#PennsylvaniaHermit

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The Hanging and the Hermit: The Tragic Timing of William Wilson

Just southwest of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania is a place carved by nature and visited by humans for hundreds of years. The caves have had many names, Wilson Cave, Hummelstown Cave, Stoverdale Cave, Giant’s Cave, Indian Cave, and the most recent moniker, Indian Echo Caverns. Since 1929 the caves have been open to the public with tours regularly walking through and marveling at the natural wonders. Hundreds of thousands of people walk the cavern paths each year, but what some may not know is that one corner of the caves houses a story of betrayal, desperation, exile, and death.

The Indian Echo Caverns. Image via Wikipedia.

William “Amos” and Elizabeth Wilson (also known as Harriet) were siblings born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania in the late 1700s. The pair were born two years apart but they were extremely close, remaining in contact as much as possible after William left home at sixteen to become an apprentice stone cutter. When Elizabeth later left home at the age of eighteen she journeyed to Philadelphia where part of her path becomes murky. Some say that she became a servant in the home of a wealthy family, others say she found work at the Indian Queen Tavern. What is known for certain is that during her time in Philadelphia her tragic fate was sealed. Elizabeth met a young man by the name of Smith and by 1784 she had at least one child with him, many accounts reporting that she had twins. The problem was that Smith was already married and had no intention of continuing his life with Elizabeth or the children. In October 1784 Elizabeth went missing for several days. When she returned the children were gone and Elizabeth was unable to speak.

Within days the horrific fate of her infants was revealed when their bodies were found in the woods by a hunter. With the discovery came the accusations, all of which were sharply pointed toward Elizabeth. The authorities acted quickly, arresting Elizabeth and committing her to prison to await trial for the murder of her babies. When the day arrived for the young woman to face a judge the courtroom was bursting at the seams with many people who knew Elizabeth well and could not believe, refused to believe, that she was capable of the accusations before her. The numbers did not sway anything in her favor and after eleven hours the judge handed down the ultimate sentence. Elizabeth Wilson would hang on December 7th 1785.

Far from the fury and horror of the courthouse, William did not learn of the accusations against his sister until after her sentencing was handed down. Arriving at the jail on December 3rd, William was finally able to convince Elizabeth to speak and her words revealed what he believed to be the true story. According to William, Elizabeth told him that on that horrible October day Smith contacted her, asked her to meet him, and told her to bring the children along. While walking through the woods en route to their meeting he surprised Elizabeth, killed the babies and then attacked her, telling her that if she ever spoke of the incident he would kill her as well. The shock of the ordeal plunged her into a severe state of trauma rendering her unable to speak and therefor unable to defend herself against any accusation in court. William knew his sister, he believed his sister, and now he took it upon himself to set her free.

William had only four days to save Elizabeth’s life. Riding from town to town, he began voraciously gathering information, talking to witnesses and judges, and building the case for her innocence. He finally made his way to the Commonwealth’s executive authority, the Supreme Executive Council, and plead his case for a pardon for Elizabeth. Here William was partially successful, gaining the support of Council Vice-President Charles Biddle. Biddle felt certain about  Elizabeth’s innocence and the rest of the Council, although not as convinced as Biddle, decided to grant a stay of execution to allow William to further build his case. The execution was rescheduled for January 3rd 1786 and for the Wilson siblings the clock began counting down.

Charles Biddle.

William continued his pursuit of information and some accounts say that he tracked down Smith who claimed he never even met Elizabeth. It didn’t matter, William had witnesses connecting him to Elizabeth and he was prepared to bring their names to the Council. William may have felt he won the fight, but before he could deliver the new information an illness derailed him just before Christmas. William recovered but his deadline loomed dangerously close, it was now the day before Elizabeth was scheduled to hang.

With only hours left William arrived at the home of the Supreme Executive Council President, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin directed him to the home of Biddle and believing fully that Elizabeth would be pardoned with just a little more time, Biddle wrote another stay of execution, “Do not execute Wilson until you hear further from Council.” William had fifteen miles between him and the execution site in Chester, Pennsylvania. He jumped on his horse and rode.

The ride to Chester was hindered by everything imaginable. A violent storm thrashed all around William and when he arrived at the Schuylkill River he was faced with a tragic set of circumstance. The storm had already destroyed the bridges, ferry boats were not running, and the river tossed in front of him with no way to cross. After pacing the riverbank for a time he made his move, attempting to cross on horseback, but the horse could not complete the crossing. He finally threw himself into the freezing water, swimming across with the stay of execution in hand. William made it across, found another horse, and raced toward the jail, but it was too late. When he arrived at the execution site his sister was hanging from the gallows. Realizing what his appearance meant and seeing the stay of execution her body was cut down by the sheriff and they attempted to revive her but Elizabeth was gone, dying only minutes before William’s arrival with the paper that would have saved her life.  

An illustration showing the arrival of William at the execution site. The word appearing above his head reads “A Pardon”.

The murder of her children stunned Elizabeth into temporary silence but the death of Elizabeth completely rocked William to his core. For months he remained in a state of semi-delirium, unable to reconcile in his mind the many strikes that pushed his sister to her death only moments before he could have saved her. When he recovered from the shock William declared that he no longer had any interest in the outside world. He wandered the region in solitude until he found a cave hidden inside a forest twelve miles from Hummelstown, Pennsylvania.

William made the caverns his home for nineteen years, creating a living space out of one room where he kept a table, a stool, a few utensils, and a bed of straw gathered on a ledge ten feet from the ground that he accessed with a simple ladder. Among his few possessions he kept a copy of the Bible which he studied from in between his regular morning and evening church services. For the remainder of his life he was a mostly solitary man deeply committed to cleanliness, reading, and writing. He was a prolific writer, penning many pieces but never sharing them with anyone, intending for them to be published only after his death. He claimed he was content with his life, never desiring to be involved with the world and people around him. The death of his sister gave him “a wound which they can never heal.”

The ledge where William slept. Image via flickr user Sherrie.

One of the few people to encounter William on a semi-regular basis was a farmer who paid him to do odd jobs and to carve millstones. On October 13th 1821 William did not show up to the farm so the farmer went looking for him. When he arrived at the cave he found the remnants of a fire, one of the many William regularly lit under his stone ledge to keep warm in the chilly cave. Laying in the straw was a lifeless William, likely taken by smoke inhalation.

According to reports, William was buried in an unmarked grave on the farmer’s property. It was only after his death that the farmer learned his friend’s story after finding numerous writings and William’s journal detailing the tragic tale of his sister. Among his many writings was a manuscript entitled The Sweets of Solitude: Instructions to Mankind How They May Be Happy in a Miserable World, published posthumously as William intended.

An illustration of The Pennsylvania Hermit.

Today a visit to the Indian Echo Caves costs less than twenty dollars and promises a breathtaking look into the natural hidden wonders of Pennsylvania. Reviews include words like “pleasant”, “beautiful”, and “wonderful”, all well deserved praises. Less easy to find among the guest comments is the tragic tale of William Wilson, “The Pennsylvania Hermit” who was minutes from saving one life and spent nineteen years of his own living in the caves with only his memories, his regrets, and a “wound” the outside world could “never heal.”

In 1839 the story of William Wilson was published in an account that included his manuscript The Sweets of Solitude: Instructions to Mankind How They May Be Happy in a Miserable World, it can be read here.