The Hangman's Rope Maker: James McSteen, Brutal Wife Murderer

"Yesterday was the last Sunday on earth for James McSteen, the murderer, who will be hanged Thursday. The same scaffold upon which Ward McConkey was hanged will be used and the same rope will also do service."

~ "McSteen's Last Sabbath," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 1 October 1883, page 4

*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*

On 9 June 1882, in a tiny log cabin shanty along the Baltimore & Ohio railroad line in Glenwood, southeast of Pittsburgh, a laborer named James McSteen brutally bashed in his wife's skull with an ax.  He apparently was jealous of her, though she showed no signs of unfaithfulness.  After bashing her skull in, he calmly went down the road to the neighbor's home, asking Mrs. Mary Walsh to come look after his little children, and then proceeded to walk down the railroad.  When Mrs. Walsh discovered Mary lying in a pool of her own blood, she raised the alarm, and several men took to pursuing McSteen, who tried to jump onto the train that was about to depart the Glenwood Station.  Mary died later that evening.

James (also known as Patrick) McSteen was a forty one year old Irishman who had been married to his wife for five years.  He had worked for a long time at the Elba Iron and Bolt Works for a time and even gained a promotion to boss of a gang, but was fired when he refused to follow an order.  A month before the killing, he started working the night shift at the Glenwood Steel Works, and his wife began to complain to Mrs. Walsh, the woman who found her, that he had begun to act odd.  In interviews after the deed, his speech was described as being sometimes "his speed indicate that he is not of sound mind though sometimes he talked rationally enough."  He apparently spent sometime in Dixmont Insane Asylum after a violent attack on a family member.  He also threatened to kill his wife two years prior.  He was described in the reports from his trail as a very unassuming man

Mary Toole McSteen was about 38 years old, and was described as "an honest Irish woman of considerable popularity."  She was an attractive woman, according to neighbors, and was a hardworking and doting mother.  When she died, she left behind four children, including a son from her first marriage. Patrick Toole, her eldest, was only nine when his stepfather killed his mother.

A.B. Hay and John Marron were reported to be his lawyers, and the trial was a very brief affair, lasting only two days.  A number of neighbors were called to testify, but the most damning testimony was given by Patrick Toole, who was then ten years old.  He had testified that his stepfather had sent him to gather eggs and when he returned a half hour later, his mother was lying in a pool of blood and his stepfather was nowhere to be seen.  On 22 September 1882, after a very short deliberation, the jury found McSteen guilty of murder in the first degree.

His lawyers didn't appeal the conviction, though they did appeal the sentencing on the grounds that McSteen was not in his right mind.  However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to reverse the judgement of the court case, and McSteen exhausted all options available to him.

Hangings, as always in that time, were public spectacles and popular ones at that.  Over 3000 people applied to get tickets for the hanging, but only 250 tickets were issued.  The only two family members to visit McSteen before his death were one of his brothers and a cousin from another state, and McSteen only expressed remorse that his brother and his little four year old son should unduly suffer because of the crime he committed.

On 4 October 1883, James McSteen was hanged in the city jail yard, upon the same scaffold that Murray and Myers, Ernest Ortwein, Frank Small, and Ward McConkey had been hanged.  The same rope that was used for Ward McConkey's demise was used for his hanging, thus Jacob Bupp was once again the creator of such an instrument of death.  

Upon the scaffold, McSteen's last words were "I hope everyone will forgive me as my Heavenly Father has done, and as I have forgiven them."  The Altoona Tribune later reported:

"McSteen, the Pittsburgh murderer, kissed the rope which choked him to death. No one would have supposed a man who cruelly murdered his wife would think of such an act at such a time. He had kissed his wife more it is probable there would have been no occasion for kissing a rope. But humanity is ever a contradictory compound." (Untitled opinon from The Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 11 October 1883, page 2)

Upon the spring of the trap door, the rope broke McSteen's neck and he died instantly.  His body was later buried in a private service given by his spiritual adviser, Father Ward. 

McSteen's eldest child with Mary, the four year old son, was adopted by an uncle in Soho, newspapers reported.  It is unknown what the fate of the other three children was.


Sources Used and Referenced
"The Bloody Ax," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 10 June 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).

"Court Notes," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 21 September 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).

"The Hanging of McSteen," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 4 October 1883, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).

"The Law's Revenge," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 5 October 1883, page 5; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).

Loftquist, Bill. "James McSteen," 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 14 June 2019).

"The McSteen Murder Trial," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 22 September 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).

"McSteen Will Hang," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 26 May 1883, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).

"McSteen's Last Sabbath," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 1 October 1883, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).

"Murder in the First Degree," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 23 September 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).

"Untitled," opinion, The Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 11 October 1883, page 2; online archives with images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 14 June 2019).