The Hangman's Ropemaker: Murray and Myers, Partners in Crime

"Among the other important murderers for whom Mr. Bupp made ropes, were..... Myers and Murray, who murdered a gardener at the Greenfield Tavern...."

~ "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*

It was evening on 11 November 1874 when a German farmer by the name of Gotthard Wahl was traveling along the Perrysville Road back to his home with a watchmaker friend named George Jacobs.  The pair was held up by two highwaymen, who demanded their money.  When Wahl did not immediately hand over his valuables, one of the men climbed into the wagon and shot at him three times, hitting him with one of the shots.   Jacobs was pistol whipped and both of the men were searched.  Having found no valuables, the highway men took off into the night.  Wahl was taken to his daughter's residence in Allegheny City, where he died the next morning.  Jacobs was briefly held in suspicion of murder, but Wahl's witness testimony made before he perished cleared the watchmaker of any wrongdoing.

Two days later, Miss Mary Kearns, an employee at a boarding house on Third Avenue, alerted authorities to the suspicious nature of two men that were temporarily residing at the boarding house.  The two men were named William Murray and Frederick Myers (also spelled Meyers).  Policemen came to arrest the men on 14 November, and found a sack of bloody clothes, along with a few pistols.

Murray was described as a tall man in his thirties of Irish origin with black whiskers and employed as a railroader or carpenter.  Meyers was also in his thirties, was born in Germany and was of short stature with a black mustache.  They had been acquainted for many years, and traveled from Philadelphia together only days before the crime.  The pair had specifically gone out the night of the murder looking for someone to rob.

The duo were granted separate trials. On 25 March 1875, Murray was convicted of murder in the first degree.  That same day, Myers' trial began, and he also was convicted of murder in the first, even though he did not actually shoot Wahl, but held the horses while Murray did the shooting.  At trial, it was argued that Myers should not have been charged in murder in the first degree, as he did not know Murray intended to kill Wahl, as the pair merely discussed robbing someone.

On 3 April 1875, the two were sentenced to death by hanging.  Their lawyers tried unsuccessfully to take overturn the convictions on legal grounds in the Supreme Court, but the motions were denied 4 November 1875 and the convictions and the sentences were upheld.

On the afternoon of 27 November 1875, the men heard their death warrants read.  Sheriff Fife, according to a newspaper account, had the unpleasant task of reading the warrants to both prisoners.  Both men were composed throughout the reading, though Myers claimed again he was innocent.  There was some surprise that Myers was not given a stay of execution by the Board of Pardons, given his role in the crime.  He calmly accepted his fate, stating he wished for a decent burial.  When asked what he wanted done with his body, Murray was quoted as saying "Throw it to the dogs if you want to."  It was also reported he did not believe in an afterlife, while Meyers was reported to be deeply religious.

The two men were hanged in the city jail yard in Pittsburgh on 6 January 1876.  The same scaffold that was used to hang Ernest Ortwein was re-erected and widened for the hangings, and according to later interviews, Jacob Bupp made the ropes for the these hangings as well.  Meyers was killed almost instantly, but Murray struggled violently for almost 20 minutes before his death, dying from asphyxia.  It was reported after their deaths that the men were using fictitious names the entire time, but this was never proven.

Sources Used and Referenced
"Arrested for Murder," The Pittsburgh Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 21 November 1874, page 6; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 June 2019).

"Died of the Wound," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 13 November 1874, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 June 2019).

"Executed," Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), 8 January 1876, page 1; online images, Chroncling America (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov : accessed 6 June 2019).

Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the Session Begun at Harrisburg on the Fourth Day of January 1876 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. F. Meyers, 1876), 68; online images, Google Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=a3JMAAAAMAAJ : accessed 6 June 2019).

Loftquist, Bill. "William Murray and Frederick Myers," State Killings in the Steel City: The History of the Death Penalty in Pittsburgh, 7 February 2018 (https://state-killings-in-the-steel-city.org/ : accessed 6 June 2019).

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

"Murray and Myers," The Pittsburgh Commercial (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 6 January 1876, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 June 2019).

"Murray and Myers," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 5 January 1876, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 June 2019).

"Murray and Myers: They Hear Their Death Warrants Read," The Pittsburgh Commercial (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 27 November 1875, 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 June 2019).

"Myers and Murray versus Commonwealth," Pennsylvania State Report, Volume 79 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Kay and Brother, 1876), 308-311; online images, Google Books (https://books.google.com/books : accessed 6 June 2019). 

"Retribution," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 7 January 1876, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 June 2019).

"The Wahl Murder," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 18 March 1875, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 June 2019).

"The Wahl Murder Trial," The Pittsburgh Daily Commercial (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 27 March 1875, page 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 June 2019).