Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on October 3, 2016

In the list of Civil War veterans which was published in the Halifax Area Bicentennial Book in 1994, there is the name William Leebrick.  Not much is known about him other than he was credited with Civil War service.  He is not found in any Halifax area cemeteries.

In the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Card File, found at the Pennsylvania Archives, there is a William M. Leibrick who served in the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company E, as a Private.  The record card shows that he enrolled at Halifax, Dauphin County, on 16 September 1861, and was mustered into service more than one month later on 17 October 1861.  At the time of his enrollment, he stated that he was 24 years old (born about 1837), was born in Dauphin County, and was working as a manufacturer.  Also known from the card, was his height of 5 foot 10 inches, his dark hair, his light complexion, and his dark eyes.

The card also mentions that on a “date unknown,” William B. Leibrick was transferred to the Invalid Corps, also known as the Veteran Reserve Corps – and that his last name is also found in the rolls as Leebrick.

This is most likely the same person who is named in the Halifax list.

The following Military Index Cards were located at Fold3:

For William M. Liberick, Company E, 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  Original filed under William M. Leebrick.  Private.  Private.

For William M. Lebric, Company E, 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  Private.  Private.  Original filed under William M. Leebrick.

For William M. Leebrick, Company E, 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  Private.  Private.  See also Veterans Reserve Corps.

For William M. Lebrick, 43rd Company, 2nd Battalion Veteran Reserve Corps.  Private.  Private.  Original filed under William M. Liebrick.

For William M. Liebrick, 43rd Company, 2nd Battalion Veteran Reserve Corps.  Private.  Private.  See also 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry.

For William M. Leebrick, 43rd Company, 2nd Battalion Veteran Reserve Corps.  Private.  Private.  Original filed under William M. Liebrick.

The Military Index Cards (shown above) are references to the set of cards that were compiled from the actual muster sheets, so it is possible by consulting the compile cards to locate the date and reason that William M. Leebrick transferred into the Veteran Reserve Corps.  Two sets of military records have to be consulted using the “filed under” reference for the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry and for the Veteran Reserve Corps.

No Pension Index Card has been located in the Fold3 records of the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  This could mean that William Leebrick may have died either while serving in the Veteran Reserve Corps and had no survivors who could collect a pension based on his service, or he died shortly after his service in the Veteran Reserve Corps.

At the present time, using readily available on-line resources, research is at a dead end on this veteran.  Help is requested from anyone who knows more about him.

Category: Queries, Research | Comments Off on Who Was William M. Leebrick of Halifax?
Tags: Halifax Borough

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on September 30, 2016

Dr. Christian Lenker was found in the Biography and History of Schuylkill County, as a Civil War soldier who served in the 19th Ohio Infantry, Company H, as a Sergeant.  His connection to the Lykens Valley was clearly stated in the opening paragraph of the sketch.  It is obvious from that opening paragraph that he belongs in the Elizabethville area Civil War veterans’ list. From reading through the biography, it is also clear that as a teacher in the schools of Millersburg, he also belongs in the veterans’ list for that community – and is he one of the many persons with a connection there who are not named on the Millersburg Soldier Monument.

From the Biography and History of Schuylkill County, p. 309:

Dr. Christian Lenker, a prominent physician of Schuylkill Haven, and a descendant from prominent and pioneer families of the state, was born near Elizabethville, Dauphin County, 10 March 1842.  His great-grandfather on the maternal side, Ludwig Shott, was one of the original settlers in the Lykens Valley, having removed from the vicinity of Reading in company with [Andrew] Lykens, for whom the valley was named. Their efforts to establish homes and open the section to civilization was hazardous and was met with much opposition from the roaming bands of Indians who were occupying the territory, and with whom the settlers were in frequent battle. His grandfather, also named Ludwig Shott, was born in Dauphin County.   He was a farmer, and successfully followed that vocation all of his life, except for a period during the War of 1812, when he served his country in the military operations in and around Baltimore.

Dr. Lenker’s grandfather, Stephen Lenker, was a native of Chester County.  He emigrated to Dauphin County in the latter part of the last century, and settled near Elizabethville, where he owned and cultivated a fertile farm of two hundred acres.  He was a prosperous man, intelligent and respected.  Christian Lenker, the father of the present Dr. Christian Lenker, was born in Dauphin County, in the year 1800.  He was a farmer, vigorous and enterprising.  In public matters he took an active interest. He was a democrat, and was elected by his party a county commissioner, faithfully looking after the interests of the entire period.  He was a leader in military affairs, and was a captain in the state militia.  He was twice married.  His first wife was a Miss Hawk, and by this union there were two children.  His second marriage was with Susan Shott, and to them were born four sons, one of them being Christian Lenker, the subject of this sketch.  The brothers were Daniel Lenker, Valentine Lenker, and Hiram Lenker.  Hiram Lenker died at the age of fourteen.  Daniel Lenker is a prominent real estate dealer in Canton, Ohio.  He began life as an iron moulder, and was at one time foreman of Buckeye Mower and Reaper Works.  He enlisted and served in the Civil War as a Lieutenant in the Canton Artillery.   Valentine Lenker, who resides at Berrysburg, Dauphin County, and is a saddler and harness maker, and a dealer in the goods of his trade. In 1861, he enlisted in the 9th Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry [9th Pennsylvania Cavalry], and served three years with distinction.  He is a Republican and has been elected and served two terms as an assemblyman from Dauphin County, in the State Legislature.

