Murder in Athens County Capital punishment has been a part of Ohio’s justice system since early in the state’s history. From 1803, when Ohio became a state, until 1885, executions were carried out by public hanging in the county where the crime was committed. In 1885, the legislature enacted a law that required executions to be carried out at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus.  The first person to be executed at the Ohio Penitentiary was Valentine Wagner, age 56. Wagner, from Morrow County, was hanged for the murder of Daniel Shehan from Mt. Gilead. Twenty-eight convicted murderers were hanged at the penitentiary. In 1897, the electric chair, considered to be a more technologically advanced and humane form of execution, replaced the gallows.  From 1897 to 1963 there were 315 persons put to death in the electric chair including three women. In 1972, Death Row was moved to the newly opened Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) at Lucasville.   Death Row was relocated again in 1995 to the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Mansfield, Ohio. The "Death House" remains at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. On February 26, 2002, Ohio’s electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky," was decommissioned and disconnected from service. The original electric chair was donated to the Ohio Historical Society on December 18, 2002, and a replica electric chair was donated to the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society. Source:  Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction - Transcribed by Sandra Cummins

Photo:  Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction

JAMES LITTERAL Age 43 WHITE MALE COAL MINER MURDER-ROBBERY ELECTROCUTION JUN 20 1930   ATHENS, OHIO Found guilty of the murder and robbery on Wednesday, Oct. 2nd, 1928, of Harry Green, Kimberly, Ohio, miner and shell-shocked veteran of the World War.  James Litteral was a former resident of Snake Hollow, near Nelsonville, and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Sanford Litteral, Sr. of Athens County.

