Jereboam O. Beauchamp
Encyclopedia
Jereboam Orville Beauchamp (icon; September 6, 1802 – July 7, 1826) was an American
lawyer who murdered the Kentucky
legislator Solomon P. Sharp
, an event known as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy. In 1821, Sharp was accused of fathering the illegitimate
stillborn
child of a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child, and public opinion favored him. In 1824, Beauchamp married Cooke. During Sharp's 1825 campaign for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives
, Cooke's alleged illegitimate child was raised as an issue. His political opponents publicized his alleged claim of denying paternity because the child was mulatto
, fathered by a slave. Whether Sharp said this has never been determined with certainty; believing it so, Beauchamp swore to avenge his wife's honor. In the early morning of November 7, 1825, Beauchamp tricked Sharp into answering the door at home in Frankfort
and fatally stabbed him.
Beauchamp was convicted of the murder and sentenced to hang. The morning of the execution, he and his wife attempted a double suicide
by stabbing themselves with a knife she had smuggled into prison. She was successful; he was not. Beauchamp was rushed to the gallows before he could bleed to death and was hanged on July 7, 1826. The bodies of the couple Jereboam and Anna Beauchamp were arranged in an embrace and buried in a single coffin, as they requested. The Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy inspired fictional works such as Edgar Allan Poe
's unfinished Politian
and Robert Penn Warren
's World Enough and Time.
. He was the second son of Thomas and Sally (Smithers) Beauchamp. Both parents were professors of religion. He was named after one of his father's older brothers, Jereboam O. Beauchamp, a state senator
from Washington County, Kentucky
.
Beauchamp was educated at Dr. Benjamin Thurston's academy in Barren County, Kentucky
until the age of sixteen. Recognizing that his father was not able to sufficiently provide for the family, Beauchamp tried to pay for his education by finding employment as a shopkeeper. While this generated funds for his education, he did not have enough time to pursue his studies. Recommended by Thurston, Beauchamp became preceptor
of a school. After saving some money, he returned to Thurston's school as a student, and was later employed by the school as an usher.
By age eighteen, Beauchamp had finished his preparatory studies. After observing the lawyers practicing in Glasgow
and Bowling Green
, he decided to pursue a career in the legal profession.
He particularly admired Solomon Sharp
, a young lawyer in his 30s with whom he hoped to study. In 1820, Beauchamp became disenchanted with Sharp when rumors surfaced that he had fathered an illegitimate child with a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child, which was stillborn.
Beauchamp left Bowling Green and lived at his father's estate in Simpson County, where he sought to recover from an illness. He learned that Cooke had become a recluse nearby at her mother's estate after her public disgrace. Having heard of the woman's beauty and accomplishments from a mutual friend, he decided to meet Cooke. At first, she rejected all attention, but gradually received Beauchamp under his guise of borrowing books from her library. The two eventually became friends, and in 1821, began courting. Beauchamp was eighteen years old; Cooke was at least thirty-four.
When he proposed marriage that year, Cooke told Beauchamp she would marry him on the condition that he kill Sharp. Beauchamp consented. Against Cooke's advice, Beauchamp traveled immediately to Frankfort
, where Sharp had recently been appointed attorney general
by the governor.
, but Sharp refused because he was not armed. Wielding a knife, Beauchamp took out a second knife and offered it to Sharp, who again declined the challenge. When Beauchamp challenged him a third time, Sharp tried to flee, but Beauchamp caught him by the collar. Sharp fell to his knees and begged Beauchamp to spare his life. Beauchamp kicked him, cursed him for a coward, and threatened to horsewhip him until he agreed to a duel. The next day, Beauchamp looked for Sharp in the streets of Frankfort, but was told he had left for Bowling Green. He went to Bowling Green, only to learn that Sharp was not there. Finally he returned to the home of Anna Cooke.
Following Beauchamp's failed attempt, Cooke decided to lure Sharp to her house and kill him herself. Beauchamp wanted to take action to defend her honor, but she would not be swayed from her purposed and he began teaching her to use a gun. Learning that Sharp was in Bowling Green, Cooke sent him a letter condemning Beauchamp's attempt on his life and asking to see him again. Sharp suspected a trap, but responded that he would meet her at the planned time. Hoping to kill Sharp before the meeting, Beauchamp traveled to Bowling Green, but found his target had already left for Frankfort. He had eluded the trap. Beauchamp decided to finish his legal studies in Bowling Green and wait for Sharp to return there.