Dr. Christian Lenker received a primary education in the public schools of Dauphin County.  At the breaking out of the war, he was a student at Mount Union College, Ohio.  He immediately joined the Canton Artillery, serving with that body three months.  He then enlisted in Company H, 19th Ohio Regiment [19th Ohio Infantry], and in 1863, re-enlisted in the same regiment as a veteran, serving in the army altogether four years and three months.  He was a true patriotic soldier, shirking no hardship and evading no duty.  He was at the front in many arduous campaigns and marches, and on the hotly contested battlefields of many states.  At various times he served under Buell, McClellan, Rosecrans, Halleck, Thomas, Sherman and Grant, and in the states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. He was an active participant in many of the battles fought in those states.  During his long service he was seldom absent from the field of war from any causes; and when convalescent from sickness in Nashville, Tennessee, twice escaped to rejoin his command, and was often returned to the hospital by his superior officers.  After being honorably mustered out at the close of the war, Dr. Lenker attended Millersville State Normal School, and was graduated with the Class of 1869.  Being fully capable and well prepared he began teaching, first in the grammar school at Millersburg, Dauphin County, and afterwards in the Boys’ High School at Lock Haven.  He was elected principal of the city schools of Lock Haven, and performed the duties with credit to himself and benefit to the schools, for one year.  At the expiration of the scholastic year he was elected to and accepted a similar position in the schools of Northumberland, Northumberland County, where for three years further success crowned his efforts.  Dr. Lenker was successful teacher and an efficient school manager and in the change of professions the State lost a valuable educator.  But the gain was to the sick and afflicted, for while filling the position at Northumberland he, under the preceptorship of Dr. Joseph Priestly, undertook the study of the medical sciences, a profession in which he was to distinguish himself even more than he had in teaching.  In 1875, after a thorough preparatory training, he entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and was graduated in the medical department in 1877, and also attended the auxiliary course for two years.

He located near Bloomsburg, Columbia County, and began practicing.  With a practical mind, trained to understand and analyze, and possessed of a thorough knowledge of theory, he was not long in establishing himself and holding a lucrative practice.  But in 1882 he determined to locate in Schuylkill Haven, which he did, and where he has since attained much prominence in the practice of his profession.  Thoroughly equipped in all that pertains to the art, with a nature humane and kind, a logical and discriminating mind, well balanced in every way, he stands easily in a position high among the leading practitioners of his country and state.  The knowledge of what to do, and the persistent energy to do it, two very essential factors in a physician, are possessed in a large degree by the doctor.  He is, in addition, a man of high social standing, a good citizen, prominent in the affairs of his section, and posted in the occurrences and methods of the world in general.

He is a member of the Schuylkill County Medical Society, and of the State Medical Society, and is held in high professional and personal esteem by his brother members.  He belongs to the Union Veteran Legion, Encampment No. 19, at Pottsville; and to the Jere Helms Post, G.A.R., or Schuylkill Haven.  He is a member of Lafayette Lodge, No. 199 F. and A. M. at Lock Haven; and of the Carroll Lodge of the I.O.O.F., at Schuylkill Haven.

In politics, Dr. Lenker is a Republican, and while in no sense an office seeker of a partisan, he takes an active interest in the furtherance of the party’s interest and its prosperity.  He was a delegate to the National Convention at Minneapolis in 1892, which nominated General Harrison for a second term.  He is at present most successfully serving his third year as a member of the school board of Schuylkill Haven.

Dr. Lenker was married 6 June 1878 to Mary Stoddard, of Wilkes-Barre, a daughter of John  Stoddard, now deceased, who was a prominent lumber dealer of that section.  Five children have blessed their union.  They are Robert E. Lenker; Frank S. Lenker; Helen Lenker; Marion I. Lenker; and Harold E. Lenker.

Dr. Lenker is in every way a representative man, safe and conservative, an honor to his section.  To such citizens is due the material prosperity of a community.

According to military records, Christian Lenker joined the 19th Ohio Infantry on 30 November 1861 as a Private or Corporal, and on 1 January 1863, was promoted to Full Corporal.  On 6 August 1864, he received another promotion to Full Sergeant, the rank at which he was mustered out on 24 October 1865.  Prior military service for Christian Lenker was in Capt. Williams’ Independent Battery, Ohio Light Artillery.