Photo from: Athens Messenger, 6/22/1930

Photo:  Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction HARRY DODDS, JR. AGE 21 PAROLEE MURDER-BURGLARY ELECTROCUTION,  FEB 24, 1950   ATHENS, COUNTY OHIO     Harry Z. Dodds was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Dodds, Sr., of Carbondale, Ohio.  Harry Dodds, Jr., was convicted in Athens county, Ohio, of the brutal hammer slaying and robbery of 52 year-old Eleanor E. Gifford, Episcopal church field worker, in her home Jan. 3, 1949.   MANSFIELD NEWS-JOURNAL Mansfield, Ohio Janurary 8, 1949 Seek Clues In Brutal Killing Athens - Sheriff George Bateman of Athens county today awaited results of finger print tests in an effort to identify the brutal slayer of Miss Eleanor E. Gifford, 52, Episcopal church field worker. Miss Gifford's body was found Thursday in her home near here.  She had been beaten on the head with a heavy instrument, possibly a tire tool. "The murder was the work of a fiend," Sheriff Bateman said.  "He had to be -- the unusual brutality shows that."  Coroner John H. Elias, who reled the death a homicide, said "the slayer must have been a maniac." THE ZANESVILLE SIGNAL Zanesville, Ohio January 18, 1949 Report Death Car Near Crooksville Search for a stolen automobile linked with the slaying of a 52 year-old Athens church worker Jan. 4, centered at C rooksville this afternoon after Marshal John Brown said a resident there had reported seeing the machine. Marshal Brown notified state highway patrolmen and other authorities after the report was received and personally led a search in the Crooksville vicinity. The car was taken from the home of Miss Eleanor Gifford who was found murdered at Athens.  The auto, bearing license number X-866-K,  is a 1948 Chevrolet sedan.  The car was reported missing from Miss Gifford's home a short time after her body was discovered. THE TIMES RECORDER Zanesville, Ohio February 7, 1949 NEW STRAITSVILLE YOUTH CONFESSES MURDER Two New Straitsville Men In Athens Jail For Murder ATHENS, O., Feb. 6 - Sheriff George Bateman brought back to the Athens county jail late Sunday night Pvt. Grover E. Rawlins, while other authorities continued a search for an unnamed Columbus bartender implicated in the fatal beating of Miss Eleanor Gifford, 52 year old church worker who was slain during a robbery of her home here Jan. 3. Rawlings, 21, a native of New Straitsville, thus joined in jail Harry Dodds, Jr. 20, from the same town to await the filing of murder charges. Meanwhile one of the routine events that occurs in the jail every Sunday was omitted here yesterday.  No church services were held as is customary. Dodds, Rawlins, and the man sought, have been implicated in the robbery that resulted in death for Miss Gifford.  Dodds confessed Saturday in Athens that he beat the prominent church worker about the head with a claw hammer when she caught the three men in the act of robbing her home. Rawlins involved Dodds when he was questioned by army officers at Fort Knox.  He told how he had gone into the room where the ex-convict was beating the aged woman after hearing her cries. Dodds was released from the Mansfield reformatory last July 22, after serving two sentences, totaling four and one-half years for auto theft and breaking and entering.  He was said to have become acquainted with Miss Gifford in 1944 when he attended a Sunday school class she taught.  At that time Dodds was living in Carbondale. In his confession he told authorities he did not mean to kill Miss Gifford, but that after he struck the first blow he "Lost his head." Dodds was arrested last Monday, and stood up under questioning.  Paul E. brown, as special investigator had dug back into Miss Gifford's past when law-enforcing officials were unable to find a clue to the murderer.  In his search for information, he learned Dodds had once declared "I'm going to beat her head in" when speaking of Miss Gifford whom he also once blamed for his being sentenced to the reformatory. Rawlins, who had been home on a furlough for the holiday season was questioned by Fort Knox officials and last Saturday involved Dodds.  It was then the ex-convict admitted his role in the killing. Rawlins, Dodds and the hunted man fled after the beating in Miss Gifford's car which was also the subject of a wide search.  It was found abandoned Saturday in a Dayton parking lot.  A wrist watch and two cameras also taken from Miss Gifford's home have since been located. THE ZANESVILLE SIGNAL Zanesville, Ohio February 24, 1950 Perry County Slayer Faces Chair Tonight Columbus O. - Harry Z. Dodds of New Straitsville is scheduled to die in the electric chair tonight for the hammer slaying of an Athens church worker. The 21 year-old youth lost his last chance to escape execution yesterday when Gov. Frank J. Larusche refused to intercede. Dodd's counsel last week asked the pardon and parole commission to comjute the sentence to life imprisonment.  They also asked a stay of execution until after a trial of a third man also being held in the slaying of Miss Eleanor Gifford. The Coshocton Tribune Coshocton, Ohio February 25, 1950 Dodds Executed At State Prision Columbus, O.- Harry Z. Dodds, 21, convicted slayer of a 52 year old Athens, O., church worker, went to his death last night in the Ohio penitentiary electic chair. Outwardly calm but with his eyes close, Dodds was led into the death chamber at 8:03 p.m.  Nine minutes later a prision physician pronounced him dead.  Dodds never opened his eyes while he was in the death house. He was convicted for the hammer slaying of Miss Eleanor Gifford at her home Jan. 3, 1949. The New Straitsville youth was accompanied on the short walk from his cell by the Rev. K. E. Wall, Protestant chaplain, who baptized Dodds in the Baptist faith yesterday.  The chaplain recited the 23rd Psalm and Dodds prayed in a low voice as guards strapped him to the chair and fastened electrodes on his head and right leg.  The condemned man's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Dodds, Sr.,  visited him yesterday.  Two brothers Donald and Will Dodds, and a sister Mrs. Maybelle Dower, all of Carbondale, were allowed to visit him Thursday. Two other men accused of taking part in the robbery-slaying are in prison.  Grover E. Rawlins, 18, of St. Clairsville, is serving a life term in the penitentiary.  James B. Armstrong, 26, of Columbus, captured recently after a search of more than a year, is awaiting trial at Athens. CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM Elyria, Ohio March 10, 1950 3 Judges to Try columbus Man on Murder Charge Athens - A three-judge court was completed today to try James B. Armstrong of Columbus on a first degree murder charge in the slaying of Miss Eleanor Gifford, Athens Episcopal church worker. Judges James Collier of Lawrence county and Earl Parker of Waverly wer named yesterday to sit with Judge Roy Williams of Athens county.  The trial is slated for March 27.  Harry Z. Dodds was electrocuted Feb. 24 and Grover Rawlins is serving a life term in Ohio penitentiary for their part in the slaying. The Times Recorder Zanesville, Ohio March 28, 1950 Gets Life Term in Slaying ATHENS, O., March 27 - A three-judge court today sentenced James B. Armstorng, 26, of Columbus to life imprisonment in Ohio penitentiary for his part in the slaying of a moman church worker.  Armstrong had pleaded guilty to participating in the hammer slaying of Miss Eleanor Gifford, 52, of Athens on Jan. 3, 1949. The court deliberated only 30 minutes and found Armstrong was entitled to mercy.  This made life sentence mandatory. Transcribed by Sandra Cummins