Beauchamp was admitted to the bar
in April 1823. Although he had not killed Sharp, he and Anna Cooke married in June 1824. Still determined to defend the honor of his wife, Beauchamp devised a ruse to lure Sharp to Bowling Green. He wrote letters to Sharp under various pseudonym
s, each asking for his help in some sort of legal matter, and sent each from a different post office. When Sharp failed to respond, Beauchamp decided to go to Frankfort and confront him.
. He identified with the New Court, or Relief party, which promoted a legislative agenda favorable to debtors. In opposition was the Old Court, or Anti-Relief party, which worked to secure the rights of creditors to collect debts. Sharp had served as the state's attorney general
under New Court governors John Adair
, whose term lasted until August 1824, and Joseph Desha
, who succeeded him in office. The New Court party's power was beginning to wane, however.
In 1825, Sharp resigned to run for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives
. During the campaign, opponents raised the issue of his alleged seduction of Anna Cooke. Old Court partisan John Upshaw Waring had handbills distributed that alleged that Sharp had denied paternity of Cooke's child because it was a mulatto
and likely fathered by a Cooke family slave. The story did not affect the election, which Sharp won, defeating John J. Crittenden
.
Whether Sharp had made the claim is uncertain, but Beauchamp believed he had. He began to prepare to murder him and flee to Missouri
. He planned to commit the murder in the early morning of November 7, 1825, when the new legislature would convene its session, in the hopes that suspicion would be cast on Sharp's political enemies. Three weeks prior to that date, Beauchamp sold his property, telling his friends that he was planning to move to Missouri. He hired laborers to help load his wagons two days before the planned murder.
Beauchamp's plan to move was complicated by a warrant sworn out against him by Ruth Reed. Reed claimed that Beauchamp was the father of her illegitimate child, born on June 10, 1824. Although the warrant was sworn out October 25, 1825, Beauchamp had ignored it on advice of a friend who said it was harassment. Later, Beauchamp claimed that he had arranged for the warrant to give him a reason to be in Frankfort and present for the murder. The historian Fred Johnson says that the incorporation of the warrant into Beauchamp's story was likely done after the fact as a means of damage control – especially considering that fathering an illegitimate child was the reason for his planned murder of Sharp.
Preparing to travel, Beauchamp packed a change of clothes, a black mask, and a knife with poison on the tip, to be used as the murder weapon. Finding all the inns filled when he arrived at Frankfort, he took lodging at the residence of Joel Scott, warden of the state penitentiary. Between nine and ten o'clock that evening, Beauchamp went to Sharp's home. Dressed in a disguise, he carried his usual clothes and buried them along the bank of the Kentucky River
for retrieval following the murder. Discovering that Sharp was not home, Beauchamp sought him in the city and found him at a local tavern. He returned to Sharp's house to wait for him, seeing him arrive about midnight.
At two o'clock in the morning, Beauchamp thought the household was quiet and approached the door. In his Confession, he described the murder of Sharp:
Sharp died within moments. Fleeing the scene, Beauchamp went to the river to retrieve his clothes, where he changed and sank his disguise in the river with a stone. He returned to the house of Joel Scott.
When the Scott family awoke the next morning, Beauchamp emerged from his quarters. He feigned surprise when told of the murder and was apparently believed at the time. After being told there were no suspects yet, he called for his horse and began his return trip to Bowling Green. After the four-day journey, he told his wife that Sharp was dead. The next morning, a posse from Frankfort arrived and told Beauchamp that he was under suspicion for the murder. He agreed to return with the men to Frankfort and face the charge.
recovering from unrelated injuries.
Suspicion moved to Beauchamp, as he was loyal to the Old Court Party, and was known to hate Sharp for his political principles. People knew of Sharp's earlier alleged involvement with Anna Cooke before her marriage to Beauchamp. In addition, Beauchamp was placed in Frankfort the night of the killing, and his host, Joel Scott, said that he had heard Beauchamp leave in the night. After presenting preliminary testimony, Commonwealth's Attorney
Charles Bibb asked for additional time to assemble more witnesses. Beauchamp assented to the request. A second delay pushed the hearings back to mid-December.
