Bingen Station Murder Shocked Saucon Valley in 1899

As promised , you will now learn about the terrible murder that occurred there in 1899. Thanks to Lee Gaither, who not only delivers the mail, but also supplied copies of 13 original articles that followed the progress of the case.

Harvey H. Wurster, the 25-year-old night telegraph operator at Bingen station, on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, was murdered while working Friday night, Jan. 7, 1899. Alarm bells were first raised at about 10:30pm, when the operator in the Philadelphia dispatcher's office could not get a response from Bingen for orders. Repeated calls were made with the same result. The brakeman, William Bullman, and conductor, J. Cressman, of a southbound freight train from Bethlehem were ordered to stop at Bingen to see what was the matter. Bullman found the ticket office door open and Wurster seated in his chair with his feet on the table and his head crushed. His clothing and the wall were splattered with blood. There was no evidence of a struggle. The money drawer nearby was broken open and empty. A coupling pin was located under the platform and found covered with blood and hair.

The railroad company ordered an investigation into the brutal murder of one of its own, and detective J.B. Doran was dispatched to the scene of the crime on a special train from Philadelphia. Upon his arrival, tracks in the snow were noticed in the vicinity of the station and leading to the home of 17-year-old Llewellyn Stout, of Spring Valley.

Stout's shoes fit the footprints in the snow and the detective arrested him at his home. As news of the arrest spread, there were threats of a lynching in Saucon Valley, therefore a special train was called for to transport the prisoner to the Easton jail.

There was a large crowd on hand to meet Stout at the Easton station. When a reporter asked if Stout was afraid to hang, he answered "Oh ____, a man might as well hang as stay in jail all his life time." He showed no signs of remorse and displayed a cool demeanor. He yelled at some young ladies, "Hello girls!" He then looked down at his handcuffs and exclaimed that they looked like nice bracelets. He yelled out to the crowd, "Rubbernecks!"

Shortly after arriving at the Easton jail on Saturday evening, Stout made a complete confession to a Detective Johnson. In his confession, he said he went to the Bingen station Friday night at about 11 o'clock.

"I went over to play a game of cards with the operator," he said. "We never had a quarrel before that night. Before I left Spring Valley I drank half a pint of whiskey, and had taken another half pint before supper. I was pretty drunk. When I got to the station Wurster asked me if I had brought him any whiskey. He said I had promised to bring some liquor. I told him he lied, and in the quarrel he struck at me and hit me on the left shoulder. Then I went out to look for a club. I picked up a coupling pin and carrying it at my side, where the operator could not see it, I went back into the station room. I took a seat on the opposite side of the room. After a while we got to quarreling again. I went across the room and as Wurster was rising from his chair I struck him on the forehead with the coupling pin. He fell back into the chair, but made an attempt to get up again, when I hit him the second time. Then he sank back with a groan and his hands fell into his lap. I struck him the third blow. After that I put Wurster's feet upon the table the way he used to sit in the office, and then went out and threw the coupling pin back under the station platform. After I had thrown the coupling pin away I went back into the station after money, which I wrapped up in my handkerchief. Then I went up the railroad track to my home. Before going to bed I went out and hid the money in an outhouse and the handkerchief under the floorboards. When they arrested me Saturday morning I denied the killing of Wurster."

A previous employer of Stout's, S.R. Bardt, informed the reporter that the Stout family had lived in Easton on Walnut Street a few years earlier. He employed Stout on his farm but had to fire him, he said, because he was too "boisterous." Stout worked at Crossroads Hotel and Central Hotel as a hostler (one who takes care of horses). He also worked for Charles Stever at his mill on Saucon Creek.

The court appointed representation by Parke H. Davis of Easton and Calvin Smith of Nazareth. District Attorney James T. Woodring, assisted by Frank W. Armstrong of South Bethlehem, would prosecute the case against Stout. The Grand Jury met on April 12, 1899 and found grounds to proceed to trial. Stout entered a plea of "not guilty." A jury was selected on April 13 and trial began April 14 before Judge Schuyler. Reporters commented on Stout's unemotional appearance throughout the trial. The jury found Stout guilty of murder in the first degree on April 15, 1899. Mrs. Nora Stout (his mother) burst into tears at the defense team's summation. Judge Schuyler passed the sentence on April 17, and it was the strongest that could be imposed: death by hanging.

