Antique Cabinet Card Photo Hanged Wife Murderer Nathaniel Bates 1886
With his daughters.
Hagerstown Indiana Richmond Indiana Stigleman Photographer
Written on back, NSB / HOUNG [hung] THE 26TH OF AUGUST 1886 / RICHMOND INDIANA
Research shows this to be Nathaniel Stillman Bates, who murdered his estranged wife Catherine E. 'Kitty' Hoover Bates in 1886. They had 2 daughters, Stella Mae and Mary Elizabeth.
A very sad scene.
The timeline as I can put it together sets this family portrait at the time of the trial, after the mother has been killed, and before the father was hanged, as the girls look to be the right ages, and the family lived in Hagerstown but the trial was in Richmond.
This photograph was taken by noted Richmond Indiana photographer STIGLEMAN.
I don't know who would have commissioned this photo, the articles I found don't mention the girls visiting their father. The 4 day trial was in May and he was not hanged until August 26th, so there was time for them to say their good byes.
Nathaniel Bates was born in Council Bluffs Iowa. Good family, bad boy.
Married nice girl Catherine E. Hoover of Hagerstown Indiana.
They lived in Hagerstown, and had two children, Mary Elizabeth in 1878, and Stella Mae in 1880.
The parents separated for some time, and Nathaniel went West to Kansas City, where he claimed to be a member of "one wing of Jesse James' gang" (wishful thinking on his part; the James brothers were on trial in KC in 1885, so he may have been there then.)
Nathaniel returned to Hagerstown, attempted to reconcile with Kitty over several weeks, according to his testimony at the trial. She wouldn't take him back, so he finally decided to kill Kitty, and said he also planned to then kill himself but "didn't have the sand" to do it.
It was a violent gruesome killing.
On August 26 1886, the hangman did the deed for Nathaniel.
It was the last public execution in Indiana (outside prison walls), and the hanging tree was cut down in 1899.
The girls went to an orphanage in Vincennes, then went on to marry. Stella to James Wellington Harper. Mary Elizabeth to Leo Quirk.
Other than mentions on genealogy and family history sites, no other info on the girls. As often happens, the family line daughtered out. No heirs wanted the photos at the time that I purchased this photo at a farm/estate auction in NW Ohio 20 years ago.
I can find no photos of Nathaniel Bates online, or his wife, or of the daughters.
Below are my research links, as well as excerpts and screenshots.
SOLD! @ $250.00
Richmond Indiana photographer Stigleman:
Known associates of the James Gang:
Nathaniel Stillman Bates, Jr.
N.S. Bates was born and raised in Council Bluffs. He was one of a large family of Nathaniel S. Bates, and old and respected citizen, who many of our citizens knew in former days as "Old Stager," "Still," as the young man is known here, was about 27 years of age. In 1879 he married a Miss Catharine Hoover, a very pretty and intelligent young lady. For a long time they lived happily together, but after the children, two bright little girls, had been born to them, Still grew tired of his wife and family. He forsook home and took up with old companions who soon dragged him. About two years ago the couple parted, Mrs. Bates returning to Hagerstown, a small village in Wayne County, Indiana, where she had relatives. Bates drifted about from place to place, at times straightening up, and working hard. Last December, after a slight difficulty here, Bates consented to go to Indiana, and again live with his wife, friends of the couple having interceded for him. It was believed that in case he could be taken away from the scenes of his boyhood, and with the crowd he had associated with for some time, and placed among new friends and acquaintances, that he would mend his ways, which he promised to do. For a time he did well, but word finally reached this city that he had again started on the downward path, and on the morning of March 24, last, word was received in this city that he murdered his wife.
The sheriff turned the body over to William Bates, Still's brother, immediately after the execution. William and the body will start from Richmond, Indiana, Thursday night and arrive here Saturday morning on the early train. The funeral will take place from the Q depot.
On the arrival of the body of Bates, it will be taken directly to Fairview Cemetery for interment. In case it is presentable an opportunity will be given to view the remains at the grave.
(Section C, Lot 101, February 27, 1860-August 28, 1886)
[Died, August 28, 1886, http://genealogytrails.com/
Both girls went to an orphanage.
20 years ago someone was looking into the Bates Harper name birth line, so descendants don't have much info either. https://www.ancestry.
Gorman, the hangman:
Isaac A. Gorman of Richmond was a well-known Indiana lawman who, as a young man, fought in the Civil War. He was Wayne County deputyin 1878, and sheriff for two terms, 1882 and 1886. He was also the hangman of wife-murderer Nathaniel S. Bates at the Wayne County Courthouse. He later became a railroad detective, superintendent of the state police board, private detective and Richmond Chief of Police.
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