The dagger taken from Beauchamp at his arrest did not match the wound on Sharp's body. (In his Confession, Beauchamp claimed to have buried the murder weapon by the bank of the river near where the murder took place. That knife was never found.) Beauchamp's shoe did not match a track found outside Sharp's house the morning of the murder. The posse lost a handkerchief found at the scene of the crime and believed to belong to the murderer. (Beauchamp later claimed to have stolen and burned it after the posse had gone to sleep one night.)
Several witnesses testified against him. Eliza Sharp testified that the voice of the killer was distinct. A test was devised allowing Ms. Sharp to hear Beauchamp's voice; she immediately identified it as that of the killer. (Beauchamp claimed he had disguised his voice on the night of the murder and thought Ms. Sharp would not recognize it.) Patrick H. Darby, an Old Court partisan, claimed that in 1824, he had a chance encounter with the man he now knew as Beauchamp. Darby said the man – a stranger to him at the time – had asked for Darby's help in prosecuting an unspecified claim against Sharp. The man then identified himself as the husband of Anna Cooke and said he intended to kill Sharp. Based on the circumstantial evidence, Beauchamp was held for trial at the next term of the circuit court
in March 1826.
Beauchamp's uncle Jereboam assembled a legal team for his nephew that included former U.S. Senator
John Pope
. The grand jury
convened in March and returned an indictment
against Beauchamp for Sharp's murder. Giving Beauchamp the time he requested to gather witnesses, the court scheduled a special session in May specifically for Beauchamp's trial.
Beauchamp's trial began May 8, 1826. After a change of venue
was denied, Beauchamp pled innocent to the charge against him. A jury was empaneled, and testimony began May 10. Eliza Sharp detailed the events of the night of the murder and reiterated that Beauchamp's voice was that of the murderer. John Lowe, a magistrate of Simpson County, testified that he had heard Beauchamp threaten to kill Sharp, and said that on Beauchamp's return from Frankfort, he saw him waving a red flag and heard him tell his wife that he had "gained the victory." Patrick Darby repeated his testimony of the 1824 meeting between him and Beauchamp. Darby said that Beauchamp had told him that Sharp offered him one thousand dollars, a slave girl, and 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of land if he and his wife Anna would leave him (Sharp) alone. As Sharp had apparently reneged on the promise, Beauchamp told Darby he was going to kill the man. Other witnesses testified that Beauchamp habitually referred to Sharp's friend, John W. Covington as "John A. Covington", the name used by the murderer to gain entry to Sharp's house.
Testimony in the trial concluded on May 15, 1826; summations concluded four days later. Despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury deliberated only an hour before convicting Beauchamp of Sharp's murder. He was sentenced to death by hanging on June 26 of that year. Beauchamp requested a stay of execution
to write a justification for his actions. The stay was granted, and the execution was rescheduled for July 7, 1826. Though Anna Beauchamp was questioned, a charge against her for being an accessory to the crime was dismissed.
– who considered Darby a political enemy – and to secure a pardon from him. When he finished the confession in mid-June 1826, and Beauchamp's uncle, Senator Beauchamp, took it to the state printer for immediate publication. An Old Court supporter, the printer refused to publish it.
Anna Beauchamp joined her husband in his cell. During their incarceration, they tried to bribe a guard into allowing them to escape. When that failed, they tried to pass a letter to Senator Beauchamp asking him for help in an escape, an attempt which likewise failed. Both the senator and the younger Beauchamp asked for a pardon from Governor Desha, but to no avail. Beauchamp's final request to Desha for a stay of execution was rejected July 5, 1826. With the last hope exhausted, the couple attempted a double suicide
by drinking a vial of laudanum
which Anna had smuggled into the cell. Both survived the attempt. The following morning, Jereboam and Anna were put on suicide watch
and threatened with separation.
The night before the execution, Anna took a second dose of laudanum but was unable to keep it down. On July 7, 1826, the morning of the scheduled execution, Anna asked the guard to give her privacy to dress. Once the guard left, Anna revealed she had smuggled in, and she and her husband stabbed themselves. Anna was taken to a nearby house to be treated by doctors.
