William Showers Murders His Grandchildren

 

Lined with quaint shops and historic buildings, Annville is one of the most charming towns in the Lebanon Valley. However, in 1887, Annville became the scene of horror after William Showers committed two of the most sensational murders in the county's history on the outskirts of town.

A cigarmaker by trade, William Showers lived his entire life in the Annville area. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the Third Artillery, Battery II, but his military career was cut short after he was kicked in the chest by a horse. Upon his return to Lebanon County he entered the cigar manufacturing business, which he conducted out of his home-- a one and a half story log house on seven acres-- on land that he had purchased from Samuel Harper (the namesake of the North Annville Township establishment known as Harper's Tavern).

William Showers had four children-- Sarah, William, Stephen and Thomas. Sarah, who did not have the best reputation, was described as a "woman of questionable virtue" and had six illegitimate children. She finally married a man named Huffnagle, a rough character who had his own troubles with the law, but Sarah passed away shortly after Huffnagle abandoned her and the children. Homes were found for all but two of them-- Samuel Sperraw, age 3, and Billy Kahler, age 5.

Naturally, the duty of caring for these children fell upon William Showers, who, at the age of 60, was a widower and had neither the means nor the energy to accomplish this task. He was a cruel and demanding father, but he persevered. As a deacon in the local Lutheran church, he had a reputation to uphold. Nonetheless, he chafed under the additional expense this arrangement caused him. His business wasn't exactly thriving and his army pension was scarcely sufficient to meet his most basic needs. He attempted to hire a housekeeper, Elizabeth "Betsy" Sargent, but the woman, after meeting the rambunctious toddlers, flat-out refused. She said that she'd only agree to the arrangement if the children were out of the picture.

Before long, William began to display hostility towards his grandsons. But then he had an idea. During those days, it wasn't unusual for young children to be "bound out" by parents or guardians who could not afford to take care of them. Under this arrangement, the children went to live in a new household, where they would eventually learn a trade as apprentices. When neighbors noticed that Samuel and Billy were missing, William's explanation was that he had indentured them to a family from Tower City. But, while this practice wasn't unheard of, it was technically illegal (the federal government had banned indentured servitude 54 years earlier). This aroused suspicions that all was not right, and word eventually reached county officials in Lebanon. On May 31, 1887, Constable Fegan went to the Showers home and arrested him on suspicion of murder.

With William Showers safely behind bars, authorities were able to make an investigation without fear of anyone hiding or destroying evidence. In jail, Showers gave wildly conflicting stories: The children had been taken away by a man from Texas, they had been kidnapped by gypsies in the vicinity of Indiantown Gap, they had been given to a farmer in Tower City.  He swore up and down that he did not know the whereabouts of Samuel and Billy, and tears streamed down his cheeks as he invoked the Lord to strike him down if he wasn't telling the truth.

 
Searching For The Bodies

The following day, District Attorney A.W. Ehrgood and County Detective James Gates left Lebanon in a buggy for Annville to assist in the investigation. By the time of their arrival, nearly every section of property had been searched for signs of freshly turned soil and the searchers were growing discouraged. The Union Water Works dam was also dragged that afternoon. When Detective Gates learned from a nearby potato farmer that he had seen lights near a drainage ditch about 70 yards from the log house a few nights earlier, he instructed the men to search the ditch. 

It was Frank Gruber who poked at the sandy bottom of the ditch with a stick and found what appeared to be human hair. He called out to the other searchers and, after a little excavation, the bodies of the two missing children were found about eighteen inches under the sand. Within minutes word had traveled around town that the children had been found. Men and women crowded the ditch as the unclothed bodies, in an advanced state of decomposition, were pulled out of the sand and carried into the Showers barn.

 

Dr. I.K. Urich and Dr. John Bucher made a closer examination of the bodies of Samuel Sperraw and Billy Kahler inside the barn. Their bodies were blackened from a combination of sand and decay, their torsos bloated, their eyes and tongues protruded. It was evident that the skulls had been crushed. A rope was found around Billy's neck. Even the sturdiest of the local farmers wept at the sickening sight. Others called for Showers' head. Next, authorities searched the house and found irrefutable evidence that a gruesome deed had been committed. The children's bed revealed faded blotches of blood-- evidently, Showers had tried, in vain, to scrub away the telltale clues of his crime. Blood was also found outside the house. Not a stitch of the children's clothing was found, leading to the belief that they had been burned.

