I've been doing some research on Bucks County executions and found this curious article about Wallace Burt -- a "half-breed" Native American man convicted of murder and hanged in Doylestown on July 26, 1894. He was the second-to-last man executed in the county. Click the image for a larger view.
I believe I remember reading that prior to hanging he shook hands with the Sheriff or Warden (who I recall being names Beans) and asked that he give his best wishes to his wife and daughters....which I saw as quite odd
ReplyDeleteThere is an old gallows up on the top floor of the Mercer Museum. I found it when I was trying to find the gallows upon which the murderer John McDonald was hung. John McDonald murdered my 9 times great Aunt by marriage in 1783. Her name was Sophia Loux Kramer. She was the wife of Lawrence Kramer of Bucks County. McDonald was the hired man and he murdered her and their year old baby after trying to rape her. Then he burned down the house. I never did find the old gallows. McDonald was hung in Newtown when it was the County seat.Maybe the gallows that is in the Mercer is this gallows?
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