Photo:  Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction DELBERT SPENCER Age 52 COAL MINER MURDER ELECTROCUTION, JUL 21 1950   ATHENS COUNTY, OHIO     Convicted in Athens county of the July 1946 shooting death of Mrs. Pauline Bailey near Glouster, Ohio. THE TIMES RECORDER Zanesville, Ohio July 23, 1946 SMALL SON SEES MOTHER SHOT DOWN Athens, O., July 22 - A 33 year old mother was shot and killed today as her 10 year old son stood by at a farm house near Glouster, Athens county.  Sheriff George Bateman reported  Southeastern Ohio and West Virginia authorities still sought the man.  Sheriff Bateman said the boy, Richard Bailey, is not implicated in the shooting of his mother, Mrs. Pauline Bailey. Bateman quoted the son as saying the man came to the farm at noon, said a few words which the son did not hear, and pulled a nickel-plated pistol from his pocket as Mrs. Bailey began to cry. Followed Through House The boy told Sheriff Bateman his mother ran around the house as the man shot at her.  She fell in a garden at the rear, shot in the head and twice in the arm.  The woman's assailant then disappeared down the road, the boy said. The dead woman's husband, Frank Bailey, is working in Detroit, Bateman said. Sheriff Bateman said the man implicated in the shooting drove his car, presumably from a West Virginia town, to Athens, took a taxicab from Athens to Glouster, and another cab from Glouster to the farm. Sheriff Bateman said neither the cab driver nor the alleged assailant had been located. Beckley Post-Herald Beckley, West Virginia August 3, 1946 Ohio Slayer Captured In Woods of Jackson County CHARLESTON, Aug 8 - Dirty and hungry after hiding in the woods to escape arrest for the alleged slaying of an Ohio farm woman, 47 year old Delbert Spencer, a Charleston mechanic, was found today by authorities hiding under a rock cliff in an isolated section of Jackson county. The arrest of the heavy set man, who said chiggers "were about to eat me up" because of his living in the woods, ended an extensive manhunt of about two weeks and a search during which bloodhounds were used. Last week at Athens O., Sheriff George S. Bateman said he had filed a murder charge against Spencer for the fatal shooting of Mrs. Pauline Bailey at their farm home at Glouster, O., July 22. Spencer brought to the Kanawha County jail here, denied any knowledge of the shooting which occurred in the presence of the woman's young son, State Police Lt. C.P. Taylor said.  Spencer said when he was last with Mrs. Bailey he was "drinking heavily and using a sedative drug."  Taylor added. Taylor reported that Spencer, who had a small testament in his pocket, was found lying unarmed on a pallet spread under the cliff in the woods between the town of Kenna and Kentucky along U.S. Route 21.  He offered no resistance. The man told police he had lived "strictly in the woods," eating whatever food he could get from nearby farms." State police were assisted in the arrest by Police Chief H.W. Fisher of Ripley. THE TIMES RECORDER Zanesville, Ohio Nov. 8, 1949 Must Face Charge of Murder ATHENS, O., Nov. 7 - Now reported same, 50 year old Delbert Spence of Athens will go on trial Dec. 5 for the three year old slaying of Mrs. Pauline Bailey in a flower garden. Spence is charged with first degree murder. Spence has been a patient at Lima State hospital for the last three years.  Dr. R.E. Bushong, who said Spencer was judged insane three years ago after a 30 day examination, reported the Athens man now sane. The man pleaded innocent in August, 1946, by reason of insanity. Mrs. Bailey, then 33, was shot in July 1946.  Spencer was captured 11 days later in West Virginia. THE TIMES RECORDER Zanesville, Ohio July 22, 1950 COLUMBUS, O., July 21 - Delbert Spencer, 53, who spent two years in a state hospital for the criminally insane, died in Ohio's electric chair tonight for the slaying of his former sweetheart four years ago. The current was turned on in the Ohio penitentiary death house at 8:02 P.M. (EST) Spencer was pronounced dead at 8:08 P.M. by Dr. Richard Brooks and Dr. E.S. Anderson, prison physicians. Spencer walked to the chair showing only slight signs of nervousness.  He was accompanied by the Rev. K.E. Wall, prison chaplain. During the afternoon, Spencer had been visited by his sister, Mrs. Ollie Boggess of Charleston, W.Va. transcribed by Sandra Cummins

