"SECOND EXECUTION—WM. CRAWFORD.
Thirty-nine years had almost elapsed before a similar scene was enacted on Gallows Hill. WILLIAM CRAWFORD, an aged man, was tried for the murder of his own son before the Court of Oyer and Terminer of Washington, which assembled on November 20, 1822, before the Hon. Thomas H. Baird, President Judge, and his associates, Boyd Mercer and John Hamilton, Esqs.
A true bill was found by the grand jury, to which the prisoner plead, not guilty. By direction of the court a jury was empanelled of the prisoner's own selecting, consisting of Nathan Pyle, Benjamin Linton, James Ruple, Robert Gregg, Sr., William Clark, Samuel McDowell, Ebenezer Martin, Caleb Leonard, Thomas Jones, Ephraim Estep, Russel Moore, and Ezra Dille, who, being sworn and hearing the testimony, pleadings, and the charge of the court, rendered a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.
November 23, 1822, Judge Baird pronounced the following sentence upon the prisoner: "That yon be taken from hence to the jail of the county of Washington, from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and there be hanged by the neck until you are dead."
On the 25th November, 1822, exceptions were filed by his attorneys in arrest of judgment, but were overruled by the court, and the prisoner was executed on the 21st day of February, 1823, on Gallows Hill, south of the borough, William Baird (Deputy Prosecuting Attorney) and J. Pentecost, represented the commonwealth; and James Ross, Parker Campbell, John Kennedy, and T. M. T. McKennan, were the counsel for the prisoner; Robert Officer, Esq., being high sheriff of the county."
Not very informative, just the plain facts. Creigh notes that Crawford was "an aged man". How old?, I wondered... I made plans to visit Citizen's Library the next time my husband was in Washington for a gun show.
The trip to Washington was made in the winter last year. I took my laptop, and eagerly waited for the librarian to open the cage door to the local reference books. I went to the stacks and found Forrest - but not Volume 1. Dang! I went back to the reference librarian and asked about the missing book, and she went to her cart and picked up the copy I so desperately wanted to read and said, "You're lucky. This is being sent out to be rebound next week."
Not seeing a photocopier (and too cheap to pay for copies), I immediately started typing into the laptop the three pages of information:
Earle Forrest, History of Washington County Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, p.374, 1926
"Another murder committed in early times in Washington County, which is talked of to this day, was the shooting of Henry Crawford by his aged father, William Crawford, because his son persisted in singing and whistling "The Blackbird." This occurred at the Crawford home in what was known as the Horseshoe Bottom, in Fallowfield Township, on Tuesday, July 30, 1822.
William Crawford was a peculiar character, to say the least. He had been a British soldier during the War of 1812, and he proudly referred to himself as "old Britannia." He and his son, Henry, did not get along well together, for the latter had inherited some of his father's spirit and resented his parent's severity. "The Blackbird" was a popular patriotic American song of that day, and the son took great delight in aggravating his father by singing and whistling it.
The trouble seems to have had its origin in difficulties between Crawford and his wife, and the son naturally took the mother's side. Relations had become so strained that Henry and his mother left the old man and were living in another house nearby. Henry baited his father, and when he discovered that it angered the old man to either sing or whistle "The Blackbird," he lost no opportunity of arousing his parent's ire. The old man had frequently threatened to kill his son, but on account of the former's age, Henry did not fear him. He was afraid that he might shoot, and so he had broken his father's gun, but the old man had it repaired unknown to his son.
On July 30, William Crawford held a "frolic" of hauling manure, a custom of early times, in which a man's neighbors would all join forces and help him in a certain line of work, such as harvesting, ploughing, building a house, or in fact anything about the farm. This is still observed by farmers of the present day in harvesting and threshing.
During that morning, when Crawford invited several of the men into his house for a drink of whiskey, he told then that his son, Henry, had come to torment him and he would kill him before night of he did not go away. Some of the men went to the barn and warned Henry, but he only said that he did not think "Britannia would shoot."
That evening Henry was sitting on a log near the door singing "The Blackbird"; and just as he started the second verse he was shot and almost instantly killed by his father. As the young man fell several men rushed from the barn, and one bent over him and asked, "Henry, are you hurt?"
"I am not as bad hurt as you think I am," he replied, and died within a few minutes. He was aged twenty-eight years.
In firing the fatal shot the old man rested his rifle against the door frame and took deliberate aim. He was captured immediately, and while waiting for the arrival of Parker Scott, a justice of the peace, the old man stated that he had intended to kill this son, and would do it again if he had it to do over.
William Crawford was lodged in the county jail at Washington, and on Thursday, November 21, 1822, was put on trial for the murder of his son, before Hon. Thomas H. Baird, president judge, and Boyd Mercer and John Hamilton, associate judges. The best legal talent of that day was arrayed on opposing sides. William Baird, the prosecuting attorney, was assisted by Joseph Pentecost, while Crawford was defended by James Ross. Parker Campbell, Thomas M.T. McKennan, and John Kennedy, all of whom ranked with the best of that time.
