The Three Hangings, Lycoming County.

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. 

She had left a will that was read. First, she left her remains to her brother Nathan Rush. She requested to be buried by her husband, Andrew Miller [NOTE: The irony is not lost on this chronicler].  She left a silver watch, black coat, and Bible to her daughter Mary.  To her second daughter Jane, she left a “heavy winter dress and a coat” and to her third daughter, Eliza, she left her “two calico dresses.”  

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  

The graves of all “three swingers” have been lost to history. In 2026, members of the local branch of the Daughters of the American Revolution made sure to honor Andrew Miller for his service in the American Civil War.   A tombstone was placed in the Pine Creek Cemetery to make sure he was not forgotten. While it is noted his wife and neighbor did not treat him kindly, history has.

Note: Thanks to Tina Cooney, of the Jersey Shore (PA) Historical Society for sharing the story of Andrew Miller.   

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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 Girl Views.

Carlyle and Helen.

 

Carlyle Harris and Helen Potts.
(The Trial of Carlyle W. Harris for Poisoning His Wife, Helen Potts, at New York.)

Helen Potts, a nineteen-year-old student at Miss Comstock’s School in New York City, decided not to join her roommates when they went to hear a concert. Helen was feeling ill, but her boyfriend (secretly her husband), a medical student named Carlyle Harris, had prescribed a remedy. When the girls returned, Helen told them of the wonderful dreams she had been having about Carlyle. But she also complained of numbness throughout her body; before long, she could not move, and her breathing was labored. The dreams soon vanished, giving way to nightmares, revealing a world filled with deceit, betrayal, and ultimately murder.

Read the full story here: The Six Capsules.

Laura and Alexander.

 

Laura D. Fair and Alexander P. Crittenden

A prominent California legislator was sitting with his wife and son on board the Oakland-San Francisco ferryboat El Capitain the evening of November 3, 1870. They did not notice the woman approaching them, dressed entirely in black, wearing a broad-brimmed black hat with a black veil covering her face. From the folds of her dress, the woman pulled a derringer and shot the man in the chest. The family recognized the woman in black then; it was Laura Fair, and she was finally ending her tumultuous affair with Alexander P. Crittenden.

Read the full story here: The Woman in Black.

A Cursed Murderer in Lowell, Mass.

William H. Devlin
(Illustrated Police News, December 22, 1877)

Shortly after noon on Monday, December 10, 1877, a man entered the Lowell, Massachusetts, Police Station in a highly excited state. He told Deputy Marshal Favor that he had heard a terrible fight between a husband and wife Saturday night in a tenement on Common Street. Since then, he had heard nothing from the house, and he feared the wife might be injured. Favor paid little attention; such reports were not unusual, but he sent officers Harris and McCaffrey to investigate.

The officers went to the home of William and Ellen Devlin and found the door locked. After receiving no response to their knocks, they broke it open. Inside, they were shocked to find a woman lying on the bedroom floor, battered and wounded, blood oozing from a deep gash behind her left ear, and her whole face was swollen and distorted, all indicating an agonizing death. On her breast, an infant lay dead, its neck and face showing signs of brutal treatment. 

The Devlins had three other children: a boy, 10, a girl, 7, and a boy, 5, who the police found at their grandmother’s house. They were reluctant to speak of the assault, but after a meal at the police station, they told what had happened. On Saturday, their mother, Ellen Devlin, suffered from a toothache. She went to Sheldon & Rodliff’s grocery store and borrowed twenty-five cents on her husband’s account to have her tooth extracted. When their father, William Devlin, heard this, he was livid. He believed she had borrowed the money to buy alcohol. William was drunk, himself, when he came home that night, and he began to berate and threaten his wife. Their argument quickly came to blows when he punched her above the right eye. He threw her on the floor, kicked her, and began jumping on her. She gained her feet as soon as possible and, grabbing the baby, started upstairs. He threw her down again and dragged her into the bedroom. He beat her with a piece of wood, poured water on her head, stabbed her in the neck with a butcher knife, and then covered her with a few old dresses. The children were crying to see their mother so abused. William told them to keep quiet, or he would kill them. 

Discovery of the Bodies.
(Illustrated Police News, December 22, 1877)

He went out again and then returned with his friend James Devlin. James, who was not related to William, told the police that William invited him to his house on Saturday night for some oysters. He heard Mrs. Devlin moaning, and when he asked about it, Williams said she was just drunk. James could tell there was some trouble in the family and did not stay, but he knew nothing about the assault.

