NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
FLOYD COUNTY INDIANA
HANGINGS

New Albany Ledger Standard 25 Feb 1879 p4 c2: Home Hangings, In a Judicial Way Since the Organization of Floyd County.—Damon/[Dahmen] Defied the Devil; —Lamb Died Game and Wanted to Take Gen Burnett, the Sheriff, along With Him; —Gross Gave Away Gracefully—Three Judicial Hangings. —The hanging which took place at Louisville last Friday, suggests the idea of giving publication to those that occurred in this county since its organization. A ledger-Standard reporter has interviewed old inhabitants, searched old records and files in this office, and the result is the following gleaning concerning the judicial hangings: John Damon/[Dahmen]          On December 11th 1820, the grand jury returned true bills of indictment against John Damon/[Dahmen], for the murder of Frederick Nolte and J. Kinser. On the indictment for killing Nolte, Damon/[Dahmen] was tried, convicted and executed. This was the first murder ever committed in the county, and was one of unusual atrocity.          Nolte and Damon/[Dahmen] were Germans and were very intimate friends. Nolte kept a bakery in a little log house which then stood at the south east corner of main and Pearl streets, the site of the old Lapsley building, now vacant. Damon/[Dahmen] boarded with Nolte during his stay in the city.          The night of the murder, Nolte and Damon/[Dahmen] had been on a little “drinking bout” together and this was the last time Nolte was ever seen alive. During the night Damon/[Dahmen] knocked Nolte on the head with a club. He then took up some of the boards of the floor and under it dug a hole. To this hole he dragged Nolte and cut his throat, letting his blood run into it, thus preventing any stains upon the floor.          He next took a bed tick, into which he placed the body of Nolte, along with a lot of old pots and skillets and then sewed them all up together. Procuring a wide board he placed the body and accompaniments upon it., dragged them to the river, put them in a skiff, and rowing them to the middle of the stream sunk them.          Three days afterward Damon/[Dahmen] appeared again at Nolte’s bakery, claimed that he had bought it, and that Nolte had left the country. He proceeded to dispose of the property, which done, he left for his farm some thirty miles down the river.          Damon/[Dahmen]’s story was not doubted by the citizens at that time, but shortly afterwards some men fishing with trot [trout]-lines below the city, discovered some heavy body hanging upon the hooks. They drew it to the surface and it proved to be Nolte’s body with the tick and skillets.          The excitement that prevailed at this discovery was intense; and three days after Damon/[Dahmen] was arrested at his home working in his shirt sleeves in a field. He made very light of the arrest. He was brought here and placed in the old log jail, from which he soon escaped by boring through the floor logs, and went to Canada.          From Canada he wrote a letter to his wife to whom he was warmly attached, telling her where he was and asking her to join him. The letter was written in Low Dutch and his wife could not read it, and she therefore got a neighbor named Hawkins[1] to read it for her. Hawkins felt it to be his duty to inform the authorities. What he had learned and steps were at once taken for Damon/[Dahmen]’s recapture.          Sheriff Bessey [Besse] accompanied by a man named Eastburn, went to Canada, and going to the house where Damon/[Dahmen] boarded, informed the landlord that Damon/[Dahmen]’s wife wanted to see him. Eastburn was dressed in woman’s clothes. Damon/[Dahmen] soon appeared, was seized by Eastburn and Bessey [Besse], and by main force carried to the river, nearby, placed in a boat, and taken across securely ironed, and the parties arrived at New Albany in about two weeks, traveling across the country to Pittsburgh and descending the Ohio from thence in a flatboat.          At the May term, 1821, of the court he was tried and convicted, and on the 19th day of May, Judge Floyd sentenced him as follows: “The motion for a new     trial heretofore entered in this case is overruled. It is therefore considered by the court, that the said John Damon/[Dahmen] be taken to the jail of said county, from whence he came, and from thence to the place of execution on the 6th day of July, 1821, between the hours of 12 and 4 o’clock of said day, and there he hanged by the neck until he be dead! Dead! Dead!!!”          Previous to his execution he had sold his body for dissection to Dr. Ashbel [Asahel] Clapp; but he afterwards tried to annul the contract and have his dead body put up at public auction after execution and sold to the highest bidder. The body was given to Dr. Clapp who dissected it.          Damon/[Dahmen] received his sentence with apparent unconcern, and when the judge added to the verdict, “and may God have mercy on your soul,” the prisoner responded, “yes and the devil too.”          Damon/[Dahmen] was executed in conformity with the sentence, July 6, 1821, the place of execution being near where R. P. Main’s store on State street, now stands. The scaffold was a plain affair with a trap-door suspended with a figure four trigger. The fall was about four feet.          James Bessey [Besse] was sheriff and conducted the execution in a quite orderly manner. There were no police or military. The condemned man was conveyed to the scaffold in a light wagon. He showed no emotion whatever, and refused to have any ministers of the gospel near him, claiming, as he had done since his conviction, that the devil was his father. After he was cut down the body was turned over to Dr. Strickland, who had an office on Water street, who dissected it.          After the sentence of death was announced, he confessed his crime, and boasted that he had killed several others, but he was such an incorrigible liar that the people did not believe the stories.          There was a general feeling among the public after his death, that it was a righteous execution. Jacob Lamb          On the 23rd day of May, 1829, Jacob Lamb was arraigned for trial for the murder of Thomas Taylor. The trial lasted for three days, and after an impartial hearing the jury returned a Verdict of Guilt. Judge Ross then passed sentence upon the prisoner as follows: “Jacob Lamb will stand up and receive the sentence of this court. You have, Jacob Lamb, been convicted by a jury or your countrymen, after a patient and impartial hearing of all the facts and the evidence, of one of the most heinous crimes known to the laws. In accordance with the finding of the jury, the court therefore orders that you be taken home to the place of confinement, and be there detained until the 13th day of June next, and between the hours of 11 o’clock a.m. and 4 o’clock p. m., from thence be taken to the place of execution to be provided by the sheriff in the town of New Albany, and that you be there hanged at the neck, until you are dead! Dead! Dead!!! And may God have mercy on your soul”          The circumstances of this murder were most deplorable. Lamb and Thos. Taylor left New Albany together for Greenville, and went out the Vincennes road to a point a few hundred yards distant from the Leyden farm, where they sat down under a tree to play cards. Both men were somewhat intoxicated. During the game a difficulty sprung up between them as to one or the other cheating. This resulted in a struggle in which Taylor struck Lamb, and tore a button and a small piece of cloth off his coat. An oak stick lay near Lamb, which he seized and with it dealt Taylor two blows upon the head, each blow fracturing the skull. The last blow knocked Taylor down. Lamb stood by a few moments and seeing no motion on the part of Taylor to arise, started and walked away some two or three hundred yards He then returned to where Taylor lay and found him dead.          