Ora Odell: The First Execution in Cameron County

Odell the murderer

 

Though Cameron County was formed in 1860 out of parts of Clinton, Elk, McKean and Potter counties, it wasn't until 1908 when the death sentence was first carried out in the county seat of Emporium, when Orrin "Ora" Odell was hanged for the murder of his wife. While this might make Cameron County seem like an idyllic, peaceful place populated by law-abiding citizens, the historical record shows that murder and bloodshed have blemished the county's past for hundreds of years; after all, the first white settlers were hunters and woodsmen who had a strong taste for whiskey and wild living.

 The problem with Ora Odell, of course, was that he happened to have been born a little too late. Had he committed his dastardly deed half a century earlier, there's a very good chance that he might've gotten away with the crime, just like the Walker brothers and Samuel Doyle. It was in 1824 when Benjamin Walker and Peter Vincent were killed by Indians at the mouth of Sinnemahoning Creek, their murders made to look like accidental deaths. Seven years later, after peace had been made with the natives, the truth finally came out, and the sons of Benjamin Walker, along with Doyle, exacted revenge by killing the Indians in their sleep and casting their bodies into the river. Judge McKean ordered their arrest, but the Walkers fled, leaving Doyle to stand trial for murder alone. After Doyle was acquitted by the jury, his friends carried him in triumph to his home. Ora Odell, on the other hand, had no such luck.

A Murder in Emporium

May Stoddard was a pretty 20-year-old young woman when she married Orrin Warren Odell in March of 1893. A stonemason by trade, "Ora", as he was known to friends, was a native of Wisconsin who arrived in Emporium in 1889 and obtained work under F.D. Leet. His career was short-lived and unremarkable. Ora soon proved to be a drunken wretch prone to violent outbursts, but May showed him the same affection she showed to their two children, Emery and Jennie. For thirteen miserable years she endured awful abuse and ill-treatment at the hands of her husband, but refused to abandon him. Orrin's mother had died when he was just eight years old; surely, May believed that Ora's motherless upbringing had a great deal to do with his inability to behave like a civilized human being. But May made the fatal mistake which wives and lovers have made since the dawn of time-- believing, against reason, that with enough time and enough affection, her man would come around.

The Odells kept a tiny store in East Emporium which sold candy and fruit, but it was May whose industrious nature and hard work allowed it flourish. As a result, the Odell family lived a comfortable life, and this allowed Ora the luxury of  quitting his job and indulging in his favorite vice-- drinking to the point of utter intoxication. Whenever Ora reached this level of inebriation he would invariably become depressed, and often threatened to shoot his wife and children. May's friends, of which there were many, could only shake their heads and wonder how the quiet, unassuming shopkeeper could put up with having such a loutish, lazy brute for a husband. But May persevered, and it was this perseverance and undying loyalty which cost her her life.

On Wednesday, July 17, 1907, Ora went downtown to the hardware store of Stephens & Saunders, where he purchased window screens, a pair of shears and a .22-caliber Iver Johnson revolver, using a check given to him by his wife. He continued to the clothing store of Norris & Tompkins, where he purchased a shirt, again using money which May had given him. Before returning home around noon he also purchased a bottle of whiskey. It was another lazy, carefree summer day for Ora Odell-- at least until he started drinking.

Ora continued drinking all night, hanging around the house in one of his sullen moods. In the afternoon he awoke to a pounding headache, and May's hungover hubby went downstairs to their tiny store to obtain yet another financial handout from his wife. According to the locals who were inside the shop at the time, Ora began arguing with the customers. He was standing in the doorway shouting at one of the shoppers when his wife told him to keep it down. "No, I won't!" he shouted. "I don't have to." He then walked up to the counter and produced his newly-purchased revolver, causing the customers to run from the store in terror. The only ones who remained were a little boy named Bowker and Jennie, their nine-year-old daughter.

"I told you what I was going to do," he announced to his wife, "and now I'm going to do it." After knocking May to the floor, he held her down and fired three shots into her head at point-blank range, in full view of their horrified daughter. The first shot severed May's jugular vein, but any one of the three wounds would have been fatal. May Odell never stood a chance, yet some miraculous inner strength compelled her to cling to life.