Too weak to stand or walk, Beauchamp was loaded onto a cart to be conveyed to the gallows
. He begged to see Anna, but the guards told him she was not seriously injured. The guards finally allowed him to see his wife. When they got to her, Beauchamp was angered that they had underplayed her critical condition. He stayed with her until he could no longer feel her pulse, then the guards took him to the gallows to be hanged before he died of his stab wounds.
Beauchamp asked to see Patrick Darby, who was among the assembled spectators. Beauchamp smiled and offered his hand, but Darby declined the gesture. Beauchamp publicly denied that Darby had any involvement with Sharp's murder, but accused him of having lied about the 1824 meeting. Darby denied the death march accusation and tried to get Beauchamp to retract it, but the prisoner moved on to the gallows.
Two men supported Beauchamp as the noose was put around his neck. He asked for a drink of water, and the band to play "Bonaparte's Retreat from Moscow". At his signal, the cart moved out from under him, and he died after a brief struggle. His father requested his body. Following Beauchamp's earlier instructions, he had the bodies of Jereboam and Anna arranged in an embrace and buried them in the same coffin. A poem written by Anna was etched on their double tombstone.
Senator Beauchamp eventually found a publisher for his nephew's Confession. The first printing ran on August 11, 1826. Sharp's brother, Dr. Leander Sharp, attempted to counter Beauchamp's Confession with Vindication of the Character of the late Col. Solomon P. Sharp, which he wrote in 1827. In this book, Dr. Sharp claimed to have seen a "first version" of the confession in which Beauchamp implicated Darby. Darby threatened to sue Dr. Sharp if he published Vindication, and John Waring threatened to kill him if he did so. Consequently, the manuscript was never published, but was found years later during a remodel of Sharp's house.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer who murdered the Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
legislator Solomon P. Sharp
Solomon P. Sharp
Solomon Porcius Sharp was attorney general of Kentucky and a member of the United States Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly. His murder at the hands of Jereboam O...
, an event known as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy. In 1821, Sharp was accused of fathering the illegitimate
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
stillborn
Stillbirth
A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
child of a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child, and public opinion favored him. In 1824, Beauchamp married Cooke. During Sharp's 1825 campaign for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives
Kentucky House of Representatives
The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a House district, except when necessary to preserve...
, Cooke's alleged illegitimate child was raised as an issue. His political opponents publicized his alleged claim of denying paternity because the child was mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
, fathered by a slave. Whether Sharp said this has never been determined with certainty; believing it so, Beauchamp swore to avenge his wife's honor. In the early morning of November 7, 1825, Beauchamp tricked Sharp into answering the door at home in Frankfort
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is a city in Kentucky that serves as the state capital and the county seat of Franklin County. The population was 27,741 at the 2000 census; by population it is the 5th smallest state capital in the United States...
and fatally stabbed him.
Beauchamp was convicted of the murder and sentenced to hang. The morning of the execution, he and his wife attempted a double suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by stabbing themselves with a knife she had smuggled into prison. She was successful; he was not. Beauchamp was rushed to the gallows before he could bleed to death and was hanged on July 7, 1826. The bodies of the couple Jereboam and Anna Beauchamp were arranged in an embrace and buried in a single coffin, as they requested. The Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy inspired fictional works such as Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's unfinished Politian
Politian (play)
Politian is the only play known to have been written by Edgar Allan Poe, composed in 1835 but never completed.The play is a fictionalized version of a true event in Kentucky: the murder of Solomon P. Sharp by Jereboam O. Beauchamp in 1825. The so-called "Kentucky Tragedy" became a national...
and Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
's World Enough and Time.
Early life
Jereboam Beauchamp was born September 6, 1802 in the area that is now Simpson County, KentuckySimpson County, Kentucky
Simpson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 16,405. Its county seat is Franklin. The county is named for Captain John Simpson, a Kentucky militia officer who fought in Battle of Fallen Timbers in the Northwest Indian War, and was killed in the...
. He was the second son of Thomas and Sally (Smithers) Beauchamp. Both parents were professors of religion. He was named after one of his father's older brothers, Jereboam O. Beauchamp, a state senator
Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...
from Washington County, Kentucky
Washington County, Kentucky
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 10,916. Its county seat is Springfield. The county is named for George Washington. Washington County was the first county formed in the Commonwealth of Kentucky when it reached statehood...
.
