By Paula Miller
The quiet, serene unassuming Borough of Wallaceton was once rocked by murder.
Named after the family of William A. Wallace, state senator and president of Beech Creek Railroad, the quaint, 0.77-square-mile Borough of Wallaceton was incorporated in 1873.
First settled in 1814, by the 1880 census Wallaceton was reported to have a population of 196. Present-day there are approximately 300 residents.
Three women were murdered in Wallaceton over the course of 10 short years between 1876 and 1886: Maria Waple, Ida Douglass and Ella Davis.
Ida’s murderer was convicted and sent to prison and Ella’s killed himself immediately after shooting her, but Maria’s murder remains unsolved.
Maria Waple was found dead in a deep gully between Wallaceton and Bigler with three shotgun wounds, two of them fatal, and the ensuing trial of the accused became a spectacle and dividing point within the community as reported in The Raftsman’s Journal.
Even so, once the suspect went free the case was seemingly forgotten, never solved and never regained the notoriety or attention received by higher profile murder cases like the one nine years earlier against Lena Miller, who poisoned her husband and was the first women hanged in Clearfield County.
Maria Waple was divorced and lived alone with one child on the outskirts of Wallaceton. She was last seen alive on Friday, Nov. 3, 1876, walking the path toward Bigler.
According to all accounts, when she hadn’t returned “in due time,” a search party ensued, and she was found dead four days later.
The path she walked was in the direction of her ex-husband, Jared Waple’s home, and upon finding Maria dead the townspeople literally seized and dragged him to the local justice of the peace.
After a heated hearing, it became evident that Jared Waple was not the perpetrator of this heinous crime, and he was released.
During the hearing, however, it was recounted that Martin Turner was seen in the vicinity of the deep gully that fateful Friday afternoon and that Turner was Mrs. Waple’s boyfriend at that time.
It was also recalled that there had been an argument over Mr. Turner slapping Mrs. Waple’s son, and that it was soon after the squabble that Mrs. Waple disappeared.
It was also stated that Mr. Turner owned a shotgun, and that although he did not hunt small game, he was seen carrying the shotgun on the path that Mrs. Waple had taken that day.
Upon hearing this recounting of alleged facts, the heated mob seized Turner at his father’s home. Martin Turner’s shoes were found to fit into the footprints left at the crime scene, and thusly he was charged with the murder of Maria Waple and taken to trial.
The ensuing trial would divide the community, but it also started the prominent career of Thomas Murray, who would become known throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The proceedings of the trial were reported in The Raftsman’s Journal, the first day starting with spectators overflowing the courtroom along with 135 witnesses taking up the space designated for the lawyers and court officials.
The scene was depicted best by a reporter for The Raftsman’s Journal when in his article he scolded “the uppity young men who crowded into the space” for talking, eating peanuts, and stomping their feet, creating such a disturbance that the judge, honorable John H. Orvis, had them removed.
The overflowing courtroom was divided in allegiance, with equal numbers boisterously backing Mr. Turner as there were against him and demanding justice be served.
The trial continued, and one-by-one many of the 135 witnesses were called. As each witness was questioned the testimony was audibly discussed by spectators, disrupting the proceedings and making the witnesses intimidated and some even antagonistic.
At least once, Judge Orvis stopped the trial to chastise counsel for bringing witnesses before the jury that didn’t have relevance to the case and were causing undo chaos in the courtroom.
However, the expert “suavity” of Thomas Murray in calming both witnesses and judge on more than one occasion was also reported by The Raftsman’s Journal.
On March 31, 10 days after the trial began, testimony was drawn to an end with the defense hinging on nothing more than an alibi.
At this point in the trial, the crowd became even more unruly and began to get out of hand, but the swift action of Sherriff William R McPherson brought order back to the courtroom.
Judge Orvis adjourned for the day with closing arguments set to resume the following day. Closing arguments lasted for days including a six-hour presentation by William A. Wallace and ending with an equally-long presentation of Thomas Murray for the commonwealth.
The Raftsman’s Journal reported that Thomas Murray’s argument was eloquent, forceful and was certainly instrumental in influencing the jury for a guilty verdict.
Afterward, the jury was sent to deliberate, coming to a verdict at midnight, but held until 8 a.m. the next morning when interested parties could reconvene.
The sheriff was instructed to not allow certain “troublesome people” into the courtroom that morning, causing an uproar that turned to pandemonium when the verdict of guilty in the first degree was announced.
In the courtroom everyone but the defendant rose to their feet, arguing and threatening each other and members of the jury.
An appeal was filed with the county court but was denied. An appeal was then made to the state supreme court, which reversed the lower court’s ruling and granted a new trial to be held miles away in Lock Haven, Clinton County, away from the drama of the immediate area.
It was here that Mr. Turner was quietly acquitted of the murder of Maria Waple, and the matter was closed.
Despite cries for justice upon discovery of Maria’s murder and the public spectacle of the trial, the final verdict in the appeal received only a small notation in The Raftsman’s Journal, and no entry was made in the case docket in Clearfield County.
Thus, the case of who killed Maria Waple on that fateful day in 1876 remains to this day an unsolved murder.