Dr. Lenker did not apply for an invalid pension until 13 June 1904 as shown by the Pension Index Card (above from Fold3).  The card shows that he received the pension, which he collected until his death, which occurred on 22 November 1925.  His widow, Mary [Stoddart] Lenker then applied and collected benefits until her death, which occurred in January 1932.  Her obituary appeared in the Reading Times, 21 January 1932:

Mrs. [Stoddart] Lenker, widow of Dr. Christian Lenker, died at her home at Schuylkill Haven, aged 78 years.  She was born in White Haven, a daughter of John Stoddart and Sarah [Dietrich] Stoddart.  She was a member of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Missionary Society, Red Cross, and American Legion Auxiliary, No. 23.  There survive these children:  Dr. Robert W. Lenker, who for a time practiced in Leesport and now resides in Schuylkill Haven; Frank S. Lenker; Helen Lenker; Marion Lenker; and Harold E. Lenker; also a brother, Harry Stoddart; and a sister, Mrs. Mary [Stoddart] Aikman.

The Lenker’s are buried in Union Cemetery, Schuylkill Haven, where both spent the latter part of their lives after the Civil War.

Additional information about Christian Lenker can be found at his Findagrave Memorial.

Dr. Lenker was very active in the Jere Helms G.A.R. Post in Schuylkill Haven and from 1912 to 1915, was invited to write a series of articles about his experiences in the Civil War by the editor of the Pottsville Evening Chronicle.  These articles were compiled from Dr. Lenker’s own field notes and letters and include military actions in which he and his regiment participated at Shiloh, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Pickett’s Mill, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Lovejoy Station, and Nashville.  The Civil War Memoir of Sgt. Christian Lenker was later compiled from surviving copies of those newspaper articles.  The cover of that book, features a photo of Dr. Lenker in his G.A.R. uniform, and is pictured at the top of this post.

Additional information about Dr. Lenker’s activities in the Schuylkill Haven G.A.R. can be found at the web site, Schuylkill Haven in the Civil War.

Comments and additional information are always welcome!

The newspaper article is from Newspaper.com.

Category: Research, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags: Elizabethville, G.A.R., Millersburg

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on September 29, 2016

Battle of Five Forks. Kurz and Alison. (LOC)

Henry Lebo was first identified as a Civil War veteran through a brief statement found on page 328 of the Gratz history:  “Henry [Lebo] b 1841, killed while serving in the Civil War.”

Henry was the youngest son of George Lebo (1790-1844) and his second wife Lydia. Three Pennsylvania Veterans’ Index Cards were located at the Pennsylvania Archives which seem to fit this Henry Lebo, in that the service is not overlapping and that in each service the rank is above that of Private.

Henry Lebo enrolled in the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company D, at Harrisburg, on 7 August 1862, and was mustered into service two days later as a Corporal.  He was 23 years old and gave his occupation as clerk and his residence as Harrisburg.  He was mustered out on 29 May 1863.

In the muster roll for the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry (above from Ancestry.com), Henry Lebo is again shown as a 23 year-old who enrolled at Harrisburg.

From the U.S. Civil War Draft Registration ledger for Harrisburg’s 2nd Ward (shown above from Ancestry.com), when Henry Lebo registered for the draft of July 1863, he reported prior service in the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry, beginning in August 1862.

Henry Lebo served in the 36th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863), the state militia unit called to defend Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg Campaign of Gen. Robert E. Lee.  According to other sources, this company was mustered into service on 4 July 1863 and was discharged on 11 August 1863 at the end of the emergency.  Henry Lebo served as a 1st Lieutenant in this regiment.

From the muster roll (shown above from Ancestry.com), Henry Lebo enrolled in this emergency militia in Lower Paxton Township (near Harrisburg) and he said he was 27 at the time.

Henry Lebo served in the 20th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company L.  According to other sources, He was mustered into service on 22 February 1864 as a 1st Lieutenant and was killed at Five Forks, Virginia.

Click on document to enlarge.

From the ledger book, Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, 1861-1865 (shown above from Ancestry.com), the death of Henry Lebo was reported as “killed in action” on 1 April 1865.

Finally, a brief description of the Battle of Five Forks, Virginia, can be found on Wikipedia:

The Battle of Five Forks was fought on 1 April 1865, southwest of Petersburg, Virginia, around the road junction of Five Forks, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, during the end of the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign (sometimes called the Siege of Petersburg) and in the beginning stage of the Appomattox Campaign near the conclusion of the American Civil War. A mobile task force of combined infantry, artillery and cavalry from the Union Army commanded by Major General Philip Sheridan defeated a Confederate States Army combined task force from the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Major General George E. Pickett. The Union force inflicted over 1,000 casualties on the Confederates and took between 2,400 and 4,000 prisoners while seizing Five Forks, the key to control of the South Side Railroad (sometimes shown as Southside Railroad), a vital Confederate supply line to, and retreat line from, Petersburg.

