Person:Lazarus Schonour (1)

Question: What happens when the hangman's rope goes unused? One hundred years ago this week, the Reading Times ran an article that tells a macabre story of hangman's nooses that found no necks. "Three Ropes Here That Ne'er Hanged Possible Victims," read the headline on July 1, 1914. "Old Manila Never Used for Execution of Murderers," the subhead read. "Cut Up For Souvenirs." The article went on to say that three ropes that had been bought for hangings went unused because of the intervention of the State Board of Pardons. The ropes, with nooses "skillfully tied" in their ends, had been designated for three Berks County residents condemned to death for murder. Samuel Greason and Kate Edwards had been convicted of murdering Edwards' husband in Stouchsburg in 1901. And Lazarus Schonour was sentenced to hang for the murder of Charles Reisch in Cumru Township. The Greason-Edwards case, given the times, was scandalous. Greason, a black man, was having an extramarital affair with Edwards, who was white. Edwards testified that Greason helped her kill her husband, who she claimed was abusive, and both were sentenced to hang on Feb. 16, 1905. At the 11th hour, she recanted her testimony, admitting she alone murdered her husband. Greason was released, but Edwards remained in prison. She narrowly escaped the hangman's noose when, after an estimated 275,000 people across the state signed a petition, Gov. Samuel Pennypacker withdrew the writ of execution the day before the hanging was to take place. She remained in prison for more than a decade before Gov. William P. Sproul commuted her sentence. Labeled The Murderess of Stouchsburg, Edwards had Greason's child while in prison. The child lived with her mother in Berks County Prison until she was 3 years old. Attorney E.H. Deysher, president of the Berks County Bar Association, obtained Greason's acquittal and Edwards' pardon, the Reading Times reported when Deysher died in 1938. Schonour, 55, a Cumru Township farmer, had an ongoing feud over land rights with Reisch, a neighbor. While working in a field on Sept. 18, 1911, Schonour shot Reisch, who later died in St. Joseph's Hospital in Reading. Attorneys T.K. Leidy and Paul H. Price of Reading appealed Schonour's conviction to the state board of pardons, the Reading Eagle reported on Sept. 19, 1912. The execution was set for Sept. 24, and Schonour had been read the writ. Lt. Gov. J. M. Reynolds reduced the death sentence to life in prison on Oct. 16, 1912, after Schonour, who had become blind, was ruled mentally ill. He was transferred to the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. He died in 1943, apparently still incarcerated. The three ropes, each 30 feet long, were cut up as souvenirs. It has been suggested, the Times reported, they would make good wash lines. The unnamed Times writer wondered what happens to a hangman's rope after an execution. "There is such a demand for a piece of it that the 30 feet is sufficient to supply only a small portion," the article said. "Those receiving a piece of the noose regard themselves as especially favored."

Birth: 1858
Death: 1943
Burial: Wyomissing Cemetery, Gouglersville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA

"When Lazarus L. Schonour was born on April 5, 1858, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, his father, Samuel, was 30 and his mother, Mary, was 25. He married Emma Louisa in 1880. They had two children during their marriage. He died on July 29, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of 85, and was buried in Berks County, Pennsylvania."

Shot Neighbor from Ambush.

Long Feud Ends in Tragedy in Berks County.

One of the most cold-blooded murders that has occurred in Berks county in years, and the second in a little more than twenty-four hours, happened on the 18th instant near what is known as the Five-Mile House in Cumru township, six miles outside of Reading, Pa.

Lazarus Schouour, aged 55, a prosperous farmer, twice fired a gunshot charge into the body of Charles Reisch, aged 35, a neighboring farmer and leading resident of Cumru township and Reisch died an hour afterwards at St. Joseph's Hospital, in Reading, to which place he was taken in an automobile.

There has been bad blood between the two farmers for several years and several times they figured in court circles. Shonoar according to the story he gave the authorities, saw Reisch pass his house early in the morning. He said he knew his neighbor was on his way to the store and would soon be back.

Schonour armed himself with a single-barreled shotgun and went out into the woodshed to await the return of his victim. In a calm and cool confession to the police, without any signs of remorse, he described how he knelt behind a carriage and rested the barrel of the gun upon the shalt, giving him perfect command of the road. He said:

"I was determined to get square with Heich and waited until I saw him go down the lane from his home. Securing my single-barrel shotgun, I charged it and waited at my wagonshed. I rested the muzzle of the gun on the wheel of a wagon and when Reich passed I pulled the trigger and shot him in the stomach. Reich cried for mercy. I loaded my gun a second time and while he was lying on the ground, I emptied a second charge into his back and finished the job."

Schonnour handed over the gun and said he would willingly accompany them to jail. He was taken to Reading and taken before Magistrate Dumn, where a warrant charging him with murder was served upon him. He was then taken to jail. The murder was one of the most cold-blooded in the history of the county.

Reich, who was slain, leaves a widow and nine small children and his widow is in a delicate condition. Schonour has a wife and five children. Both are well-known farmers.