The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-07-27
BIGLBR JOHNSON HANGED.

Bigler Johnson was hanged in the
Jail yard at Towanda on Tuesday
morning for the murder of his wife
and her niece, little Annie Benja-
min, at their home, near Macedonia,
Bradford county, last September.
The drop fell exactly at 1905.
Johnson had four foot fall and his
neck was broken.
The crime for which he was
hanged was one of the most afro
cious ever committed in the state of
Pennsylvania. On the night of
September 18th last house occu-
pied by Mrs. Bigler Johnson and
her niece, Annie Benjamin, in
Macedonia, was totally destroyed
by FIRE. About six o'clock the
following morning the neighbors
discovered the charred bodies of the
woman and little girl. The re-
mains were far beyond recognition
and as soon as possible interment
was made. Since the fire started
early in the evening, it was hard for
the neighbors to believe that the
two victims were caught in a death
trap, and an investigation was made
with the result that on a stone step
there were blood stains.
Later in the ruins two oil cans
were picked up and a crimson stain
of blood was found from the house
crossing the field.
Bigler Johnson, husband of the
woman was then arrested and later
Charles Johnson and Alonson John
son, brothers of Bigler Johnson,
Nancy Johnson, sister, and Mrs.
Sophia Merritt, mother of the boys.
Charles Johnson made a confession
shortly after his arrest. He said
that he and Alonson burned the
house but did not commit the muir
der, but that Bigler had done it.
The motive was the estrangement
existing between Bigler Johnson
and his wife. They separated
some time before the tragedy and in
the proceedings which followed, the
court ordered the husband to pay to
his wife the sum OF SO month. He
obeyed, but reluctantly, and one
month before the murder as he was
paying the money, he stated that
that was the last his wife would
get from him.
Charles Johnson was the first, to
be placed on rial and was found
guilty of murder in the first degree.
Bigler pleaded guilty and was
sentenced by Judge Tanning to be
hanged. He later made confession
exonerating Charles who has not
been sentenced yet, and an effort is
being made to save Charles life.
The Johnsons are descendants of
the Johnsons of Revolutionary
fame, who welded such influence
among the Mohawk Indians. The
Pool Tribe" of which Bigler was
member, was founded by an uncle
of Martin Van Buren, eighth presi-
dent of the United States, named
Anthony Vanderpool.
The "Pools" are of swarthy COM
pleXions, so much so as to indicate
a mixture of Indian or negro blood.
Whatever their origin they have
degenerated into lot of ignorant,
dirty, uncouth people, many of
them only about half-witted. They
have intermarried for three or four
generations, which would account
for their mental calibre. For fifty
years or more they have been
known as a generally worthless set,
the men usually landing in the
lookup for drunkenness when. they
came to Towanda. Years ago on
circus day it was almost as much
Of a sight to watch the pools"
come to town as it was to see the
show. While they are low down
i'll the social scale none of them has
ever been charged with SO serious
crime before.