Book recounts murder at the fair
ELDERSVILLE — Retired Observer-Reporter Executive Editor Parker Burroughs discussed the murder of Alex Chappell, which took place at the Burgettstown Agricultural Fair in 1891, at the Jefferson Township Historical Society meeting Saturday.
Burroughs wrote about the murder — and the escape of his murder, Martin Reed, and the four-month chase through the greater Washington County area to recapture him — in his book, “Washington County Murder and Mayhem: Historic Crimes of Southwestern Pennsylvania.” The book was inspired by two serials Burroughs wrote for the Observer-Reporter about historic crimes gleaned from the clippings of former reporter Earle R. Forrest, who worked at the newspaper from 1920 to 1960.
The book features six “lost” stories of historical death and disaster, including the two serials that originally appeared in the newspaper, including “A Death in The Lyric” and “The West Enders: A Story of Murder in Desperate Times.”
While researching a nitroglycerin explosion on East Maiden Street in Washington, Burroughs kept coming across references to the man hunt for Reed. The explosion was included in the book as “Shreds of Quivering Flesh: The Explosion That Rocked Washington.”
The story of Reed’s murderous passion for Chappell’s wife also made the cut as “An Unholy Passion: The Tragic Tale of Martin Reed.” Reed, well-known to police and popular among his friends for his generosity with his whiskey, was a farmer in Candor, a tiny settlement outside of Burgettstown, which Burroughs described as a quiet town, surrounded by farms populated for the most part by Scots-Irish Presbyterians. The borough’s agricultural fair was a popular event with people coming from throughout Washington County and West Virginia and Ohio, many by train.
Although the fair was dry, bootleggers still did a brisk business — one woman bootlegger would arrive with so many bottles secreted in a multitude of pockets in her dress that she could barely walk and another bootlegger would hide a cask on himself and run a rubber hose down his sleeve so he could quickly and surreptitiously fill flasks. Gambling also was outlawed at the fair, but bets could be discreetly made at the grandstands and beneath the judges’ booth, Burroughs said.
A prominent figure at the fair was William M. Lee of Holidays Cove, a member of the board who often acted as an enforcer during the fair. Burroughs noted that Lee once “seized a fellow by the back of the neck and the seat of his pants” and threw him out bodily after he attempted to enter the fair without paying the admission fee. Another time, a pair of welldressed ladies took their horse and buggy onto the harness racing track and began circling the track, preventing the scheduled races. The two couldn’t be convinced to quit the track until Lee walked out and seized the horses’ bridles, bringing them to an abrupt stop. The driver began whipping her horses, and, when that didn’t work, she struck Lee with the whip. Despite this, Lee had them quickly exit the course.
Reed met Chappell and his wife Agnes at a Christmas party in 1888, where it was noted that Agnes Chappell and Reed danced twice. The two didn’t meet again for another year, until Chappell invited Reed and others for a New Year celebration that lasted several days. Reed and Chappell became friends, but one evening in 1890, Reed stopped at the Chappell home, looking for Alexander Chappell, who was due to return that evening. Agnes Chappell invited him to wait, but Alexander Chappell didn’t return home that evening — and Reed never left.
“Nine months later, Agnes had another child,” Burroughs said.
On Oct. 8, 1891, Chappell, Reed and another friend were on their way home from the fair, when Reed asked Chappell if he were thirsty — Reed claimed to have seen two men drinking from a bottle of whiskey, which they then hid in a fence post. Chappell agreed that he was, and Reed brought the bottle out of the post before excusing himself, claiming his horse was lame and he needed to get it home.
Chappell took the bottle of whiskey into a nearby hotel stable, where he asked for tobacco and offered a drink to two men, including George Harris. Both men had a drink and Chappell reportedly drained the rest of the bottle. Shortly thereafter, Harris became ill, complaining of stomach pains, and a doctor was called.
A half mile out of Burgettstown, Chappell screamed in pain, falling into the road, where he was so contorted in pain that those coming to his aid had to lift him bodily to put a blanket beneath his head. Blood was running from his mouth when a nearby farmer set off for town to call a doctor.
Chappell died before the doctor could arrive, and it was determined that he had died of arsenic poisoning.
Reed evidently didn’t believe he would be convicted of murder — when the jury went into deliberation, he asked his friends who had attended the trial to wait until the jury came back, claiming he would then leave with them.
However, Reed was convicted and subsequently lodged in the Washington County Jail, where his frequent visitors brought him several gifts, including the saws and files he would use to escape the dilapidated building in May 1892. The escape was a scandal and resulted in calls for a new facility, not only for the jail, but for a new courthouse, including newspaper editorials.
As a result of the outrage over Reed’s escape, the county began the construction of a new jail and courthouse by 1900 and those buildings are still in use today.
Burroughs, an award-winning writer, was a newspaperman for more than 40 years and taught writing courses at Bethany College. He also has written “Enter, With Torches: Recollections of a Grumpy Old Editor” and edited “200 Years: Our History Through the Pages of the Observer-Reporter.”
“Murder and Mayhem” is available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.
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