This is a story I put together for my family back in 2013 after I discovered an article about an Albright that I thought just might be part of my family. Yep, he was! Samuel Albright (1856-1879) is my 1st cousin 4x removed – we share a 4th great-grandfather, Samuel Albright (1786-1866). The first part of the story is written up in a style to match the somewhat breathless reporting of the time about the incident. Enjoy!
Who’s in Sam’s Grave?
An account of murder, mischief, and mystery
on the shores of the Susquehanna
That there was a murder, there is no doubt. On 7 August 1879, Samuel E. Albright brazenly shot and killed William K. Miller[1], while bullets intended for Miller’s fiancée and Albright’s former lover, Maria Hammaker, narrowly missed her thanks to her sister’s brave move. Samuel E. Albright then fled the scene, but what became of him? Is this the story of a remorseful suicide, or a skullduggery case of bodysnatching allowing a murderer to get off scot-free?
Sam Albright, 23, was a ne’er-do-well, a scalawag, a bad seed.[2] Well known around Buffalo township for his thieving ways and general lawlessness, his most recent run-in with the law had occurred in 1877 when he was arrested with two of his buddies for stealing smoked meat from Jacob Buck’s[3] barn. Found guilty, he was sentenced, but friends posted bail, which he promptly skipped, making off for Texas.[4] Sometime during spring 1879, he returned to the Buffalo township area, but kept a low profile.[5] Irate to find his former lover had taken up with another man, Sam planned his revenge.
When Sam and Maria[6] began their relationship is unknown, but it was an intimate one resulting in Maria bearing a child. Sam clearly believed Maria to be his woman – in fact, his wife, though they had never said vows in a church. With Sam on the lam in Texas, by the spring of 1879 Maria had moved on from the relationship. She was working in Harrisburg as a servant[7][8] and had plans to marry Miller, a reportedly upstanding 27-year-old man working for the railroad.
In early August 1879, Maria was accompanied by Miller on a visit to her sister in Montgomery’s Ferry.[9] Learning of the visit, Sam put his plans into motion. He drafted two letters – one for Maria and one for the local citizens to explain his actions. Arriving at the farmhouse at 8 o’clock in the morning on 7 August, he spoke with Miller briefly before mortally wounding him with two bullets, shouting “There, damn you.”[10] His attempt to similarly kill his former lover went awry when her sister knocked the pistol out of the way.[11] Miller lived but a few moments longer; “I am gone,” he said as he passed away.[12]
Sam, the scurrilous murderer, then left the farm, having left behind the two letters. They speak for themselves:
Montgomery’s Ferry,
To the citizens of the surrounding country, knowing that there will be quite an excitement and talk about this little fuss I take this plan to make things A little plain to you. In the first place, I think I am doing my duty. In the second place I am keeping (or saving) maria from being followed around like A dam dog by this cuss which she could not keep away from her and in third place do what every man should do (Protect what belongs to him.) Concerning myself you all know about as well as I can tell you. Our relationship has spoke for itself long ere this. The binding part can be told by herself if she sees fit. The direction I take you must find out yourselves, but lead must meet any one who shall follow on my trail.
Respectfully
Aug 6 ’79 S.E. Albrite
P.S. This hellion has been warned twice if he would come up here he would be killed. dam a man that follows another’s wife.
Montgomery’s Ferry, Aug. 6, ‘79
MARIA
As I told you from the first time you told me that imp was going to follow up from town I said he must be hurt if he comes. So now he has got it sure Don’t blame me but if any one why your own dear self and him also good by I will see you again love respect &C SAM
Maria you will remember now what I told you and all your fault Never do A trick like that again good by till I see you again.
SAM
Maria appears to have had a questionable morale compass herself. On the day of the murder, she claimed that she and Miller were married, having said vows on 3 July. But it could apparently be proved she was involved in a different social engagement that day and was not able to produce a marriage certificate.[13] She later claimed that they were to wed the day of the murder or the day after.[14] She further admitted to her employer’s wife that she had had a child by Sam, but that was his only claim on her. It was also revealed that she had seen Sam in mid-May at her employer’s home, but not since that time. Maria remained in seclusion for several weeks after the murder, but whether in grief or to avoid uncomfortable question remains uncertain. Some speculated, given Sam’s promise to see her again, that she was complicit in the murder of her fiancée.
What Happened to Sam?
