“Murderers’ Crossroads”

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• “‘That same night both bodies were interred in a corner of one of William Carter’s fields, which he had set aside for the purpose.  In those days, the laws did not permit the bodies of executed murderers to be buried in the cemeteries, but enforced their burial at a crossroads as a warning to passers-by not to commit similar crimes.  Carter and Pete Parker were buried at the intersections of the Changewater, Port Colden and Andersontown roads; ever since that time the spot has been known as Murderers’ Crossroads.

• “Some time after the burials, Washington Township erected a stone wall around the graves and placed a wooden sign inside the enclosure which bore the painted warning, “Murderers!  Beware of final judgement.”  (Farrow 128)

• In 1941 the wall was torn down as the roads were worked on (Farrow)

• Heart-shaped wall at one point marked where the murderers were buried (Farrow)

• According to Farrow, “A small bridge which the Warren Railroad built for its Washington branch near the burial site, to this very day is known locally as Murderers Bridge.” (129)

• Henry Carter, Joe’s father, asked to be buried with his son and Peter Parke and apparently was for some time, but then his relatives later removed his body and buried him somewhere else.  According to Farrow’s Aunt Sallie, when she visited the site in approximately 1862 (Sallie was born 4 years after the trials and she made the visit when she was 13) “We sat on the stone wall which encircled the graves.  There was no gate.  There were marks where three graves had been for Henry Carter had directed that his body was to be buried beside Joe’s and his instructions were carried out.  Later, his relatives removed his body and had it buried elsewhere but where I do not know.  I don’t believe they would put him in old Mansfield burying ground where the murdered folks lay which such frightful curses on their tombstones.  The burial spot was a round place inside the stone wall and there was a weeping willow growing there.   The plot was well cared-for but there were no flowers and no shrubs.  In after years, it was all grown over and it was hard to find the spot.” (Farrow p 130)

• According to the Meekers, they were buried in a corner of Henry Carter’s field, NOT William Carter’s, and they were buried in the same grave, contrasting with Farrow’s aunt’s recollection of their being three graves (3)

• One local man claims that the night after the burials he went to spy on the burial site and saw one of the bodies removed in the middle of the night and that only one person was actually buried there (Farrow)