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EXECUTIONS IN MADISON COUNTY
Source: Edwardsville Intelligencer, January 23, 1892
The first execution of which there is any record was that of Eliphalet Green. Green was a laborer in Abel Moore's distillery on Wood River, and became involved in a quarrel with one William Wright, also in the employ of Abel Moore, the result of which was the killing of Wright. The murder occurred on Christmas eve, 1823, and caused great excitement. Green was arrested, a special term of court was ordered to be held on the 13th of January 1824. Green was indicted by a grand jury of which E. J. West was foreman, and immediately tried before Judge John Reynolds, one of the justices of the Supreme Court. The trial took place on the 14th of January, the day following the indictment of the grand jury. Green was found guilty by a jury of which James Mason was foreman, and sentenced to be hung on February 12th, 1824. The execution took place in the creek bottom near the bridge on the Springfield road. W. Buckmaster was sheriff at the time, and James Turner Attorney General.
The second infliction of the penalty was for the murder of Jacob Barth. The crime was committed on the night of May 1st, 1857, on the road between Troy and St. Jacob. Barth was a peddler and was waylaid and shot while returning from St. Louis. Three men, George Gibson [or George W. Sharpe], Edward Barber [or John Johnson], and Joseph Watson, were indicted on May 16th, by a grand jury consisting of F. T. Krafft, foreman; J. L. McLanahan, James Whiteside, Aaron Ruby, Jacob Leder, W. M. McCain, J. J. Parker, James Kelt, Josiah K. Gillham, B. L. Dorsey, L. S. Wells, L. R. Weeks, John Macon, Collier Brown, John Cox, George Moffith, C. W. Layman and Jacob B. Cox. The trial commenced on May 21st. A jury consisting of J. H. Williams, L. W. Tindall, George Hedges, William Sandbach, G. G. Wilson, Jacob Prewitt, Abram Prewitt, Benjamin Heustis, Ignatz Sneeringer, I. B. Randle, William Keirsey and Francis Agnew, found the defendants guilty, and on May 29th they were sentenced by Judge William H. Snyder to be hung on the 19th of June, 1857. Watson, one of the murderers, was a mere youth, and had his death sentence commuted by executive clemency. During the Civil War he was pardoned out. He entered the army and served faithfully to the end, and it is said, now resides in St. Louis a respected citizen. The other two, Gibson and Barber, paid the penalty of the crime on the gallows, which had been erected on the grounds of the county farm, south of the city. This murder created the most intense excitement, particularly among the people in the eastern part of the county, where Barth, the murdered man, had lived. An organized body of men, numbering about 500, headed by Savage and Smiley, appeared on the streets one day, to take the murderers out of the jail to hang them, but Z. B. Job, with the assistance of several prominent citizens, among them Judge Joseph Gillespie, F. T. Krafft and J. S. Wheeler, succeeded in quieting the infuriated mob. During the excitement, the Alton Guards were ordered out and for ten days remained in charge of the jail. On the day of the execution, the town was thronged with people from all parts of the county, to see the hanging. Read the story of their execution here: The Hanging of George W. Sharpe and John Johnson, June 1857
The third case was that of William Bell for the murder of Herman Wendall. Wendall lived about four miles and a half west of Edwardsville, on the St. Louis road, with his wife and one child. Bell was admitted into the family as a boarder. An intimacy sprang up between him and Wendall's wife, the result of which was the shooting and killing of Wendall. The murder was committed on November 21, 1868. Bell was indicted at the May term of court in 1869 by the following grand jury: H. K. Eaton, foreman; Leander McLean, H. T. King, M. A. Kline, Lewis Ricks, Antony Beck, C. P. Richmond, David Rinderer, Xavier Sutter, F. J. Haag, J. G. Robinson, A. Foster, J. W. Terry, John Suppiger, Ed Elliff, Charles Edwards, J. H. Kublenbeck, Sam Cough, William Bond, Wesley Reaves and George L. Whaling. The trial commenced on October 16th, before a jury consisting of William Jageman, W. McMilley, Thomas Hoggs, A. Cowan Jr., Thomas M. Tarit, Sidney Robinson, Samuel McKinney, James N. Sandbach, J. W. Scarborough, O. D. Oberlin, Jacob S. Deck and William E. Lehr. It lasted three days and resulted in a verdict recommending the death penalty. Judge Joseph Gillespie delivered the sentence on October 20th, fixing the date of the execution for November 12th, 1869. The sentence was executed by Sheriff L. W. Moore, at the old jail yard in lower town. Read the story of Bell's hanging here.
The fourth execution took place seven years ago today, January 16, 1885. Felix Henry, a colored man, suffered the penalty. On March 29th, 1883, two young negroes, Henry DePugh and Albert Ross, were found dead in their hut at Rocky Fork, a negro settlement several miles northwest of Alton. Weeks passed into months and the public mind became reconciled to the fact that the murderer would never be found. A clue which was followed up by Fred Vollbracht, then deputy sheriff of Alton, led to the arrest of Henry. An indictment was filed March 18, 1884 by a grand jury composed of D. C. Scheer, foreman; J. C. Ammann, John Wagner, Nicholas Meyer, Franklin Jones, William Black, Louis Kientz, M. B. Pearce, James B. Thomas, William S. Judy, Anton Wieneke, Henry Weeks, L. C. Keown, Carl Engelke, Harrison Barco, William Harshaw, William Head, George Storbeck, Thomas Biggins, S. A. Chamberlain, Isaac Davis, T. V. Whiteside and Edward Malloy. The case was continued from the March to the October term. It was the first case on the docket and was called on the first day of the term. The jury consisted of Frank Moore, T. W. L. Belk, Barney Durer, Peter Kremer, Alvis Hauskins, Victor Senn, John Luttrell, Joseph Berger, G. L. Howard, Gus Burgess, J. C. Riggin and W. G. Herbert. The case went to the jury on the second day in the evening and they brought in a verdict next morning, fixing the punishment by hanging. Judge William H. Snyder sentenced the prisoner, fixing the execution for December 19, 1884, but he was subsequently resentenced and the date was changed to January 16, 1885. George Hotz, who was then serving his first term as sheriff, carried out the order. The scaffold was erected in the same place where the scaffold stands today. *************************************************
Copyright Bev Bauser. All rights reserved.
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