Oth Court: Evidence before Coroners Jury in the case of Thos. Gwyther (Girardville) Aug. 14-16, 1875 This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Matt Cross. mcross@gis.net USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitter(s) PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. _________________________________________________________________ Evidence before Coroners Jury in the case of Thos. Gwyther (Girardville) Aug. 14-16, 1875 Girardville, Aug 15th, 1875 The following named persons having been appointed Coroners Jury to inquire into the cause of death of Thos Gwyther, met at house of deceased, corner of Ogden & William Sts at 10 AM. Coroner Quail swore in the following named parties as the Jury, Jno Hower, foreman, Jos M Glick, Louis Blass, Cehas (Thomas?) Marsh, George Barnhard Sr. and E. C. Wagner. The Coroner and his deputy, A. B. Sherman M.D., then made post mortem examination, finding the following, Length of body, 5 feet 6 ins., estimated weight 130 pounds. Rigor Mortus well marked, external wounds consisting of gunshot wounds scattered over the whole chest, both sides, on the left side of abdomen, said marks being dark discoloration from gunshot having entered the body. Dark discolorations over with Emphasemitis condition over right breast and abdomen. Gunshot wounds in the left arm and hand. First shot wound coming one inch above clavicle on right side, followed by numerous shot wounds down over the chest and abdomen to within two inches of umbillicus, consisting of over 60 different wounds. On removing the integuments garments find coagulated blood over whole Breast. on opening chest find both lungs highly congested, numerous shots having entered the pericardium, large clots within pericardium. heart pierced in numerous places by shot. several shot extracted from heart. Mary Ann Baldwin, sworn. was in house. Father and another man came in for light for office. cousin took it down. she went down, found dec with Stitzel in office, she came back into house, went to close shutter, heard loud talking, slipped on few clothes, went out saw a man with a gun come from Loves with a crowd behind him. cried out to the man "don't shoot my Father." Mrs. Love, his mother, and Mrs. Tom Love, knew the latter by her dress, was between crowd and man with gun. Man fired gun, dec fell over on his face. Mrs. Love being close to dec as he fell. crowd all run back to Loves after firing. Mrs. Love then left deceased and run home. knew it was one of the two older Love boys by his voice. After the man fired shot he ran home back to Loves, am positive it was either Thos or William Love that fired the shot. This all took place about 10 P.M. on Saturday August 14, 1875. Samuel Bradbury, 13 years old, after explaining nature of an oath, sworn. on Saturday night Aug 14, 75, was in my own house, when shot went off. run out saw Squire Gwyther falling over on his face. saw Mrs. Gorman, Maryann Baldwin, and Em Griffiths. Mrs. Elisabeth Bradbury, sworn. On Saturday night Aug 14, 75 after car time was in back cellar, heard report of gun, run up cellar steps to street, saw Gwyther fall, saw a woman with a light greyish hair very short near Gwyther. spoke to Mrs. Baldwin over back fence, told her not let her father go out as she was afraid there was going to be a f__ . heard noise in Squires office, saw Sitzel going to office. Mrs. Ann Gorman, sworn. on Saturday night Aug 14, 75, saw Gwyther in his office saw a man go in, saw him go behind Gwythers desk, and man said "don't take hold of me." Gwyther said "I'll make a go". went into his house, after a weapon. saw Mrs. Love take hold of Gwyther, and said,"Gwyther what are you going to do?" then heard shot, man stood between signs post and porch when he fired the shot, man dressed in dark clothes, saw a long black thing in his hand from which the shot came. Mrs. Love had hold of him when shot off. heard Tom and Bill Love blamed for shooting of Gwyther. did not see Mrs. Love after shot was fired, she disappeared suddenly. saw a man pick up Gwythers heard him say he was dead. Mrs. Leeborgh McCreen. On Saturday night Aug 14 75 was in house, heard a shot after train time, locked door, went out, to ask if they heard the shot, heard one of Flanigans say it was nothing to them who was shot. after shot, heard old Mrs. Love crying out loud, Oh My Oh, lamenting very loudly. Mrs. Mary Adams, sworn. opened door, she heard report of gun. saw a man run. don't know him. saw Mrs. Love going in her house, run through lots to creek between Martin Queenins and Bridget Garrys Lots. dark clothes was middling tall man. he was on other side of street. it was on Saturday night Aug 14th, 75 about 12 P.M. John Stitzel, sworn. On Saturday night Aug 14, 75, was in Wendel's tavern. went down with deceased to his office to swear out warrant. dec was writing out a warrant when Wm. Love came in office. deceased ordered him out as he was pulling him only he said he would _ay him up. would not go out. deceased then scuffled with him and put him out. dec. went into house to get protection. I remained in office. in about 5 mins. after he left the office, heard a loud report of gun, then run out of office. found deceased laying on his back about 10 or 15 ft from corner of house. am positive it was William Love that threatened. Barbary Davis, 9 years old, sworn after examining her about nature of an oath. was out on road on Saturday night Aug 14, 75, in front of Love. was looking into entry