Beauchamp was educated at Dr. Benjamin Thurston's academy in Barren County, Kentucky
Barren County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 38,033 people, 15,346 households, and 10,941 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 17,095 housing units at an average density of...
until the age of sixteen. Recognizing that his father was not able to sufficiently provide for the family, Beauchamp tried to pay for his education by finding employment as a shopkeeper. While this generated funds for his education, he did not have enough time to pursue his studies. Recommended by Thurston, Beauchamp became preceptor
Preceptor
A preceptor is a teacher responsible to uphold a certain law or tradition, a precept.-Christian military orders:A preceptor was historically in charge of a preceptory, the headquarters of certain orders of monastic Knights, such as the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar, within a given...
of a school. After saving some money, he returned to Thurston's school as a student, and was later employed by the school as an usher.
By age eighteen, Beauchamp had finished his preparatory studies. After observing the lawyers practicing in Glasgow
Glasgow, Kentucky
Glasgow is a city in and the county seat of Barren County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 14,200 at the 2000 census. The city is well-known for its annual Scottish Highland Games. In 2007, Barren County was named the number one rural place to live by Progressive Farmer magazine...
and Bowling Green
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is the third-most populous city in the state of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, with a population of 58,067 as of the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Warren County and the principal city of the Bowling Green, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area with an estimated 2009...
, he decided to pursue a career in the legal profession.
Solomon P. Sharp
Solomon Porcius Sharp was attorney general of Kentucky and a member of the United States Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly. His murder at the hands of Jereboam O...
, a young lawyer in his 30s with whom he hoped to study. In 1820, Beauchamp became disenchanted with Sharp when rumors surfaced that he had fathered an illegitimate child with a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child, which was stillborn.
Courtship of Anna Cooke
When he proposed marriage that year, Cooke told Beauchamp she would marry him on the condition that he kill Sharp. Beauchamp consented. Against Cooke's advice, Beauchamp traveled immediately to Frankfort
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is a city in Kentucky that serves as the state capital and the county seat of Franklin County. The population was 27,741 at the 2000 census; by population it is the 5th smallest state capital in the United States...
, where Sharp had recently been appointed attorney general
Attorney General of Kentucky
The Attorney General of Kentucky is an office created by the Kentucky Constitution. . Under Kentucky law, he serves several roles, including the state's chief prosecutor , the state's chief law enforcement officer , and the state's chief law officer...
by the governor.
Challenges
According to Beauchamp's account, he found Sharp and challenged him to a duelDuel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
, but Sharp refused because he was not armed. Wielding a knife, Beauchamp took out a second knife and offered it to Sharp, who again declined the challenge. When Beauchamp challenged him a third time, Sharp tried to flee, but Beauchamp caught him by the collar. Sharp fell to his knees and begged Beauchamp to spare his life. Beauchamp kicked him, cursed him for a coward, and threatened to horsewhip him until he agreed to a duel. The next day, Beauchamp looked for Sharp in the streets of Frankfort, but was told he had left for Bowling Green. He went to Bowling Green, only to learn that Sharp was not there. Finally he returned to the home of Anna Cooke.
Following Beauchamp's failed attempt, Cooke decided to lure Sharp to her house and kill him herself. Beauchamp wanted to take action to defend her honor, but she would not be swayed from her purposed and he began teaching her to use a gun. Learning that Sharp was in Bowling Green, Cooke sent him a letter condemning Beauchamp's attempt on his life and asking to see him again. Sharp suspected a trap, but responded that he would meet her at the planned time. Hoping to kill Sharp before the meeting, Beauchamp traveled to Bowling Green, but found his target had already left for Frankfort. He had eluded the trap. Beauchamp decided to finish his legal studies in Bowling Green and wait for Sharp to return there.
Beauchamp was admitted to the bar
Bar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
in April 1823. Although he had not killed Sharp, he and Anna Cooke married in June 1824. Still determined to defend the honor of his wife, Beauchamp devised a ruse to lure Sharp to Bowling Green. He wrote letters to Sharp under various pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s, each asking for his help in some sort of legal matter, and sent each from a different post office. When Sharp failed to respond, Beauchamp decided to go to Frankfort and confront him.
Murder of Solomon Sharp
In Frankfort in 1825, Sharp was in the middle of a bitter political battle known as the Old Court-New Court controversyOld Court-New Court controversy
The Old Court – New Court controversy was a 19th century political controversy in the U.S. state of Kentucky in which the Kentucky General Assembly abolished the Kentucky Court of Appeals and replaced it with a new court...