Much more information needs to be found about Henry Lebo.  It seems that from the records examined above that he served for most of the Civil War and had the misfortune of dying only days before Appomattox.  Some records indicate that Henry was born in Lykens Township, Dauphin County, while other records seem to suggest that the family lived in Mifflin Township, Dauphin County.  Where Henry received his education and when he moved to Harrisburg is an open question.  He has not yet been located in an 1860 census.  A place of burial has also not been determined.

Anyone with additional information about Henry Lebo can either send it via e-mail or add comments to this post.

Category: Research, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags: Lykens Township, Mifflin Township

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on September 28, 2016

Part 3 of this murder story will be told in today’s blog post.  It includes the trial and conviction of Henry Fisher for first degree murder as well as some of the antics he performed in the court during the trial and at the sentencing.

Sarah Ann [Reed] Klinger, a widow of a Civil War veteran and a pensioner, was brutally murdered in her home near Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, on 21 November 1906.  Through the stories printed in newspapers of the time, this horrendous murder story will be told.  In Part 1, the initial reports of the murder were presented as well as speculation on the motive and the arrest of Henry Fisher.  In part 2, the initial courtroom appearance in February 1907 was followed by Fisher’s incarceration at the Danville Asylum so he could be evaluated for insanity.

Jacob Klinger was born on 3 April 1843 in Lower Mahantongo Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.  During the Civil War, he served in the 172nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company D, as a Private, from 27 October 1862 through 1 August 1863.  Jacob Klinger died in early 1899. He had been collecting a pension, which, after his death, Sarah applied for and was receiving at the time of her murder.  Jacob Klinger‘s Pennsylvania Veterans’ File Card is shown at the top of this post (from the Pennsylvania Archives).

From the Mount Carmel Item (Pennsylvania), 5 September 1907:

THE OPENING OF CRIMINAL COURT

Criminal court opens Monday September 23 and the trial list is quite heavy.  Among the most important is the case of Henry Fisher accused of the murder of aged Mrs. Sarah Klinger, at Shamokin.  Fisher’s conduct at the last trial, which resulted in his being incarcerated in the Danville Asylum, is well remembered.

Although it was feared that Fisher would resort to his old tactics of alleged feigned insanity, the prisoner himself, who is now in the county jail, says that he is going to be calm for the next trial.

A county official who interviewed Fisher in his cell in the Sunbury jail says that the prisoner appeared quite rational.  Fisher said that he was worried a good deal.  “It’s an awful thing to have to worry a man about an old woman’s death this way,” he is reported to have said.

Fisher said that he would try to get into his former condition.  He was anxious, he said, to have the trial over and would therefore try to keep calm….

From the Mount Carmel Item (Pennsylvania), 19 September 1907:

200 CASES FOR SUNBURY COURT

Above Normal for September Session — Fourteen Black Handers — Two Murderers

Almost 200 cases are scheduled to come before the Northumberland County Court at Sunbury next week.   This number is well above the normal amount of September sessions.  Many of the cases are of more than ordinary importance.

A dozen or more Black Handers will appear before the bar of justice.  The evidence against them is sufficient to put them in prison for long terms….  Two men will be put on trial for their lives, each charged with having committed an atrocious murder.

Stanley Marcavitch will be tried for the murder of a Shamokin cobbler, and Henry Fisher for the killing of Mrs. Klinger.

From the Mount Carmel Item (Pennsylvania), 24 September 1907:

THE FISHER MURDER TRIAL

Occupies the Attention of the Court All Day — Fisher is Now Sane

The Fisher Murder trial was continued this morning at Sunbury, the Commonwealth opening the case and calling its witnesses.

District Attorney Cummings and ex-District Attorney Webster Shipman represented the Commonwealth while Attorneys Welch and Welch and Morganroth are defending the prisoner.

Fisher’s behavior is somewhat different from that which he exhibited at his last appearance in court.  When he was first brought in he was handcuffed and shackled with heavy chains, he was disheveled and unshaven, and he crawled under a table and cooed, laughed and emitted cat calls, which convinced everyone in the room that he was crazy.  But since his experience at the Danville Asylum he has given up the insanity bluff and behaves himself like an ordinary man.  His moustache is well trimmed, he is clean shaven and neatly dressed.  He sits within the inner rail of the court room, with his hands clasping the arms of the chair.  With eyes set deep in his head he anxiously though attentively watches every move in the case.

