"This makes the twenty-ninth rope which Mr. Bopp, has furnished for executions. A rope off the same piece will be used to swing Frank Small into eternity."
*This blog post is one in a series of blogs on my famous ancestor, Jacob Bupp, the Hangman's Ropemaker- click the page tab above labeled "The Hangman's Ropemaker" for more information and the blog series*~ "Local and Variety," The Indiana Democrat (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 16 February 1882, page 2
It was a snowy evening in January 1879. Mayor Liddell had just started his first year as mayor of the city, and was hoping for a quiet year.
Nicholas "C. J." Jacoby was a well known iron worker in the Sixth Ward. He was about thirty years old, somewhat wealthy and self-made, and had recently rose to prominence as a Greenbacker.
Charlotte "Lottie" McAleese Jacoby was had gained some notoriety as a young woman for having participated in some rowing championships for prizes. She had married Jacoby for his wealth, as she apparently had a poor upbringing. However, she was known quite well around the Ward as being a woman of easy virtue with a string of lovers.
Edgar Frank Small was known as a small time criminal and a man of bad character, but noted as having a respectable appearance. He was in his late twenties and of medium build. He had just spent eight years in Western Penitentiary for the burglary of a jewelry store and had gotten released recently. Before he went to prison, his mistress (some accounts say fiancee) was Lottie McAleese, who had married Jacoby while Small was in prison. Upon Small's release, the couple had been meeting on the fly and getting reacquainted. The night of the 15 January 1879 was one of those connections.
Sometime either the night of the 15th or after midnight on the 16th of January, Jacoby caught his wife in a meeting with Frank Small at Keyser's Saloon on Fifth Avenue near Congress Street. Jacoby argued with his wife and got into a fight with Small that came to blows before leaving, taking his wife with him. As the two began the chilly walk home, they were accosted on the corner of Chestnut Street and Fifth Street by Frank Small, who wielded a pistol. After another enlargement, Small shot Jacoby in his left side and fled. The shooting took place around one in the morning on 16 January 1879.
Jacoby lingered for two full days before succumbing to his injuries at his residence early in the morning on 18 January 1879, surrounded by his family members. Before he passed, he submitted a statement giving his account of what had passed the morning of the 16th, as well as pointing the blame at his wife's lover as his murderer. His wife corroborated his story, laying the blame of his death on her former lover.
Small's trial took place the first week of April of 1879. At the trial, it was revealed by one of the detectives who had been present when Jacoby gave his statement that when Jacoby had been asked who shot him, before he could answer, his wife had stooped down and whispered in his ear while giving him a hug. It was after that gesture that he stated that Frank Small had shot him. However, at the same trial, Lottie Jacoby's promiscuity was brought up and thoroughly described, and the defense tried hard to paint reasonable doubt y showing her in a negative light. The defense had argued that even if Small had shot Jacoby, it was not premeditated, and therefore should not be murder in the first. They also argued that there was not reasonable doubt proven, as Lottie Jacoby had acted very suspiciously after the shooting and before Jacoby had finally died.
A new trial was requested by his defense, as it was found that while all jurors did find Small guilty of murder, they could not all agree that he was indeed guilty of murder in the first degree. However, in January of 1880 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided to affirm the decision of the lower court and agreed that Small must hang for the murder of Jacoby unless the Pardon Board intervened in the matter.
The Pardon Board had continued the case of Frank Small into November of 1880, which caused a number of people in Pittsburgh to become uneasy, including one person who wrote a very scathing opinion in the Pittsburgh Daily Post that same month. Ultimately though, the Pardon Board voted against pardoning Small.
The rope that was used was made at the same time as the rope used for James Allison and was described as follows:
"The rope was made by Jake Bopp, of Allegheny, and has been in the Sheriff's office several days. It is the ordinary gray cord, three-eights of an inch thick, and as firm and untwisting as if it were composed of wire." ("To-Day," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 24 March 1882, page 4)
On Friday, 24 March 1882, Frank Small was hanged in the city jail yard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was described as having dressed in black pants and a dark blue frock coat over spotless linen. The last person to visit him was his mother, and Small had his photograph taken for those who had become friendly towards him during his long incarceration. Only forty five passes were given out to people who really did not have a reason to witness the execution, but throngs of people crowded around the jail, climbed the roof, and watched from every angle they could.
Even after his death, Lottie Jacoby tried in vain to show that he was indeed guilty, despite the number of people argued that her actions had caused her husband's death. There were even some some who believed Lottie was actually guilty of killing her husband and blaming it on Small, for she argued frequently with her husband over being on a "friendly" basis with Small. It would appear that Jacob Bupp was one of those people. According to a few newspaper accounts of interviews given later in life, Jacob Bupp said of Frank Small's execution (and also Ward McConkey): "I hated to see those two boys hung. I don't think they were guilty. I was never positive they deserved it."
Sources Used
"Executed," Indiana State Sentinel (Indianapolis, Indiana), 29 March 1882, page 1; online images, Hoosier State Chronicles (https://newspapers.library.in.gov : accessed 21 May 2019).
"Execution of Frank Small," Pittsburgh Medical Journal, 2, no 4 (April 1882), online reprint, 127, Google Books (https://books.google.com/books : accessed 20 May 2019).
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"The Last Rites," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 27 March 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 March 2019).
"Local and Variety," The Indiana Democrat (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 16 February 1882, page 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 25 September 2017).
Loftquist, Bill. "Edgar Frank Small," State Killings in the Steel City: The History of the Death Penalty in Pittsburgh, 12 January 2018 (https://state-killings-in-the-steel-city.org/ : accessed 20 May 2019).
"Ropes for the Anarchists," syndicated news article, The Daily Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, Iowa), 1 October 1887, page 2; online images, Genealogy Bank (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 21 September 2017), Newspaper Archives.
"Still Unhung," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 18 November 1880, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 September 2017).
"Supreme Court Decisions," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 7 January 1880, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 May 2019).
"To-day," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 24 March 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 September 2017).
"Wants the Job," Ottawa Daily Local-News (Ottawa, Kansas), 3 October 1887, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 17 March 2019).
"Wants to Make the Ropes," syndicated news article, The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California), 10 October 1887, page 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 September 2017).
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