Lamb then left the scene and walked rapidly back to New Albany, and crossing the river went up to Shipping port, where he remained until arrested.              Finding Taylor’s body—The body of Taylor was found on the evening of the murder, which was on the 11th of November 1828. The button and small piece of cloth torn from Lamb’s coat were also found. The latter were taken possession of by Gen. Alex. S. Burnett, the sheriff of the county, to be used by him in his effort to detect the murderer.          Gen. Burnett was indefatigable in his search for the perpetrator of the crime, and ascertaining that Lamb and Taylor had been seen leaving town together, he immediately suspected lamb of the crime. Learning that Lamb was at Shipping port he went over arrested him, and brought him to New Albany, and placed him in jail.          On comparing the piece of cloth and batten, it was found that they had both come off of Lamb’s coat, was convicted and executed.             Soon after Lamb’s arrest he was sent to the jail at Charlestown as the jail here was not considered safe.  He made his escape from the Charlestown jail and several weeks afterwards was reported to have been seen near the upper end of New Albany. Gen. Burnett suspected that he was secreted in a house in the woods near what is now the corner of upper Main and Vincennes streets, and going to the house asking a woman whom he met on entering it if Lamb was there. She answered, no. Gen. B. was not satisfied and seeing a pair of stairs, immediately ascended them and discovered Lamb crouched in a corner of the room.          Burnett was unarmed, not having even a pocket knife and was alone in a house where there might be equally desperate persons. Between him and Lamb was a box of carpenter’s tools, many of which Lamb could have used with fatal effect upon him. He took in the danger at a glance, but only contemplated it for a moment. Springing over the box of tools, he seized Lamb, who was a large and powerful man, and told him he must go back to jail.          Lamb yielded without an effort at resistance and he was taken to jail and securely guarded until the day of execution.          After his conviction, Lamb made a particular request of Gen. Burnett that he should execute him, giving as a reason that whatever he, B. did, was well done. The general performed the painful duty, and Lamb when the drop was sprung fell about four feet and died without a struggle. Just before the rope that held the spring was cut, Lamb had hold of Gen. Burnett’s hand which he held so firmly that B. had to jerk it away. As he did so, Lamb exclaimed, “God bless you, General Burnett, God”—But the words were cut short by the fall, and soon his soul was in the presence of the impartial judge of all mankind.          Lamb, when sober, was a quiet, hardworking man, but he, at times, drank hard and was then very boisterous and troublesome. It was not generally believed that he committed the murder for which he suffered death, with “intent” or premeditation. But his bad habits at times lost him the sympathy of the community and no effort was made for a new trial, reprieve, or commutation of sentence.          General Burnett, the then sheriff, is now living in San Francisco, California. The execution took place near the present site of Bradley & Leyden’s flouring mill, corner of State and Elm street, in the presence of a large crowd of people. Ernest William Gross. On the night of November 1st, 1849, Ernst William Gross and Charles Gates murdered John Peter Smith, a fellow laborer, at what was called the “Springs property’ in Jeffersonville. Both were arrested the next day and held to await the next term of the Clark circuit court, at which they were tried and convicted of murder in the first degree, the jury awarding the death penalty.          One account of some extenuating circumstances, the governor commuted the sentence of Gates to imprisonment for life.          The counsel for Gross, the late Judge Charles Dewey, being the leading one, appealed his case to the Supreme Court and on some technicality the Supreme Court reversed the declaration and sent the case back for a new trial.          A change of venue was then taken and the case sent to this county for trial, and on the 1st day of November, 1850, exactly one year from the killing, Gross was again convicted and sentenced to be hung.          The sentence of Judge William T. Otto, then on the bench, is said to have been eloquent and impressive, but no copy was preserved.          The following are the jurymen who tried the case: Henry Miller, Michael Floyd, William T. Bosley, Nicholas Court, Josephus C. Childs, Jesse Jones, Green Neeld, Daniel South, Green H. Neeld, James Tabler, James Merriwether and Enos Edwards.          The following was the gist of the direct evidence upon which the prisoner was convicted:          John C. Stewart: “Went to see Gross in prison in Charlestown; wanted to know what he had done with John Peter Smith’s money. Gross admitted to him that he had killed Smith , said the murder was prompted by a passion he acquired whilst in Mexico, which he never could get rid of.”          Harry Stevens testified to his confession. The murdered and murderer were in his employ at Jeffersonville springs at the time of the killing. Gross told witness that he harbored malice against deceased because he called him a “green-horn” owing to some mistakes he made while attending to the green-house; also confessed as to the passion acquired in Mexico.          The defendant wrote a sketch of his life and a confession of the murder in German, which was translated by Charles Meyer and published by Kent and Norman, then the publishers of the Ledger, in pamphlet form.  He was executed on Friday December 13th, 1850, and from the files of the Ledger of that date, the following account of the hanging is taken:          The gallows had been erected several days previously in the Falling Run bottom, a short distance below the State street bridge, in the northwestern part of the city, and sheriff Thomas Gwin had taken every precaution to prevent those accidents and mishaps which so frequently render public execution scenes of the most frightful butchery.          The condemned man was taken from the jail in which he was confined at about 12 o’clock and placed in a carriage, the attending physician on one side of him and the Rev. Mr. Lichtenstein, who has been his principal religious adviser during the period of his incarceration in this city, on the other. To prevent the crow d coming too close up to the carriage, and to preserve order, a military guard, under Capt. Henderson, was in attendance on the ground. In this manner the mournful cortege proceeded to the scene of execution. When they arrived there the prisoner got out of the carriage and walked up the steps with an elastic step, which had somewhat the appearance of being forced.          