JOHN HENRY ROWE
Henry Rowe was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania. His father, John Rowe, a coal miner, arrived in United States from Cornwall, England, in 1865, at the end of the Civil War. In 1873, John Rowe married Henrietta Lawley of Pottsville, and Henry was born in 1879, their second child. The family then moved to the Lykens-Wiconisco area where the father, John Rowe, got work in the coal mines. Henry Rowe was also known as John Henry Rowe and his name is sometimes spelled “Row” in the records. There were reports that he sometimes used the alias “James Leonard.” The young Henry Rowe also got work in the coal mines, when work was available. Newspapers reported that at the time of the Halifax bank robbery, both he and Weston Keiper were out-of-work coal miners. A history of delinquency on the part of Henry Rowe was suggested by the way his background was reported in the press. Henry Rowe was much shorter than Weston Keiper who was said to be about six feet tall.
For his part in the murder-robbery of the bank, Henry Rowe was sentenced to death by hanging, which took place on January 28, 1902 outside the Dauphin County Jail in Harrisburg. Prior to his hanging, Rowe wrote several letters to the Lykens Standard which were reflective and remorseful. Rowe also came to the conclusion that he was the one who fired the shots that killed Cashier Charles W. Ryan.
Rowe’s family requested that a picture be taken with him and his siblings, which supposedly was done. That picture, if taken, has not been located. There is a picture that was taken just before the hanging and several pictures of the hanging itself. Two large poster-size pictures of the hanging are part of the exhibit at the Halifax Area Historical Society.
The body of Henry Rowe was returned to Lykens by train where burial took place in an unmarked grave, probably in one of the cemeteries on South 2nd Street in Lykens.
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First published on the Civil War Blog, November 10, 2011.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.