USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
The road was not fully completed until some time in 1838, owing to the slow work on the tunnel near Elizabethtown. During its construction the passengers were conveyed around in stage-coaches. The Cumberland Valley railroad was completed about the year 1837, except the erection of the bridge over the river. The first locomotives for that road were brought from Columbia on the canal, and landed on the wharf at Second and Vine streets, from thence hauled over the Market street bridge by six farm horses. Bells were first used on the locomotives; the first brought here for the Cumberland Valley railroad had whistles.
Several abortive attempts were made towards the construction of a through railroad from the Ohio to the Delaware, but it was not until 1846 that the project assumed tangible shape by the in- corporation of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company The charter was granted on February 25, 1847, and the law granting to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad the right of way to Pittsburg was abrogated in August following. Mr. J. Edgar Thompson prosecuted the work of building the road from Harrisburg to Pittsburg with energy.
On September 1, 1849, the first division from Harrisburg to Lewistown, a distance of sixty-one miles, was opened to travel. A year later the line was opened to the Mountain House, one mile east of Hollidaysburg, and on the 10th of December, 1852, cars were run through from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, connections between the eastern and western divisions being formed by the use of the Portage (State) road over the mountains. The Pennsylvania Com- pany's road over the mountains was opened early in 1854. In 1857, after a long discussion, a law for the sale of the State works was passed, and the Pennsylvania railroad became the purchaser of the main line, and was thereby released from the payment of tonnage, freight, and certain other specified taxes. The section of the law re- leasing the company from the payment of taxes was decided by the supreme court to be unconstitutional, and in 1861 an act was passed "for the commutation of the tonnage tax."
Duing the years immediately following the completion of the road it was greatly improved, the tracks doubled, other lines leased or bought, depots and extensions built, and more recently almost the entire line has been relaid with steel rails, the line straightened and
313
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
regraded. During the war the Pennsylvania railroad was largely used for the transportation of troops and supplies, and its president, Colonel Thomas A. Scott, was charged by the government with the special duty of furnishing transportation for large bodies of troops and immense quantities of army supplies. To clothe him with suffi- cient authority, he was made Assistant Secretary of War under Sec- retary Stanton.
By 1882 Harrisburg had become a great railway center. For a quarter of a century she had profited by the Pennsylvania railroad, as a link in a system, but now it became a great trunk line extending from the far west to New York, taking in the great cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, etc. Besides this system of rail route Harrisburg has the Cumberland Valley connecting south with the Valley of Virginia; the Northern Central to Washington City southward; the Sunbury and Erie north and West; the Lebanon Valley, connecting with all the ramifications of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad; the Dauphin and Susque- hanna, to the anthracite coal regions; the Steelton branch, etc.
The passing of the canal system was brought about finally in November, 1901, when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company pur- chased that portion situated between Clark's Ferry and Columbia, from the state, for the sum of $245,000. In the transfer of this property, the sum of $125 had to be attached in payment of the war revenue tax stamps, then required by law, on account of the Spanish- American war.
The railroad systems now provide the best method for the rapid. and cheap transportation of both freight and passengers. That the trains are very numerous in Dauphin county, it may be stated a recent official report says, that during the last year there were 76,715 trains passing the station of Rockville, four miles out of Harrisburg. This gives an average of 210 daily.
CANALS AND TURNPIKES.
The Union canal, incorporated in 1811, passed through Dauphin county, following the Swatara creek for a distance of about twenty miles, connecting with the State canal at Portsmouth, on the Sus- quehanna.
The Pennsylvania canal entered along the Susquehanna from the southern extremity of Dauphin county to Duncan's Island, sixteen miles above Harrisburg, where it crossed the river.
The Wiconisco canal, commenced about 1842, extended from
314
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
Clark's Ferry to Millersburg, at the mouth of the Wiconisco creek, a distance of twelve miles.
In various directions from Harrisburg, there were good turn- pike roads. Three led to Philadelphia ; one via Reading, one via Ephrata and Downingtown; one via Lancaster. There were also two from Harrisburg to Pittsburg, one via the "South Route,"" through Carlisle; the other by the Susquehanna route, crossing at Duncan's Island, thence up the Juniata river. One turnpike ran from Harrisburg to Baltimore through Middletown and York, while another ran from York down the west side of the Susquehanna. river.