On Sunday, William went out, locking the children in the house. During the day, the oldest boy, John Devlin, uncovered his mother’s face and could see she was dead. When their father returned, the baby was crying. William tried feeding it, but when that failed to quiet the infant, he covered its head with the bedclothes and smothered it to death.

Monday morning, William gave John ten cents to buy the children candy. He said to go to his grandmother’s and say that his mother was dead, but to say nothing of the row between their mother and father. When the children left, he locked all the doors and windows.

William went to an attorney’s office to collect $20 pension that he was owed. Then he walked to the North Chelmsford train station and bought a ticket to Ayer, Massachusetts. There, he bought a ticket to Rutland, Vermont. When the police learned he had a sister in Rutland, they were able to trace his movements. They telegraphed ahead, and the news reached Bellows Falls, Vermont, before the train arrived. After some resistance, he was taken off the train.

The following day, Devlin was put in irons and, sitting between two officers, was taken by train back to Lowell. Hundreds of spectators were waiting at the depot, and they followed the carriage to the police station. Devlin was kept under heavy guard due to threats of lynching.

William Devlin was born in Ireland and emigrated to Vermont in 1852. He fought for the Union in the Civil War and, after the war, met and married Ellen Manning. They moved to Lowell and had been there about eleven years. Ellen’s mother had nothing good to say about her son-in-law. He was a heavy drinker, and she told the press that “drunk or sober, he was the ugliest man she ever knew.” By the time of the murder, Ellen was addicted to alcohol as well.

Devlin was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder. His trial before the Supreme Judicial Court in East Cambridge began on December 3, 1878. The only witness for the defense was Devlin himself, testifying on his own behalf. Stressing his war record, Devlin said he received a saber cut on his head at Antietam. Since then, he had usually been dizzy when in the sun, and when drunk, he got a blur over his eyes, so he did not know what he was doing.

On the day of the murder, he came home about half past four, somewhat intoxicated. His wife was sleeping with the baby in her arms; she got up and went upstairs; he took the baby out of her arms. When she was about halfway up, she fell headlong. He put out his arm to catch her and dragged her into the bedroom. He went out for more drinks, came back, and, leaving his wife on the floor, went to sleep in the chair. She slept all day Sunday, and on Monday morning, he found her dead.

The most persuasive testimony came from Devlin’s children, now a year older. John Devlin, 11, testified to seeing his father kick his mother, jump upon her, and throw her downstairs. He stamped on her six or seven times and stabbed her twice. 8-year-old Nellie Devlin said she saw her father strike her mother with a knife. Mother said, “Don’t kill me.” Father said, “Yes, I will.”

Devlin’s attorney, after defining for the jury the different degrees of murder, argued that his client was so much under the influence of alcohol at the time to be in a state of mind unable to commit the offense of murder in the first degree.

The jury deliberated for seven hours before returning a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. Devlin took it in stride, saying, “Well, gentlemen, I suppose I’ve got to hang for it.”

Following his conviction, community attitudes against Devlin changed somewhat. Sympathetic supporters circulated a petition to commute his sentence to life in prison. Governor Talbot and the council agreed to a public hearing. The main argument for commutation was to prevent the stigma of Devlin’s death on the gallows from being fastened on his children. Devlin’s attorney argued that the children’s testimony had been coached by the victim’s parents, and the jury had been confused about their choices. Chief State Detective Clemence testified that “Devlin was a man of many vices and few virtues. He was of a nervous temperament, jealous and revengeful, and had several times mad unprovoked assaults on persons.” The governor declined to commute the sentence.

William Devlin was hanged in Cambridge on May 14, 1879. His last words on the gallows were, “I thank all my friends for their kindness to me. I recommend all my friends abstain from rum, and I recommend my soul to God.”

