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- http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/CrimesandPunshiments/HickmanMF83.html
Charles Hickman: A Man Who Cheated the Gallows by Susan F. Veiock Milestones Vol 8 No 4--Fall 1983
It was not a question of guilt or innocence - Charles Hickman was guilty of murdering his wife. There were eyewitnesses to the fatal shooting, including his 13 year old son, Charlie. But ultimately, Charles Hickman would never pay the price for his crime.
On the night of February 2. 1910, Mary Bell Hickman left her place of residence in Beaver Falls to visit a brother in New Brighton. Hickman and his son followed her. When she boarded a streetcar for the return trip, Charles and the boy followed. Mollie didn't know that Charles was following her, or that he had been drinking or that he had a gun.
Since their separation, Mollie had been living in a rooming house owned by Mrs. Caroline Parker. She was employed by. Benson's Department store as a sales clerk. She did light housekeeping for Mrs. Parker to help pay for her room.
Mollie got off the streetcar at the corner of Ninth Street and Seventh Avenue in Beaver Falls. As she got to *the front walk of the Parker home, Charles approached and began firing. She staggered toward the steps and fell. The eyewitnesses went to her aid, assisting her Into the hall where she lay on the floor dying. Her death certificate reads "Almost Instant death."
After the shooting, Charles ran up the alley behind the Parker home. He was quickly captured by Police Officers Balser and Caler. who had been attracted to the scene by the sound of gun fire.
While the shooting occurred In February, Hickman's trial didn't begin until the June term of court in order to allow the attorneys to properly prepare the case. The trial began June 13,1910. Hickman entered a plea- that of "mental aberration" and testified in his own behalf. Four days later. the court found Hickman guilty in the first degree and the death penalty was given.
Hickman was charged in the lower court with Murder,and Voluntary Manslaughter, and was sentenced to be hung on December 5, 1910. This sentence was appealed to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the sentence affirmed by that court on April 20, 1911.
Hickman's attorney petitioned Governor John K. Tener to grant a second respite in order that the State Board of Pardons may again hear the case in September. His attorney also appealed to the citizens of Beaver County to sign a petition requesting a change In the sentence to life in prison rather than death.
Both attempts were futile. Governor Tener refused the respite concluding that he would not interfere with the judgment of the courts. The hoped-for ten thousand signatures, representing one-seventh of the county's population, were never secured.
The gallows were finished July 15 at the jail in Beaver where Hickman was being kept. Passes were being issued to the morbidly curious who would witness the hanging. Sheriff John W. Hartzel later cancelled these cards, acting on an imperative order of the court. Only such persons as required by law would be present to witness the execution.
Hickman's hanging was to be the third In the history of Beaver County. Twice before murders had paid the penalty in the Court Yard of the Beaver jail. In the spring of 1862, Ell Sheets was hanged for the murder of John Ainsley at Black Hawk. (Milestones, Vol. 5, No. 3). On June 9,1904, William M. Payne was hanged for the murder of Allen Austin.
All was in readiness for the July 18 hanging.' Sheriff Hartzel and Deputy Sheriffs Wallover and Martin would lead Hickman to the scaffold which stood at the rear entrance to the jail. Dr. E.S. H. McCauley, the jail physician, and another physician would be present. Relatives would wait In the parlor of the jail. None of them would be a witness.
During his term of Incarceration, Charles had -,.,made two successful escapes from the jail, only to be 3~ captured and returned to prison. He had twice sawed , his way to freedom. Now, he was to make his last and final escape from the gallows. - I ~ :1~1'1 ~
Hickman did hot eat the evening meal that was brought to him by Sheriff Hartzel on the eve of his execution. During the early part of the evening, Hickman began to have chills and asked for additional clothing to keep warm. He was wrapped In a blanket. There seemed nothing unusual about his talk, actions. or appearance. Joseph C. Meddeker, a Beaver Falls police officer on special guard duty to Hickman, spent the evening talking about the execution. Hickman was hoping that he would hold up to the occasion.
About 9 o'clock that evening. Dr. E.S.H. McCauley was called to the jail. He found Hickman nervous and vomiting. Dr. McCauley gave Hickman two onequarter doses of morphine. Dr. J. B. Armstrong was called to the jail at 11:30 o'clock and remained until 2 a.m. He noted that Hickman had "nervous shakes."
Hickman's attorney, D.A. Nelson was also present that evening. He was in Hickman's cell from 12 o'clock until 3:30 that morning. He said that Hickman had no . convulsions and did not even move a muscle or show any signs ofconsciousness during that time. Hickman died at 7:56 a.m. on the morning of July 18,1911 thus eluding the gallows.
An autopsy was conducted by Drs. U.S. Strouss, H.W. Bernhardy and Guy Shugert. A chemical analysis was done by Professor F.T. Aschman, a chemist from Beaver with laboratories in Pittsburgh, of various body tissue. Small traces of strychnine were found in the liver. At the inquest, Dr. J. B. Armstrong testified that he had given one sixtieth of a grain of strychnine at 2 o'clock before leaving his cell. As the physicians agreed that while the dose was not large enough to do any harm, it might have left traces in the body. Dr. Shugert testified that in all of his surgical work, he had never worked on a body that was more nearly normal that that of Hickman. Dr. Aschman, the chemist, said that the small traces of strychnine found did not indicate that there had been enough in the body to cause death. He said his analysis was sufficiently thorough to show beyond doubt that there was no other kind of poison in the body.
On August 8, 1911, the jury reached a verdict. "Charles Hickman came to his death in the Beaver County Jail from the effects of poison." The jury gave no intimation whether it believed that Hickman's death was due to an overdose of morphine given by a physician or self-administered, or to strychnine taken with suicidal intent.
So Charles Hickman escaped the gallows, but not death. Was death the result of "fright and nervous breakdown" as stated in the headlines of the local paper or had Charles eluded hanging by committing suicide with poison? The answer lies buried with Hickman in Grove Cemetery.
Since Charles Hickman died a "natural death", rather than being hung. his relatives made his funeral public. Services were held at the home of his sister in Beaver Falls.
Beaver Countians breathed easier for the first time in months when they learned of his death. One of the most sensational murder cases in the history of the county ended abruptly two hours before Hickman was to mount the scaffold.
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1872 - 1911 (~ 39 years)
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