A reward of $250 was quickly offered for Sam’s capture.[15] It was believed that Sam would likely rely on the “Snake-feeders” – a group of “dissipated, ignorant people” living on the south side of Half Falls mountain in Watts township – to help him evade the law. Sam had unsuccessfully used a number of them in the 1877 burglary case as an alibi. A posse scoured the nearby mountains for two days but found no sign of him; the sheriff, though, ended up arresting an associate, Jesse Johnston, as an accessory. [16][17]
The discovery of a body in a cave at Girty’s Notch[18] ratcheted up the interest in the murder and the man who committed it. Michael Shatto – a reputed close friend of Sam’s – reported that on Tuesday, 12 August, he noticed a bad smell as he was riding along a road. He smelled the wretched smell again that Saturday and became suspicious. Enlisting a friend, they went to the area and finally found the cave and a body inside. He thought it might be Sam because he had seen him near the cave the day before the murder, but due to the poor condition of the body could only ascertain it was Sam by a suspender he was wearing.[19]
An inquest held on 17 August concluded that the badly decomposed body was Sam’s, based on the clothing on the body, as well as the knife and pistol found with it. The inquest surmised that he had shot himself in the right temple with the $15 revolver.[20] Sam’s parents claimed the body.[21]
However, suspicions were soon raised as to whether this was really Sam, prompting the coroner and district attorney to launch an investigation. The officials quickly departed for the New Buffalo graveyard hoping to arrive before the body was buried. However, on their way to their grisly task on 18 August, the officials, accompanied by a jury of six men, passed the Albright family on their way back from the funeral of their “supposed son and brother.” Forced to exhume the body, the officials were horrified by the stench and condition of the body in the coffin. The body was a “mass of putrefaction” and the head was separated from the body, lying under the left arm. Physicians called in to examine the body disagreed as to whether it was possible for a body to have decayed so in just 11 days – even considering the conditions in the cave (“a low, damp place, only entered by crawling snake fashion”). None of those present at the exhumation could say for sure it was Sam; in fact, there was some compelling physical evidence that it was not. Sam was missing a finger, and the body had “eight full fingers and two thumbs.” What was not in doubt was that there was a bullet hole in the head. But, the question was raised as to whether it was self-inflicted. [22][23]
Meanwhile, the first speculation of body snatching was raised. One reporter speculated that the body in the cave was that of a man who had been found in the Susquehanna river about a month previous, but was gone by the time officials went to retrieve it. The same reporter cast doubt on the statements of Michael Shatto and one Liddick who had found the body in the cave, noting they were Sam’s “bosom friends.”[24]
The day after the exhumation, the jury went to Girty’s Notch to see if hair or other evidence could be found in the cave. A second inquest was formally opened later that evening, which drew a large crowd of “motley” spectators. Shatto repeated his story, followed by John Noviock who described the clothes Sam had been wearing on the day of the murder – a dark suit – and also noted that Sam had no mustache at the time, looking as if he had recently shaved. A Mr. Potter, of Juniata Township, then testified that he had seen Albright walking on a road going towards the Tuscarora mountains. Albright had asked him and a friend “in Dutch” if the road would take him to Pittsburg (it would) and continued on his way. Potter refrained from detaining the man as, thinking him to be Sam, he was afraid of him, stating he would have run had the man pulled out a pistol (a sentiment the coroner sympathetically stated he shared). However, Potter did allow that he had only seen Sam once in several years, but claimed that he had known him well from previously living in the area. This account was followed by that of little Gus Liddick who relayed a convincing account of having seen Sam two days after the murder. As the young boy was walking along the road over the mountain, he saw Sam walk out of the woods. Sam then approached the boy and told him not to tell anyone; if he complied, Sam would pay him.
The inquest next called the physicians for their testimony. One doctor claimed that the state of the body was as would be expected of a 10-day old body and he believed it to be Sam. The second doctor disagreed and after spending much time explaining the process of decomposition, concluded that it was not Sam. Further, he did not believe that the body could have been smelled from the cave (casting doubt on Shatto’s testimony) and further mused that the suicide theory did not hold together since the man’s hands were open and the pistol on the right side – he would have expected it to be either tight in his hand or some distance away. The general feeling of those present as the inquest concluded for the evening was that the whole affair was a ruse to afford Sam time to leave the state.
Two days later, 21 August, the inquest jury had still not arrived at a verdict – five believing the body was not Sam’s and one believing it was. Coincidentally, the next day a body was reported to have been removed from the Hill Church cemetery[25] where Sam (or an imposter) had been laid to rest. It was believed the body was stolen for “scientific purposes” and was not connected the body of Sam mystery. Meanwhile, yet another theory was put forward as to who had been found in the cave – that it was that of a man name Humphrey who had disappeared and never been found. Some believed that he may have been murdered and used to impersonate Sam, as the two were similar in build.