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Sources: 

“Adjudged Guilty of Murder,” Kingston Daily Freeman., December 5, 1878.
“A Brutal Murder,” New York Herald, December 4, 1878.
“A Cursed Murderer in Lowell, Mass,” Illustrated Police News, December 22, 1877.
“The Devlin Case,” Lowell Weekly Sun, March 1, 1879.
“Devlin Muerder Case,” Lowell Daily Citizen, December 4, 1878.
“The Devlin Murder,” Lowell Daily Citizen, December 11, 1877.
“The Devlin Murder,” Lowell Daily Citizen, December 12, 1877.
“Devlin's Case,” Lowell Daily Citizen, February 26, 1879.
“Devlin's Doom,” Lowell Daily Citizen, March 14, 1879.
“A Horrible Tragedy,” Worcester Evening Gazette, December 11, 1877.
“Murder in the First Degree,” New Haven Evening Register, December 5, 1878.
“Shocking Murder,” Lowell Daily Citizen, December 10, 1877.
“Tried for His Life,” Lowell Weekly Sun, December 7, 1878.
“Wife Murder,” New York Herald, December 5, 1878.
“William H Devlin Arraigned for the Murder of His Wife and Child,” Lowell Daily Citizen, April 16, 1878.
“William H. Deflin,” Evening Bulletin, March 14, 1879.
“Wm. H. Devlin,” Lowell Daily Citizen, January 9, 1879.

James Dougherty's Obsession.

Mary Anderson was an acclaimed international stage actress in the late 1800s. Among her many fans was a young Brooklyn man named James M. Dougherty.  He worked as a telegraph lineman and studied science in his spare time. He dabbled in a little of everything until, after watching one of her plays, he became obsessed with Miss Anderson. 

His love for Mary Anderson became his sole controlling passion, and soon turned to delusion. Dougherty believed Mary Anderson loved him as well, but she was surrounded by a group of conspirators who worked to keep them apart. He began following her to every city where she performed. In 1889, his stalking came to the attention of the New York City Police. They declared him insane and sent him to King’s County Insane Asylum in Brooklyn.

As his condition appeared to improve and his obsession with Mary Anderson subsided, the doctors no longer considered Dougherty a threat. He was put to work on the asylum’s farm, and he took the opportunity to escape. In October 1890, Dougherty returned to the asylum with a loaded revolver and murdered Dr. Lloyd, one of the physicians who, he felt, mistreated him.

“I did it. I meant to kill him and would have killed ten more if I had the chance,” he told the police. “I am not crazy, but as sane as the sanest man that walks New York today.”

The court agreed that Dougherty was sane and sentenced him to life in Sing Sing Prison.

Read the full story here: Lunatic Dougherty.

Song of the St. George Murder.

 

A Song Written in Memory of

The St. George Murder.

(excerpt)

In St. George, Me., as you shall hear,
It proves to be the fatal year -
That Mrs. Meservey, in the prime of life.
By a murderer's hand has lost her life.
...
Nathan Hart is the murderer's name,
Father and husband think of the shame,
Did he forget all woman kind,
Seek like a beast some prey to find?
...
God in His written book doth say, 
"With sin He's angry every day."
And if you covet what is wrong,
O, think of Hart at Thomaston.

This song about the 1877 murder of Mrs. Sarah Meservey in Tenant's Harbor, a village in the town of St. George, Maine, names Nathan Hart as the killer and justifies his life sentence in Thomaston Prison. Not everyone agreed that Hart was guilty. An 1882 book entitled The True Story of the Hart-Meservey Murder Trial claimed that Nathan Hart was railroaded.

Read the full story here: The Hart-Meserver Murder.

So Far from Home - 99¢.

One Week Only! On sale for 99 cents! So Far  from Home: The Pearl Bryan Murder "Yes. they drove far from the city, To a place so far from home, There they left her body lying Headless and all stained with blood"

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Sale ends Sept. 21

More Information

The Proctor Mystery.

(Illustrated Police News, February 1, 1885)

On Thursday, July 27, 1882, Sarah Proctor, of Salem, Massachusetts, heard groans coming from the cellar where her husband, George, was working.  Downstairs, she found him lying on the floor between two barrels. She rushed toward him exclaiming, “Good God, what is the matter, George?”

There was no response, so she ran to a neighbor for help. He found George alive but unconscious. On the floor was a small pool of blood from a wound in the back of his head, believed to have been sustained when his head hit the barrel. A doctor was summoned, but there was little he could do. George remained unconscious but held on until 10:15 that night. The official cause of death was “paralysis of brain.”

On Saturday, Sarah’s young nephew, Benny, was playing in the cellar and found a seven-shot Robin Hood pistol under the stairwell. One shot had been fired. He gave it to Sarah, who passed it on to her father-in-law. He gave it to the police the following day. When Medical Examiner Carlton heard of the discovery, he deemed it necessary to examine the body. George’s funeral was being held at the First Universalist Church. Following the service, the body was taken back to the undertaker’s, where Carlton performed an autopsy. 