Governor William A. Stone decided the date of Stout's hanging would be Aug. 22, 1899. The professional hangman James Van Hise from Newark, N.J. was called to Easton to hang him. Van Hise was more than experienced at his vocation, having previously hung 62 men from the gallows (he would hang 26 more men and women before his career was over). Van Hise received a fee of $250 per execution.

Meanwhile, C.W. Rice, representing the landlady Mrs. Sterner, informed Mrs. Nora Stout that she would not be permitted to hold a service for her son in her rented home. Rice recommended that Stout's body should remain with the undertaker until burial. Mrs. Stout would ultimately ignore this request and instead have the body of her son returned to the house. After the funeral, Mrs. Sterner sued Mrs. Stout for $1,000 in damages. However, I was unable to learn the final decision of the suit.

While awaiting the final day of his life, Stout was held in cell number 21 in the Northampton County Prison. Other condemned men had occupied this same cell, such as Dilliard and Bartholomew, who were also hung from the gallows.

Hangman Van Hise invented a method of hanging people by using weights. He was very proud of his work and at times became too enthusiastic.

Van Hise received some bad press during another hanging. When on the scaffold, he covered a man's head effectively stifling his last words and shoved a pastor off the platform who was praying with the convict. In the prison cell, Van Hise placed a black hood over Stout's head and bound his arms at the elbows. Stout was then brought to the gallows scaffold in the jail yard, where his legs were bound together at the ankles. Stout made no comment, but it was later learned that he had written a dying request to Mrs. Harvey Wurster. A noose was drawn over his head to his neck and drawn tight. Van Hise pulled a cord connected to the trap door, which shot the body down five feet where it dangled. Twenty minutes after the drop, Stout was pronounced dead.

The body was then conveyed to Hellertown on undertaker Isaac Seibert's wagon. Seibert transported the body to Stout's mother's home in Spring Valley. A service was held at the home three days later. Then the family proceeded to New Jerusalem Church, Lower Saucon Township, to bury Stout in the cemetery there. The Globe of Bethlehem reported that several thousand people descended that morning on the Stout residence. People arrived on foot, horseback, carriages, wagons and bicycles. Many from Bethlehem arrived in Hellertown by trolley and then walked the rest of the way. A rumor had spread that the trustees of the New Jerusalem Church would deny the Stout family admission to the cemetery. The crowd gathered to observe the fracas. However, they were disappointed as the trustees had previously met and granted permission for the burial.

Stout's letter to Mrs. Wurster was as follows:

August 22, 1899

     This is my dying request to Mrs. Harvey H. Wurster before I go to the gallows to give up my life for that of her husband, which I took at the Bingen Station on Saturday morning, January 7, 1899, for which I have sincerely repented and ever since I have been very sorry indeed.

     I hereby ask Mrs. Harvey Wurster to forgive me for all I have wronged her and her dear child and for having brought such a great affliction in her family. If it could be undone or made over again I am sure that I would never do so again. I realize what an enormous crime I have committed.

     How cruel I have been to Harvey H. Wurster, how unkind to his dear wife and orphan child for which I hope they and the dear Lord will forgive me.

     I hope she will grant my dying request which I make as I go to my death and eternity, never to return.

     I hope and pray that the Lord will take care of you, Mrs. Wurster and your dear child. This request I give personally to Rev. W. W. Kistler this morning who is with me and will see me die. He shall read this at my funeral and deliver it personally to Mrs. Harvey Wurster.

signed 

Llewellyn Stout

In the final days of Stout's imprisonment, he collected money to pay for his tombstone. He sold photographs of himself and collected donations from the constant stream of visitors. Although Stout showed no emotion during his trial, he expressed great tenderness toward his mother and two sisters. When mother and son said their final goodbyes, his tears flowed. Stout also had fond memories of his father, who had died when he was a small boy. Stout blamed his downfall on strong drink and evil acquaintances after his father passed away.

Harvey Wurster was buried at East Swamp Mennonite Cemetery in Richland Township. He was the only son of parents Frederick and Susannah of Shelly (near Quakertown), Bucks County. His father was a carpenter. Harvey married Ella Jane (Johnson) in 1896 and they had a son, Harvey Lewis Wurster, who was only two years old at the time of his father's murder. Mrs. Wurster married Charles Hillegas in 1900 and they had three daughters together. The family moved to Allentown.