The evidence against him is purely circumstantial.  Mrs. Sarah Klinger, with whom he and his wife lived, was found dead in her hall one day by Fisher on entering the house.  He gave the alarm and the neighbors came in, but could find no trace of her assailant.  She had been dead at least a day.  Fisher’s shirt was found to be bloody and a waist of his in the coal shed was found with blood stains on it.  He was seen the day before washing his hands at the pump in the back yard.  On this evidence he was arrested.

The case has occupied the attention of the court all day and the proving of his guilt all depends on the finding that Fisher took the money which his victim had hoarded up.

From the Mount Carmel Item (Pennsylvania), 25 September 1907:

MURDERER BLAMED WIFE

But His Confession to That Effect Was Overdone

After a strong net of circumstantial evidence had been woven about Henry Fisher, now on trial in Court for the murder of Mrs. Sarah Klinger, the Commonwealth offered in evidence a written confession by the prisoner, in which he acknowledges that he was an accomplice in the crime, though affirming that his wife, and not he, committed the deed.

On the day of the murder, according to his story, Mrs. Klinger discovered that her coffee had been drugged, and accused Mrs. Fisher of trying to murder her.  A warm quarrel ensued, and Fisher fled from the house.  He returned returned at 4 o’clock and met his little daughter, who ran up to him and said:  “Mommy’s dead.”

He went into the house and found the aged woman lying in a pool of blood.  His wife said she had killed her with a stove raker in a fit of anger and had dragged the body from the kitchen to the hall steps to make it appear that Mrs. Klinger had fallen downstairs to her death.  He was helping his wife remove bloodstained clothing, when someone came up the walk.  He said that the woman had been killed when he was away, but the evidence against him was so strong that he was sent to jail.  He did not like to implicate his wife, but the ends of justice demanded that the truth be told.

From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 25 September 1907:

MURDERER BLAMED WIFE

Sunbury, Pennsylvania, 25 September — [the above story from the Mount Carmel Item, 25 September 1907, with an added paragraph at the end]….

The evidence in the case shows that at this time and for the rest of the day Mrs. Fisher was several miles away and her husband must have been at home alone with the body of the murdered woman.

From the Wilkes-Barre Evening News (Pennsylvania), 25 September 1907:

MURDERER BLAMED WIFE

But His Confession to That Effect Was Overborne

SUNBURY, Pennsylvania, 25 September — After a strong net of circumstantial evidence had been woven about Henry Fisher, now on trial in Court here for the murder of Mrs. Sarah Klinger, the Commonwealth offered in evidence a written confession by the prisoner, in which he acknowledged that he was an accomplice in the crime, though affirming that his wife, and not he, committed the deed.

On the day of the murder, according to his story, Mrs. Klinger discovered that her coffee had been drugged, and accused Mrs. Fisher of trying to murder her.  A warm quarrel ensued, and Fisher fled from the house.  He returned at 4 o’clock and met his little daughter, who ran up to him and said:  “Mommy’s dead.”

From the Allentown Democrat (Pennsylvania), 26 September 1907:

Damaging Evidence Against Fisher

Sunbury — In the trial of Henry Fisher for the alleged murder of Mrs. Sarah Klinger, in her home in Shamokin, evidence of an incrimination nature was resented by the prosecution witnesses testifying that a knife Fisher had shown them before the woman woman was dead was later found in the victim’s room, and that previous to her death he said that the next time he went to jail it would be for something worthwhile.

From the Mount Carmel Item, 26 September 1907:

FISHER GUILTY IN 1ST DEGREE; HE THREATENS SELF-DESTRUCTION

Jury Convicts Fisher of Murder of Mrs. Klinger — Murderer Says He Will Commit Suicide Rather Than Wait as Long as Whittaker

Henry Fisher, of Shamokin is fo0und guilty of murder in the first degree, for the death of Mrs. Sarah Klinger, also of Shamokin.  When he heard the verdict Fisher threatened to commit suicide.

The defense closed its case this morning.  Physicians testified that Fisher was crazy and the Commonwealth produced evidence in rebuttal showing that the prisoner was sane,

Judge Savidge charged the jury and at 10:30 o’clock the jury retired.  At 2:40 this afternoon the jury returned with a verdict murder in the first degree.  How many ballots were taken or how the vote stood can not be learned, the jurymen all having been sworn to secrecy in the jury-room.

Fisher heard the verdict with a smile on his face and betrayed no emotion.  While being led back to his cell he almost collapsed and upon being told to brace up as his attorneys would attorneys would make a motion for a new trial, he replied that he would kill himself before he waited as long as Whittaker had.

The trial of Stanley Marcavitch, of Shamokin, charged with the murder of Charley Salonis, the aged Springfield cobbler who was cruelly beaten to death in his shop one night and robbed of about $2000 in small coins, was called this afternoon before Judge Savidge.  The jury was selected last night while the Fisher jury was being empanneled.  Marcavitch was the last person known to have been with Salonis and he was seen afterward with a considerable amount of small coins….