Yet another private citizen cast doubt on the idea that it was Sam’s body in the cave. Mr. Hartley had visited the cave with his daughter while in the area. He crawled a ways into it and remembered seeing no body nor smelling any odor – the day before the body was found. It later turned out, though, that there are two caves at Girty’s Notch, and Hartley had entered the wrong cave.[26]
Was Sam Alive?
In the weeks and months after the body was found in the cave and as suspicions were raised as to the true identity of the man, there were numerous reports that Sam had been seen in the environs and then as far away as Colorado and California.
Trying to convince others of the truth of his story that Sam was still alive[27], 20-year-old Alfred Potter swore an affadavit and the full account was reported in a local paper in late August 1879. Potter claims that he saw Sam in the company of a man and a boy at the Muncy Hills stone quarry around 2 September. Upon seeing Potter, Sam became visibly anxious and put his hand in his pocket, keeping it there the whole time he was at the quarry – which Potter obviously found to be threatening. Potter claims to have spoken with Sam, who told him he was looking for a job. Potter then went to a boarding house for dinner and that Sam was gone when Potter came out after dinner.
To establish how well he knew Sam, Potter related that they were raised within a mile and a half of each other in Buck’s Valley until Potter was 10 years old, his grandfather Jacob Bair and Sam’s father Benjamin and grandfather Samuel all having adjoining farms. Further, one of his aunts was married to one of Sam’s uncles. When he was 10, Potter’s family moved to Hunter’s Valley, but being only 3 miles away from Sam’s family they still saw each other frequently. He further noted that the man at the quarry – who was wearing a new suit – was most certainly Sam, his voice, light-colored mustache, “peculiar teeth” and general appearance being all definitive traits of the man.[28] That he was wearing a new suit was likely emphasized since one of the primary ways the body in the cave was identified was that it was clothed in the black suit Sam had reportedly been wearing that day.
In mid-September 1879, Albright was reportedly in the vicinity of Mahanoy mountain, three miles form Newport. Further, a man fitting Albright’s description was said to have eaten every other day at the Gussler family’s home on Mahanoy mountain in the days after the body was found in the cave.[29] There were rumors that month that Sam had been seen in Mifflintown.[30]
An Albright family member’s accusation that Maria had perjured herself regarding her marriage to Miller led to her arrest in September 1879. Bail was posted by her employer, Col[31] Cummings of Harrisburg. Speculation was rampant that this was an attempt by the Albrights to protect Sam from being discovered alive by preventing Maria from being free to go to him, which could lead to his discovery.[32]
Trying to put the whole mess to rest, Sam’s father in October 1879 offered $2000 to whoever would bring Sam alive to the New Bloomfield jail. This offer was reportedly made to prove that Benjamin Albright was telling the truth when he said his son Sam was dead.[33]
In January 1880, a story was circulating in Perry County that Sam had been seen in Leadville, Colorado.[34] James Wright had recently returned to Perry County after living in Leadville. He claims to have known Sam well when he lived in Perry County and thus was sure it was Sam that he saw him during the past year in the mining area near Leadville but that his old friend “made himself scarce” before Wright had a chance to speak to him. Puzzled at the time that Sam should try to dodge him, Wright did not learn of the murder until after this incident. He shared his tale with a “prominent citizen of Susquehanna township” (which a local paper apparently viewed as lending credence to the report).[35] The New Bloomfield Times opined that Wright’s report was a compelling corroboration of a Milton boy’s sworn testimony that he saw Albright after the body was found in Girty’s Cave.
In early 1881, local newspapers were reporting that Sam had been seen in California. A Perry County man – reportedly an Albright cousin[36] – had recently returned from there and claimed not only to have seen Sam but to have spoken with him about the murder, further noting that Sam was “leading a dissolute life.”[37] Such reports were patently false, according to the Albrights, since the family had no cousin or any other relation in California.[38] Nevertheless, doubts continued to be voiced – “Whose body was it that was buried as the body of Albright shortly after the murder?”[39]
The “notorious desperado” had been seen in Kansas, according to late 1881 reporting.[40][41] A detective wrote to a Perry county newspaper inquiring whether the $3000 reward offered by the county was still in force and whether it would be paid should Albright be delivered, dead or alive. Beyond the sightings, there were also “well authenticated reports” that unidentified people had received letters from Sam.[42]
The plot thickened in February 1882 when suspicions were again raised about whose body was actually found in the cave in Girty’s Notch..[43] Mr. Derr’s son had died of lock-jaw and subsequently been buried in the Lutheran cemetery in Liverpool. A few days after his son had been buried, the father visited the grave to find that almost half the earth had been removed; it was a day or two later that a body was found in the cave. He immediately suspected that his son’s body had been dug up and staged in the cave to represent Albright. He, however, did not mention these suspicions for more than two years. Plans were being made to exhume the grave to determine whether there was a body in his son’s grave, but there was no follow-up in the paper to indicate whether the exhumation took place.