The autopsy showed that the wound behind George’s left ear was a bullet wound. The bullet was still in the skull. It was removed and found to match the bullets in the pistol found under the cellar stairs.

Everyone’s first thought was that George Proctor had committed suicide. He was the owner of the Produce Exchange in Salem. In the week before his death, he made his will, paid his insurance assessments, settled his accounts, and installed his brother as manager of the Exchange. But from the position of the wound and the fact that the hairs around it were not singed, the Medical Examiner concluded the wound was not self-inflicted. 

George Proctor was murdered in the cellar of his own home, but it was unclear who would benefit from his death. The Proctors lived comfortably, but they were not wealthy. Some of his business ventures had failed. The will left his insurance benefit in trust for his widow and children; his brother would remain manager of the Exchange, and net profits would be divided semi-annually between his wife and his brother.

On August 1, Judge Osgood held an informal hearing where Sarah Proctors and other witnesses testified as to the circumstances of the murder. The hearing lasted two days, but nothing was resolved.

The following February, at a spiritualist meeting, a medium named Mrs. S. Dick communicated with George Proctor. She received tidings from the spirit world, then she suddenly paused and said, “I cannot go any further until I tell something which is the message that I hear, ‘No woman had anything to do with my death. George K. Proctor.’”

(Illustrated Police News, February 1, 1885)

The murder remained a mystery, and it gradually faded from public memory. However, the police did not forget the murder. District Officer Joseph E. Shaw of the State Force, together with Salem City Marshal Hart, continued to gather evidence. The investigation proceeded for another three years until February 1885, when, despite Mrs. Dick’s pronouncement, the Grand Jury of Essex County found an indictment against Sarah Proctor.

“Mrs. Proctor, I have a very painful duty to perform,” said Marshal Hart at Sarah Proctor's door.

“What is it, Mr. Hart?” she replied.

“I am instructed to arrest you, Mrs. Proctor, for causing the death of your husband, George K. Proctor.”

She fell back, as though stunned, and burst into tears. “You know I didn’t do that; you know I am innocent.”

The Marshal took her to jail in Lawrence.

Statements from people who knew the Proctors told the lawmen that their household was not a happy one. Sarah Proctor had a violent temper when aroused, and on more than one occasion, just before his death, George came to the police station and asked for protection. The City Marshal told him that he could obtain a warrant against his wife, but advised him not to bring public scandal on his family. George and his wife spent very little time together, and his friends advised him to get a legal separation.

Owing to trouble with her mother, their oldest daughter, Lilly, moved out of the house a year before Sarah’s arrest. Their other daughter was not on speaking terms with her mother and sued her for her share of the income from the Produce Exchange. She testified against her mother before the Grand Jury.

Sarah claimed that she had not heard a gunshot that morning, but the police conducted experiments that proved the shot would have been heard anywhere in the house. Her mother had sent Lilly out of town that day, and the younger sister was asleep. They also proved that the pistol could not have been thrown to the spot under the stairs where it was found. Other witnesses claimed there were towels saturated with blood at the house that morning, indicating that the bullet had bled more profusely than first thought. The police claimed to have additional evidence against Sarah that they did not make public.

Sarah Proctor remained in jail until May 12, 1885, when her case came before the Supreme Judicial Court. Attorney General Sherman moved that Sarah P. Proctor be arraigned on the charge of murder. However, he told the court that since the Grand Jury indictment, a number of important witnesses had changed their testimony and the evidence needed to be examined with more care.

“Since then, “ said the Attorney General, “I have, with the assistance of the district attorney and the officers, made a most thorough and searching examination of this important case, and I have come to the conclusion that I cannot expect or properly ask a jury to convict the prisoner on the evidence which we have at present.”

While the arraignment stayed in effect, Mrs. Proctor was released from custody. Public sympathy turned in her favor, and the suicide theory was revised, but the case remained unsolved.