. He identified with the New Court, or Relief party, which promoted a legislative agenda favorable to debtors. In opposition was the Old Court, or Anti-Relief party, which worked to secure the rights of creditors to collect debts. Sharp had served as the state's attorney general
Attorney General of Kentucky
The Attorney General of Kentucky is an office created by the Kentucky Constitution. . Under Kentucky law, he serves several roles, including the state's chief prosecutor , the state's chief law enforcement officer , and the state's chief law officer...
under New Court governors John Adair
John Adair
John Adair was an American pioneer, soldier and statesman. He was the eighth Governor of Kentucky and represented the state in both the U.S. House and Senate. Adair enlisted in the state militia and served in the Revolutionary War, where he was held captive by the British for a period of time...
, whose term lasted until August 1824, and Joseph Desha
Joseph Desha
Joseph Desha was a U.S. Representative and the ninth Governor of Kentucky. Desha was the first Kentucky governor not to have served in the Revolutionary War. He did, however, serve under William Henry Harrison and "Mad" Anthony Wayne in the Northwest Indian War, and lost two brothers in battle...
, who succeeded him in office. The New Court party's power was beginning to wane, however.
In 1825, Sharp resigned to run for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives
Kentucky House of Representatives
The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a House district, except when necessary to preserve...
. During the campaign, opponents raised the issue of his alleged seduction of Anna Cooke. Old Court partisan John Upshaw Waring had handbills distributed that alleged that Sharp had denied paternity of Cooke's child because it was a mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
and likely fathered by a Cooke family slave. The story did not affect the election, which Sharp won, defeating John J. Crittenden
John J. Crittenden
John Jordan Crittenden was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He represented the state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and twice served as United States Attorney General in the administrations of William Henry Harrison and Millard Fillmore...
.
Whether Sharp had made the claim is uncertain, but Beauchamp believed he had. He began to prepare to murder him and flee to Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. He planned to commit the murder in the early morning of November 7, 1825, when the new legislature would convene its session, in the hopes that suspicion would be cast on Sharp's political enemies. Three weeks prior to that date, Beauchamp sold his property, telling his friends that he was planning to move to Missouri. He hired laborers to help load his wagons two days before the planned murder.
Beauchamp's plan to move was complicated by a warrant sworn out against him by Ruth Reed. Reed claimed that Beauchamp was the father of her illegitimate child, born on June 10, 1824. Although the warrant was sworn out October 25, 1825, Beauchamp had ignored it on advice of a friend who said it was harassment. Later, Beauchamp claimed that he had arranged for the warrant to give him a reason to be in Frankfort and present for the murder. The historian Fred Johnson says that the incorporation of the warrant into Beauchamp's story was likely done after the fact as a means of damage control – especially considering that fathering an illegitimate child was the reason for his planned murder of Sharp.
Preparing to travel, Beauchamp packed a change of clothes, a black mask, and a knife with poison on the tip, to be used as the murder weapon. Finding all the inns filled when he arrived at Frankfort, he took lodging at the residence of Joel Scott, warden of the state penitentiary. Between nine and ten o'clock that evening, Beauchamp went to Sharp's home. Dressed in a disguise, he carried his usual clothes and buried them along the bank of the Kentucky River
Kentucky River
The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long, in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The river and its tributaries drain much of the central region of the state, with its upper course passing through the coal-mining regions of the Cumberland Mountains, and its lower course passing through the...
for retrieval following the murder. Discovering that Sharp was not home, Beauchamp sought him in the city and found him at a local tavern. He returned to Sharp's house to wait for him, seeing him arrive about midnight.
At two o'clock in the morning, Beauchamp thought the household was quiet and approached the door. In his Confession, he described the murder of Sharp:
When the Scott family awoke the next morning, Beauchamp emerged from his quarters. He feigned surprise when told of the murder and was apparently believed at the time. After being told there were no suspects yet, he called for his horse and began his return trip to Bowling Green. After the four-day journey, he told his wife that Sharp was dead. The next morning, a posse from Frankfort arrived and told Beauchamp that he was under suspicion for the murder. He agreed to return with the men to Frankfort and face the charge.
