"Controller Speer issued a warrant yesterday to Jacob Bopp for the sum of $50 in payment for two hangman's ropes made for the county by Mr. Bopp. The ropes are made of the best hemp and each is twenty-seven feet long. They will be used in the execution of 'Babe' Jones and Jesse Carter, the two colored men who are to be hanged April 3d next."
~"The Ropes Are Ready," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 26 February 1884, page 2
*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*
John Foster was a deck hand on the steamboat Sampson Number 2 and a black man of about twenty-four years of age. He was a resident of Charleston, West Virginia when he wasn't traveling for his job aboard the steamboats. He was described as being industrious.
In early April 1882, he intervened in the beating of a man at a bar done by George Jones and John Hughes. Hot words were exchanged and the parties went separate ways, but not before Jones had vowed to get his revenge for being interfered with.
George Augustus "Babe" Jones was also labeled a black man, though he was described as having a light complexion and referred to as both a quadroon and mulatto in a number of articles, and was only 17 in 1882. He was one of eleven children of parents who lived in Washington, D.C. He was described as being "a man of very bad reputation, a common loafer, making his living by stealing and running around."
The day after the beating was 4 April 1882. In front of a saloon on the Monongahela wharf in Pittsburgh, John Foster was shot in the back. He gave testimony to police officers regarding the fight and said that Jones had shot him when his back was turned. Although circumstances behind the shootings were different, the shooting and its immediate aftermath on the part of the victim were eerily similar to the shooting of President Garfield by Charles J. Guiteau just a few years prior. Like Garfield, John Foster lingered in the hospital for a long time (112 days in his case) until he finally succumbed to his wounds on 25 July 1882. He was buried in Bellevue Cemetery. (Loftquist in his blog - see references - referred to an article in which, like Garfield, Foster likely died due to infection rather than the actual shooting, but I was unable to find such article.)
After shooting Foster, George Jones fled to Erie, Pennsylvania. He was captured a week later and brought back to Pittsburgh. After Foster finally passed away in July, he was brought up on charges of first degree murder. Two other men, both black, were also charged for the crime. John Hughes was charged because he was the other assailant in the fight John Foster broke up. Jesse Carter was charged an accessory after the fact, as he was present when George Jones bought the pistol used in the murder and then witnessed the shooting.
George Jones' trial ran about a week in December of 1882. One of the witnesses in his murder trial was John Hughes, who turned witness in exchange for charges dropped. On 17 December 1882, Jones was found guilty of murder. It was the only time anyone present for the rendering of the verdict could recall a verdict being given on a Sunday morning, as the jury did not want to be sequestered until Monday.
Jesse Carter's trial started 20 February 1883. He was charged with two counts; murder in the second degree and then accessory to first degree murder. There was no evidence to show that Carter was complicit in the murder, though witnesses could place him with Jones just before the shooting. Jones himself stated he was present when Jones went looking for a pistol to use, but said if he had seen Foster, he would have warned him that Jones was seeking revenge. The trial only lasted two days, and ended with him being found guilty of murder as well.
The two men were sentenced on 3 March 1883 for the murder of John Foster. At the same time, Martin Weinberger was sentenced for killing Louis Gutfruend.
On 3 April 1884, almost two full years after he shot Foster, George Jones was hanged in the city jail yard in Pittsburgh upon the same scaffold that Ward McConkey and James McSteen had recently been hanged. However, unlike James McSteen, a new rope was made by Jacob Bupp for the hanging. Jones referenced McConkey before his death, calling McConkey's last words the words of a coward.
Jesse Carter was granted a brief reprieve by the Governor right before Jones was hanged. With Jones making a full confession of his crime, exonerating Carter of any wrongdoing, Carter's lawyers petitioned the Parole Board for a pardon, but they chose for some reason or another to not pardon him. He was hanged on 3 June 1884, and his hanging didn't seem to garner the attention other hangings had. He protested his innocence to the last. He also got a new rope, made for the occasion by Jacob Bupp.
Jesse Carter's brother, Charles Carter, was hanged six years later in Ebensburg for the murder of John Matthews, the same day three other men were hanged in Pennsylvania. Jacob made the ropes for those hangings as well.
Sources Used and Referenced
"Condensed," The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 5 March 1883, page 8; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 June 2019).
"Cowardly Assault," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 5 April 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 June 2019).
"George Jones on Trial for Murder," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 14 December 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 June 2019).
"Hanged and Buried," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 4 April 1884, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 10 October 2017).
"Jones Must Hang," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 2 April 1884, page 8; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 10 October 2017).
"The Jones-Foster Shooting," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 6 April 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 June 2019).
Loftquist, Bill. "George 'Babe' Jones and Jesse Carter," State Killings in the Steel City: The History of the Death Penalty in Pittsburgh, 16 February 2018 (https://state-killings-in-the-steel-city.org/ : accessed 16 June 2019).
"Murder in the First Degree," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 18 December 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 June 2019).
"The News at Court: Trial of Jesse Carter for Complicity in Foster Murder," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 21 February 1883, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 June 2019).
"The Ropes Are Ready," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 26 February 1884, page 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 9 October 2017).
"Singing on the Scaffold," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 4 June 1884, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 10 October 2017).
"Verdict of Murder," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 27 July 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 June 2019).
"A Youthful Murderer," Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 27 July 1882, page 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 June 2019).
Thank you for your great research and interesting story. I appreciate others telling these stories. After writing my initial treatment of this case too quickly, I have gone back and clarified some issues. The Toledo Blade article to which I refer was published on March 27, 1884.
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