1917 Death Chamber, Ohio Penentiary, Columbus, Ohio

1908, Ohio State Penentiary, Columbus, Ohio Postcards donated by Sharon Wick

CHRISTOPHER C. DAVIS LYNCHED Athens, Athens co. Oh, 21 Nov., 1881 Richwood Gazette (Richwood, Ohio) December 1, 1881 Christopher W. Davis, a mulatto, was lynched at Athens, Ohio, on the night of November 21.  The circumstances leading to this summary vengeance are as follows:  Mrs. Lucinda Luckey, a widow lady aged fifty-nine years, lives alone near Albany, in Athens County.  On the evening of October 31, last, Davis called at her house and asked permission to stop over night.  She refused him.  He went away, but returned again at two o'clock in the morning, and finding her doors securely locked, forced an entrance by battering the door in.  Once inside, he assaulted the helpless old woman and fiendishly outraged her.  Fearing that she would cause his arrest, to complete his work and cover his crime, he beat her about the head with an ax, fracturing her skull and leaving her for dead.  She recovered consciousness by morning and managed to crawl to the house of a neighbor, to whom she told the horrible story.  Davis was captured and lodged in the Athens jail, but threats of lynching him were so loud that for safety he was removed to Chillicothe.  Subsequently, when it was felt that the indignation had partially subsided, he was returned to Athens to be arraigned before the grand Jury.  No outward manifestation was made by the citizens of Albany, and no thought of violence was entertained by the Athens authorities.  On the night of November 21, however, a number of masked men hailing from Albany rode into Athens, and after stationing guards at the residence of the Deputy Sheriff and the Town Marshal, marched on to the jail.  Three of them applied to Sheriff Wardan for admission, one of the number assuming the role of a captured horse-thief, and the Sheriff, in his ignorance, opened the door.  No sooner was the door opened than these three determined men downed the unsuspecting jailor and secured him.  However, they failed to find any keys on him, and getting a sledge hammer, they proceeded to break the lock of the cell in which Davis was confined.  Only a few moments was occupied in this, and with a rope thrown about the culprit's neck, he was led trembling from the jail.  Every avenue of approach to the jail had been well guarded, so to prevent any outside interference that might be attempted, but he work was so quietly and quickly done that no trouble was encountered.  David was led a distance of four blocks to the bridge of the Hocking valley River, and while one end of the rope was being tied to the bridge and others were engaged pinioning his ams and legs he was commanded to confess his guilt.  He begged for his life and asked them if they would spare him if he confessed.  He was told that if he confessed he would be returned to the jail and given a fair trial.  He then confessed the horrible crime.  Immediately a shout went up. "Hang the dog!  Hang him!"  "We give you three minutes to say your prayers, " said the leader, but the frightened fellow did not try to pray.  At the end of the three minutes he was pitched headlong from the bridge, falling a distance of nine feet, the fall breaking his neck.  The mob then dispersed.  A number of them were recognized, and it is stated that arrests will follow. The Ohio Democrat (New Philadelphia, Ohio) December 1, 1881 LYNCHED IN OHIO Davis, the Mulatto Ravisher, is Hanged by a Mob. ATHENS, O., Nov. 21. - Chris Davis, the mulatto, who was in jail for an outrageous assault upon an elderly woman named Miss Locke, living at Albany, O., was hanged by a mob last night.  The Sheriff was overpowered and held while the mob broke into the cell and took Davis out.  This morning his dead body was found hanging to the bridge over the Hocking river, at the south edge of the town.  The mob was not masked and will be arrested.  When Davis was taken to the bridge with a rope around his neck, he was asked to confess.  He inquired what would be done with him if he confessed.  They told him he would be taken back to the jail to be dealt with by law.  He hesitated and again asked if they would not hang him if he confessed.  Being a second time assured that they would not, he said, "I'm the man."  The other end of the rope was made fast to the b ridge.  They gave him three minutes in which to pray but he did not attempt a prayer.  He said he was ready to die.  When the time expired he was hauled off the bridge and his neck was broken by the fall.  The coroner began an inquest, but has not given a verdict. The Ohio Democrat (New Philadelphia, Ohio) December 22, 1881 The lynching of Christopher Davis at Athens on the night of the 21st ult. was discussed at an earnest, well attended meeting of the ladies of Albany, O., Tuesday evening.  As an evidence of the feeling entertained by them, here is one of the resolutions passed, "Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to oppose the prosecution of any one who was engaged in the hanging of Davis." transcribed by Sandra Cummins

The Athens Messenger Athens, Ohio January 27, 1881 MURDER MOST FOUL John Lafferty, a saloon keeper at Bessemer this county, was almost instantly killed in his ranch last Thursday night by being struck over the head with a piece of scantling by one of three individuals who had been drinking in his place and whom he had ejected for ruffianly conduct, but who immediately after burst in the door and death the fatal blow or blows which put an abrupt end to the earthly pilgrimage of their victim.  The names of those implicated in the perpetration of this murderous act are John Cusac, Wesley Alman and John Stafford, who following a preliminary hearing before Mayor Buckley, of Nelsonville, on Saturday, were brought to Athens by the Hocking Valley noon train last Monday and lodged in jail to await the action of the Grand Jury.

