The Hangman's Ropemaker: Joseph Sarver, Committer of Patricide

"He made the ropes with which Allison and Sarver were hanged in Indiana, and the inquisitive person can still have a look at their fatal strands by inquiring at the commissioner's office. Mr. Bupp received $25 for each rope."

~"The Home News," The Indiana Weekly Messenger (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 1 March 1899, page 7

*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*

William Sarver was a 66-year-old man who lived on a farm near West Lebanon, in Young Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.  He lived there with his adult son, Joseph Sarver, and a housekeeper named Belle Kelly. He was known for having a good reputation in the area.

Joseph Sarver was in his later thirties and was married, although separated from his wife, who lived in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania with their five children.  He was separated from her because he had been arrested for threatening to take her life and also failed to support them.  The younger Sarver was known as a man with anger issues.

Joseph Sarver
Source: "Dangled From Gibbets," The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 23 September 1884, page 1; found on Newspapers.com

The two men often argued, most often about money, as the elder Sarver didn't want to give his son a share of the farm to spend.  Neighbors heard the younger Sarver yelling a great deal of the time at his old man and they were often fearful that the fights would come to blows.  Even William expressed fear that Joseph would one day kill him.

On the night of 11 November 1883, William and Joseph Sarver had an argument over a cat.  The old man wanted the cat to sleep locked up in the coal house, while the son wanted his cat to live in the house.  When the elder Sarver picked up the cat and carried it to the coal house for the night, the younger Sarver chased after him and drew a revolver, shooting his father in the leg.  William Sarver then began to run for the safety of the nearby Foster residence, but tripped and fell in the Fosters' yard.  Joseph, catching his father, stepped on his father to pin him down and shot a bullet through his brain.  Upon returning to the house, he then shot Belle Kelly twice after proclaiming he had just killed his father and would also kill her, and then fled the scene.

While he did indeed kill William Sarver, Joseph did not kill Belle Kelly.  She had been rendered unconscious from his bullets but when she regained consciousness she managed to crawl to the Foster residence and sound the alarm.  William Sarver's body had already been found when she sounded the alarm, but it was not known who had killed him until she managed to get help for herself.  

Joseph Sarver was captured the next night trying to escape into the woods. He claimed he was innocent of any wrongdoing, said he was coming home from visiting a lady friend, but also stated he would not have been captured had he had more bullets in his gun.  He was taken to Indiana, Pennsylvania and placed in the same jail cell which had housed James G. Allison just a few years prior.


In March of 1884, Joseph Sarver was arraigned on the charge of murder, and his lawyers were A.W. Taylor, W.L. Stewart, and H.K. Sloan, all of who tried to argue in trial that their client was innocent due to reasons of insanity and weak mindedness due to the fact that he incredibly enraged over the fact that his father seemed to be wasting money.  One of the chief witnesses for the prosecution was Belle Kelly, who had recovered form her injuries.  Other witnesses testified to the explosive nature of Joseph Sarver and seemed to help the defense's case that he was prone to bouts of rage.  However, the defense failed, and Joseph Sarver was found guilty of murder in the first degree on 8 March 1884. 

A motion for a new trial was filed on the basis of 11 points, but was not granted, and Joseph Sarver was sentenced to death by hanging.  He apparently boasted that he would not be hanged, but rather pardoned by Governor Pattison, since both of them were Democrats.

However, Pattison quashed that belief by signing the death warrant in August, and Sarver's counsel made one final push, this time to the Board of Pardons, hoping to commute their client's death sentence to a sentence of life in prison.  However, this also failed.

During his imprisonment, Sarver was quarrelsome, arguing with his jailers over any perceived slight.  When his death warrant was read to him, he claimed that he could not be hanged on a Tuesday because it did not suit him. 

On 23 September 1884, Joseph Sarver was hanged in the county jail yard in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  It was indeed a Tuesday that he was hanged.  The same scaffold that hanged James G. Allison was erected to hang him (and he had some things to say about that), and Jacob Bupp again was commissioned to make his rope, which cost the usual $25.  The condemned man's last words before his demise were "Jesus crucified, have mercy on my soul."  He had been raised a Presbyterian, according to newspapers, but converted to Catholicism in jail.

Sources Used and Referenced:
"1884: Two Pennsylvania murderers," Executed Today, 23 September 2013 (http://www.executedtoday.com/ : accessed 24 June 2019).

"Dangled From Gibbets," The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 23 September 1884, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 10 October 2017).

"Execution of Joe Sarver!," The Indiana Progress (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 25 September 1884, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 June 2019).

"The Home News," The Indiana Weekly Messenger (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 1 March 1899, page 7; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 16 September 2017).