On reaching the platform he took a seat on a bench, pulled off his hat and brushed back his hair. The Rev. Mr. Leichtenstein then offered a ferverent prayer in the German language to Almighty God for the salvation of the soul of the unfortunate man who was about to be launched into eternity. After Mr. L. had concluded, the condemned, on his knees, prayed for some fifteen or twenty minutes with great apparent earnestness and zeal, also in the German. He prayed forgiveness for the great injury he had done to his best friends and that God would save his soul. He spoke feelingly of his mother, and prayed the almighty to comfort her in her terrible affliction. He did not speak directly of the crime for which he was to die. When he had concluded he arose from his knees and the sheriff adjusted the noose around his neck, during which time the minister at the request of the sheriff kept him engaged in conversation. When all was ready sheriff Gwin touched a spring connected with two bolts which supported the platform on which the condemned man stood, and in an instant he was hanging by the neck, the fall being about thirty inches. He quivered but little, his arms gently dropping down. He apparently suffered no pain whatever. After remaining suspended fifteen minutes he was taken down, in accordance with his own request, the body was given into the hands of Dr. Sloan and immediately conveyed to his laboratory.          The galvanic battery and the inhaling tube were applied in the presence of the medical faculty of the city and although some muscular contraction was visible, they failed to produce respiration. The physicians were of opinion the neck was broken, the countenance after death wore its wonted aspect while in life. No contortions were visible indicating that he had suffered pain.          When the condemned was taken from the jail his mother was present and exhibited great emotion. She screamed most violently. An immense concourse of people was present, numbers having come a distance of fifteen or twenty miles to witness the horrid spectacle.          This was the last judicial hanging in Floyd county, and it is hoped there may be no occasion to prevent its remaining the last, and now follows a short moral which might very properly be styled a condensed temperance lecture.                Damon/[Dahmen] was drunk when he killed Nolte; Lamb was drunk when he killed Taylor, and Grose was drunk when he killed Smith.                                            –New Albany Ledger Standard 25 Feb 1879 p4 c2 New Albany Daily Ledger 14 Aug 1884 p5 c3: Floyd County Hangings.—Only Three of Them and Who They Were—A correspondent writes the Ledger an inquiry as follows: “Was not Jacob Lamb the first man executed in Floyd county for murder? How many executions have taken place in the county for murder?” The Ledger answers the last question first. There have been three executions in Floyd county of murders. The first was John Damon, for the murder of a man at the southwest corner of Main and Pearl streets, Damon entering the man’s house at night, killing him, placing him in a bed tick and dragging him to the river and throwing the body in, where it was afterwards caught. Jacob Besse, the first sheriff of the county, did the hanging in 1819 or 1820, if our recollection is not at fault. Jacob Lamb was the second man executed. On the 28th day of November, 1828, on the knobs a short distance north of the Leyden farm, he killed Thomas Taylor, his companion, with an oak club, crushing in his forehead. The murder was committed in the night, and both men had been drinking. Lamb claimed that Taylor attacked him and he struck back in self-defense, but afterwards put in a plea of general denial of all knowledge of the murder. He was found guilty at the May term, 1829, of the circuit court, and executed by hanging on the 30th day of June following. Ex-Mayor Burnett was sheriff at that time and by Lamb’s special request conducted the hanging. The third and last execution was that of William Gross, a young German, who killed John Peter Smith near Jeffersonville, on the 1st of November, 1849. He took a change of venue from Clark to Floyd county, and on his trial in the Floyd circuit court was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was executed on Friday, December 13, 1850, in Falling Run bottom, opposite the head of West First street. Thomas Gwin was sheriff of the county and conducted the execution. These are all the hangings that have occurred in Floyd county, except the execution of the three Reno Brothers and Charles Anderson, by a mob, in the county jail in this city. Four Express Robbers Hung in Jail. FULL DETAILS OF THE TRAGEDY. By Telegraph to The Republican. The three Reno brothers  and Charles Anderson, Adams express robbers, were hung in the New Albany (Ind.) jail, Saturday morning, by a band of "vigilantes" from Seymour.   About 8 o'clock in the morning, Luther Whilton, one of the outside guards of the jail, was met at the entrance by a party of men, who presented pistols at him, demanding his silence or death. Whilton shouted,   however, but was  seized, knocked down and informed that if he shouted again he should die. By this time the jail office was filled with men searching for the keys. Sheriff Fullenlove, understanding the situation, came down from his sleeping apartment and gained the door leading to the grounds on the west side of the jail. Here he met a force armed with pistols, which were directed at him. He exclaimed, "Gentlemen, don't shoot me; l am the sheriff." But one of the band fired a shot, which took effect in the sheriff's right arm, inflicting a serious wound. The keys were demanded, out he positively refused to surrender them. About a dozen of the band then entered Fullenlove's room, where his wife lay in bed, and demanded the jail keys of her, but she refused to surrender them. They succeeded in finding them, however, concealed in a drawer. They then seized Thomas Mathews, one of the inside guards, whom they compelled to open the cells of the men whom the mob had determined to hang. Frank and William Reno were the first victims. They were dragged out and hung along side of each other on the same pillar. Simon Reno was then brought out, but he fought the mob with great desperation, knocking one or two of them down before he was overpowered, and left suspended between the ceiling and the floor. Charles Anderson, who was the last victim, was heard to beg for the privilege of praying, but this request was refused, and he was hung at the southwest corner of the jail. After a further threat to kill the sheriff, the mob proceeded to the train, carrying with them the jail keys. Armed men stood guard to prevent any alarm from being given, and at 4 o'clock the train with the entire party, consisting of from 75 to 100 men, started off. They came well armed and equipped for the work. They intended to also hang a man named Clark, the