THE ATHENS MESSENGER Athens, Ohio September 17, 1947 ATHENS RESTAURANT SCENE OF SLAYING Athens, O. - John Gwinn, 30, of near Athens, was shot and killed in a downtown restaurant at the entrance to the Ohio university campus at 2:30 a.m. today after Police Chief J. B. Grogan said he had a quarrel with another man at a night club near this city.  Charles R. Henderson, 24, who also lives near here, was arrested two hours later while walking along route 33 south of Athens, and Grogan said he would be charged with first-degree murder. The police chief said Gwinn and Henderson quarrelled in the night club and that Henderson then went to his home, secured a revolver and upon going to the Spot Resteraunt encountered Gwinn.  The shooting followed.

THE ATHENS MESSENGER Athens, Ohio February 16, 1881 Successful Capture of a Murderer The standing prediction in local popular utterance that "Tim would get him yet," was fully verified by the arrival here on the early Sunday morning train from Cincinnati of Sheriff Tim B. Warden, having in custody Frank Tolliver, who was indicted by the Grand Jury at the last term of the Athens county common please for murder in the first degree for the homicide of Patrick Carr on the night of the 17th of November last in a saloon at Carbondale, this county.  The particulars of the murder were given at the time in these columns.  Carr, between whom and Tolliver there had existed bad blood, was, without preliminary words, shot and almost instantly killed by the latter, the murdered man being represented as helplessly drunk at the time.  The homicide immediately following the deed, made his escape from the locality and it was not until some weeks after that our vigilant Sheriff succeeded in getting clue to his probable geographical change of base.  This clue was assiduously and intelligently pursued and finally culminated in Tolliver's arrest last Thursday night at a sequestered point in the mountainous regions of Johnson county, Kentucky, near a locality known as Flat Gap, where the fugitive from justice had taken up quarters with an uncle and whose humble and secluded dwelling he had reached some weeks before in a nearly exhausted condition, his feet and ears being partially frozen as the result of his long tramp through the wild regions he had traversed during that severe weather to reach his destination, having walked the entire distance, which is, we are told, about 250 mils from Cincinnati.  The details of Sheriff Warden's adventures in pursuit of the object of his search are very largely invested with the charms of stirring romance, his personal safety and that of Marshall Shipley of Zaleski, by whom he was accompanied, being at particular juncture of the adventure in imminent peril.  One feature of their return trip was a night walk of sixteen miles with the temperature away below zero and during which they were compelled to grope their way with their prisoner in blinding darkness over the trestles of an unfinished railroad, a number of which trestles towered between two and three hundred feet above terra firma. Altogether this adventure was exceedingly well planned and was prosecuted with nerve, determination and rare good judgement and its successful results adds a huge feather to the official cap of our worthy and efficient Sheriff, whose forecast in planning and sagacity in executing the arrest of fugitive criminals we have hitherto had occasion to commend.

Lima Daily News May 29, 1920 Kills His Mother - Shoots Father Aged Couple Victims of Son's Murderous Rage Athens, Oh.,- Following a dispute over their planting of a field of corn, Ross Howard, 32, an ex-soldier, shot and killed instantly his mother, aged 70, and mortally wounded his father, Lewis Howard, aged 73, early Saturday, according to a report made to local police. The shooting occurred at the family home near Amesville, 15 miles from here. Howard fled and a posse is searching the hills in an effort to apprehend him. Young Howard and his father had started out for the day's work when the dispute over the proper marking out of a field of corn arose. Becoming angered, the young man returned to the home and secured a revolver with a threat to kill his father. The mother interfered and was shot down. The elder Howard fled after his wife had been murdered, the report said, and Howard pursued him, firing three bullets into the man's back. He then beat him about the head and face with the revolver butt, fracturing his skull and inflicting mortal wounds. The man will die Physicians said. (Submitted by Linda Blue Dietz)

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