On September 20, 1833, "a large and respectable meeting" was held at the court house in Harrisburg to take into consideration the propriety of opening a steamboat and sloop communication between the Chesapeake bay and the great lakes, by the way of the Susque- hanna river. The following were the officers of the meeting: Val- entine Hummel, Sr., president; Joel Bailey and Henry Buehler, vice-presidents; Charles C. Rawn and Mordecai Mckinney, sec- retaries. At this meeting resolutions were passed declaring the project national in its character and advantages, and necessary for national defence. A committee was appointed to draft an address to the people of the United States, to draft a memorial to Congress, and to address the Secretary of War.
In October of the same year Henry .Buehler, Esq., published an address to the people of the United States. At the same time, G. W. Harris, Esq., reported a memorial to Congress, which was published and circulated, and signed by a large number of citizens in various parts of the country, and transmitted to that body the next session. A bill favorable to the project and making specific appro- priations for a survey was reported by the internal improvement committee in the House of Representatives, but at so late a period in the session that it was not acted upon.
July 25, 1834, Henry K. Strong, Esq., from the select com- mittee, transmitted an able and convincing address to Hon. Lewis Cass, then Secretary of War, in which, after showing the advantages of a sloop and steamboat communication between the Chesapeake bay and the lakes by the way of the Susquehanna, he inquired "whether a survey of the route could not be made by an engineer in the service of the government during the present summer?" In reply Lieutenant-Colonel John J. Abert, of the Topographical Engineers, stated that "the department was fully impressed with the importance of the route described, but the conditions and engage-
315
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
ments of the office were such that it was not in its power to attend to the project during the present season."
A few days after the receipt of this communication, Mr. Strong again addressed the Secretary of War, repeating a request for the services of an engineer to survey the river, to which Colonel Abert, on behalf of the Secretary of War, again replied, stating that "Dr. William Howard, with two assistants, were the engineers whose services would be placed at the disposal of the parties inter- ested in the matter."
A communication was received from Dr. William Howard, U. S. Engineer, estimating the expense and making several sugges- tions relative to the proposed improvement, and stating that, "by the orders, he was entirely under the direction of the committee and ready to execute any plan of operations which they might deter- mine." The following gentlemen were then chosen an executive committee : Henry K. Strong, George Mish, Valentine Hummel, Sr., Jacob M. Haldeman, John C. Bucher.
The report of Dr. Howard was referred to the executive com- mittee with instructions to devise a plan of operation for the survey. The project was ultimately abandoned in consequence, it is generally . believed, of the death of Dr. Howard, and the refusal of Congress to. extend pecuniary co-operation. It was certainly a gigantic enterprise for men of that day to conceive of carrying forward, but the pioneer men of Harrisburg were full of true public zeal and looked far into the future.
EXECUTION OF CONVICTS AT HARRISBURG.
An account of all the executions at Harrisburg, convicted of murder, since the organization of Dauphin county, was compiled and published in what was styled the "Annals of Harrisburg," in 1858. This account, together with later punishments, will be given in this connection. This is not given publicity for the purpose of intimating that great crimes are any honor to a county, but to show that the good citizenship here has ever demanded severe punishment for the crimes that have from time to time been committed by the baser element of which every community as old as Dauphin county, has had its proportion.