murderer of George Tille, but they concluded not to do so, fearing to remain any longer. The band came from Seymour, Ind., on a car by themselves, which was attached to the regular train. Charles Anderson and Frank Reno were lately surrendered by the Canadian authorities upon the solemn pledge of the United States government that they should have a fair trial and if innocent should be returned to Canada. Date: 1868-12-14;  Paper: Springfield Republican The Sequel of the New Albany Trage The New Albany (Ind.) and Cincinnati (O ) Commercials give these graphic sketches of the scenes following the recent hanging at New Albany and burial at Rockford, Ind. of the three Reno brothers: Frank Reno and Charles Anderson were married. After the bodies had been upon the floor in the jail hall the wives of these two men and Miss Laura Reno, the sister of the three brothers, were permitted to enter the hall to take their last look at those who were in their lives all the world to them, The three women entered, paler by far than the dead bodies stretched out so stark and ghastly upon the prison floor. First came from these despairing, women piercing shrieks: then tears like rain. bursting from overflown fountains, and moans so touching in their plaintiveness and utter despair that not even the most stolid could keep from weeping. Then followed that quiet, almost stolid look, a sort of blank, purposeless agony, that tells that hearts are breaking, that grief's work is perfectly done. Great God! what a spectacle of utter woe it was! The outburst of grief ended the quiet of despair settled upon the faces of the women. But not long did one of them remain under the burden The sister of the Reno brothers, an intelligent and handsome young lady, dried her eyes with her handkerchief, then taking the grief stained piece of linen, she placed it over the face of her brother William, who to the last declared his innocence; then she kneeled beside the dead man, and laid her left hand over his heart, and, raising her right one toward heaven, she took this terrible oath:   "Oh! my poor murdered brother, may God curse your sister if she avenge not your death terribly and fully. This I will do, so help me God."  What a tragic scene was this—the dark, strong walls on all sides, and the cold stone floor under her knees—the sable garments of the bereaved sister, the pale face turned upward and the white hand pointing heavenward! "What a tableau of death; despair, love and revenge!  Anderson was buried at New Albany.  Frank, Sim. and Will. Reno were placed in stained poplar coffins, and on Monday morning carried over the road by the company they had robbed so heavily, past the scenes where they committed their murderous depredations a few months ago. They were taken to the residence of Frank Reno, a snug brick farm house worth about  $8,000, with the farm, near Rockford, a village in sight of Seymour, at the crossing of White River. Of course a crowd rushed there to seem them, but old Wilkes Reno, father of the deceased, who is said to have been partially insane for some time, armed himself with a navy revolver and other weapons, and drove them all off.  He had to be watched all the time to keep him from injuring somebody during the day preceding the burial. At the funeral, at which Rev Francis S. Potts officiated, a large audience was present, mostly from curiosity. The old crazy father, the young, handsome and infatuated sister, and Clinton, a son, said to be the "white sheep of the flock," with Frank's wife, composed the entire retinue of mourners. The bodies were handsomely dressed, but were buried in the coffins, in which they left the jail at New Albany. Old Wilkes Reno, two sons, and a daughter remain. The mother has died since her sons were imprisoned at New Albany, John Reno is in the Missouri state prison, serving out a twenty years' sentence for "safe-blowing" in that state. Ar the time Frank and Sim and Will were hung, Clinton was in Missouri trying to get Jack released. Jack had sent word that if he had $5000 he could get out, and Clinton had raised the money and gone out there, but a telegram from his "wife that the boys were hung, brought him back without his brother. How the $5000 is to accomplish the release of Jack Reno is not understood. Date: 1868-12-23;  Paper: Springfield Republican Ever hear of the Reno Gang? Renos Prospered Until Farmers Got Mad World's First Train Robbers Nearly Forgotten by Don Reeder New Albany, Ind Ever hear of the Reno Gang? Chances are you haven't. But these four brothers — the world's first train robbers — made Jesse James, the Youngers and Daltons look like kids raiding the corner candy store. They finally ran up against some farmers and shopkeepers even more ruthless than themselves, and for nearly a century now the Reno Gang has been almost as forgotten as if it never existed. There were actually five Reno brothers — Frank, John. Simeon, Clinton and William. With the exception of "Honest Clint," they were as crooked as a dog's hind leg — and a bt more formidable. The Renos lived near Seymour, Ind., and tbey weren't a bit like today's television gunslingers.Short, squat men with busby mustaches, they looked like country rubes in town to fritter away the hog money. But what they lacked in appear, ance, they more than made up in all-around cussedness. The brothers were "bounty jumpers" during the Civil War, collecting money to replace prosperous draftees in the Union Army and then deserting to sign up again under new names. But the bounty business went to pot at Appomatox, and the Renos turned to other means of earning a living — such as murder, robbery, burglary, counterfeiting and arson. CARNIVAL OF CRIME "A carnival of crime," cried an Indiana newspaper editor. And; it was. For a couple of years, court-houses were a favorite Reno target. They figured if there was any money around, the tax collectors would have a large bunk of it Ranging into Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and several other Mid-western states for their raids, they were tipped off by local accomplices when the county treasurer's safe was ripe. The night of Oct 6, 1866, the Reno Gang really made history by  pulling off the world's first train robbery. John and Simeon Reno climbed aboard the Obio & Mississippi train as it beaded east from Seymour, clubbed the Adams Express agent and looted a safe of $13,000. They had to abandon another safe containing $30,000 when a posse puffed up on handcars. Not long after that, John Reno left the gang. But it wasn't John's idea. Col. Allan Pinkerton, first chief of the U.S. Secret Service and by then head of his own private detective agency, bad the second-eldest Reno sent to the Missouri State Penitentiary for 25 years in the $22,000 burglary of the Davies County Courthouse in Gallatin, Mo. John served 10 years, became a saloonkeeper and died in 1895 of a seizure during a card game. 'APRIL FOOL SHERIFF' Frank Reno,  the  eldest and gang leader,  was captured in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in March 1868 but the sheriff walked into the cell the morning of April 1 to find it empty, the wall chalked with the taunting farewell, "April Fool Sheriff." The Renos quickly returned to work and made their richest haul with the holdup of a Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis train near Seymour the night of May 22. 