptible struggle was noticed in either of them.”
Miller’s body was surrendered to someone named J.G. Calvert of Jersey Shore. She was supposed to be laid to rest next to her husband. (Here is a link to her Find-A-Grave entry.)
Smith’s body was released to his brother-in-law, a man named Maggs and was to be buried near the Jersey Shore cemetery. According to Find-A-Grave, he was buried in the Lycoming town of Muncy.
Conclusion
Note: Thanks to Tina Cooney, of the Jersey Shore (PA) Historical Society for sharing the story of Andrew Miller.
Sources:
The
Daily Banner “Hanged!”
Friday, Feb. 4th, 1881, p. 4.
Biography of Judge Hugh Cummin. Lycoming Law Org.
“The Miller Tragedy” Jersey Shore (PA) 1881, Valley
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