The Ghost of George Jacob Schmidlin

 

While Herman Schultz holds the distinction of being the only person hanged in Pike County (Schultz went to his death in 1897 for the murder of his estranged wife), another German immigrant nearly beat Schultz to the gallows fourteen years earlier. In 1884, George Jacob Schmidlin, known to residents of Westfall Township simply as "George Smith", had confessed to the cowardly murder of Frank Heitz. Schmidlin cheated the executioner a few months later by hanging himself in his cell in the Milford jail. But, if folks around Westfall Township thought they had seen the last of Frank Heitz's killer, they were wrong.

The Ambush at Stairway

During the 19th century, bluestone quarries dotted the upper Delaware River, resulting in the settlement of numerous tiny villages. One such village was Stairway, a company town for the Kilgour Blue Stone Company a few miles east of Parker's Glen. In a small, dilapidated hovel in the village lived a middle-aged German quarryman named George Schmidlin. After the death of his wife-- said to be hastened by her husband's cruel and barbaric treatment, George fashioned a makeshift coffin out of an old dry goods box and buried her, without religious rites, in the yard behind his shanty. George then decided that he needed a housekeeper, and he went to New York in search of one. It was there he met and hired a pretty girl named Anna Schmitt. 

Anna had been employed by George Schmidlin for about six weeks when a fellow worker from the Kilgour quarry, 22-year-old Frank Heitz, met and fell in love with her-- a development which drove George mad with jealousy. In early May, Frank and Anna disappeared and George went to Port Jervis to look for them, upon hearing rumors that the young lovers had been seen in town. George failed to find them in Port Jervis and he returned home to Stairway, vowing revenge if they should ever cross his path again.

Frank Heitz and Anna Schmitt, as it turned out, had gone to Hoboken to get married, and, after a few days of staying with friends, they returned to Stairway on Saturday, May 10. On Wednesday evening, shortly after nine o'clock, Frank Heitz walked Anna to Schmidlin's home and was returning north along the railroad tracks towards his boarding house, about a half mile from Stairway. George Schmidlin and a fellow quarryman named Oscar Somers and another friend named Wenzell were several steps ahead of him. Schmidlin pretended to take his leave and Somers and Wenzell turned around and continued along the tracks toward Heitz. Instead of going home, however, Schmidlin hid behind a large tree stump and waited for Heitz to pass by. Schmidlin withdrew a revolver and fired at Heitz, who fell upon the tracks. "Look out!" shouted the shooter, taking aim and preparing to shoot again.

Frank Heitz jumped up and started to run up the track. Another shot followed.  He collapsed near the home of Jacob Malzahn, and Mrs. Malzahn heard his cries for help and carried him into the house, where he died a few days later-- but not before he made a deathbed statement identifying the man who had shot him.

Schmidlin Confesses

George Schmidlin was arrested the following day and jailed in Milford. The case went before a grand jury on the morning of June 4, and at noon he was indicted and formally charged with first degree murder. Schmidlin, who had staunchly denied his guilt, requested a visit from District Attorney Newman that evening and promised to make out a full confession in exchange for a charge of second degree murder. Judge Seeley, however, would not accept the plea agreement. The defendant then asked to be brought before the court to make a confession, believing that it might spare his neck. The judge agreed and Schmidlin admitted to killing Frank Heitz. George Schmidlin went on trial for his life in June and was promptly convicted. He was sentenced to death by Judge Seeley on June 30, 1884.

 

 
The End of His Rope

Around eight o'clock on the evening of July 6, guard Albert Helms looked the the cell door and saw George Schmidlin pacing nervously. An hour later he returned to shackle the prisoner, only to find him dangling from a rope he had made from a towel which had been torn into strips. The prisoner's bed was splotched with blood, and Helms discovered that Schmidlin, prior to hanging himself from the hinge of the rear cell door, had unsuccessfully tried to slash his wrist. Helms notified Coroner Watson, who took charge of the body and held an inquest.

Reverend Mueller, of the German Lutheran Church of Port Jervis, testified that he had interviewed Schmidlin several times during his lockup. "I am acquainted with his handwriting," testified the reverend. "I saw some of this on the wall this morning. It contains a general farewell to Annie, to his children, his friends, and all who knew him.  He states that he is in misery being chained to the floor, not able to bear the shame the execution would bring upon his children.

"He strongly asserts his innocence in regard to the murder of Frank Heitz and puts the blame upon two persons, Somers and Wenzell," he continued. "But I am innocent; the murderers are at large. God have mercy on my soul. I have perjured myself."

According to the reverend, George Schmidlin claims that, on the night of the murder, a New Yorker named Wenzell had asked for his gun. He didn't know for what purpose Wenzell wanted the weapon until he had run away with it, saying that it was for Frank and Anna. Schmidlin claimed that he ran home for another weapon in order to stop Wenzell, but was too late. "May God forgive you and be gracious to my soul," Schmidlin concluded. "Shortly I will be with my dear sainted wife. Goodbye, my dear children. In heaven I will meet you all." After the inquest was complete, Schmidlin was buried in a pauper's grave at Milford Cemetery without ceremony.

The Ghost of Stairway

In September of 1884, just when life had returned to normal around Stairway, there came reports of strange sights and sounds along the stretch of railroad track where Frank Heitz had been ambushed. On Tuesday, September 16, two men, appearing frightened out of their wits, ran to the home of Jacob Malzahn and recounted an incredible tale. They had been walking near Stairway when they had seen Schmedlin's ghost standing on the track where Heitz had fallen. But could it have been a case of mistaken identity? Strangely enough, one of the two men who had encountered the ghost was none other than Oscar Somers, the man who had accompanied Schmedlin on that fateful evening in May.

Suspecting a prank, local residents organized a search party the following day and, later that night, they, too, saw the apparition of George Schmidlin-- whose spectral form passed from the track to the large tree stump where the assassin had hidden himself. In the hand of the phantom was a revolver.

 

Sources:

Philadelphia Times, May 14, 1884.
Harrisburg Daily independent, June 5, 1884.
Wayne County Herald, June 12, 1884.
Wayne County Herald, July 10, 1884.
Hamilton Spectator, Sept. 18, 1884.