1868. Cutting the telegraph wires and disconnectimg the express car from the rest of the train, they highballed away to loot the safe at their leisure of $96,000. That was triple what Jesse James ever got from a single robbery. The Reno brothers decided to go into temporary retirement to spend their money. But six other members of the gang got ambitious and decided to pull another quick train holdup. They walked into a Pinkerton: trap near Seymour on July 10, 1868, and all six were caught Then the Southern Indiana vigilance committee galloped into the picture. This noble citizens' group came complete with Latin motto — "Salus Populi Supreme Lex" or "The Wish of the People Is the Supreme Law." The vigilantes halted the train transferring three of the bandits July 20, hustled them-away from helpless guards and hanged them to a large beech tree outside Seymour. Pinkerton's men tried to sneak the other three prisoners from Seymour to Brownstown by.horse and wagon five nights later; Again the vigilantes rode out of the darkness, seized the three robbers and strung them up on the same beech tree. RENOS ARRESTED Finally, the Reno brothers them, selves were arrested. Authorities placed the three Renos and Anderson in New Albany's Floyd County jail, a two-story stone building rated one of the strongest in the area. About 75 men took a darkened train from Seymour the night of Dec 10, 1868 and headed for New Albany, 50 miles' away. They all wore red flannel masks, and the leaders had numbers chalked on the backs of their reversed coats for identification. It was 3 a.m. and the temperature close to zero when the train arrived in New Albany. "Bring-me Frank Reno's rope," growled a burly masked man with the number "1" chalked on his coat after the vigilantes took over the jail. "For God's sake, gentlemen," pleaded the ashen faced Reno chief as he was dragged from the cell. "What are you going to do with me?" Frank wasn't long finding out A length of new manila hemp was slung about his neck, and the eldest Reno brother was shoved off the second floor tier into space. "I never done, no robberies," cried 20-year-old William Reno.  "I'm innocent ... Oh, Lord!" They hanged William next to his brother, their faces almost touching as tbe bodies swayed in the lamplight. NOBODY ARRESTED Sim Reno put up a fight, battering several hangmen with an iron sink he wrenched from the wall. He was hanged too. So was Anderson. About 45 minutes after they arrived, the Vigilantes left by train, their morning's work done. Nobody ever was arrested for the lynchings. Frank, Sim and William were buried in a single pine box in the Seymour Cemetery. Today, not even a gravestone marks the spot The New Albany jail still stands. But it will be torn down soon to make room for a parking lot Maybe it's a sort of justice. Some of the most ruthless brigands in American history have themselves been robbed of the only thing they left behind —their reputations. Date: 1961-08-09;  Paper: Aberdeen Daily News James Boys Look Sick Beside Reno Brothers Jesse James? He was mighty small caliber compared to the Reno Gang, the nation's first train robbers. They not only got there first, they got the most and once even got the whole train. Lynching may have been too good for them but they got that, too. By DON REEDER NEW ALBANY, Ind. (AP)— Ever hear of the Reno Gang? Chances are you haven't. But these four brothers — theworld's first train robbers—made Jesse James, the Youngers and Daltons look like kids raiding the corner candy store. They finally ran up against some farmers and shopkeepers even more ruthless than themselves, and for nearly a century now the Reno  Gang has been almost as forgotten as if it never existed. There were actually five Reno lbrothers  — Frank, John, Simeon. Clinton and William. With the exception of "Honest Clint," they were as crooked as a dog's hind leg — and a lot more formidable. The Renos lived near Seymour. Ind.. and they weren't a bit like today's television gunslingers. Short, squat men with bushy moustaches, they looked like country rubes in, town to fritter away the hog money. But what they lacked in appearance, they more than made up in all-around cussedness. The brothers were : "bounty jumpers" during the Civil War. collecting money to replace prosperous draftees in the Union Army and then deserting to sign up again under new names. But the bounty business; went to pot at Appomatox. and the Renos  turned to other, means of earning a living-such as murder, robbery, burglary, conterfeiting and arson. "A carnival of crime." cried an Indiana newspaper editor. And it was. Courthouses Favorite Target For a coupie of years, court-houses were a favorite Reno target. They figured if there was any money around, the tax collectors would have a large hunk of it. Ranging into Ohio. Illinois. Missouri, Iowa and several other Midwestern states for their raids, they were tipped off by local accomplices when the county   treasurer's safe was ripe. The night of Oct. 6, 1866. the Reno Gang really made history by pulling off the world's first train robbery. John and Simeon Reno climbed aboard the Ohio Mississippi train as it headed east from Seymour, clubbed the Adams Express agent and looted a safe of S15.000. They had to abandon another safe containing $30,000 when a posse puffed up on handcars. Not long after that. John Reno left the gang. But it wasn't John's idea. Col. Allan Pinkerton, first chief of the U.S. Secret Service and by then head of his own private detective agency, had the second - eldest Reno sent to the Missouri state penitentiary for 25 years in the $22,000 burglary of the Davies County courthouse in Gallatin. Mo. John served 10 years, became a saloonkeeper and died in 1895 of a seizure during a card game. Frank Reno, the eldest and gang leader, was captured in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in March 1868 but the sheriff walked into the cell the morning of April 1 to find it empty, the wall chalked with the taunting farewell. - " April Fool, Sheriff.'' The Renos quickly returned to work and made their richest haul with the holdup of a Jeffersonviile. Madison & Indianapolis train near Seymour the night of May 22. 1868. Safe Looted At Ease Cutting the telegraph wires and disconnecting the express car from the rest of the train, they highballed away to loot the safe at their leisure of $96.000. That was triple what Jesse James ever got from a single robbery. The Reno "brothers decided to go into temporary retirement to spend their money. But six other members of the gang got ambitious and decided to pull another quick train holdup. They walked into a Pinkerton trap near Seymour on July 10. 