No further details are currently known as to the truth of Sam’s demise. Outside of the newspaper articles of the time, family history has quietly swept the affair under the rug of time and Sam’s grave is marked with the date of 7 August 1879 as his death. But is Sam really in there?
N.B. – This above was written in 2013 based on information available to the author at the time and updated in 2017 to include a link to information about Girty’s Notch.
[1] State Items, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 13 August 1879, p.2, col 3. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[2] Sam’s immediate family did not appear to have a good reputation. In the wake of the murder, it was reported that his young 13-year-old brother had shot a young boy he was playing with, luckily missing him. He also carried a gun to school boasting that no teacher would whip him. Terribly Early Starting, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 2 September 1879, p. 5, col 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[3] Jacob Buck’s granddaughter, Maggie Kumler, married Christian S. Albright, a grand-nephew of Samuel E. Albright.
[4] State Items, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 13 August 1879, p.2, col 3. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[5] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 20 August 1879, p. 3, col. 2 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[6] Maria Hammaker was likely born in 1861, the daughter of Jacob, according to the 1870 census of Watts township, Perry County, Pennsylvania
[7] State Items, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 13 August 1879, p.2, col 3. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[8] Maria K. Hammaker was listed as living at 274 Briggs in Harrisburg in an 1876 city directory
[9] A Murder, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 12 August 1879, p. 5. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[10] State Items, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 13 August 1879, p.2, col 3. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[11] A Murder, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 12 August 1879, p. 5. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013)
[12] State Items, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 13 August 1879, p.2, col 3. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[13] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 21 August 1879, p. 2, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[14] The Miller Murder, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 19 August 1879, p. 5. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[15] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 21 August 1879, p. 2, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 9 June 2013.)
[16] The Miller Murder, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 19 August 1879, p. 5. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 9 June 2013.)
[17] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 20 August 1879. p. 3, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.) Johnston was one of the two friends who had posted bail for Sam in the 1877 smoked meat burglary.
[18] Read how Girty’s Notch got its name: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/treasure-legends-pennsylvania/112871-girtys-gold-girtys-notch-perry-county.html
[19] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 27 August 1879, p. 3, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[20] Is It Albright?, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 26 August 1879, p. 5, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 9 June 2013.)
[21] The Miller Murder, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 19 August 1879, p. 5. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[22] Is It Albright?, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 26 August 1879, p. 5, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 9 June 2013.)
[23] Whose Body?, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 27 August 1879, p. 3, col. 1. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[24] Whose Body?, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 27 August 1879, p. 3, col. 1. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[25] The Hill Church cemetery is sometimes referred to as the New Buffalo graveyard.
[26] Whose Body?, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 27 August 1879, p. 3, col. 1. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[27] Albright Sees, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 16 September 1879, p. 5, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[28] Alfred Potter’s Story, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 30 September 1879, p. 5, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[29] The Post (Middleburg, Pennsylvania), 18 September 1879, p. 2, col. 3 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[30] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 24 September 1879, p. 3, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 9 June 2013.)
[31] Cummings was first reported to be a Captain (The New Bloomfield Times, 19 August 1879, but later as “Colonel.”
[32] Arrested for Perjury, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 30 September 1879, p. 5, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[33] State Items, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 15 October 1879, p. 2, col. 3. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[34] Short Locals, Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 28 January 1880, p. 3, col. 2 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[35] Albright Seen, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 27 January 1880, p. 5, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[36] Short Items, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 4 January 1881, p. 5, col. 1. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 9 June 2013.)
[37] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 5 January 1881, p. 3, col. 3 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[38] The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 11 January 1881, p. 5, col. 2. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 9 June 2013.)
[39] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 5 January 1881, p. 3, col. 3 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[40] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 14 Dec 1881, p. 2, col. 1 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[41] The Reward on Sam Albright, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 13 December 1881, p. 4, col. 4. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)
[42] Short Items, The Times (New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania), 4 January 1881, p. 5, col. 1. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 9 June 2013.)
[43] Sentinel & Republican (Mifflintown, Pennsylvania), 15 Feb 1882, p. 3, col. 2 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, accessed 6 June 2013.)