From the Mount Carmel Item, 27 September 1907:

FIRST DEGREE MURDER

Henry Fisher Convicted of Murder — The Twelve Good and True Men Who Sealed His Fate

A 2:30 Thursday afternoon the jury in the case of Henry Fisher came into court.  TAhe doors were closed, the tipstaves pounded for order.  The court said, “Gentlemen, the clerk will take yo9ur verdict.”  Charles Reitz then handed the verdict to Judge Savidge, who opened it in the presence of his associate, Judge Auten.  The clerk then said, “Gentlemen of the jury, listen to your verdict; you say you find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree.”  Counsel for the defendant then asked that the jury be polled.  This was done, the clerk calling each man’s name separately, and then adding how do you find?  The answer in each case came, “Guilty of murder in the first degree.”

Juror L. D. Haupt of Sunbury, was the first called.  He could hardly speak from emotion.  Each following juror was similarly affected, though all answered firmly.  The jury was as follows:  L. D. Haupt, Sunbury; Warren Bloom, Sunbury; George Bingham Sr., Mount Carmel; Harry Bender, Mount Carmel; John Chapman, Shamokin; John O. Cawley, Milton; Daniel Farrow, Shamokin; William Hancock, Springfield; William A. Montgomery, Chillisquaque; W. H. Renn, Shamokin; John W. Russell, Turbot; Rufus Savidge, Rush.

Counsel for defense immediately said that they would move for a new trial.

Fisher was taken back to jail by Sheriff Sharpless.  He of all others was the least affected by the verdict.  His expression did not change, his eyes did not stop shifting from side to side; he made no sound, but followed the Sheriff like an obedient dog.

The court room was filled with spectators who stood on the seats to catch a glimpse of the prisoner.  All were deeply moved as the verdict was read.

The jury said that the experience was the worst they ever encountered; that the four days they were imprisoned were like four days in purgatory.  They deliberated four hours and forty minutes before they arrived at a verdict.  All realized the terrible consequences to Fisher, but fearlessly rendered their verdict according to the evidence, and because they were convinced that the prisoner was guilty of murder.

Attempts Suicide

Last night, while searching Fisher in his cell, Warden McDonnell found a keen knife in his sleeve, and after a hard struggle secured the weapon.  Fisher said that he had intended to cut his throat with the blade, but now that it had been taken from him, he would find some other means of committing self-destruction.  He will be closely watched by the jail officials.

From the Wilkes-Barre Evening News (Pennsylvania), 27 September 1907:

WIFE’S ACCUSER TO DIE

Must Hang for Murder He Tries to Put Upon Her

SUNBURY, Pennsylvania, 27 September — Henry Fisher, who has been on trial here for the slaying of Mrs. Sarah Klinger, of Shamokin, was found guilty of murder in the first degree.  The conviction of Fisher was due mainly to his own efforts to fix the crime upon his wife.

He had written letters from prison telling her that she was not as innocent as she appeared to be, and inventing an elaborate alibi which he asked her to present in court to save him.

The evidence showed that Mrs. Fisher was in another town when the murder was committed, and that her husband must have then been alone on the scene of the crime….

From the Mount Carmel Item (Pennsylvania), 28 September 1907:

GUILTY OF MURDER IN THE THE FIRST DEGREE!

Stanny Marcavich, Who Killed An Aged Cobbler, Will Hang for His Crime — He and Fisher Laugh Over Verdicts

Another man has this week [has] been found guilty of murder in the first degree by a jury at Sunbury.  The two similar verdicts reached in one week will have a salutary upon evil doers in Northumberland County… and the gentlemen who composed the two juries are entitled to the unstinted praise and thanks of all good people….

When Macavich was hustled out of court toward the county jail, he puffed at a cigarette, and remarked to the Sheriff that “he didn’t care a damn.”  He seemed to be absolutely indifferent of consequences.  His lawyers have not yet entered a motion for a new trial, and it is not likely that they will.

When Marcavich landed in jail he was taken past the cell occupied by Henry Fisher, the man who was this week found guilty of murder in the first degree for having killed Mrs. Klinger at Shamokin.

Fisher had been weeping and moaning, but when Marcavich reached the door of his cell the murderer straightened up and called out:

“Helo, Stanny, what did you get?”

Marcavich replied, “same as you, Hen.”

Then both men laughed.  They are heartless wretches, both of them, and the sooner they are hanged the better.

From the Daily News (Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania), 30 September 1907:

SEPTEMBER TERM OF COURT ENDED

The September term of criminal court ended with the session Saturday night, having occupied one solid week and a busy week, too.  There were several cases co9ntinued until the December court, among them the Black Hand cases.