Ora then turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger, but only succeeded in giving himself a scalp wound. Amazingly, while Ora was stunned, May pulled herself to her feet and hobbled toward the front door where she was met by concerned neighbors attracted to the scene by the sound of gunshots. She collapsed and all attempts to save her proved useless. May died an hour later.

 

May's grave at Newton Cemetery

 

The Funeral of May Stoddard Odell

Undertaker LaBar's assistant, C.W. Rishell, took charge of May's body after the acting coroner, Esquire Larrabee, held an inquest at the scene and pronounced the woman's death a murder. Her body was immediately taken to the home of her mother, Frances Stoddard, and sister, Estella Coppersmith, on West Allegany Avenue. Meanwhile, Sheriff John D. Swope loaded Ora into a wagon and took him to Squire Larrabee's office, where he was charged with his wife's murder. "I did it," admitted Ora. "Only to get away."

May's funeral took place from the residence of her mother and sister on Saturday afternoon, July 19, with services conducted by Rev. Calvin of the First Baptist Church. Friends and relatives from as far away as Buffalo came to Emporium to pay their respects as her body was laid to rest at Newton Cemetery (then known as the Newton-Wiley Cemetery).

Early on Tuesday morning, July 23, Ora attempted suicide again, this time from inside his jail cell, using a piece of tin torn from a box of pepper to slash his throat. A doctor's examination also revealed that Ora had also used the makeshift cutting implement on his wrists. Unfortunately, the wounds were not fatal, reported the town's newspaper.

The Trial of Ora Odell

Odell murder trial got under way on Tuesday, January 14, 1908. On Thursday, the killer took the stand in his own defense, stating that he did not remember anything that happened after he had consumed the whiskey. At 11:19 p.m. on Friday evening, the ringing of the courthouse bell announced to the citizens of Emporium that a verdict had been reached. Despite the lateness of the hour crowds raced to Chestnut Street, hoping to get inside the courthouse before the verdict was read aloud. Ten minutes later the jurors filed into the courtroom as the constable escorted Ora Odell to the bar. A deathly hush fell over the room as the jury foreman, George Darren, declared: "Guilty as indicted." Ora leaned over, as though about to faint, when the judge refused the defense attorney's request for a new trial. His face grew paler still when the judge pronounced sentence, ordering Odell to be hanged by the neck until dead.

 

Cameron County Courthouse. The building to the right was the old jail.

 

The Execution

With the date of execution set for June 2, 1908 by Governor Stuart, Sheriff Swope immediately began making the necessary preparations, which, considering the historic nature of the affair, was no easy task. Former sheriff S.S. King of Port Allegany, who had previous execution experience, was called upon to assist Swope and a number of trusted local residents were deputized to keep the crowd in order on the day of the execution. The scaffold was borrowed from neighboring Potter County, where it had been gathering dust since the hanging of Charles Brewster two years earlier. Unlike other models, this death machine dispatched its victim not through hanging, but by a violent upward yanking of the neck when a rope secured to a heavy weight was severed. As the heavy load of scrap iron fell, the condemned prisoner's neck would be stretched and snapped in the blink of an eye. This method, considered more human than a typical gallows, prevented the possibility of the prisoner dying through slow strangulation.

At 9:30 on the morning of June 2, Sheriff Swope and District Attorney J.P. McNarney  ordered the march from the jail to the scaffold, and Odell soon appeared before the crowd, erect and fearless. Spotting Dr. Falk, the man who would declare him deceased, Ora said, "Hello, doctor. This is a rather tough way to be taken away, but I suppose it is according to law." No further words were said as King placed the rope around Odell's neck and the black hood was pulled over his head. At 10:11 King nodded to Sheriff Swope, who cut the rope. He died instantly. On June 4, he was buried in the same graveyard as his wife, in a plot that was donated by the Wiley family.

Sources:

The Potter Enterprise, July 23, 1907.
Cameron County Press, July 25, 1907.
Cameron County Press, Jan. 16, 1908.
Cameron County Press, Jan. 23, 1908.
Cameron County Press, June 4, 1908.