Evening star., 1894-02-16
LEONARD EXECUTED
Hanging the Murderer Of Jesse
Anderson at Frederick.
An INDIANA MURDERER ALSO DIES
The Worst Cline in the History
of the State.
COOL ON THE CAFFOLD

Special Dispatch to The Evening Star.
FREDERICK, Md. Feb l6.-Wm. Leon
ard. who murdered Jesse Anderson. was
hanged in the jail yard here this morning.
The drop fell at 11:17 and the man was
pronounced dead. at 11:3I. of a broken
neck. The execution passed of without
flaw. The condemned man exhibited great
nerve and cooiness, ascending the scaffold
alone without tremor and placing himself
in position on the trap.
Leonard spent the entire morning with
his spiritual advisers. Rev. Fathers Cole
man and Holm. and when not conversins
with them walked up and down the corri-
dor smoking. He said he was prepared TO
die. and wanted the work done as soon after
10 o'clock as possible. He was dressed in
a neat suit of black.
The physicians, Drs. F. F. Smith. w. G.
McComas, II. *. Mudd and w. A. Long,
pronounced the man dead and his body was
cut down and taken in casket to st.
Johns Catholic Church, where brief services
were held and the body inferred in the ad-
joining graveyard.
Crime, Arrest and Trial of Leonard.
The crime for which Leonard suffered the
death penalty was the killing Of Jesse An
derson with a musket on September 8. 1873.
at Lime Kiln, Frederick county, three miles
south of Frederick city Anderson was
Baltimore and Ohio track workman ard
was very popular In his neishborhood.
Leonard was an Englishman and worked
up to the time of the killing in a canning
factory at Buckeystown.
Leonard about the time of the murder was
drinking heavily. He repeatedly adElitted
the killing and said In eXtenuation that he
was crazed by drink at the time of what ne
always spoke of as this sad affair
1t was brought out in the trial that, while
Leonard was in his drunken condition, he
was informed that Anderson had told Leon
ards brotherin-law, Mr. Grant Hardy. uho
is Baltimore and Ohio telegraph operator.
that Leonard was a drunk. Leona ri
did not know Anderson. but he was SO in
| furiated by the information that he went
to Hardy's house. borrowed musket
which. he said, he wanted to use to shoot
a squirrel for his little daughter, AMI went
to look for Anderson. He found his victim
in gang of nine men at work on tlie rail-
| road. He asked which was Anderson, and
when he got the right man. said:
Anderson, are you armed?
II am not" replied Anderson.
Then l am sorry for you. You have lied
about me. and am going to kill you
The men then struggled for the gun, but
the load of shot was fired into the track
workman lungs. and he died the same
day.
The murderer was arrested at Buckeyes
town and taken to Frederick. The feeling
was SO intense against him that his trial
was removed to Rockville. Montgomery
county. where, on November % he was
convicted of murder in the first degree. On
December Judge McSherry sentenced
Leonard to be hanged in Frederick
When asked if he had anything to say he
arose and said: Il am nearly fifty years
old. and up to the time of this sad affair
have never been arrested. ! did kill Ander-
son, but 1t was entirely accidental"
Leonard asserts that the name by which
he is known is not his right name. He gives
this account Of his life: II was born near
Liverpool. England, January 20, 1914 My
parents were poor When l was six years
old my father moved to Ben johnson street
in Liverpool. AT the age of fourteen went
to sea for two years and visited the United
States, the West Indies and France Amer
lea and India. / was twice married legally.
but the second marriage was not happy, and
l left my wife and lived with a gypsy queen.
Three children were born to us. / left her
also. While working in the Cornwall mines
in England / had some trouble, which made
me again come TO the United States In 1881
when worked at Newark, n. j., and Pitts
burg. At Green Spring Run, W. Va
married Mrs. Allenger. who, with me, worked
afterward in the mines at Connellsville Pa
This wife died on May l. 1893 leaving two
little girls. These are all with their grand
mother at Green Spring Run. / am the
father altogether of seventeen children
The convicted man has given little trouble
| to his jailoTs.
He wrote to Sir Julian Pauncefote. the
British ambassador, some time ago. stating
that he was a British subject, and asking
the ambassador to interceje for him with
President Cleveland. but notice was TAX
| en- of the communication. Leonard claims
that he does not give his real name because
he does not wish to scandalize his relatives,
and this fact. he says has kept him from
obtaining that help he would have obtained
| If his nativity could be proven by his family
| name
He claims to have relatives in PhladeI-
pha.
Jesse Anderson who was killed by Leonard.
left wife and two small children