Trial for murder
Beauchamp arrived in Frankfort on November 15, 1825. New Court partisans talked of Sharp's murder as the work of the Old Court party, just as Beauchamp had hoped. One suspect was Waring, who had printed the handbills critical of Sharp. Known as a violent man, he had both political and personal motivation for the crime. He was cleared of suspicion when investigators learned that, at the time of the murder, Waring was in Fayette CountyFayette County, Kentucky
Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 295,083 in the 2010 Census. Its territory, population and government are coextensive with the city of Lexington, which also serves as county seat....
recovering from unrelated injuries.
Suspicion moved to Beauchamp, as he was loyal to the Old Court Party, and was known to hate Sharp for his political principles. People knew of Sharp's earlier alleged involvement with Anna Cooke before her marriage to Beauchamp. In addition, Beauchamp was placed in Frankfort the night of the killing, and his host, Joel Scott, said that he had heard Beauchamp leave in the night. After presenting preliminary testimony, Commonwealth's Attorney
Commonwealth's Attorney
Commonwealth's Attorney is the title given to the elected prosecutor of felony crimes in Kentucky and Virginia. Other states refer to similar prosecutors as District Attorney or State's Attorney....
Charles Bibb asked for additional time to assemble more witnesses. Beauchamp assented to the request. A second delay pushed the hearings back to mid-December.
The dagger taken from Beauchamp at his arrest did not match the wound on Sharp's body. (In his Confession, Beauchamp claimed to have buried the murder weapon by the bank of the river near where the murder took place. That knife was never found.) Beauchamp's shoe did not match a track found outside Sharp's house the morning of the murder. The posse lost a handkerchief found at the scene of the crime and believed to belong to the murderer. (Beauchamp later claimed to have stolen and burned it after the posse had gone to sleep one night.)
Several witnesses testified against him. Eliza Sharp testified that the voice of the killer was distinct. A test was devised allowing Ms. Sharp to hear Beauchamp's voice; she immediately identified it as that of the killer. (Beauchamp claimed he had disguised his voice on the night of the murder and thought Ms. Sharp would not recognize it.) Patrick H. Darby, an Old Court partisan, claimed that in 1824, he had a chance encounter with the man he now knew as Beauchamp. Darby said the man – a stranger to him at the time – had asked for Darby's help in prosecuting an unspecified claim against Sharp. The man then identified himself as the husband of Anna Cooke and said he intended to kill Sharp. Based on the circumstantial evidence, Beauchamp was held for trial at the next term of the circuit court
Circuit court
Circuit court is the name of court systems in several common law jurisdictions.-History:King Henry II instituted the custom of having judges ride around the countryside each year to hear appeals, rather than forcing everyone to bring their appeals to London...
in March 1826.
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
John Pope
John Pope (politician)
John Pope was a United States Senator from Kentucky, a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky, Secretary of State of Kentucky, and Governor of Arkansas Territory....
. The grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
convened in March and returned an indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
against Beauchamp for Sharp's murder. Giving Beauchamp the time he requested to gather witnesses, the court scheduled a special session in May specifically for Beauchamp's trial.
Beauchamp's trial began May 8, 1826. After a change of venue
Change of venue
A change of venue is the legal term for moving a trial to a new location. In high-profile matters, a change of venue may occur to move a jury trial away from a location where a fair and impartial jury may not be possible due to widespread publicity about a crime and/or its defendant to another...
was denied, Beauchamp pled innocent to the charge against him. A jury was empaneled, and testimony began May 10. Eliza Sharp detailed the events of the night of the murder and reiterated that Beauchamp's voice was that of the murderer. John Lowe, a magistrate of Simpson County, testified that he had heard Beauchamp threaten to kill Sharp, and said that on Beauchamp's return from Frankfort, he saw him waving a red flag and heard him tell his wife that he had "gained the victory." Patrick Darby repeated his testimony of the 1824 meeting between him and Beauchamp. Darby said that Beauchamp had told him that Sharp offered him one thousand dollars, a slave girl, and 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of land if he and his wife Anna would leave him (Sharp) alone. As Sharp had apparently reneged on the promise, Beauchamp told Darby he was going to kill the man. Other witnesses testified that Beauchamp habitually referred to Sharp's friend, John W. Covington as "John A. Covington", the name used by the murderer to gain entry to Sharp's house.
