The double-murder case that led Charlotte Jones to the gallows has as many twists and turns as a legal thriller by John Grisham.
Jones was the first woman executed in Allegheny County when she and her lover, Henry Fife, were hanged on Feb. 12, 1858, in the courtyard of the county's second courthouse. Ruined by fire in 1882, it stood on the site of the current courthouse.
The pair had confessed to murdering Jones' elderly uncle and aunt, George Wilson and his sister, Elizabeth McMasters, on April 30, 1857. The victims lived in a log cabin across the river from McKeesport. Wilson was stabbed and his sister was beaten to death with a poker.
"The reason why I did this was the great love I have for Henry Fife, and in order to get money to go to housekeeping with him," Jones dictated in what the Pittsburgh Gazette called her dying declaration.
Jones was illiterate and her statement was read by Mr. Williamson, described in the Feb. 13 edition of the newspaper as "an English gentleman who has taken a great interest in Fife ..."
The competing Pittsburgh Post in that same day's edition had words of praise for county Sheriff Rody Patterson, who "in the performance yesterday of his most painful duty ... followed strictly both the letter and the spirit of the law."
The sheriff had issued attendance cards to 24 witnesses -- 12 for each prisoner -- to observe the execution.
Allegheny County Commissioners, however, had more ambitious plans. They had issued "a large number of tickets" admitting people to the Court House, where "many of the windows ... overlook the sides of the jailyard where the execution took place," the Post said. "These tickets, however, were refused at the avenues of entrance and considerable disturbance arose of this accord."
One of Patterson's deputies quickly got an order from county Judge Charles Shaler, confirming the sheriff's decision to exclude gawkers. "The Commissioners had no authority over the public grounds and premises on this occasion, and hence the tickets of that board were rejected and the holders of them excluded."
While reporters were to have been among those excluded, both the Post and the Gazette had what read like eyewitness accounts in their next-day editions.
"And, oh, how often I have wished I could restore George Wilson and his sister back to life," Fife said in the statement he read from the gallows, according to the Gazette. "Maddened by a thirst for gold and stimulated by drink I gave them the fatal blow that robbed them of life and sent their souls, without warning, to the bar of God."
Fife and Jones said they had planned their crime together, and they both swore that a third suspect, Monroe Stewart, was innocent.
Stewart had been convicted and sentenced to death in the case. In her gallows statement, Jones said she had sought to implicate Stewart out of malice, because he had sought to persuade Fife to leave her.
The Rev. John Brown "then offered up a feeling and appropriate prayer, during which Charlotte and Fife both knelt and seemed to be fervently repeating every world that was uttered by the minister," the Post reported.
"Two glasses containing liquor were then brought to the prisoners. Fife drank all out of the glass given to him; Charlotte merely tasted hers, and then handed it to Fife, who swallowed the remainder.
"Fife then kissed Charlotte affectionately.
"The last words of Fife were: 'Remember, gentlemen, I die game.'
"The last words of Charlotte were a prayer to God for her salvation and a declaration of her love for Fife ..."
When Sheriff Patterson stepped upon a lever that activated the gallows, "the drop fell and the two unfortunate creatures were suspended in the air."
It was not a clean execution. When the bodies of the two were taken down 30 minutes later, doctors found that their necks hadn't been broken by their initial falls, meaning both had strangled.
The final twist in the story came 22 years later, according to a New York Times story published June 19, 1880.
Wilson and McMasters had been killed for the gold and silver coins they had kept at their cabin, according to the Times.
When two McKeesport youths found coins buried on the banks of the Youghiogheny River, the Times reported that "the treasure uncovered by the two boys is believed to be a portion of the wealth the possession of which was so fatal" to its elderly owners.
The boys, however, did not benefit from their find. They told police their newly found cache was taken from them by a menacing red-bearded, red-haired stranger.
"No trace of him has yet been found," the Times said.
Correction/Clarification: (Published May 30, 2008) Charlotte Jones, the first woman executed in Allegheny County, and her lover, Henry Fife, were hanged Feb. 12, 1858. This "Eyewitness" story was originally published May 18, 2008 gave the wrong year.
First Published: May 18, 2008, 4:45 a.m.