"Joseph Sarver's Crime," The Times (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 13 November 1883, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accesssed 11 October 2017).

"The Trial of Joe Sarver," The Indiana Progress (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 13 March 1884, page 3; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 June 2019).

The Hangman's Ropemaker: Martin Weinberger, the Hungarian Peddler

"An interested spectator was the veteran rope-maker John Bopp, who has furnished the noose for every execution in Allegheny County for upward of thirty years. The rope used to-day was the fifty-fourth which he has constructed for the same deadly purpose."

~"The Gallows: Martin Weinberger Hanged for Murder," The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio), 3 September 1884, page 5, note that Jacob was mis-reported as being named John

*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*

Martin Weinberger was 26 years of age and a Hungarian Jew from Austria-Hungary who had a wife and daughter in the home country.  He worked as a peddler with his good friend, Louis Gutfreund.  The pair often traveled peddling their wares in Gutfreund's blue wagon, though the two of them seemed to be based in Allegheny City.

Martin Weinberger
Source: "Died Without a Word," The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 2 September 1884, page 1, found via Newspapers.com

In June 1882, the two men passed through the village of Sewickley.  On 18 June 1882, Gutfreund's nude and partially decomposed body was found in McCain's Woods near Sewickly with two gunshot wounds, one that went through the skull.  While the locals knew him as a peddler of goods, it took almost two weeks for his name to be known.  As one account stated:

"It is a strange anomaly that an unknown man should be identified beyond all doubt and yet still remain an unknown man." ("Identified and Yet Unknown," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 24 June 1882, page 4)

Weinberger was arrested three weeks later, after witnesses described him as the man who had sold them Gutfreund's wares, horse and wagon. According to Weinberger, Gutfreund shot himself, but the position of the wounds as well as evidence of a struggle demonstrated the shots were not self-inflicted.  There was also the fact that the body was found nude, which would not have happened had the gunshot been self inflicted.  It was later determined that Weinberger removed Gutfreund's clothing to help hide his identity.

Weinberger's trial took place in Pittsburgh the first week of January in 1883.  While all of the evidence against him was circumstantial in nature, it was enough to convict him, and he was found guilty of first degree murder on Saturday, 6 Jan 1883.

A new trial was asked for on the grounds that depositions from Austrian witnesses were not admitted, but that motion was denied. After being sentenced, Austrian authorities both in the United States (two named as Minister Schaeffer and Consul Schamburg in particular) and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire repeatedly tried to have his execution stayed, as he was still a subject of that jurisdiction.  As a result, his hanging was delayed many times.

Weinberger was formally sentenced to death on 3 March 1883, along with George Jones and Jesse Carter.

The rope for the hanging was made by Jacob Bupp.  The confusion lies in whether it was a new rope, as intimated by The Cincinnati Enquirer clip that leads off this blog post, or if it was reused, as The Pittsburgh Press reported:

"The (same) gallows upon which Jesse Carter stood, and the same rope that pressed about his neck, will be used for Weinberger, and the other arrangements are very much the same." ("Weinberger's Death," The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 27 August 1884, page 1)

Weinberger spent his last night in concern for his wife and child back home in Hungary.  He had already written his will, leaving everything he owned to them, and expressed to those who visited him quite insistently how much he wanted to make sure that his little daughter was provided for.

Weinberger was hanged on 2 September 1884 in the city jail yard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He wore his old clothes instead of the new suit that was given to him for the occasion, because he didn't want any fuss made.  Three minutes after having climbed the gallows, the trap was sprung and he died a quick death according to the Pittsburgh Press. His body was interred in the Austro-Hungarian cemetery in McKee's Rocks shortly thereafter, according to Jewish customs.

Martin Weinberger was believed to be the first Jewish man to ever be convicted and hanged in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

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).

"Crimes and Casualties: Convicted of Murder," Harrisburgh Telegraph (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), 8 January 1883, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 June 2019).

"Died Without a Word," The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 2 September 1884, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 June 2019).

"The Gallows: Martin Weinberger Hanged for Murder," The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio), 3 September 1884, page 5; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 June 2019).

"Identified and Yet Unknown," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 24 June 1882, page 4; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 June 2019).

Loftquist, Bill. "Martin Weinberger," 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 18 June 2019).

"Weinberger's Crime," The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 2 September 1884, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 June 2019).

"Weinberger's Death," The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 27 August 1884, page 1; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 June 2019).

"Weinberger on Trial," Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 6 January 1883, page 5; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 June 2019).

The Hangman's Ropemaker: George "Babe" Jones, Jesse Carter and the Murder of John Foster

"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).