Henry Stewart Stair

Henry Stewart Stair
Born	February 1851 Mechanicsburg, Wayne County, Ohio
Parents	Frederick Stair

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A WAYNE COUNTY MAN HANGED IN MISSOURI

On Friday of last week Henry Stewart Stair was hanged at Nevada, Missouri, for hte murder on August 7th, of Jacob and Mack Sewell, father and son, who had been camping with their teams and wagons near the fairgrounds in the suburbs of Nevada.

A woman named Nannetta Osborn was convicted with Stair. The Sewells were killed to get their property, and the teams and wagons were found in Stair's possession several miles from where the murder was done and the bodies hidden.

Nannetta Osborn's story of the murder is in substance as follows: "Stair killed the Sewells to get their teams and wagons; I know he killed them. He told me he killed one with hatchet and one with a smoothing iron. The old man was sick in the wagon, and the boy was on the ground. While Stair was killing the boy the old man got a knife and was climbing out of the wagon, but he saw him in time to catch and kill him in the wagon. He then came to the house, and went out to get the wagons. They were loaded. When we got there the night was dark and we heard a groaning in the wagon. Stair climbed up and struck the groaning man a heavy blow with the hatchet. I started to run and fell, and Stair jumped from the wagon and fell upon me. I got on my knees and begged him not to kill me. We then drove to the Marmaton bottom. When we got there Stair was a horrible looking object. His face and hands were covered with blood, and it was matted in his mustache. He described how he killed the Sewells, and I told him I did not see how he could have the heart to do it. He replied that they were not the first men he had 'croaked.' "

The Cincinnati Enquirer of last Saturday gives a full account of the trial and execution with a portrait of Stair. E. C. Martindale, an attorney of Plymouth, Ind., whose wife is a sister of Stair, appeared for Stair at the trial, and the Court appointed other counsel. The evidence as to the killing was circumstantial, though it showed conclusively, both by witnesses and admissions of the prisoners, that they were frequenters of the Sewell camp, and that they were there on the night the Sewells disappeared. The trial lasted six days, but the jury only remained out a few minutes before returning a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree against Stair and Nannetta Osborn. The cases were appealed to the Supreme Court, where the conviction as to Stair was affirmed, but remanded Nannetta Osborn's case for a re-hearing. He (Henry S. Stair) was a son of Frederick Stair, and was born on a farm near Mechanicsburg, Wayne county, north of Wooster, in February 1851. When a youth he moved with his parents to Marshal county, Indiana, where they now reside. He had been married, but separated from his wife. He left Indiana and lived in different places. Last year in Clay county, Arkansas, he took up with Nannetta Osborn. His father visited him in jail. The meeting was very affecting, and the old man was moved to tears when his son appeared before him bound in heavy irons.The old man his in sixty-fifth year. He came to Nevada from Jefferson City, where he had called upon Governor Marmaduke to intercede for his son. He presented affidavits from Doctors who had practiced in his family, alleging that Henry Stair was not of sound mind; also, an affidavit from Stair's wife to the same effect, and an affidavit from Attorney Martindale to the effect that he was forced into trial by fears of a mob in case a continuance was taken. On theses and some other papers of similar character Mr. Stair asked for a commutation of sentence. Governor Marmaduke went to Nevada on the morning of January 5th to investigate Stair's case. He called on Henry Stair at the jail, but his identity was not make known to the prisoner. After a few minutes' talk he left the jail and reviewed the evidence in the cases, but before leaving that evening instructed Sheriff Hill to go on with his arrangements for the execution. Two days later he wrote Stair's father that he could not interfere in the case. Ten thousand people witnessed the hanging. The gallows were erected in a ravine about a mile from the jail. Stair spoke from the scaffold for thirty minutes protesting his innocence and the innocence of the woman implicated, saying they were the victims of circumstances. The drop fell at 1:28 p.m., and in fifteen minutes the body was pronounced lifeless and turned over to his father, who took it to Marshall county, Indiana for interment.

—Author Unknown, Wayne County Democrat, 1886-JAN-20 p.3

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Birth

• February 1851

Death

• January 15, 1886 hanged at Nevada, Missouri.

Burial

• Marshall County, Indiana

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