The first persons who suffered capital punishment by hanging, in Harrisburg, after the erection of Dauphin county, were Charles McManus and John Hauer, or Hoar, as by some pronounced. These unhappy men, with Francis Cox, Patrick Donagan, Elizabeth Hauer and two others, were confined in the prison of Dauphin county for
316
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
the willful murder of Francis Schitz, in Heidelberg township, (now forming part of Lebanon county) on the night of December 28, 1797. Francis Schitz, with his brother, Peter Schitz, had been at a vendue and returned home in the evening greatly fatigued. The former laid himself on a bench near the stove to rest, while the latter retired to bed in an adjoining apartment. They had not been long in tranquility before a female of the house discovered a light in the kitchen, and, opening the door, was frightened at the appearance of several men, and immediately endeavored to awaken Francis Schitz ; but she had only partially effected her purpose when one of the in- truders presented a pistol at his head, which he discharged and killed him on the spot. In the meantime two others proceeded to the bed- room of the brother, Peter Schitz, with axes, and at the first stroke which one of them made his axe caught the cord of the curtain, which in some measure stopped the force of the blow. He was, however, very much cut on the shoulder which caused him to leap from the bed to the floor and to have the presence of mind to seize a chair, with which he knocked them both down; but in leaving the room he received another deep wound on his posterior, which did not prevent him, however, from locking the door and escaping out of the window, and retreating to the barn, where he placed himself in a narrow passage, armed with a pitchfork. After waiting a consider- able time and finding the murderers had gone, he repaired immedi- ately to Shaefferstown and gave the alarm, and by the vigilance of the inhabitants, the assassins were arrested. Peter Schitz was only seventeen years old. The motive which led to the deed was thought to have originated with John Hauer, brother-in-law to the deceased, who expected to fall heir to a considerable estate had he accomplished his wicked purpose.
The grand jury at the June term of court, 1798, found a true bill of indictment against Charles McManus and Peter McDonoghy, as principals, and John Hauer, Elizabeth, his wife, Patrick Dona- gan, Francis Cox and Hugh McDonough as accessories before the act.
On June 13, 1798, Charles McManus was placed upon trial, which continued eight days, when he was convicted, upon the fullest evidence, of murder in the first degree.
The following Friday a jury was sworn for the trial of John Hauer, Patrick Donagan and Francis Cox, which trial continued until Sunday evening at half past seven o'clock, when the jury, after having been out about four hours, returned a verdict of guilty against John Hauer, but of not guilty as to Donagan and Cox. Judge Henry sentenced the two found guilty, at 10 a. m. the next
317
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
day. The following appeared in the columns of the Oracle of Dauphin, July 18, 1798, and relates to the execution :
"On Saturday the 14th inst., were executed on the public ground (between the State Arsenal and Surveyor General's office) John Hauer and Charles McManus, in pursuance of their sentence, for the murder of Francis Schitz. The deportment of Hauer was more decent and composed than was expected from his conduct since his trial and condemnation. Whether his dumbness was real or affected, he was at least consistent, and sustained the concluding scene without uttering a syllable.
"McManus, in his last moments, confirmed the testimony he had given to the grand jury, viz: 'That he was not in the house or present at the murder, but that he had held a horse at the end of the lane, in order to aid the escape of the perpetrators, who were Hauer and Hugh McDonough.' He appeared with the same manly and even cheerful resignation which he had invariably preserved during the trial and imprisonment, and which, added to his youth, had, notwithstanding the atrocity of the crime, procured him no little degree of public sympathy and favor."
After the execution had taken place Henry Orth, high sheriff of Dauphin county, published a card returning "thanks to the in- habitants of the borough, and particularly to the officers of the sev- eral corps of volunteers and militia, for their care in guarding the public jail for many months past, and for their attendance and good order on the day of the execution of the two late unhappy criminals."
With the passing decades, times and customs have changed. No present court officer thinks of thanking spectators for "their at- tendance" at executions. Yet the crime of murder does not lessen with the march of years! The first son born to man and woman- Cain-became a murderer and the crime has followed down throughout the centuries.
The location of Harrisburg, at that early day, necessarily brought many rough characters to this part of Pennsylvania. The Oracle newspaper of January 31, 1798, stated: "There never was, since the prison has been built, a greater number of criminals in it. Last Friday night an attempt was made to burn the jail in this town, supposed by some of the criminals; but after the fire had penetrated through the floor, and the coals dropping down on one confined in the dungeon below, who finding his situation rather crit- ical, was obliged to give the alarm, when the fire was in a short time extinguished. Much praise is due to Captains Henry Connolly and Berryhill and the gentlemen belonging to their military com-
318
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
panies, who voluntarily formed sufficient guard every night to pre- vent the prisoners from having any opportunity to escape."
MC GOWEN AND JAMISON EXECUTED.