The murder cases were tried last week and both of the accused, Henry Fisher and Stanley Marcavitch, were found guilty of murder in the first degree.  At the last term of court there was one case and the accused, William J. Whittaker, was found guilty in the first degree.  It looks as though Northumberland County is going to redeem herself as to allowing murder to go un-avenged.  The vigor with which the district attorney’s office handled the cases had very much to do with the findings of the jury and our townsman, Thomas N. Burke, is largely responsible for the work of the office in these cases.

From the Daily News (Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania), 1 October 1907:

FISHER SAYS HE IS CRAZY

The Condemned Murderer Breaks Up Furniture and Lands in Dungeon

Henry Fisher, the man found guilty last week of murdering aged Mrs. Sarah Klinger, was confined in the dungeon of the county jail yesterday afternoon.  He is still in that unpleasant rookery in the jail basement.  He will probably remain there for some time.

Yesterday afternoon he told his keeper that he was going to get crazy again, and just to prove that he really meant it he proceeded to smash things in his cell.  He broke his lamp, smashed his table into small bits, broke his chair and his cot.  It looked dangerous for a minute for the keeper to go after him, but the man was not put there for his cowardly qualities and he proved himself game.  He ordered Fisher to keep quiet and boldly walked into the cell and collared the fiend.  He was then taken to the dungeon where he can not smash things and can not harm himself.

From the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (Pennsylvania), 1 January 1908:

NEW CHANCE FOR FISHER

Vigilant Counsel for Convicted Murderer Carry a Point

SUNBURY, Pennsylvania, 1 January 1908 — Counsel for Henry Fisher, who murdered Mrs. Sarah Klinger in Shamokin, won a victory yesterday in their fight to save his life, when court named January 13 as the date for them to present arguments why he should not be executed.

Last week the court decided the case would not be allowed to go over to a new district attorney, but Fisher’s counsel won out, claiming that they had not received the judge’s charge to the jury until it was too late to complete their reasons.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer, 12 January 1908:

Reasons for New Trial of Fisher

Special to the Inquirer.

SUNBURY, Pennsylvania, 11 January — New reasons for another trial were filed in Northumberland County Court today by counsel for Henry Fisher, convicted of murdering Mrs. Samuel Klinger, in Shamokin.  The principal reason is that letters which passed between Fisher and his wife should not, according to the defense, have been admitted as testimony.  Another strong reason is that a man who identified the weapon with which the woman was slain should not have been allowed to do so.

From the Mount Carmel Item (Pennsylvania), 7 February 1908:

TWO MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH

Judge Savidge Pronounces Doom of Henry Fisher and Stanny Marcavige – Scene in Court Room

President Judge Clinton R. Savidge, in Court at Sunbury this morning, sentenced Henry Fisher and Stany Marcavage, two convicted murderers, to be hanged.

Fisher murdered Mrs. Sarah Klinger.  Marcavige murdered Charles Yeschalonis, an aged Springfield cobbler.  Both condemned men are Shamokinites.

Fisher, it will be remembered, shammed insanity at his first trial, raving in the court room like a mad dog.  He was sent to the Danvlle Asylum, and there the authorities found that he was faking.  He was brought back to Sunbury, tried, and found guilty of murder in the first degree.  He has had recurring outbreaks of alleged insanity, but on each occasion recovered his reason when thrown in the dungeon.

When Judge Savidge asked Fisher this morning why sentence of death should not be pronounced, the prisoner, who was heavily shackled, attempted to bite out a piece of Sheriff Taby’s arm.  He got a punch on the jaw, and then he dropped to the floor and bit a piece out of a chair.

The Judge, unmoved by the outbreak, then declared that “he should be hanged by the neck until dead.”

Marcavige, when asked the same question, cried out, “I did not strike the blow!”  He admitted he was present, but did not commit the murder.  At his trial, when he was found guilty of murder in the first degree, he declared that he was not near Yeschalonis when the murder was committed. 

The death sentence was then pronounced on Marcavige, who remained cool and unnerved.

According to law, the time for the executions will be fixed by the Governor of the Commonwealth.  Northumberland County will then partly atone for its black record of crime by having two hangings.

From the Pittston Gazette (Pennsylvania), 8 Feb 1908:

FEIGNED INSANITY BUT WILL BE HANGED

Sunbury, Pennsylvania, 8 February — Henry Fisher, convicted of murdering Mrs. Sara Klinger, his boarding mistress, two years ago, was sentenced to death by Judge Savidge yesterday.  He feigned insanity at the trial and was examined by a commission which pronounced him sane.  He tried again to convince everybody he was crazy.  When the court ordered him to be brought to the court room, he resisted Theodore Pulaski, turnkey, lacerating his hand by biting him.  Sheriff William Aby assisted and half dragged and carried him to the court house entrance, where he made a desperate effort to escape.  He was overpowered and hauled into the crowded court room.  As the judge delivered the sentence Fisher sat quiet.  Then he suddenly began biting the back of a chair and tried to tear a piece of flesh out of the sheriff’s neck.  Fisher said he was wild and wanted to tear things.  He was further manacled and led back to jail without resistance.  He was undressed and robed in a new suit of clothes.