---

Sources: 

“The Celebrated Proctor Murder Case,” Daily Evening Bulletin, May 13, 1885.
“Clearing Up a Mystery,” GALENA INDUSTRIAL PRESS, February 19, 1885.
“More Murder,” BOSTON HERALD, February 3, 1885.
“Mrs. Sarah P. Proctor, the Alleged Husband Murderer,” Illustrated Police News, February 21, 1885.
“A Mysterious Tragedy At Salem,” Springfield Republican, July 31, 1882.
“Obituary,” Boston Daily Advertiser, July 28, 1882.
“The Proctor Mystery,” Worcester Evening Gazette, July 31, 1882.
“Salem,” Boston Daily Journal, September 5, 1882.
“Salem,” Boston Evening Journal, February 26, 1883.
“Salem,” Boston Daily Journal, October 19, 1883.
“The Salem Mystery,” Boston Evening Journal, May 13, 1885.
“A Salem Sensation,” Boston Evening Journal, February 3, 1885.
“The Salem Tragedy ,” Boston Daily Journal, August 2, 1882.
“Tragedy at Salem,” Boston Daily Journal, July 31, 1882.

Sadie and Clarence.

Sadie and Clarence.

In April 1894, the murder of Montgomery Gibbs, a successful attorney, caused great excitement in Buffalo, New York. He was found shot to death in a driveway on Delaware Avenue with no clues to the killer’s identity. The police and newspapers investigated the crime, but they had no solid leads, and it remained unsolved. Then, in October, they received a tip that Clarence Robinson, a young burglar in custody in Cleveland, Ohio, committed the murder with his wife, Sadie.   At their trial for first-degree, both pleaded not guilty, each saying they had been coerced by the other.

Read the full story here: The Delaware Avenue Murder.

John and Eva.

 

When John Keys and Eva Dickenson were married in Cincinnati on August 21, 1890, they told their relatives that they planned to honeymoon on the Atlantic coast, but John had another plan. He purchased an Ohio River shanty-boat and planned a slow trip downriver to St. Louis. It would not be their last deception; in fact, what transpired on that fateful journey would remain forever shrouded in mystery.

Read the full story here: The Lawrenceburg Shanty-boat Mystery.

The Attleboro Sensation.

(Illustrated Police News, April 3, 1886.)

Agnes Anastasia Long moved out of her parents’ home in East Attleboro, Massachusetts, in April 1882. With her many male suiters, she was considered the black sheep of the family. Her father had enough of her bad behavior and, according to the Boston Herald, “refused to permit her to darken the threshold of his humble home.”

Ida and Sophia.

 

Ida Quinlan and Sophia Grant.

Mrs. Ida Quinlan went out to buy a pair of stockings at around 9:00 on the night of February 1, 1896, leaving her baby in the care of her sister, Mrs. Sophia Grant. She took a streetcar to the store several miles away and returned to the house at around 11:00. Entering the sitting room, she was surprised to find the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled out and their contents spread on the floor. She called for Sophia and, getting no response, went into the kitchen, where she found her sister lying dead on the floor, covered with blood. Horrified, Ida ran from the house to seek assistance from the neighbors. At least that was the story she told the police. The following day, Ida Quinlan was arrested for the murder of her sister.

Read the full story here: Did Ida Do It?

Daniel, Teresa, and Phillip.

Daniel Sickles, Teresa Bagioli, Phillip Key

In 1859, Dan Sickles, a congressman from New York (and future Union General), was married to the most beautiful woman in Washington, but his other interests, including his mistresses, often kept him away from home. His lonely young wife, Teresa, found comfort in the arms of Philip Barton Key, D.C. District Attorney and son of poet Francis Scott Key. When Sickles learned of their affair, he armed himself and confronted Key on the street. Blinded by rage, he shot and killed his wife’s lover. Was it premeditated murder or temporary insanity?

Read the full story here: Dan Sickle's Temporary Insanity.

A Father's Demon Deed.

Illustrated Police News, February 8, 1879.

O.P. Hull, a well-to-do farmer, lived with his wife and six children near the village of Wassonville, Iowa. Mr. Hull was a kind father and affectionate husband who was adored by his family. He especially doted on his attractive and popular 19-year-old daughter, Emma. Her comfort and happiness were foremost in his mind. He would leave nothing undone to benefit his daughter, but his attachment to Emma was so strong that her absence from home, for any reason, would worry his mind terribly.

Guest Post: 'Once a Happy Bride.'

 Howard and Nina Brown are frequent contributors to Murder by Gaslight, on matters pertaining to the 1891 murder of Carrie Brown, viewed by some as the work of London’s Jack the Ripper. The Browns run the website JTRForums.com, discussing all aspects of Jack the Ripper's murders, and CarrieBrown: Murder In The East River Hotel, a discussion site on the Carrie Brown case. They have written three books on Carrie Brown: East Side Story:1891 Murder Case of Carrie Brown, An Illustrated Encyclopedia and A -Z: The1891 Murder Of Carrie Brown In The East River Hotel, and 'Once A Happy Bride' The Tragic Life Of Carrie Brown: From Liverpool To The Lower East Side.