Thirty-four jurors were called before the twelve were finally selected to decide the old man's fate. The case was hard fought, but it was finally completed and given to the jury at 3:20 o'clock November 22nd, and an agreement was reached at 4:30. The little courtroom was crowded with people as the jury filed in, and the foreman announced the verdict, "Guilty of murder in the first degree."
On the following morning Crawford was sentenced by Judge Baird "to be taken from hence to the jail of the county of Washington from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and be there hanged by the neck until you are dead. And may the God of mercy speak pardon and peace to your soul."
This was followed by a long address to the prisoner by Judge Baird, but the condemned man showed little or no concern in what was said; and at the conclusion he said that he felt no remorse of conscience. Such were his feelings to the very end. A writ of error was refused by the attorney general of the state, and an appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, but this tribunal refused to interfere. This ended the last hope of William Crawford for escaping the death penalty.
The death warrant from the governor was received by the sheriff on January 21, 1823, and when it was read to the old man in his cell, Crawford exhibited very little emotion. Crawford refused to eat for several days following, and it was feared that he would starve himself to death; and this was evidently his intention, but hunger finally overcame his resolution.
The hanging of William Crawford was, in many ways, one of the most extraordinary affairs of the kind that ever took place in Pennsylvania. While in jail awaiting execution he wrote a history of his life, which was afterwards published in The Examiner. To the very last this gray-haired man, who was past seventy years if age, exhibited an indifference that was amazing. He never expressed a regret for his terrible deed, and he went to his death without once asking for spiritual consolation.
This execution, the second in Washington County, and the first for murder, took place on Gallows Hill, where Thomas Richardson had been hanged for robbery over thirty-eight years before. The case had attracted wide attention throughout Western Pennsylvania, and on Friday, February 21,1823, between 8,000 and 15,000 people gathered in Washington to witness the public hanging of this man; and it was necessary to call out a company of militia to keep back the crowd and preserve order. The hanging was in charge of Sheriff Robert Officer and his deputy, Robert McClelland.
When taken from the jail to the place of execution, Crawford's conduct was most amazing, and it is doubtful if any man ever went to his death on the gallows wither before or since who appeared to care as little. His face was full of color and his eyes were clear and untroubled. The ground was covered with snow, and e was taken through the streets of Washington on a sled, riding beside his own coffin. As he rode to the gallows, between lines of thousands of people, he leaned on the coffin, peeled and ate an apple, telling the boys who ran beside the sled not to hurry, as the hanging would not take place until he got there. He was accompanied by the sheriff, his deputy and several clergymen, while the militia marched with the sled to keep back the crowd. In the narrative if his life, which he had written in jail, he said: "I do not fear, but I can not hope. I shall die like a soldier; but I dare not die like a saint."
When the gallows was reached he exhibited a complete indifference to the divine services conducted by the ministers for the salvation of his soul. At the close he mounted the platform, and while Sheriff Officer read the death warrant sat with his back against a post. In a last attempt to get some expression of repentance from him, the Rev. Charles Wheeler, the Baptist minister, entreated him to forgive his enemies, and especially the members of his own family, but Crawford only replied: "God may forgive them, but I will have nothing to do with them. They want my life. Let them take it. I am ready to die. I am a murdered man. My death is occasioned by a set of rascally, perjured witnesses, and a weak, partial jury."
When the Rev. Mr. Wheeler urged him to pray, the condemned man told him to mind his own business.
Crawford was placed over the trap door, and the rope was tied around his neck, after which those on the gallows, with the exception of the sheriff, bid him farewell and descended to the ground. When Sheriff Officer asked him if he wished the execution delayed to the last minute allowed by the warrant, he replied that he wished it over with, as he wanted to give his friends time to take him home that night. The black cap was drawn over his eyes by the sheriff, who shook hands with him, and picking up a hatchet, cut the cord that held the trap, and plunged the soul of William Crawford into eternity.
Wow. Intriguing write-up. Where did Forrest get his information? As it so happens, a reporter from the local newspaper interviewed William Crawford before his death, got his story and printed Crawford's autobiography, Last Will and Testament, and an account of the execution. A few years ago, a resourceful reference librarian named Rama Karamcheti transcribed the newspaper account from The Reporterinto a booklet. I stumbled upon it while searching the stacks, found the lone photocopier and enough change to make a copy of the transcription. I'll make it available over the next week as a serial (within a serial).
Next: The Blackbird/The Crawford Chronicles Part I
1 comment:
What's your email addr? My Dad wrote a book on this topic - I'm guessing from the same Washington PA volumes that you accessed.
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