Montgomery County PA News - Crimes
Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
July 28, 1824
The trial of Mrs. Richardson, before Judge Robbins, in the Montgomery circuit court, took place at its late term. She was charged with shooting her husband and found guilty by the jury of manslaughter, and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years and eight months.
Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
September 8, 1824
Union, Pa. Aug 24.
Supposed Murder
On Wednesday last the body of an infant child was found in a Privy in Bridgeport, in this county. On an examination of the body, it appeared that it had received a severe blow on its head, which is supposed to have occasioned its death. Suspicion was immediately fixed on a young girl of the name of Milly Tapp of Bridgeport, of being the mother and murderer of the child, and on examination sufficient indications presented to strengthen the suspicion, and on Saturday she was committed to jail to await her trial at October term. It is not a little surprising, that we should have two women to be tried at our next court for the crime of murder, one for the murder of her own child, and the other of her husband. - Genius of Liberty.
Spencer Barns Destroyed by Fire
Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) January 12 1825
Norristown, Pa., Dec. 29
Alarming Malignity
On the evening of the 11th inst., a Barn belonging to Abner Spencer, of Upper Dublin township, on a rented farm was entirely consumed by fire, with all its contents - the work of an incendiary. And on Thursday night last, the 23d inst., the large stone Barn of Mr. Spencer's on the farm whereon he resides, was set on fire by some malicious villain and totally consumed, together with all its contents, consisting of a large quantity of Hay, Wheat, Rye, Oats, between 2 and 300 bushels of Indian Corn, 6 Cows, 2 Horses and a Colt, Farming Utensils, & c.
Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) March 16 1825
More Incendiaries
We understand that on Saturday night the 12th ult., the barn of Mr. John Whitcomb, innkeeper, in Upper Dublin township, was set on fire - fortunately the villain was seen in the very act and the fire extinguished without doing any material damage. In the hurry and confusion the incendiary made his escape but as he is well known he will not long evade his pursuers. - Norristown Herald.
Charles Allen Charged With Brutal Assault on Wife
Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania September 6, 1826
Brutal Outrage
On the 5th ult., a young man belonging in a neighboring town was examined before Charles Allen, Esq., of this town, charged with a most aggravated assault and battery on the body of his own wife. The physician who examined her states that it was one of the most distressing sights he had ever witnessed. There were large contusions on various parts of her body and limbs which were turned black and must have been the result of repeated and long continued blows. She had a fine head of hair which was nearly all torn out by the roots and was exhibited before the magistrate still remaining braided, as it was done by the unfortunate victim previously to this outrage. It appeared by the testimony that some of the blows were inflicted by the foot, some by the fist and some of them by a pair of tongs which were found broken in the house. The injury is so serious that we understand her life is despaired of. The husband was ordered by the magistrate to give bonds in the sum of five thousand dollars for his appearance for trial before the Supreme Judicial court at the next term. For want of bail he was conducted to prison. The causes of this outrage we understand are to be attributed to the free use of ardent spirits - an awful warning to those who indulge in the degrading and beastly vice of intemperance. - Worcester Spy.
The Indiana Democrat (Indiana, Pennsylvania)
February 28 1878
Suicide In A Cell
A Prisoner Convicted of Murder Found Dead
Norristown, Pa., February 23
The body of Heinrich Wahlen, convicted of the murder of Max Hugo Hoehne, near the Grangers Encampment, Elm station, in the fall of 1876,(1877) was found this evening in his cell with his skull broken and hanging to the bar of the window with a rope made from bed clothes. It is supposed he first fastened the rope around his neck and then beat his head with an iron covering of the heater, which was broken off and covered with blood. Wahlen left statements in French, German and English, declaring his innocence and calling on God to heap his curses on all persons in any way connected with his trial and conviction.
The crime for which the deceased was to suffer the penalty of hanging, in the event that the application for a new trial pending in the Supreme Court should be denied against him, was commonly known as the Elm Station or Granger Encampment mystery. On the 2d day of February 1877, a dead body was found in an advanced state of decomposition and wasted to a skeleton, lying in a unfrequented but accessible place near the temporary hostelry known as the Granger Encampement, and not far from Elm Station in Montgomery county. It was generally supposed that the murdered man was one of the many who came to Philadelphia unknown and unaccompanied during the Centennial, and that he had fallen among thieves and been murdered. After waiting a long while for identification of the remains, the Coroner concluded it was a hopeless case, and had them interred at the public expense.
Not until six months passed was evidence accumulated going to show that the deceased was Max Hugo Hoehne, with no friends in this city, who was last seen in company with one Heinrich Wahlen. It appeared on further inquiry, that Wahlen had taken Hoehne's name and gone to Hoehne's uncle in New York and secured a little property that he had left. The detectives found him in the Brooklyn penitentiary, serving a sentence for some other crime, probably burglary, and still under the name of Hoehne, his dead friend. He had corresponded with the latter's parents in the old county, and letters from or to them were found in his possession. He confessed that his name was Wahlen, gave unsatisfactory reasons for taking Hoehne's name, and for parting with him. Brought to Norristown, he was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree on circumstantial evidence of unusual strength combined with the direct testimony of a half witted fellow named Strabalski, who professed to have seen Wahlen kill Hoehne with a hammer and then hide the body.
Hoehne's father in Germany first hard of the murder through a paragraph in the German Democrat, of this city, which described the clothing on the corpse. This clothing corresponded with that worn by his son, from whom he had not heard since his arrival in New York. After Wahlen's arrest he came over and duly identified the remains. Wahlen throughout his imprisonment protested his innocence, and there are many who believe him. The prison physician has long suspected his intention to commit suicide, and notified the prison authorities, who put a watchman in his cell in the daytime, but not at night. His supper was handed to him at a quarter past five o'clock, and at a quarter past six o'clock his dead body was discovered.