James McGowen and James Jamison were tried and convicted by the court of Dauphin county, for the murder of Jacob Eshleman. The execution day was set for Monday, December 6, 1806. Jami- son, however, before that date effected his escape from durance, and McGowen was consequently the only one who suffered the extreme penalty of the law on the appointed day. Although the day was excessively cold, a large number of both sexes assembled at an early hour about the jail, with a view to catch a sight of the unhappy culprit. About twelve o'clock the man was brought from the prison, when a lane was formed by the several militia companies which attended on the occasion. Through this opening he marched with much firmness, behind the cart which contained his coffin, to the gallows on the public grounds near the Arsenal. Here he expressed a desire to address the spectators, and begged a little liquor to exhilarate his spirits. As he was thinly clad and the weather intensely cold, some of the gentlemen on duty offered him a bottle containing about half a pint; this he took, and before any interference could be made, he drained it to the last drop. He became enraged with the executioner, tore off part of the mask the latter had put on to conceal his face, and even knocked him down from the cart. Indeed, such was his behavior in these, his last moments, that it in a great degree eradicated that compassion which many felt for him during his confinement. He was launched into eternity precisely at one o'clock P. M.
Jamison was subsequently arrested near Reading, brought to Harrisburg, and likewise publicly executed on the public grounds, near the old Arsenal.
James London, a free man of color, was tried and convicted before the court of oyer and terminer of Dauphin county in June, 1818, for the murder of his wife. He was displeased at the food she prepared for his Sunday dinner and threw it into the street. An altercation ensued between the man and wife, and on his threaten- ing her destruction, she went for a constable. In the meantime he was seen to charge a musket, and upon her return, after nearly an hour's absence, and before she had entered the door, he met her and discharged the contents of the musket into her head. Messrs. Irvin, Foster, F. R. Shunk, and Roberts, counsel for the prisoner, made eloquent pleas before the jury, admitting murder, but claiming
319
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
he was influenced by liquor, and asked for a second degree verdict, claiming it could not have been "Wilful, deliberate, and premedi- tated," according to the act of 1794. Mr. Ellmaker was the attorney general on the occasion of the trial, and Judge Scott presided. The jury retired about 6 P. M., and 8 A. M. came into court and handed in a verdict of "guilty of murder in the first degree." He was sentenced July 1, 1818, and hung on August 8 following, between the hours of 10 and 2 o'clock. London died truly penitent, and on the scaffold, a few moments before he was executed, in reply to the remark of a lawyer at his side, he said, "Sir, I would not now change situations with you."
The execution of Benjamin Stewart was the last public exe- cution. On February 6, 1824, between one and two o'clock, P. M., was hung at Harrisburg, a colored man named Benjamin Stewart for the murder of Ann Oberholzer. He persisted to the last mo- ment that he had no intent of murder, but confessed that he had caused the woman's death in attempting a rape on her person, and seemed fully satisfied with the justice of his doom.
On the Monday preceding his execution his coffin was brought into his room, at his own request, and with this memorial of death before him, in the presence of a number of individuals, among them the ministers of the place, the Rev. Dr. Lochman, Sr., administered to him the solemn ordinance of baptism. On Tuesday night the prisoner was dressed in his shroud and cap, at his own request, and in these habiliments of death he partook, with the clergymen of the place and other pious citizens, of the sacrament of the Lord's Sup- per.
On Wednesday he was led to the place of execution, in the cen- ter of State street, a short distance below Second, accompanied by the military, the sheriff (Gleim), and the clergy. When he first came out of the prison his mind appeared oppressed, and the tears flowed freely from his eyes ; however, he soon recovered, and walked with firmness to the gallows; there, after two hymns had been sung, a prayer offered up, and two short addresses delivered, he ascended the scaffold, when a prayer was offered up for him which he followed with a prayer for himself. The fifty-first Psalm was then sung, and with the concluding lines of the sixth verse, the trap-door on which he stood fell, and the prisoner was launched into eternity. On this occasion the prisoner and the audience, which was very numerous, were spared the disgusting sight of a painted and disguised hang- man, the sheriff performing this duty himself. This was the last public execution in Harrisburg, the more advanced, enlightened
. 320
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
and Christianized methods at executions having obtained since that date.