Upon interviewing neighbors, authorities believed that William Showers had killed his grandchildren out of his desire to get Betsy Sargent to marry him. William's wife and daughter had both passed away recently, under suspicious circumstances, and it was hinted that William might've played a role in their deaths. It was also learned that Showers had tried, unsuccessfully, to have the children taken by the county almshouse and the Loysville Lutheran home. Authorities believed that, when these plans failed, Showers began to entertain the thought of murder. 

Because the coroner was late in arriving, District Attorney Ehrgood instructed Justice of the Peace Isaac Beaver to hold the inquest. The jury assembled in the front room of the Showers home and proceeded to take testimony from witnesses who described Showers' recent movements and travels. Drs. Bucher and Urich both expressed their opinion that the boys had been bludgeoned over the head with a blunt instrument before being strangled. The jury fixed the date of the murders at May 17, 1887. This was the day the boys were last seen alive.

The Murder Weapon Found

Owing to the advanced state of decomposition, Samuel Sperraw and Billy Kahler were buried in a hastily dug grave at Evergreen Cemetery on the night of May 31. It was a dark, starless evening and raining persistently. No weeping relatives or grief-stricken friends surrounded the simple pine coffins as their bodies were consigned to the earth. Meanwhile, a reporter from the Lebanon Daily News visited the accused killer in his cell on the upper floor of the county jail. Showers appeared haggard and feeble. He was unwilling to answer questions, though he declared that he was innocent.

On June 3, the murder weapon-- a bloody hatchet-- was found in Showers' outhouse, along with a blood-stained quilt. A few days later, Showers was moved to a new cell-- Cell No. 13-- so that guards could keep a close eye on him, should he decide to take his own life before his case went to trial. Ironically, a former occupant of this very same cell, Nimrod Spattenhoover, was hanged for murder eight years earlier.

Showers Confesses, Implicates Sargent

Over the summer Showers' attorney, Col. A.F. Seltzer, tried every possible trick to aid his client, who maintained his innocence. His attempt to prove that Showers was mentally ill had gone nowhere, and the note Showers had produced-- allegedly sent from a Tower City man offering to take in the two young children-- was proven to be a forgery. Perhaps aware that his defense was going nowhere, Showers created a sensation on the morning of September 23-- the date set for his preliminary hearing-- when he called for his sons, Stephen and William, to visit him in jail so that he could make a full confession.

According to Showers, he and Betsy Sargent were engaged to be married (a claim which Sargent fervently denied), but Sargent desperately wanted William's grandchildren "out of the way". Together, in May, they concocted a plot to murder Samuel and Billy. On the night of the murder, Betsy held the lantern while William strangled the children-- one with a length of twine, the other with Betsy's petticoat-- and assisted him in burying the bodies in the drainage ditch. Showers claimed that the skull fractures occurred when he tripped and dropped the dead children. Betsy then stripped off the bloody clothing and burned them atop the kitchen stove.

When this confession was read in court later that morning, Betsy Sargent cried out, "That's a lie!" and she was removed from the courtroom by the order of Judge McPherson. While this outburst was dramatic, it was unnecessary, because most educated people know that dead bodies can't bleed. Shortly after death, gravity draws the blood to the lower extremities, in a process known as livor mortis-- a fact apparently unknown to Showers. This could only mean that the victims had been bludgeoned while they were still alive. Nonetheless, defense attorney Seltzer appealed to the judge to have his client's guilty plea withdrawn. Judge McPherson ordered Betsy Sargent placed in jail while an investigation could be made. Sargent, from the confines of her jail cell, insisted that she could prove her whereabouts on the evening of May 16. She was soon released.

 
The Murder Trial

Showers' attorney, Col. Seltzer, immediately petitioned the court for a change of venue when the trial opened on the morning of December 15. The motion was denied. Also quashed was his petition challenging the jury selection. When Showers was led out of the courthouse that afternoon, he was hounded by a jeering crowd calling for his hanging.

The second day opened with a packed courtroom, with most of the attendees coming from Annville. Among the crowd was Betsy Sargent, who told reporters that if Showers was convicted, she'd gladly volunteer for the job of executioner. By late afternoon the jury had been selected. The defense tried to prove that it had been "Cowboy" Huffnagle, Sarah's deadbeat husband, who had murdered the children and hid the bodies on the property to implicate Showers. Witnesses, including the accused killer's son and daughter-in-law, testified that the blood found on a cushion in the bedroom had been from a nosebleed. Other witnesses for the defense testified that Showers' confession had been made under duress, amid threats by law enforcement.