1868. and all six were caught. Then the southern Indiana vigilance committee galloped into the picture. This noble citizens' group came complete with Latin motto — "Salus Populi Supreme Lex" or 'The Wish of the People is the Supreme Law." The vigilantes halted the train transferring three of the bandits July 20, hustled them away from helpless guards and hanged them to a large beech tree outside Seymour. Pinkerton's men tried to sneak the other three prisoners from Seymour to Brownstown by horse and wagon five nights later. Again the vigilantes rode out of the darkness, seized the three robbers and strung them up on the same beech tree. Finally, the Reno brothers themselves were arrested. Authorities placed the three Renos in New Albany's Floyd County Jail, a two-story stone building rated one of the strongest in the area. About 75 men took a darkened train from Seymour the night of Dec. 10, 1868 and headed for New Albany, 50 miles away. They all wore red flannel masks, and the leaders had numbers chalked on the backs of their reversed coats for identification. It was 3 a.m. and the temperature close to zero when the train arrived in New Albany. ''Brine me Frank Reno's rope." growled a burly masked man with the number "1"chalked on his coat after the vigilantes took over the jail. "For God's sake, gentlemen." pleaded the ashen faced Reno chief as he was dragged from his cell. "What are you going to do with me?" Not Long Finding Out Frank wasn't long finding out. A length of new manila hemp was slung about his neck, and the eldest Reno brother was shoved off the second floor tier into space. "I never done no robberies." cried 20 -year -old William Reno. "I'm innocent. . . oh. Lord!" They hanged William next to his brother, their faces almost touching as the bodies swayed in the lamplight. Sim Reno put up a fight battering several hangmen with an iron sink he wrenched from the wall. He was hanged too. About 45 minutes after they arrived, the vigilantes left by train, their morning's work done. Nobody ever was arrested for the lynchings. Frank. Sim and William were buried in a single pine box in the Seymour cemetery. Today, not even a gravestone marks the spot. The New Albany jail still stands. But it will be torn down soon to make room for a parking lot. Maybe it's a sort of justice. Some of the most ruthless brigands in American history have themselves been robbed of the only thine they left behind — their reputations. Date: August 13, 1961 Paper: Oregonian Vigilants. Three Hundred Colored Men on the Trail of a Murderer New Albany, Ind , August 3.—Three hundred men of this city, it is stated, are organized as vigilants with the purpose of breaking open the jail and taking there from and hanging John Woods, the murderer of William Martina. The colored people are apprehensive the cold-blooded scoundrel will escape the  punishment his crime merits. Saturday night was the time fixed for the hanging, but knowledge of the fact coming to several white men they succeeded, after a day's conference with the vigilante, in persuading them from their purpose, though they had purchased a rope with which to do the hanging The murderer and his victim are colored, the murdered man being highly esteemed and the murderer being a desperado. There may yet be an outbreak. Date: 1880-08-04;  Paper: Wheeling Register New Albany – Floyd County Hangings; New Albany Daily Ledger 14 Aug 1884 p5 c3: Floyd County Hangings.—Only Three of Them and Who They Were—A correspondent writes the Ledger an inquiry as follows: “Was not Jacob Lamb the first man executed in Floyd county for murder? How many executions have taken place in the county for murder?” The Ledger answers the last question first. There have been three executions in Floyd county of murders. The first was John Damon, for the murder of a man at the southwest corner of Main and Pearl streets, Damon entering the man’s house at night, killing him, placing him in a bed tick and dragging him to the river and throwing the body in, where it was afterwards caught. Jacob Besse, the first sheriff of the county, did the hanging in 1819 or 1820, if our recollection is not at fault. Jacob Lamb was the second man executed. On the 28th day of November, 1828, on the knobs a short distance north of the Leyden farm, he killed Thomas Taylor, his companion, with an oak club, crushing in his forehead. The murder was committed in the night, and both men had been drinking. Lamb claimed that Taylor attacked him and he struck back in self-defense, but afterwards put in a plea of general denial of all knowledge of the murder. He was found guilty at the May term, 1829, of the circuit court, and executed by hanging on the 30th day of June following. Ex-Mayor Burnett was sheriff at that time and by Lamb’s special request conducted the hanging. The third and last execution was that of William Gross, a young German, who killed John Peter Smith near Jeffersonville, on the 1st of November, 1849. He took a change of venue from Clark to Floyd county, and on his trial in the Floyd circuit court was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was executed on Friday, December 13, 1850, in Falling Run bottom, opposite the head of West First street. Thomas Gwin was sheriff of the county and conducted the execution. These are all the hangings that have occurred in Floyd county, except the execution of the three Reno Brothers and Charles Anderson, by a mob, in the county jail in this city. New Albany – Home Hangings; New Albany Ledger Standard 25 Feb 1879 p4 c2: Home Hangings, In a Judicial Way Since the Organization of Floyd County.—Damon Defied the Devil; —Lamb Died Game and Wanted to Take Gen Burnett, the Sheriff, along With Him; —Gross Gave Away Gracefully—Three Judicial Hangings. —The hanging which took place at Louisville last Friday, suggests the idea of giving publication to those that occurred in this county since its organization. A ledger-Standard reporter has interviewed old inhabitants, searched old records and files in this office, and the result is the following gleaning concerning the judicial hangings: John Damon/Dahmen   On December 11th 1820, the grand jury returned true bills of indictment against John Damon, for the murder of Frederick Nolte and J. Kinser. On the indictment for killing Nolte, Damon was tried, convicted and executed. This was the first murder ever committed in the county, and was one of unusual atrocity.   Nolte and Damon were Germans and were very intimate friends. Nolte kept a bakery in a little log house which then stood at the south east corner of main and Pearl streets, the site of the old Lapsley building, now vacant. Damon boarded with Nolte during his stay in the city.   The night of the murder, Nolte and Damon had been on a little “drinking bout” together and this was the last time Nolte was ever seen alive. During the night Damon knocked Nolte on the head with a club. He then took up some of the boards of the floor and under it dug a hole. To this hole he dragged Nolte and cut his throat, letting his blood run into it, thus preventing any stains upon the floor.   He next took a bed tick, into which he placed the body of Nolte, along with a lot of old pots and skillets and then sewed them all up together. Procuring a wide board he placed the body and accompaniments upon it., dragged them to the river, put them in a skiff, and rowing them to the middle of the stream sunk them.   Three days afterward Damon appeared again at Nolte’s bakery, claimed that he had bought it, and that Nolte had left the country. He proceeded to dispose of the property, which done, he left for his farm some thirty miles down the river.   