Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-31
MAKING NINE ROPES
With Which the Lives of as Many
Murderers Are to be Cut Short
ON WEDNESDAY OF NEXT WEEK.
An Alleghenian Who Has Made So NoOses
During the Last 30 Years.
SINGULAR RECORD OF JACOB BUPP

Jacob Bupp, of the Eleventh ward, ALLIE
ghenY, will have conference with Sheriff
McCandIess this morning in regard to the
construction of the rope to be used in the
execution of Smith, the condemned colored
wife murderer. Mr.. Bupp can safely be
styled an expert noose-maker, having made
no less than SO ropes which were used in
hanging murderers during the past 80 years.
| He has also received orders to make ropes
to be used in all of the nine executions
which are to take place on Wednesday of
next week.
| A DISPATCH reporter called on Mr..
Bupp, at his home yesterday afternoon. The
caller had often heard of Mr.. Bupp's e1ten-
sive experience in the hangman's rope busi-
ness, and he felt little uneasy about COM
| ing in contact with the gentleman. He was
not just sure would not be an uncanny ad-
| venture. But Mr.. Bupp was found to be
very genial individual, and he took great
pleasure in explaining how, and Of what,
hangman's rope is made. He has made so
many, and has assisted at so many execu-
tions that it seemed most natural and
| pleasant subject for him to talk about
JUST HIS BUSINESS.
He related his experiences in putting
ropes around the neck Of culprit, so as to
always break the neck during the fall, with
the same ease that an ordinary person would
discuss a baseball game or horse race,
while it would take Rider Haggard to
| describe the feelings he was causing his
| listeners by his CORY description.
Mr.. Bupp has made all of the ropes used
| in Allegheny county during the last 20
years. He has made more ropes, however,
for Cambria county than for Allegheny.
When Guiteau was executed, Mr.. Bupp
was one of about a score of persons who
made ropes and sent them to the officials at
the national capital, to be used at the exc
cution of President Garfeld's assassin. Mr..
Bupp has every reason to believe his rope
was the one used. The ordinary rope is
made of "a strands, but the one he sent to
Washington contained ITO strands. The
description of the rope, given in Harper's
Weekly after the hanging, Tailed with Mr..
Bupp's rope.
Mr.. Bupp received the order for the ropes
to hang the Chicago Anarchists, but he did
not make them.
The first rope he made was the one used to
execute Eli Schuetz, of Beaver county. The
first ones he made for Allegheny county
were those with which Sally Jones and
Jones' uncle at Elizabeth, many years ago.
OTHERS ON HIS LIST.
Among the other important murderers,
for whom Mir. Bupp made ropes, were Mary
Grinder, who was hung for poisoning a
number of people; Jocoby, who murdered
his wife and threw her into Cork's run;
Evans, who killed his wife on Sandusky
street, Allegheny; Ortwein, who was con-
vlcted of killing the Hammett family, five
in number, at Homestead; Ward McConkey,
who killed Mcclure at McKeesport;
Myers and Murray, who murdered
gardener at the Greenfield tavern;
Marshall and French, who followed man
from New York and killed him on Boyd's
hill, and Frank Small. He also made the
rope that ended the life of the heaviest muir
derer ever hung in Pennsylvania. 1t was
DIR. Beecher of Hollidaysburg. He weighed
265 pounds, and was hung for cutting his
wife into pieces with dissecting knife.
Mr.. Bupp has had some amusing expert
ences in his life, as we'll as grewsome ones.
He made a rope to be used in In
diana county some years ago. 1t is
customary to test all ropes with
dead weight. but the Indiana Sheriff intro
duced novel mode by hanging hog that
weighed 200 pounds. Jamison was the
name of the man whose execution followed
that of the pig. Mr.. Bupp has only made
two ropes that were not used on the occa.
sions for which they were intended. This
is called cheating the hangman." and Ed
Coffee was one of the two who played this
game His rope was made but never used.
Mr.. Bupp made the rope with which George
Clark was hung for numbering an Allegheny
butcher.
HOW NooSES ARE MADE.
70 ovp1oip hour q bapr
mans rope was made and in what way it
differs from other ropes, Mr.. Bupp said:
"Hemp is always used. Flax will do, but
hemp is both longer and stronger. It is
first beaten and hackled until it is soft and
tender and then it is twisted into strands.
A hangman's rope is made OF four parts,
one of which is used as heart and the other
three are twisted around it. When it is fin
ished it is perfectly round and
smooth and is about GIG of an inch
in thickness. These ropes are usually made
from 25 to 80 feet in length. 1t requires p
feet to perform the execution properly, and
the surplus is always made so as to be handy
in case of an accident resulting in break.
The knot is tied by the man who makes the
rope, so that the executioner has nothing to
do but to slip the loop over the culprit's
head.
"There has been a change made
In the mode OF hanging criminals.
Instead of placing the loop so
that the knot lies directly back of the left
ear, it is now placed so that it will rest in
the hollow of the mans neck. His head is
thus thrown forward instead OF sideways,
and death is said to occur sooner than by
the other method"
NEVER HAD A FAILURE.
It is tedious job to construct a hang
mans rope. The work has to be done with
great care. But Mr.. Bupp, who is now
over 60 years of age, and who has had almost
lifelong experience as a ropemaker, has |
never had an accident occur through the |
failure of loop or knot to perform its
work properly.
The old gentleman is an old citizen of |
Allegheny, having resided in the Eleventh |
ward for many years. He is small in |
stature, with full gray beard. He is ro-
bust and healthy, and is a good conversa-
tionalist. particularly on criminal matters. |
He keeps well posted on the affairs of the |
country. He is the father of three children,
all of whom are married and live in the |
Eleventh ward.
Mr.. Bupp expects to reach the hundred |
mark in the noose-making business before |
he quits this life. There is probably not |
another man living who can show such |
record as can Mr.. Jacob Bupp.