As one might expect, it did not take long for the jury to find William Showers guilty on two counts of murder in the first degree. The verdict was read at 8 o'clock on the morning of Sunday, December 18. Three ballots were taken; the first ballot produced ten votes in favor of the first degree and two votes in favor of the second degree. The second ballot went nine for the first degree and three for the second, while the third ballot found all twelve jurors agreeing on murder in the first degree. Col. Seltzer's motion for a new trial was dismissed on January 4, 1888, and Judge McPherson pronounced sentence, ordering Showers to hang from the neck until dead. Governor Beaver fixed the date of execution at November 14.

The Execution of William Showers

Just after nightfall on November 13, 1888, Joe Bentz, assistant janitor at the courthouse, brought the old scaffold out of the cellar. It was on this very scaffold the infamous "Blue Eyed Six" were hanged for the Raber murder. Before long, a crowd of some 200 people had gathered in the alley to watch George Hoffman and Adam Lutz erect the death machine on the south side of the jail yard, even though the execution would not occur until morning. 

A little after seven o'clock the following morning, Showers ate a hearty breakfast of eggs, beefsteak and sweet potato in silence before combing his hair and spending his final moments reading his Bible. At 9:45 he was visited by Reverend Heil. Afterwards, when he was handed his coat, he complained about it being dusty and demanded that it be brushed. Perhaps there was a reason why he wanted to look sharp; Betsy Sargent had expressed a desire to see the old man one last time. Though she set out for Lebanon, she didn't reach the prison in time, but, before his execution, Showers exonerated her from any involvement in the murders.

At 10:25 the main doors were opened for those with admission cards to the hanging, but a bullrush ensued, forcing Deputy Sheriff Gerberich to block the entrance. Those who could not get inside took positions on nearby rooftops on Walnut Alley. Showers wore a black suit to the gallows, with a small bouquet of chrysanthemums in the left lapel which had been placed there by Col. Seltzer, who accompanied him to the platform. Showers was stoic during his death march and expressed little emotion when the rope was placed around his neck and his arms and legs were pinioned. Only when Sheriff Yordy leaned in close and said goodbye did the condemned man begin to twitch involuntarily.

"Do you have anything you wish to say?" the sheriff asked, to which the condemned man replied that he had already said all that he had to say.  The sheriff stepped down from the platform at 11:07 and sprung the trap. Showers fell with a thud, and Dr. Beckley pronounced him dead seventeen minutes later, death having been caused by strangulation. It was a fitting end for the man who had strangled his grandsons.

The killer's grave, Evergreen Cemetery, Annville

 
The Aftermath

Neither of William's sons came to claim the body after the execution, which forced Sheriff Yordy to turn it over to Jacob Boger, steward of the county almshouse. However, Col. Seltzer, who was aware of his client's wish to be laid to rest alongside his wife, immediately went out in search of the dead man's sons to implore them to take possession of the corpse. He found Stephen at work in Christian Maulfair's stone quarry, though Stephen declared that he wanted nothing to do with the matter. Next, Seltzer tracked down William, Jr. and urged him to claim the body, but he said that he didn't have the money to give his father a proper burial. Overhearing this, William's friends became so outraged that they hounded him until he reluctantly agreed to ask Undertaker Miller to fetch the body from the almshouse.

The body was immediately conveyed to Evergreen Cemetery, where a grave had been dug in the meantime, and Showers was buried alongside his wife, in the same plot in which his murder victims-- his very own grandchildren-- had been buried. And so ends the final chapter of the history of William Showers, whose arrest, trial and execution created a deeper interest around Annville than any murderer who ever came before the Lebanon County court.



 

Sources:

Lebanon Daily News, June 1, 1887.
Lebanon Daily News, June 4, 1887.
Lebanon Daily News, June 9, 1887.
Lebanon Daily News, Sept. 23, 1887.
Lebanon Daily News, Dec. 15, 1887.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 17, 1887.
Lebanon Daily News, Dec. 19, 1887.
Lebanon Daily News, Nov. 14, 1888.
Lebanon Daily News, Nov. 15, 1888.