In a corner of the cell officers found a sharp piece of iron Fisher had concealed, evidently with the intention of killing himself or some one else.  Recently he tried suicide.

Stanny Marcavage, convicted of the murder of Charles Yeschalenic, a Springfield cobbler, whose head he battered in with a hammer, was asked if he had anything to say.  He replied that he did not strike the blow that killed the cobbler, but was sentenced to death.  He and Fisher will likely be executed at the same time.

From the Pittston Gazette (Pennsylvania), 10 February 1908:

MURDERER RAVES LIKE WILD BEAST

Amid wild scenes of confusion, and in the presence of a crowd of curious people that completely filled Court Room No. 2, Henry Fisher, murderer of Mrs. Sara Klinger, in Shamokin, and Stany Marcavage, slayer of Charles Yesalonis, a Springfield cobbler, were sentenced to death on the scaffold by Judge Savidge, of Sunbury.

Fisher had to be dragged from his cell to the prisoners’ deck and while the solemn words were pronounced, he grawed at the oaken arms and back of the chair like a wild beast.

Marcavage listened to the decree with a smile on his face and asserted that he would go to the gallows laughing, because he was innocent of the awful crime charged against him.  When asked if he had anything to say, he replied he did not kill the cobbler.

Some news articles from Newspapers.com.

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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on September 27, 2016

An editorial from the Harrisburg Telegraph, 15 October 1866, on the election of John W. Geary as Governor of Pennsylvania, over the avowed white supremacist Hiester Clymer:

THE GOVERNOR ELECT

There has never been a man elected Governor of Pennsylvania who as fairly earned the position as has John W. Geary.  We do not pretend to write that other men who have filled the Gubernatorial chair were nor worthy of its honors, nor do we desire to be understood as writing that all who have reached that proud position reflected credit on the office. Some there were who disgraced the high office, and some are still living, hoary with age, who within the past four years could not do sufficient to bring disgrace as well as destruction to the country.  Such as these, however, are merely the base politicians, who have lived for plunder, and who, being unable ever more to plunge their arm up to the shoulder into the public treasury, were ready to pull the Government to pieces themselves or assist in the treason of other engaged in the same work.  But Gen. Geary, unlike all these, was willing first to peril his life in defense of his native State, before he became a candidate for the Governorship thereof.  The hero of two wars, he fought for the honor of our flag in a foreign land, and participated next in the struggle to preserve the national life from the attacks of its intestine foes.  Such a man is indeed worthy of his native State’s highest honors, as he will fairly requite the confidence of the people just so enthusiastically confided in him.  He has never been what may be called a politician, yet he possesses, in an eminent degree, more of the essential qualifications of a statesman than Mr. Clymer.  Without intending to be harsh with a fallen foe, it is nevertheless true that of all the public men in Pennsylvania, Hiester Clymer is the most shallow and superficial. nature never intended him for a statesman.  He might have made a good confectioner or dancing master, but to lead in the government of a State, he is absolutely incompetent as is W. H. Wallace incompetent or unwilling to tell the truth in a fair issue between his faction and any of its opponents.  On the contrary, John W. Geary is entirely made of different stuff, has been differently educated, and is a vastly different man.  He is a man of truth and veracity, and his administration will prove him to be such.  He does not understand double dealing and despises those who resort to it.  Compelled to battle with the world from his early youth, he knows how to deal with it false pretenses and dispose of those who resort to such means for success.  He never theorizes.  He is practical in all his views.  When Buchanan sent him to Kansas, it was this very determination to be practical which made him enemies among the slaveholders then concocting a monstrous wrong.  John W. Geary, in Kansas, implanted that feeling in the national heart which afterwards enabled the people of the United States to resist the slaveholders’ rebellion.  He proved at that time that not all Democrats were not dough-faces like James Buchanan, as he established on the battlefield, that one Southern man could not whip two Northern men.  This is shown by the records of Geary’s career in aiding to crush the rebellion, wherein it is clearly set forth that in the fights out of which he came victorious, he invariably led inferior forces, as to numbers, when compared to those against which he fought.

It is well for Pennsylvania that John W. Geary was elected Governor on Tuesday last.  The election of Hiester Clymer would have entailed dire calamity on the State.  But we are  saved from all that.  We will have a man at the head of the affairs of State not only able to guard and administer them with integrity and ability, but competent also to aid in maintaining the  national honor, and of dealing with domestic as well as foreign affairs.

Editorial from Newspapers.com.

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