Swift Justice: Local Author Uncovers the History of Brookville’s Courthouse Gallows

BROOKVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — Local author Eric Armstrong likes to tell stories about Brookville.

He has written about early aviator Earle Sandt, the first murder in Jefferson County, and the mystery of the “boy in the box.” Now, his latest project details all of the hangings that took place at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Brookville.

“I became interested in this after reading newspaper stories about the trial of Charles Chase, who was the first person to be executed in Jefferson County in 1867. There was very little evidence to convict him. It was all hearsay. It was definitely swift justice,” Armstrong told exploreJefferson.com.

Chase was convicted of the murder of Elizabeth McDonald, a widow who lived alone in the Beechwoods area of Jefferson County. Allegedly, Chase and an accomplice broke into her cabin searching for the money she reportedly had and killed her with a maul. One man took off for Michigan, but Chase was drunk and was discovered sleeping in the barn.

“He was quite a character,” said Armstrong. “It was said his sole occupation was stealing. He started by passing counterfeit money.”

He was a known associate of “Boss” Sebastian Buck, a horse thief and counterfeiter in Clarion County.

Chase was also known as the “twice-hung man” in local history. “When they hung him, the rope slipped and he hit the ground so they hung him again,” Armstrong explained. “The local sheriff had no training in this.”

The Boy in the Box

Armstrong also told the story of “the boy in the box.” In 1919, a 10-year-old boy named Harry Heschel went missing and after a thorough search of the town, his body turned up in a box in the upper floor of an old barn on Jenks Street in Brookville.

“The mystery was never solved. It was so suspicious. Reading from the distance of 100 years allowed me to see things that were overlooked in the initial investigation,” Armstrong related.

Armstrong found relatives of Harry and gleaned additional information.

Harry was buried in an unmarked grave in the family plot in the Brookville Cemetery. Armstrong and local archeologist Ken Burkett probed the plot and found a section of disturbed ground.

“It was odd because the family was not poor, but no grave marker was placed on his grave,” Armstrong noted. “His relatives have purchased a headstone for Harry. Several members of his family attended attended the dedication ceremony.”

The mystery was never officially solved, but Armstrong believes Harry was the victim of domestic abuse, and the family hid the body to avoid a scandal.

Swift Justice

Chase’s hanging was the only one that took place in Brookville prior to 1900. Most of the executions were between 1904 and 1907.

“In the early 1900s, there were a lot of immigrant mine workers. Many of them came from Italy and Slavs from Eastern Europe,” Armstrong said. “They would often get into fights that ended when someone was killed. Three out of the four murders were crimes of passion. I think the county treated them harshly to try and teach them a lesson.”

“The county had very little patience with them because they were foreigners,” he continued. “The sad thing was that few of them spoke English. An interpreter was used at the trials.”

At that time it was the county’s responsibility to mete out capital punishment. All of the executions were conducted in Brookville, the county seat.

“That meant setting up the gallows, buying the rope, and testing it. The sheriff was the guy who pulled the level for the trap door,” said Armstrong.

Wallace Curry was the sheriff at the time, and he presided over three of the four hangings.

“He apparently didn’t mind the job,” Armstrong noted. “A relative said he used to say how he liked to ‘pop the cork’ at the hangings.”

The gallows in Jefferson County was an improvised affair. The condemned man had to walk up 13 steps to the second floor of the jail and step onto the gallows.

“It was erected between the old jail that stood on the courthouse lawn and the courthouse,” Armstrong explained. “I was told there are marks on the side of the courthouse where the gallows were attached. A curtain was strung across the space facing Main Street and in the rear to prevent curious people from watching the actual execution. Only certain officials and witnesses were allowed behind the curtain.”

The curtain wasn’t always effective, however.

“The sheriff lived on the second floor of the jail and Curry’s son, George, was told not to look out at the executions, but family lore said George peeked,” Armstrong said.

The old jail has since been razed.

“You can imagine how the condemned man must have felt looking out of his cell window at the gallows,” Armstrong related. “At one of the executions, Main Street was crowded with curious people even though they were unable to see anything. After one of the executions, the rope was cut up as souvenirs.”

In “Swift Justice,” Armstrong details the crimes, trials, and executions of John Battista and Michael Pallone in 1903, and Francesco Cefali and Dominic Ramunno in later years.

“It is kind of sad, but the people’s attitudes toward immigrants was negative,” Armstrong noted. “They were treated negatively in the local press.”

Out of all of these cases, only one was appealed and the trial judge denied the appeal.

The state took over executions in 1913, retiring the need for the Brookville gallows.

“I am not a Brookville native, but my wife is,” said Armstrong, who is originally from Freeport. “It has been a lot of fun doing the research. When I moved to Brookville, I became involved with the Jefferson County Historical Society and served on the board for 11 years. That gave me access to all of the local newspapers and other materials. It piqued my interest.”

“Swift Justice” will be part of Brookville Stories, Part III, a collection of historical essays about the local area. Armstrong said he plans to combine all three installments of Brookville Stories into one volume for publication later this year.

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