Damon’s story was not doubted by the citizens at that time, but shortly afterwards some men fishing with trot [trout]-lines below the city, discovered some heavy body hanging upon the hooks. They drew it to the surface and it proved to be Nolte’s body with the tick and skillets.   The excitement that prevailed at this discovery was intense; and three days after Damon was arrested at his home working in his shirt sleeves in a field. He made very light of the arrest. He was brought here and placed in the old log jail, from which he soon escaped by boring through the floor logs, and went to Canada.   From Canada he wrote a letter to his wife to whom he was warmly attached, telling her where he was and asking her to join him. The letter was written in Low Dutch and his wife could not read it, and she therefore got a neighbor named Hawkins[1] to read it for her. Hawkins felt it to be his duty to inform the authorities. What he had learned and steps were at once taken for Damon’s recapture.   Sheriff Bessey [Besse] accompanied by a man named Eastburn, went to Canada, and going to the house where Damon boarded, informed the landlord that Damon’s wife wanted to see him. Eastburn was dressed in woman’s clothes. Damon soon appeared, was seized by Eastburn and Bessey [Besse], and by main force carried to the river, nearby, placed in a boat, and taken across securely ironed, and the parties arrived at New Albany in about two weeks, traveling across the country to Pittsburgh and decending the Ohio from thence in a flatboat.   At the May term, 1821, of the court he was tried and convicted, and on the 19th day of May, Judge Floyd sentenced him as follows: “The motion for a new     trial heretofore entered in this case is overruled. It is therefore considered by the court, that the said John Damon be taken to the jail of said county, from whence he came, and from thence to the place of execution on the 6th day of July, 1821, between the hours of 12 and 4 o’clock of said day, and there he hanged by the neck until he be dead! Dead! Dead!!!”   Previous to his execution he had sold his body for dissection to Dr. Ashbel [Asahel] Clapp; but he afterwards tried to annul the contract and have his dead body put up at public auction after execution and sold to the highest bidder. The body was given to Dr. Clapp who dissected it.   Damon received his sentence with apparent unconcern, and when the judge added to the verdict, “and may God have mercy on your soul,” the prisoner responded, “yes and the devil too.”   Damon was executed in conformity with the sentence, July 6, 1821, the place of execution being near where R. P. Main’s store on State street, now stands. The scaffold was a plain affair with a trap-door suspended with a figure four trigger. The fall was about four feet.   James Bessey [Besse] was sheriff and conducted the execution in a quite orderly manner. There were no police or military. The condemned man was conveyed to the scaffold in a light wagon. He showed no emotion whatever, and refused to have any ministers of the gospel near him, claiming, as he had done since his conviction, that the devil was his father. After he was cut down the body was turned over to Dr. Strickland, who had an office on Water street, who dissected it.   After the sentence of death was announced, he confessed his crime, and boasted that he had killed several others, but he was such an incorrigible liar that the people did not believe the stories.   There was a general feeling among the public after his death, that it was a righteous execution. Jacob Lamb   On the 23rd day of May, 1829, Jacob Lamb was arraigned for trial for the murder of Thomas Taylor. The trial lasted for three days, and after an impartial hearing the jury returned a Verdict of Guilt. Judge Ross then passed sentence upon the prisoner as follows: “Jacob Lamb will stand up and receive the sentence of this court. You have, Jacob Lamb, been convicted by a jury or your countrymen, after a patient and impartial hearing of all the facts and the evidence, of one of the most heinous crimes known to the laws. In accordance with the finding of the jury, the court therefore orders that you be taken home to the place of confinement, and be there detained until the 13th day of June next, and between the hours of 11 o’clock a.m. and 4 o’clock p. m., from thence be taken to the place of execution to be provided by the sheriff in the town of New Albany, and that you be there hanged at the neck, until you are dead! Dead! Dead!!! And may God have mercy on your soul”   The circumstances of this murder were most deplorable. Lamb and Thos. Taylor left New Albany together for Greenville, and went out the Vincennes road to a point a few hundred yards distant from the Leyden farm, where they sat down under a tree to play cards. Both men were somewhat intoxicated. During the game a difficulty sprung up between them as to one or the other cheating. This resulted in a struggle in which Taylor struck Lamb, and tore a button and a small piece of cloth off his coat. An oak stick lay near Lamb, which he seized and with it dealt Taylor two blows upon the head, each blow fracturing the skull. The last blow knocked Taylor down. Lamb stood by a few moments and seeing no motion on the part of Taylor to arise, started and walked away some two or three hundred yards He then returned to where Taylor lay and found him dead.   Lamb then left the scene and walked rapidly back to New Albany, and crossing the river went up to Shippingport, where he remained until arrested.       Finding Taylor’s body—The body of Taylor was found on the evening of the murder, which was on the 11th of November 1828. The button and small piece of cloth torn from Lamb’s coat were also found. The latter were taken possession of by Gen. Alex. S. Burnett, the sheriff of the county, to be used by him in his effort to detect the murderer.   Gen. Burnett was indefatigable in his search for the perpetrator of the crime, and ascertaining that Lamb and Taylor had been seen leaving town together, he immediately suspected lamb of the crime. Learning that Lamb was at Shippingport he went over arrested him, and brought him to New Albany, and placed him in jail.   On comparing the piece of cloth and batten, it was found that they had both come off of Lamb’s coat, was convicted and executed.      Soon after Lamb’s arrest he was sent to the jail at Charlestown as the jail here was not considered safe.  He made his escape from the Charlestown jail and several weeks afterwards was reported to have been seen near the upper end of New Albany. Gen. Burnett suspected that he was secreted in a house in the woods near what is now the corner of upper Main and Vincennes streets, and going to the house asking a woman whom he met on entering it if Lamb was there. She answered, no. Gen. B. was not satisfied and seeing a pair of stairs, immediately ascended them and discovered Lamb crouched in a corner of the room.   Burnett was unarmed, not having even a pocket knife and was alone in a house where there might be equally desperate persons. Between him and Lamb was a box of carpenter’s tools, many of which Lamb could have used with fatal effect upon him. He took in the danger at a glance, but only contemplated it for a moment. Springing over the box of tools, he seized Lamb, who was a large and powerful man, and told him he must go back to jail.   