There was arrested and confined in prison, in the month of Au- gust, 1853, a man known as Courtland Charles Johnson, charged with the murder of his wife, Priscilla, and her alleged paramour, one Nathaniel Colyer.
At the November session, 1853, he was arraigned and tried for the murder of his wife, and the jury returned a verdict of murder in the second degree. At the April session of 1854 he was arraigned and tried for the murder of Colyer, when the jury brought in a verdict of murder in the first degree. His attorneys made a motion for a new trial, which, however, was overruled by the court, and the unfortunate prisoner received his sentence. The warrant for his execution was issued June 8, .1854.
A short time previous to his execution he confided to the Rev. J. Mackey, one of his spiritual advisers, a confession of his crime, which was subsequently published and from which the following points have been extracted :
He was a boatman by profession, and had been told at different times of the infidelity of his wife. Upon this occasion, having re- turned from Portsmouth late in the night, and approaching his home, he stopped beside a high board fence and heard voices, in a low tone, and soon recognized one as that of his wife. He re- mained quiet long enough to satisfy himself that there was criminal connection between his wife and a man who proved to be Nathaniel P. Colyer. Wrought up to the highest pitch of rage and jealousy and somewhat under the influence of liquor, he drew his revolver and, face to face with his wife, he shot her in the breast. He then shot her paramour in the spine.
The day appointed for the execution of the prisoner was Au- gust 25, 1854. On the morning of that day he was busily engaged reading the fourteenth chapter of St. John, in the New Testament, which seemed to be his favorite study. About 12 o'clock the jury selected by the sheriff, the physicians, Drs. Bombaugh, Seiler, Rob- erts and Rutherford, with members of the press and clergy, were admitted into the prison, and the ministers proceeded to the cell of the prisoner and engaged in devotional exercises. A few moments later the cell was vacated by the clergy, and the sheriff entered with a white shroud, and proceeded to array him therein. The prisoner, led by the sheriff, soon appeared in the vestibule of the prison, when a procession was formed and the entire body marched to the scaf- fold, which had been erected the day previous in the yard at the rear of the building. When the procession reached the scaffold, the
321
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
prisoner mounted with a firm step, followed by his spiritual advisers, the Revs. A. Cookman, of the Methodist Episcopal church; Colder and Mackey of the Bethel; and Holmes, of the United Brethren church. The Rev. Mr. Mackey, after a few remarks, gave out the hymn "Jesus, Saviour of My Soul," which was sung by the congre- gation. A fervent and impressive prayer was then delivered by the Rev. A. Cookman. After this each of the clergy embraced the pris -. oner and descended from the scaffold. Sheriff Williams then ad- justed the cap and rope, took fervent leave of him, descended and pulled the bolt of the drop, which effected the execution. He ap- peared to die without the least struggle and his pulse ceased to beat when he had only been suspended four and one-half minutes. The last sentence spoken by the prisoner was "Lord Jesus, receive my Soul," which hung on his lips when the drop fell. After thirty min- utes he was officially pronounced dead, and cut down by the sheriff, who had his remains placed in a coffin and prepared for interment.
In 1857, William Wiliams, a coal miner, at the November session of the Dauphin county court, was tried for the murder of Daniel Hendricks, near Lykenstown, by shooting him with a gun. The warrant for his execution was issued by the governor on March I, 1858, and fixed Friday, May 21, for time of execution.
A little before twelve o'clock on the morning of the said day, the culprit, accompanied by Sheriff Jacob Eyster, Revs. Marquet, Martz and Bartine; the jury, the deputy sheriff, and other persons who had been permitted to witness the execution, left the prison and marched in procession to the scaffold, which was the same as used for the execution of Johnson, and placed in the same posi- tion. The prisoner ascended the scaffold, with the sheriff, followed by Revs. Bartine and Martz. After a solemn prayer by the first named clergyman, an appropriate hymn was sung. His spiritual adviser then took an affectionate leave of him, and descended from the scaffold, when the sheriff proceeded to adjust the rope and cap over the prisoner's head and face, after which he likewise descended from the gallows, and, proceeding to the rear of the same, touched the spring which caused the drop to fall.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.