GALLOWS LURE HUGE CROWDS THOUSANDS WITNESS EXECUTIONS IN GALLATIN, MISSOURI Just a few hundred yards north of town (east
to kill Gladson. A rope was attached to a boom eight
of where Hwy 6 crosses over Route MM today), the
feet above the platform and spiked together. A fence
only public executions in Daviess County occurred in
was placed around the structure which only allowed a
1886. Joe Jump, 19, and John Smith, 22, were found
few select men to be inside. A black coffin covered with
guilty of murdering William Gladson, an Iowa
gunny sacks was placed at the steps. Eventually, it was
teamster laying track for the Rock Island Railroad.
determined the two convicted felons would be
They killed for Gladson’s weekly pay: three $20 bills.
executed separately.
The plot began with Jump placing a pitman
On July 23, 1886, Gallatin became a temporary
rod near a vacant house with a nearby well in south
city of 20,000-30,000 people. Both regular and special
Gallatin. The two men lured Gladson to the old house
trains to Gallatin were loaded with passengers to
to play cards. Once there, Jump took the pitman rod
witness the hanging of Joe Jump. The previous night
and hit Gladson while Smith held him. When Gladson
some 250 wagon loads of spectators camped near the
fell lifeless, the villains threw the body in the well and
Grand River bridge, and about 100 teams camped
split the money.
northwest of town. At the hanging, ice water sold
The crime was discovered when two men, wanting to store oats in the vacant house, noticed Gladson’s hat and the bloodstains at the well. The
handsomely by the glass, and afterwards small portions of the hanging rope were sold as souvenirs. Daviess County Sheriff Witt invited 50 other
suspects were apprehended the next morning as
county sheriffs to attend. The sheriffs lined up by twos
Jump waited for a train to make his getaway.
to escort Jump to the gallows. At the appointed time,
The trial leading to Jump’s conviction
Sheriff Witt securely strapped Jump and put a black
produced much publicity. The scaffold, located just off
cap over his head, then unfastened the handcuffs, and
the Rock Island tracks, was built for the two men to
fastened the rope around his neck. The murder weapon
be seated so as to be hung at the same time. The 3’x4’
used to kill Gladson released the trapdoor, letting his
trapdoors would be sprung with the pitman rod used
body fall seven feet. Joe Jump was dead in 12 minutes.
The murder weapon (a Pitman rod used to kill Gladson) became the lever to open the trapdoor
The only public hangings in Daviess County occurred in 1886, a crime of murder for money. Photos taken during the execution of Joe Jump reveal few if any women witnessed the event.
SECOND HANGING NOT NEARLY AS SENSATIONAL John Smith gained a brief reprieve from then-Gov. John Marmaduke, but public pressure prevailed. Smith was hanged two weeks later, on Aug. 7, 1886. The same ground preparations made for Jump’s hanging were used for Smith. The crowd was estimated between 8,000 and 10,000 people. At the appointed time the train carrying the prisoner arrived. Smith was escorted to the scaffold and seated by Sheriff Witt and Sheriff Smith. At roughly 12 noon, the sheriffs began pinioning John Smith. Soon, the pitman rod again was used to open the trap door and approximately 11½ minutes later, he was dead.
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HISTORIC DAVIESS COUNTY
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