Their latest book, ‘Once a Happy Bride’, available from Amazon, covers aspects of Carrie's life that have been generally glossed over, beginning with her days as a young bride of a successful sea captain, and continuing through her days in New York, when she was never able to shake the ravages of alcohol. Howard and Nina are sharing the foreword of their new book.

James and Ellen.

James Lattin and Ellen Lucas.
(Daily Graphic, November 20, 1874.)

Ellen Lucas of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was to be married on October 3, 1874. The typically happy 18-year-old was somewhat anxious on the evening of October 2, repeatedly looking at the clock as she hastily ate supper. Ellen changed her clothes and left the house at 7:00, telling her mother that she would not be gone long. Mrs. Lucas watched her daughter walk to the corner where she met her fiancé, James E. Lattin. Ellen never came home that night.

Read the full story here: The Bridgeport Tragedy.

The Tell-Tale Skull.

(Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 1895.)

Johanna Gahan married Jimmy Logue, a professional thief, in 1871, just as he was preparing to serve a seven-year prison sentence for burglary. She waited for him, and after his release, Jimmy bought a house for them in Philadelphia. Within a year, Jimmy was off on a “thieving expedition” to Boston. When he returned, Johanna was gone.

Those who knew Jimmy Logue knew he frequently beat Johanna, and they believed she had taken the opportunity of his absence to run away. Logue searched for her, but he was arrested again for burglary and sent back to prison. Nothing more was thought about Johanna’s disappearance until workmen repairing the kitchen of the Philadelphia house found a woman’s skull under the floorboards.

The skull was identified as Johanna’s by the formation of the teeth and the clothing found with the skull. Jimmy was in trouble again, but this time he had an alibi. 

Read the full story here: "A Romance in Crime."

The Confession of Mary Cole.

The Confession of Mary Cole, 1813.

Cornelius and Mary Cole lived in a farmhouse in Sussex County, New Jersey, with their two children and Mary’s widowed mother, Agnes Teaurs. Cornelius bought the property from Agnes in exchange for an annuity of $50 per year for the rest of her life. Mary and her husband did not live happily with Agnes. According to Mary, her mother was always very hard on her, and she insisted on sleeping in the same bed as Mary and Cornelius, even though they provided her with another bed.

In December 1811, Agnes apparently moved out of the house. Mary told the neighbors that Agnes was offended by something the couple did, so she packed up and moved in with her brother in Bergen County. The following March, Mary and Cornelius left as well, moving in with his family. They rented the farm to another family.

The family that moved into the farmhouse perceived an unusual and unpleasant odor. They believed it was coming from beneath the floor, and in June, they pulled up some floorboards in the kitchen and found the source. It was the dead body of a woman lying in a shallow hole covered with ashes and swingle tow (flax fiber). They raised an alarm, the neighbors collected in the kitchen and were able to identify the body as that of Agnes Teaurs.

Jennie Cramer's Tragic Ballad.

(New Haven Independent)

Taylor Ward sings "Found Drifting with the Tide" (excerpt), the tragic ballad of Jennie Cramer's murder.

“Found Drifting with the Tide” was a song written by A. C. Willis, "Dedicated to the memory of Jennie Cramer," who was murdered in 1881.

When the body of beautiful young Jennie Cramer was found on a sandbar in the ocean off West Haven, Connecticut, in August 1881, it was assumed that she had drowned and possibly committed suicide. But there was no water in her lungs, and a thorough examination of the body revealed that the cause of death had been arsenic poisoning. It was also revealed that she had lost her virginity within the last forty-eight hours, and not consensually—she had been violently raped. Suspicion fell immediately on Jimmy Malley, Jennie’s current beau and nephew of the richest man in New Haven. The problem for the prosecution, and everyone since, was determining what exactly happened in the last two days of Jennie Cramer’s life.

Read the full story here: Found Drifting with the Tide.

Charles and Lizzie.

 

Charles Kaiser conspired with Lizzie DeKalb to murder his wife for insurance. When the plot was uncovered and the murderers tried, both claimed that they acted under the hypnotic power of James Clemmer, the insurance agent who conceived the plan.

Read the full story here: The Kaiser Conspiracy.