“In the presence of their two little children and hundreds of marketers, Jacob Stehman murdered his wife, Mrs. Lena Hiney Steffey Stehman at the Verbeke Street Market House, Harrisburg, Saturday morning shortly after 7:30 o’clock. Under the influence of liquor, mad with jealousy and determined that the woman should return to his house, from which she had fled in terror, he fired three shots at her when she refused to talk to him and ended her suffering with a fourth as she lay writhing on the pavement before him.” [Lykens Standard, November 16, 1906].
Because the murder took place in Harrisburg, the newspapers there covered the story in great detail, including the trial which took place in March 1907. The foreman of the jury was Adam Row, of Washington Township, Dauphin County. Following his conviction and failed appeals, Jacob Stehman was executed by hanging in December 1907.
The hanging brought back memories of the last one that took place in Dauphin County, January 1902, when a circus-like atmosphere was present as 1200 spectators crowded into the jail yard to witness the drop of the two convicted Halifax Bank robbers and killers of Cashier Ryan. It is believed that another 5000 celebrants were in the streets. This time, the authorities were determined to tone down the hanging by not allowing a public execution spectacle. The area around the jail was cordoned off and large canvas sheets were placed in position to block off views from windows and roofs of nearby buildings. Crowds were dispersed in the area near the jail.
The story is told below through newspaper headlines on the murder and execution.
_______________________________________
“Murder of Wife By Jealous Husband Seen By Hundreds. Jacob Stehman Shoots Woman in Presence of Their Two Little Children and Big Crowd at Verbeke Steet Market House. Tragic End of Quarrel and Separation.” [Harrisburg Telegraph, November 10, 1906].
______________________________________
“Jealous Farmed Crazed With Drink Killed His Wife at Market. Deliberately Emptied Three Shots From a Pistol Into Her Head and Breast at Close Range. Officer Spirited the Prisoner Away from the Gang of Angry Marketers Who Surged About Him.” [Harrisburg Daily Independent, November 20, 1906].
_______________________________________
“Witnesses Declare Stehman Insane. Testify That Defendant Was Crazy When He Murdered Wife. Say He Acted Very Queer. Wife’s Infidelity Alleged to Have Unbalanced His Mind.” [Harrisburg Daily Independent, March 20, 1907].
_______________________________________
“Stehman Will Hang For His Crime.” [Harrisburg Courier, March 22, 1907].
_______________________________________
“Wife Murderer Jacob Stehman Will Be Hanged” [Harrisburg Telegraph, June 6, 1907]
_______________________________________
“Stehman Calmly Mounted Scaffold. Wife-Murderer Pays the Death Penalty for His Crime. He Was Cool and Composed. Until a Deputy Placed the Noose About His Neck.” [Harrisburg Daily Independent, December 12, 1907].
Outside the jail this morning everything was kept in order. There were only a few scores of people gathered on the post office pavement and on the pavements below Court Street, but a cordon of police under Sergeant Connor kept them moving and prevented people from gathering in the narrow streets about the jail wall. Employees of the telephone and telegraph companies had taken out all the spikes used for climbing purposes from the poles in the neighborhood.
The last hanging in Dauphin County was that on January 28, 1902, when Sheriff Reiff executed Weston M. Keiper and Henry Rowe for the murder of Cashier Ryan, of the Halifax National Bank, Halifax, on March 14, 1901.
At that time there were 5,200 applications to see the hanging and Reiff admitted 1,500 to the prison yard.
Outside in the streets were thousands of persons. The roof tops were filled with men, and even women and boys, and men lined the telegraph poles from top to bottom. It was to prevent any recurrence of such a scene that the police were called upon yesterday to aid the county authorities.
Girls Were Curious
On the top of a Market Square building half a dozen men collected and some typewriter girls hung out of office windows nearby. Mayor Gross was present at the time, and ordered them away. Nothing could be seen of the hanging by these people, though, for large sheets of canvas had been stretched across the jail yard, above and below the spot where the scaffold had been erected.
The execution of Stehman adds another name to a long list of hangings that have occurred in this county.
Born In This County.
Stehman was 47 years old. He was born in this county and resided here [Harrisburg] and in Steelton most of his life. He left 1226 Herr Street two years ago to live at 722 South Second Street, Steelton. It was while living at this place that his wife left him, and went to York County, where it was said she lived with a farmer.
Stehman by his first wife had three sons, Edward Stehman, Frank Stehman, and Jacob Stehman, the latter of whom sat by his side during his trial last March, and three daughters, Minnie Stehman, of Hagerstown, and Bertha Stehman and Mabel Stehman. He had no children by his second wife whom he killed.
Employed in Steelton.
