Woolsey, George - Stiers/Pate hang
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Thursday, 7 December 1893
George Woolsey, late of this city and now of Danville, Ill., has taken great interest in the case of Stiers and Pate, who hang there tomorrow. He has been so friendly to them that Stiers wants him to conduct his funeral. The Press says:
Frank Stiers’ body will be taken to the home of his mother and George Woolsey will conduct the funeral services there at 11 o’clock Sunday morning. The body will then be laid to rest in the cemetery near Catlin. Mr. Woolsey is no minister and he hesitated in consenting to perform the part requested, but at the earnest solicitation of Mrs. Stiers and the beseeching of Frank, he has acquiesced. The mother contends that Mr. Woolsey's efforts were the cause of her son’s conversion. Frank has picked out the songs he desires sung at his funeral and has asked Mr. Woolsey to address his friends who assemble to show their esteem, and to warn them of the evils that beset life’s path. He has also picked out John Miller and Frank Chester to act as pall bearers. Mr. Woolsey is to select the four others and is having some difficulty in the matter as the young men of East Danville don’t relish the idea.
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Friday, 8 December 1893
Danville, Ill., Dec. 8—Pate and Stiers lived up to the hopes and expectations of their admiring friends and died game. The brutal murder of farmer Helmick has been avenged. Long before the hour for execution arrived a great throng surrounded the jail and stood there gaping vacantly at the stolid walls long after the great tragedy of law had been enacted within. Considerable suppressed excitement obtained in town but the crowd was orderly and quiet as such crowds usually are.
Both boys walked to the scaffold with unfaltering step and bold faces. They seemed to consider themselves in the light of heroic young martyrs and glanced pityingly at the favored coterie of spectators who were so fortunate as to obtain tickets to the sheriff’s pleasant little comedy. The execution was without incident of any kind and death was instantaneous as both necks were very cleverly broken by the jolly jerk that followed the springing of the trap. During all the uncanny preparations on the scaffold both boys evinced great composure and nerve, never once flinching or even shedding a silent tear. Both made “speeches” and exhorted all their young acquaintances and boys everywhere to beware of pernicious literature and bad associations. To these twin evils they attributed their downfall. Both the juvenile murderers had become very religious lately and just before the black caps were drawn over their heads, they both declared and seemed clearly convinced that in a few minutes they would be in Heaven enjoying themselves.
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Saturday, 9 December 1893
Danville, Ill., Dec. 9—Harvey Pate and Frank Stiers were hanged Friday at 1:02 o’clock for the murder of Henry Helmick. A very peculiar thing was noticed by Drs. F. N. Odbert, A. L. Fox and S. J. Jones, who caught the wrists of the murderers within fifteen seconds after the drop. Their pulse was normal—about seventy to the minute—showing that the boys were not only in good health, but that they were perfectly composed and free from excitement when the trap fell. Three minutes afterward Pate’s pulse rose to 135. It ceased to beat in eight minutes, and a minute and a half afterward he was dead. Stiers’ pulse also ceased to beat in eight minutes, but his heart kept on faintly until fifteen minutes after the drop. Their necks were broken by the fall.
The crime for which Pate and Stiers were executed was committed August 25, 1893. Four young men—Harvey Pate, aged 21; Frank Stiers, 19; Elias McJunken, 18, and Charles Smoot, 17—were great readers of flashy literature. Pate had served two years among the cowboys of Texas. The four conceived the idea of hold up Henry Helmick, a wealthy farmer. The boys walked 12 miles from the city and waylaid Helmick and his wife who were in a buggy. Helmick struck his horses when a demand for money was made and Pate shot him dead. Young Smoot confessed to complicity in the deed and upon arraignment all four pleaded guilty. Pate and Stiers were sentenced to death and McJunken and Smoot to the penitentiary for life.
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Saturday 16 Dec 1893
A citizen furnishes us with a copy of the last public statement made by Pate and Steirs, the Danville murderers, who were hanged last week. This address should be read and pondered by every boy in Montgomery County. It will do them good. The address is as follows:
As the day of our execution draws nearer we feel the great burden of guilt that rests upon us and to some degree, at least, the load of sorrow we have brought to innocent ones. We are deeply sorry for the awful crime committed and the many thoughtless and rash acts and words since our capture. The robbery was premeditated, but never the murder. It was the result of the excitement of the moment. We bear no ill will against any friends of the murdered man, nor against anyone that in any way assisted in our capture and sentence. We believer our sentence to be just, and now look upon it all as for the best, for if we had not been caught perhaps death would have come without any opportunity to prepare for it. We believe in a forgiving God and call upon all who thus believe to pray for us that at the bar of Infinite Justice we may not be condemned.
We want to make an appeal to all boys and young men to beware of all half dime literature, for by reading such we were started in the path of sin and crime. Why can’t this be stopped? Beware of the saloon, with all its damning influence, for only evil flows from them. Why are they permitted in a Christian country? Think of us and our fate and leave these terrible places alone. We ask a sorrowful widow and an outraged public to forgive us of our crime, as we also ask God to forgive us.
Harvey Pate
Frank Steirs