The Hangman's Ropemaker: Evans and Jacoby, Wife Murderers

"Among the other important murderers for whom Mr. Bupp made ropes, were..... 
Jocoby, who murdered his wife and threw her into Cork's Run; Evans, who killed his wife on Sandusky street,  Allegheny..."

~ "Making Nine Ropes," Pittsburgh Dispatch (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 31 March 1890, 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*

In 1858, the cities of Allegheny and Pittsburgh were both rocked by a pair of similar murders of wives in families with small children.  The murderers would soon become well known throughout Allegheny County.  They were David S. Evans and Christian Jacoby.

David S. Evans
David. S. Evans was a carpenter by trade who lived on Sampson Street in the Second Ward of Allegheny City with his wife, Louisa Varner Evans, who was described as being a "faithful, gentle, patient , Christian woman."  The couple had several daughters, one of who was an infant on the morning of 11 May 1858.

That morning, which was a Thursday, the Evans couple had an argument, due to David's jealousy.  David, in this jealous rage, slit Louisa's throat ear to ear with his razor and broke her neck, all while she held her infant child, who fell to the floor.  David then doused the body in a flammable liquid and lit it on fire, while his daughter lay nearby, in an attempt to hide the crime and burn the house down.

The infant, Arabella, died a few days after the incident due to her injuries.

Evans maintained his innocence throughout his trial, stating he was sleeping downstairs the night of the murder.  However, the razor used to slit Louisa's throat and the cloth that was used to clean up the mess were both his, and witnesses, including his own daughter, put him at the scene of the crime.  After a week long trial in the first part of November 1858, David Evans was found guilty of first degree murder.  His lawyers petitioned for a new trial, but on 14 December 1858, that motion was denied and Evans was sentenced to death by hanging.

Christian Jacoby
In July 1858, the Jacoby Family traveled from Offenbach, Hesse (part of  the German States) to New York, New York to Philadelphia, and finally Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, where they arrived at the hotel of Daniel Herwig.  They intended to go on to Chicago to settle elsewhere.  The family consisted of Christian and Margaret "Lena" Jacoby, their four children, and a servant by the name of Anna Maria Suttler.

Sometime on the night of 7 July 1858, Jacoby and his wife went for a walk.  Jacoby shot his wife while on the walk, and hid her body near Cork's Run along the Monongahela River.  The next day, he and Suttler, along with the children, left to travel to Chicago.  Suttler posed as Jacoby's wife, as she was pregnant with his child.  However, when Lena's body was discovered, the family was stopped at Chicago and sent back, so that Jacoby could stand trial for his wife's murder.

The trial was held in November of 1858, right after Evan's trial. Suttler offered testimony that Jacoby and his wife went for a walk the night they were in Pittsburgh, and that Jacoby came back alone.  This, plus other evidence in the matter, caused the jury to return a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.  Jacoby's lawyers petitioned the courts for a new trial, but their motion was overruled, and in December 1858, Jacoby was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of his wife.

The county decided to hang the two wife murderers on the same day.  On 20 May 1859, the two wife murderers were hanged.  According to newspaper accounts of the hangings, Evans went to the gallows protesting his innocence to the last, whereas Jacoby confessed to a friend the night before the duo were hanged.

The greatest tragedy is that, in that taking the lives of their mothers, Evans and Jacoby made their children orphans.  Newspaper accounts from the hangings stated the children were placed in the care of two different orphanages.  One editorial following the hangings stated:

"In the death of Evans and Jacoby, the majesty of the law has been fully and fearfully vindicated, but the children of both these unfortunates are left worse that orphans on a cold world.  This is the result of their fathers' crimes - not of the punishment which the law has inflicted on them." ("The Executions," opinion piece, The Pittsburgh Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 21 May 1859).

While not mentioned as the maker of the ropes that hanged Jacoby and Evans in newspaper accounts on that fateful day, Jacob Bupp insisted in later interviews he did make the ropes that hanged them.

Sources Referenced and Used
"Evans Convicted," Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 18 November 1858, page 2; online archives with images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 June 2019).

"Execution of Jacoby and Evans," Democrat and Sentinel (Ebensburg, Pennsylvania), 25 May 1859, page 2; online images, Chronicling America (www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov : accessed 4 June 2019).

"The Executions," opinion piece, The Pittsburgh Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 21 May 1859, page 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 31 May 2019).

"The Executions," The Pittsburgh Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 21 May 1859, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 31 May 2019).

"The Jacoby Tragedy - The Motion for a New Trial Overruled, and the Prisoner Sentenced to Death," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 13 December 1858, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 June 2019).

"Local Affairs: The Double Execution," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 21 May 1859, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 31 May 2019).

"Local Affairs: The Evans Murder Case," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 15 December 1858, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 June 2019).

"Local Affairs: Trial of Christian Jacoby for the Murder of His Wife," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 17 November 1858, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 June 2019).

Loftquist, Bill. "Christian Jacoby," State Killings in the Steel City: The History of the Death Penalty in Pittsburgh, 10 January 2018 (https://state-killings-in-the-steel-city.org/ : accessed 31 May 2019).

Loftquist, Bills. "David Evans," 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 31 May 2019).

"Making Nine Ropes," Pittsburgh Dispatch (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 31 March 1890, page 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 August 2016).

"Shocking Murder," Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 20 May 1858, page 2; online archives with images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 June 2019).

Swetnam, George. "A Century of Murders," The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 11 August 1968, Pittsburgh Family Magazine, pages 10-12; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 31 May 2019).

Untitled account of the start of the trial of Christian Jacobi, Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 18 November 1858, page 2;  online archives with images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 June 2019).

"Wife Murder," Rockland County Journal (Rockland County, New York), 11 June 1859, page 2; online images, Hudson River Valley Heritage (https://news.hrvh.org/ : accessed 5 June 2019).