The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-08-09
Hangman's Hemp.


ished three more-two for Fayette coun
ty and one for Allegheny county.
The speaker was Jacob Bupp, the man
who has made the rope used in every exc
cution in this county since 1910, ana
nearly every one that has been used in the
state of Pennsylvania. He was found
Yesterday by Commercial Gazette reports
er hard at work in a sand bank few yards
away from his cosy little home, on Shad
avenue, in the Eleventh ward OF Allegheny
City. He is over 81 years old, but tall and
straight as an arrow. His face be
spoke intelligence and good humor.
Throwing down the pickax he selected ar
soft SPOT on the edge of the bank and re
called the reporter wilha story about The
way he made hangman's ropes aud
"reminiscences of the cases in which they
had been used.
You want TO know what hangman 5
rope is like do you? Well, it is hemp
rope of four strands and heart, tige>
elghths of an inch thick They are made
of the best hemp, which must be treated In
the most careful manner. The first pros
cess after being well pounded Is putting
il through the hatchels. There are five
of these, and are made of teeth OF the
finest steel, firmly fixed in wooden frame.
The teeth in the first one are about a
quarter of an inchwide, and the last ones
are about the size of a darnIn9 needle
The hemp is drawn through these Ike
hair through comb, until all the hemp Is
of the same size and perfectly free from
loose fibers and dirt. Then comes the
most careful and important part, the spin
nino into warn When this is done the
four strands of the rope are made by puts
ting sixteen strands of yarn IN each. The
usual number of strands in haneman'S
rome is sixty-four. Then these strands
are made into rope closing as we call
it. Unlike all other ropes the hangs
mans rope is not starched' 1t would
make it TO stiff Instead, it is well rub
bed with beeswax, until it becomes soft
and pliabe Then the rope is made
TYING THE MOOSE.
Ready for delivery to the sheriff.
"Oh, no; | always tie the noose-haif
the sherilfs in the country don't know
how to tie hangmans knot, | give
| mine the nine lawful turns, so, and he
proceeded to illustrate by taking of the
small rope which he used instead OF suS-
penders OF belt.
Does not the size OF the rope depend
upon the weight of the man TO be hung
| No, | make them all one siZe-hve-
eighths OF an inch. They would hold a
bullock. | never had rope break. \
rope made by hand is three times as
strong as one made by machinery, The
strength of my ropes by actual test,0, 2U'
pounds 1t doesn't do TO make the rope
any smaller. | saw man executed al
Baltimore with three>eighth inch rope
They gave him drop ten feet and jus
cut his head off.
The first rope | ever made was 70
William Miller, who was hung at William
port, Lycoming county, in 1910. He XII
led IA woman because she would not leaV
z her husband and run away with him.
5 Among the first ones | made were thos
, for Charlotte Jones and Henry Fife VIII.
were executed together for numbering he
uncle at Mckeesport for his money
; first ropes made tor Allegheny county.
: think sheriff John 5. Steward hung then
. Another double execution which
furnished ropes for, was up IN Cambfl
County. Two men named Howard Bow
ser murdered man near johnston
They were caught in Pittsburg by Dete,
tive Dave NJ kelver He's Deputy May
e or Of this city now, | believe.
Il made three ropes at one time fe
Allegheny County. Two OF them, te
Marshall and Frecke, who murdered Ne'
York ieweler on Boyd's Hill in Pittsbnre
They were hung tue same daY, and JUS
one week later Mrs Grinder was e>
9 cuted She died harder than anybody
have saw hung. and I've seen a goo
many. She kicked thirteen minutes d
i tue watch Her crime was polsionln
( a man named Caruthers in Alieghon
and it was suspected that she had posn'
several before him
II made the ropes that hung Fran
Smith aud Ward McConkey, | hated to 81
? those two boys hung. don't think The
/ were-I was never positive they deserve
- it. remember as McConkcy was swug
:, off he cried. '"Oh. you murdeFers. yon
| lnosc WpFus were III iii1 NdiS iNi i"H'iJ
day.
e made the rope IN hang that manste
that devil, Gulteau.' and the old man
ewes flashed fire at the thoughts II REGAL
- ed Il took pleasure in making that ont
Il At first was going TO make 1t oil sllh. b
d they told me even hemp was too good t
him But made it out of hemp.lt WAS
81 StraDIs
never used over siXty-four before,
y sent it on free Of charge. There we
y fourteen other rope makers in the Unit
II States. who made ropes for him, and
don't know positively whose was use
| am pretty sure it was mine, though. 1
the papers afterwards said there were
l. strands in the rope, and | don't thi
re there were that many strands in any b
70 mine. | could have made hundreds
thousands of dollars if had only ma
{ the rope longer and kept part of II.
X keep a piece about foot long. Re
le pie have offered me big money for 1t, b
h it's worth as much to me as 1t Is to the
:. | always keep piece of every rope
- make. | make them about thirty II
e. long. So the sheriff can cut off four
IS FIVE feet to give his friends.
pd We'll, you're tired listening, are. 70
!, Come back again always glad to see 20
IL III send you piece of the next rope US
he in Allegheny county, and have an Ie
at who it'll be for-but that don't matt
he Good by"
m. THE GREATEST DISCOVERY
ne .bo n;ntoantb oapturv can trulv