Lamb yielded without an effort at resistance and he was taken to jail and securely guarded until the day of execution.   After his conviction, Lamb made a particular request of Gen. Burnett that he should execute him, giving as a reason that whatever he, B. did, was well done. The general performed the painful duty, and Lamb when the drop was sprung fell about four feet and died without a struggle. Just before the rope that held the spring was cut, Lamb had hold of Gen. Burnett’s hand which he held so firmly that B. had to jerk it away. As he did so, Lamb exclaimed, “God bless you, General Burnett, God”—But the words were cut short by the fall, and soon his soul was in the presence of the impartial judge of all mankind.   Lamb, when sober, was a quiet, hardworking man, but he, at times, drank hard and was then very boisterous and troublesome. It was not generally believed that he committed the murder for which he suffered death, with “intent” or premeditation. But his bad habits at times lost him the sympathy of the community and no effort was made for a new trial, reprieve, or commutation of sentence.   General Burnett, the then sheriff, is now living in San Francisco, California. The execution took place near the present site of Bradley & Leyden’s flouring mill, corner of State and Elm street, in the presence of a large crowd of people. Ernest William Gross. On the night of November 1st, 1849, Ernst William Gross and Charles Gates murdered John Peter Smith, a fellow laborer, at what was called the “Springs property’ in Jeffersonville. Both were arrested the next day and held to await the next term of the Clark circuit court, at which they were tried and convicted of murder in the first degree, the jury awarding the death penalty.   One account of some extenuating circumstances, the governor commuted the sentence of Gates to imprisonment for life.   The counsel for Gross, the late Judge Charles Dewey, being the leading one, appealed his case to the Supreme Court and on some technicality the Supreme Court reversed the declaration and sent the case back for a new trial.   A change of venue was then taken and the case sent to this county for trial, and on the 1st day of November, 1850, exactly one year from the killing, Gross was again convicted and sentenced to be hung.   The sentence of Judge William T. Otto, then on the bench, is said to have been eloquent and impressive, but no copy was preserved.   The following are the jurymen who tried the case: Henry Miller, Michael Floyd, William T. Bosley, Nicholas Court, Josephus C. Childs, Jesse Jones, Green Neeld, Daniel South, Green H. Neeld, James Tabler, James Merriwether and Enos Edwards.   The following was the gist of the direct evidence upon which the prisoner was convicted:   John C. Stewart: “Went to see Gross in prison in Charlestown; wanted to know what he had done with John Peter Smith’s money. Gross admitted to him that he had killed Smith, said the murder was prompted by a passion he acquired whilst in Mexico, which he never could get rid of.”   Harry Stevens testified to his confession. The murdered and murderer were in his employ at Jeffersonville springs at the time of the killing. Gross told witness that he harbored malice against deceased because he called him a “green-horn” owing to some mistakes he made while attending to the green-house; also confessed as to the passion acquired in Mexico.   The defendant wrote a sketch of his life and a confession of the murder in German, which was translated by Charles Meyer and published by Kent and Norman, then the publishers of the Ledger, in pamphlet form.  He was executed on Friday December 13th, 1850, and from the files of the Ledger of that date, the following account of the hanging is taken:   The gallows had been erected several days previously in the Falling Run bottom, a short distance below the State street bridge, in the northwestern part of the city, and sheriff Thomas Gwin had taken every precaution to prevent those accidents and mishaps which so frequently render public execution scenes of the most frightful butchery.   The condemned man was taken from the jail in which he was confined at about 12 o’clock and placed in a carriage, the attending physician on one side of him and the Rev. Mr. Lichtenstein, who has been his principal religious adviser during the period of his incarceration in this city, on the other. To prevent the crow d coming too close up to the carriage, and to preserve order, a military guard, under Capt. Henderson, was in attendance on the ground. In this manner the mournful cortege proceeded to the scene of execution. When they arrived there the prisoner got out of the carriage and walked up the steps with an elastic step, which had somewhat the appearance of being forced.   On reaching the platform he took a seat on a bench, pulled off his hat and brushed back his hair. The Rev. Mr. Leichtenstein then offered a ferverent prayer in the German language to Almighty God for the salvation of the soul of the unfortunate man who was about to be launched into eternity. After Mr. L. had concluded, the condemned, on his knees, prayed for some fifteen or twenty minutes with great apparent earnestness and zeal, also in the German. He prayed forgiveness for the great injury he had done to his best friends and that God would save his soul. He spoke feelingly of his mother, and prayed the almighty to comfort her in her terrible affliction. He did not speak directly of the crime for which he was to die. When he had concluded he arose from his knees and the sheriff adjusted the noose around his neck, during which time the minister at the request of the sheriff kept him engaged in conversation. When all was ready sheriff Gwin touched a spring connected with two bolts which supported the platform on which the condemned man stood, and in an instant he was hanging by the neck, the fall being about thirty inches. He quivered but little, his arms gently dropping down. He apparently suffered no pain whatever. After remaining suspended fifteen minutes he was taken down, in accordance with his own request, the body was given into the hands of Dr. Sloan and immediately conveyed to his laboratory.   The galvanic battery and the inhaling tube were applied in the presence of the medical faculty of the city and although some muscular contraction was visible, they failed to produce respiration. The physicians were of opinion the neck was broken, the countenance after death wore its wonted aspect while in life. No contortions were visible indicating that he had suffered pain.   When the condemned was taken from the jail his mother was present and exhibited great emotion. She screamed most violently. An immense concourse of people was present, numbers having come a distance of fifteen or twenty miles to witness the horrid spectacle.   This was the last judicial hanging in Floyd county, and it is hoped there may be no occasion to prevent its remaining the last, and now follows a short moral which might very properly be styled a condensed temperance lecture.        Damon was drunk when he killed Nolte; Lamb was drunk when he killed Taylor, and Grose was drunk when he killed Smith.

Contributed by Sue Carpenter