Stehman was employed for over a year at the water works at Steelton.
Stehman on the morning of the murder went to the Verbecke Street Market at 5:30 o’clock, at a time when the market was not yet crowded with people. Mrs. Stehman had been residing in York County and was standing at a stall on the sidewalk against the Third Street face of the building, not far from the upper side of the market building.
Was Selling Vegetables.
She was selling vegetables when her husband appeared.
H. H. Freeburn, the real estate man, saw him go up to the woman and speak angrily, but Stehman soon left her.
When Stehman returned at 7:30 o’clock, the market was well filled with people. He had been drinking in the interim and when he saw his wife he pulled a .38-calibre revolver from his hip pocket and fired three times.
The first shot entered her head just below the right ear and pierced the jugular vein. It also cut a piece out of the back bone. Low in the nape of the neck the second bullet lodged and the third entered the neck nearby.
First Bullet Fatal.
The first bullet, in the opinion of the physicians at the coroner’s inquest held the same afternoon, caused the woman’s death.
Charles E. Cookley, 518 Strawberry Street, and E. C. Byrem, 105 Locust Street, grabbed Stehman right after the shooting and disarmed him. There were fived empty shells in the revolver. They, with the aid of the market house constable, William H. Brownawell, took Stehman to the office of Alderman A. M. Landis, of the Sixth Ward.
Hutchinson Was Present.
There Stehman was turned over to the care of James H. Johnson, constable of the Sixth Ward.
Chief of Police Hutchinson was in the market at the time of the shooting and reached Mrs. Stehman’s side shortly after the shooting. She was still breathing. The Colonel sent in a call for the police ambulance, but the wagon was already on the way, F. C. Miller having telephoned in a call previously.
Taken to Jail.
Stehman was put into one of Burns & Company’s delivery wagons and taken to jail about the same time the ambulance arrived to take Mrs. Stehman to the Harrisburg Hospital. However, she had died in the meantime and her body was taken to an undertaking establishment.
Were With Mother
Wilbur and Daisy, two little children of Mrs. Stehman by a former marriage, were with their mother at the time of the murder.
While in the office of Alderman Landis, Stehman said several times, “I killed her and I’m glad I did it.”
The inquest was held by Coroner Krause at 2 o’clock that afternoon at the District Attorney’s office. The physicians were Dr. John H. Fager and Dr. J. Harvey Miller.
Was Given a Hearing.
The following Friday Stehman was given a hearing before the Mayor who held him for court on the charge of murder. The January Grand Jury returned a true bill in the case against Stehman on the fourth day of the January sessions. The case was listed for trial on the Friday of the criminal court week. Stehman had no lawyers and one of his friends cam forward with any attorneys, and the court appointed John R. Geyer and B. Frank Nead. The newly appointed lawyers explained that they had not had time to prepared the case and Judge Kunkel ordered that the case go over until the arch quarter sessions.
Said Man Was Insane.
Messrs. Geyer and Nead represented the man in march when the case came up on the 19th. Stehman refused to enter a plea, and the Court ordered that a plea of not guilty be placed on the books. The defense was that Stehman had become temporarily insane through grief over his wife’s conduct and through heavy drinking. Stehman, when he was placed on the stand, appeared nervous, but told a straight story in which he reiterated that he did not remember killing his wife.
The jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree on the evening of March 21 [1907], after remaining out two hours and thirty-six minutes. Adam B. Row, of Washington Township, was foreman of the jury. Stehman took the finding almost coolly. His attorneys asked for a new trail and this was refused on April 11 [1907].
On June 6, Stehman was sentenced to be hanged by Judge Kunkel, and on November 20, his attorneys took the matter to the Board of Pardons, the Governor having fixed December 12 [1907] as the date of the execution. The plea here was that the man’s mind had been weakened by drink and family trouble. The application was refused.
________________________________________
“Stehman Hanged For Wife Murder. Uttered Prayer as Executioners Adjusted Black Cap on Gallows. Remained Calm Until The Last. Only Officials, Jury, Ministers and Physicians in Attendance.” [Harrisburg Telegraph, December 12, 1907].
Jacob Stehman, wife murderer, was hanged in the yard of the Dauphin County Prison this morning, the execution being witnessed by less than a score of persons and conducted with strict adherence to the forms of law. Crowds were prevented from gathering in the vicinity of the prison and in the jail every door was locked.
Those present included the officials required by law to participate, clergymen, physicians and jurors. The execution took place on the grey, solid scaffold on which over twenty crimes have been expiated, it being erected close to the wall so that the final scene would not be witnessed to curious folks on roofs of nearby buildings…..
________________________________________
Articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.