of Love's. saw Billy Love going up stairs, come down stairs with a big gun in his hands. his mother tried to stop him from going out. he ran past her. went out back way, run up street to Gormans sign pole. his mother and crowd followed him, tried to keep him back. annie Love. he heard Love say he would shoot Mr. Gwyther. she got frightened and ran home. when she got to little bridge, she heard a shot. Alice Sohlersman, sworn. On Sat. night Aug 14, 75, believe 9 or 10, was in house opposite Love's. was at window reading. heard Wm. Love and his Mother talking loud. she was telling him not to go. he said he would. thought it was a regular fight. did not go out til saw Mrs Love run out of front door and towards Gwythers. he ran ahead of her. heard shot, then saw Wm Love run back towards his house with a gun in his hand. he threw the gun into the entry and run past house. was at my own gate when I saw him do this. when Love was running towards Gwyther's house, his mother followed him crying,"don't go". Love had a cap on, had dark clothes on, am positive it was Bill Love, because have lived opposite Loves for a number of years. was moonlight night. Maggie Love, aged about 15 years, sworn. on Saturday night Aug 14, 75, was sitting in kitchen at home. heard shot, doors were all shut, did not see anything of it. after shot was fired, went to bed. saw Wm at supper. have not seen him since. Mrs. Anne Whalen, sworn. On Saturday Aug 14, 75 about _ past nine heard a shot. was at back of house on Mrs. Gurry's Lot when I heard shot. was not at home all evening. was home 1_ hours before shot was fired. did not hear Mother scolding anybody. did not hear of anyone persuading anyone not to shoot Squire Gwyther. did not go away from house after shot was fired. went to corner when brother Thos was arrested. afterwards went home again. did not say to Bill not to go. heard men say that Bill was blamed for shooting Gwyther. saw no crowd about that night. did not see William after supper that night. Mrs. Mary Love, sworn. on Saturday Aug 14, 1875 was sitting on my own porch on same Lot as my mother. heard shot, run out ___ to Gwythers, saw Thos Gwyther there lying on his back dead. am wife of Tom Love. saw Bill about six o'clock the same evening. have not seen him since. first heard Bill Love blamed for shooting on Sunday morning. did not know why her husband was arrested only on suspicion. Maggie Love was sitting on my porch about hour before shot was fired. Mrs. Whalen was not in my house or on my porch that night. Obtained from Historical Society of Schuylkill County Transcribed by Matthew Cross Comments on Thomas Gwyther's Coroner's Report By Matthew Cross After hearing the tale of Thomas Gwyther and Billy Love at many family gatherings, here it is in first hand accounts. I thought it might be helpful to add some additional background and observations. August 1875 marked the end of a major strike at the coal mines. The miners had just been paid for the first time in six months. As you might expect they went celebrating on Saturday night, August 14, 1875. Things got out of hand at Wendel's Tavern in Girardville and a man named Hoary assaulted John Stitzel. A shot was fired. Squire Thomas Gwyther, the local justice of the peace, happened to be in the tavern and left with Mr. Stitzel to swear out an arrest warrant. Billy Love, Gwyther's neighbor, did not want his friend, Hoary, arrested and tried to intervene. His intervention proved fatal for Squire Gwyther. My first impression of the Coroner's Jury was that these were several ordinary men from the town selected at random. However, reference to the "Girardville" chapter of History of Schuylkill County indicates these men were the leading members of the community, the "Bosses". The jury foreman was the lessee of the Girard estate's lumbering operations and another member was the agent for Stephen Girard's Estate. Others were involved with town politics and the local savings fund association. Several were fellow members of the Odd Fellows with Squire Gwyther. His "brother", William Gwyther is mentioned as one of the community leaders along with these men. The first witness was Mary Ann Baldwin, the eldest of Thomas Gwyther's three daughters. In her testimony, she references a cousin. This confirms she did have an aunt or uncle, perhaps William. The connection between Thomas and William has yet to be confirmed. Samuel Bradbury's testimony mentions that in addition to Mary Ann Baldwin, Em Griffiths was present. Em was Thomas Gwyther's second daughter and the wife of Edward Griffiths. While most of the testimonies refer to Love as William or Bill, the verbal renditions passed down by both the Griffiths and Cooper families, call him Billy Love. It's interesting to note, nine year old Barbary Davis calls him Billy also. Thomas Gwyther's murder is typically attributed to the Molly Maguires. However, this murder does not fit the typical Molly modis operandi. While Billy Love may have been a Molly, it is more probable he was a "Molly wannabe". Gwyther's murder was a personal act of violence. The typical Molly murder was arranged beforehand with assassins brought in from the other side of the mountain. This was not the case. There may have been some intervention after the fact, on the part of Girardville's Constable Jack Kehoe, who was supposedly also the leader of the Mollies. He initially arrested Billy's brother on suspicion. This delay gave Billy ample time to make an escape.