The Hangman's Ropemaker: Harry Marsh and William West

"The ropes used yesterday in the execution of West at Washington and Marsh at Ebensburg were manufactured by Jacob Bopp, of Allegheny." 

~ "Lashed to a Plank," Pittsburgh Dispatch (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 27 February 1891, 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 the first half of the year 1891, Jacob Bupp was still the alderman for the Eleventh Ward of Allegheny City.  In February, he again made newspaper reports for a pair of hangings he did, both of which fell on 26 February 1891.  The two men he helped to hang were Harry Marsh and William West.

Harry Marsh: The Gallitzin Lover's Murderer
Clara Jones was born Clara Shakshaft, but her father, who had left his apprenticeship in England to get married, made the family live under the assumed name of Jones for fear of reprisals.  She was about 18 years of age.  She worked as a serving girl at Gunning's hotel in Gallitzin, Pennsylvania, a mountain borough in Cambria County.

She was last seen in the company of an Englishman by the name of Harry Marsh on the morning of 6 July 1890.  Marsh was a native of West Bromwick, Staffordshire, England and worked in the coal mines in Gallitzin.  He was 26 years old, and was an inoffensive gentleman according to acquaintances until just a few months before the murder, when he began to drink very heavily and became abusive as a result.

The young couple, as depicted in several articles from various newspapers reporting on the crime.  Found on Newspapers.com

He and Clara met just before Decoration Day (which is now Memorial Day), when he flirted with her younger sister. He began to court Clara shortly after, and the couple seemed to be on good terms.  However, that all changed the morning of 6 July 1890, when Clara was found barely alive, her head bashed in with a coupling pin and her throat having been slit.  She lingered for a week before dying in the home of her married elder sister.

Marsh confessed right away.  His motive was jealousy, according to reports given by people he talked to after the murder, although he also stated Clara wanted him to kill her because she had been disgraced and ruined by another man (although in the same testimony he stated Clara wanted him to marry her as well).

His trial was held in September of 1890 in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania.  On 18 September 1890, he was convicted of murder in the first degree after testimony from several witnesses.  Marsh's defense did not deny that he killed Clara Jones/Shakshaft, but that the crime did not warrant a charge of murder in the first degree due to the fact that he was blindly drunk and the girl begged him to kill her.  Shortly after the conviction, the defense motioned for a new trial, but that was denied. On 6 October 1890, he was sentenced to death by hanging.

In January of 1891, his death warrant was signed by the governor and read to him.  According to newspaper reports, he was visibly affected and upset for the loss of his own life, but said nothing about taking the life of Clara.  He also expressed interest in the happenings of the Nicely brothers, who also were sentenced to hang in Somerset County, and expressed that unlike them, he had no money to appeal his sentence to the Board of Pardons.

Jacob Bupp was contracted to make the rope used to hang Marsh, who was scheduled to be hanged the same day as William West.  The rope was reported to be the usual 25 feet in length and half an inch thick.  It cost the county of Cambria $25, which was Jacob's standard charge for a hangman's rope.

Harry Marsh was hanged 26 February 1891 on the same scaffold that Charles Carter met his doom the previous year.  After his death, his brother took charge of the body and he was privately buried.

William West: The Crouch Family Butcher
John Crouch was a blind elderly man in his seventies, and his elderly wife Emily and their forty-five year old son Andrew were both deaf (some newspaper accounts seem to suggest that Andrew also had some sort of handicap mentally).  The family lived on a farm outside Bentleysville, Washington County, Pennsylvania.  Mr. Crouch, who didn't trust banks and was very reclusive, had a large amount of money hidden in his house.  The family had a miserly reputation, even though they were amongst the wealthiest in the area.

On the morning of 14 May 1890, their neighbor William Crawford had sent his son up to the Crouch farm on an errand, but when the boy returned saying the house was locked up and no one was home, Crawford went to investigate, as he knew they would be home.  He found the three members of the household clubbed to death, with both John and Andrew's faces beaten beyond recognition.  there was evidence that the men fought for their lives.  The house had been ransacked, and the motive for the murders was thought to be robbery.  Those investigating the deed also knew it had to be someone who was known to the Crouches.

Suspicion quickly fell on a black man who used to live in the area and was back visiting family.  William West was in his mid-twenties.  He was living with a white woman named Annie Brundage, and the couple had a child of about 7 years old.  He had worked for the Couches before and was well known.  He was arrested trying to take the train to Pittsburgh with Annie and the child, and was held without bail until his trial. Annie was also arrested as an accomplice to the murder after the fact.

William West's likeness as depicted in several newspapers that reported on his crime and ultimate hanging from 1890-1891.  Found on Newspapers.com

His trial was held in Washington, Pennsylvania in October 1890.  Many witnesses were called who testified how well West knew the Crouch family.  On 11 October 1890, William West was found guilty of murder in the first degree.  A motion was made for a new trial, but was denied.

Annie Brundage was tried on 21 November 1890 as an accomplice.  She was found guilty after a brief one-day trial, and was sentenced to fifteen months in the penitentiary. 

While in jail waiting for his hanging, William West was able to write several letters that were then smuggled out and mailed form other places insisting he wasn't the killer and that others had actually done the killings.  

West had to be carried to the scaffold manacled while on a stretcher because he had attempted suicide during the change in his death watch by slashing his throat with a concealed piece of iron, but was unsuccessful. He had blood oozing from the wounds as he was carried up to be hanged.  That same day, his brother, Basil West, was held up during a search of his person while trying to enter the jail as a revolver was found on his person.  He insisted until the very last that William West was insane and should not have been hanged.

His rope was the only rope to break in Jacob Bupp's career, and it caused an apparently grisly scene at the hanging on 26 February 1891, for the hangman's noose had to be redone after it had broken and West fell to the ground.  The second attempt to hang him was successful.  

Jacob Bupp was swift to place the blame for the broken rope upon the sheriff of Washington, Pennsylvania, George E. Lockhart.  Bupp stated that the man tested the rope too many times and stretched it as a result before the hanging. According to news reports, Jacob Bupp insisted he practically begged Lockhart for permission to adjust the rope.  Lockhart came back at Bupp, stating the rope was poorly made and that Bupp should have been honorable enough to conceded that it was not his best work.

Some of Jacob Bupp's descendants (including my grandmother) remember hearing stories about a hanging that had gone wrong.  Some even stated the stories they heard stated that this hanging was the one that turned Jacob off of the rope-making business.  While there is evidence that Jacob made ropes for at least four more hangings after this one, this particular hanging was almost certainly the hanging that is mentioned in family stories.

When Jacob Bupp died, a number of his obituaries mentioned this broken rope.

Sources Used and Referenced
"A Candidate for the Rope," The Cambria Freeman (Ebensburg, Pennsylvania), 19 September 1890, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 19 July 2019).

"At Their Hearth," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 15 May 1890, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 July 2019).

"Bentleysville's Bloody Butchery," Monogahela Valley Republican (Monongahela, Pennsylvania), 22 May 1890, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 July 2019).

"Bupp's Statements Denied," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 9 March 1891, page 2; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 25 September 2017).

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