Testimony in the trial concluded on May 15, 1826; summations concluded four days later. Despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury deliberated only an hour before convicting Beauchamp of Sharp's murder. He was sentenced to death by hanging on June 26 of that year. Beauchamp requested a stay of execution
Stay of execution
A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not necessarily mean the death penalty; it refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed....
to write a justification for his actions. The stay was granted, and the execution was rescheduled for July 7, 1826. Though Anna Beauchamp was questioned, a charge against her for being an accessory to the crime was dismissed.
Execution by hanging
While imprisoned and awaiting execution, Beauchamp wrote a confession. He accused Patrick Darby of perjury with regard to the alleged 1824 meeting between Darby and Beauchamp. Many believed Beauchamp's accusation was meant to curry favor with New Court governor Joseph DeshaJoseph Desha
Joseph Desha was a U.S. Representative and the ninth Governor of Kentucky. Desha was the first Kentucky governor not to have served in the Revolutionary War. He did, however, serve under William Henry Harrison and "Mad" Anthony Wayne in the Northwest Indian War, and lost two brothers in battle...
– who considered Darby a political enemy – and to secure a pardon from him. When he finished the confession in mid-June 1826, and Beauchamp's uncle, Senator Beauchamp, took it to the state printer for immediate publication. An Old Court supporter, the printer refused to publish it.
Anna Beauchamp joined her husband in his cell. During their incarceration, they tried to bribe a guard into allowing them to escape. When that failed, they tried to pass a letter to Senator Beauchamp asking him for help in an escape, an attempt which likewise failed. Both the senator and the younger Beauchamp asked for a pardon from Governor Desha, but to no avail. Beauchamp's final request to Desha for a stay of execution was rejected July 5, 1826. With the last hope exhausted, the couple attempted a double suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by drinking a vial of laudanum
Laudanum
Laudanum , also known as Tincture of Opium, is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight ....
which Anna had smuggled into the cell. Both survived the attempt. The following morning, Jereboam and Anna were put on suicide watch
Suicide watch
Suicide watch is an intensive monitoring process used to ensure that an individual does not die by suicide. Usually the term is used in reference to inmates in a prison, hospital, psychiatric hospital, or military bases...
and threatened with separation.
The night before the execution, Anna took a second dose of laudanum but was unable to keep it down. On July 7, 1826, the morning of the scheduled execution, Anna asked the guard to give her privacy to dress. Once the guard left, Anna revealed she had smuggled in, and she and her husband stabbed themselves. Anna was taken to a nearby house to be treated by doctors.
Too weak to stand or walk, Beauchamp was loaded onto a cart to be conveyed to the gallows
Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...
. He begged to see Anna, but the guards told him she was not seriously injured. The guards finally allowed him to see his wife. When they got to her, Beauchamp was angered that they had underplayed her critical condition. He stayed with her until he could no longer feel her pulse, then the guards took him to the gallows to be hanged before he died of his stab wounds.
Beauchamp asked to see Patrick Darby, who was among the assembled spectators. Beauchamp smiled and offered his hand, but Darby declined the gesture. Beauchamp publicly denied that Darby had any involvement with Sharp's murder, but accused him of having lied about the 1824 meeting. Darby denied the death march accusation and tried to get Beauchamp to retract it, but the prisoner moved on to the gallows.
Senator Beauchamp eventually found a publisher for his nephew's Confession. The first printing ran on August 11, 1826. Sharp's brother, Dr. Leander Sharp, attempted to counter Beauchamp's Confession with Vindication of the Character of the late Col. Solomon P. Sharp, which he wrote in 1827. In this book, Dr. Sharp claimed to have seen a "first version" of the confession in which Beauchamp implicated Darby. Darby threatened to sue Dr. Sharp if he published Vindication, and John Waring threatened to kill him if he did so. Consequently, the manuscript was never published, but was found years later during a remodel of Sharp's house.
In popular culture
- Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's PolitianPolitian (play)Politian is the only play known to have been written by Edgar Allan Poe, composed in 1835 but never completed.The play is a fictionalized version of a true event in Kentucky: the murder of Solomon P. Sharp by Jereboam O. Beauchamp in 1825. The so-called "Kentucky Tragedy" became a national...
was based on the events above. - Robert Penn WarrenRobert Penn WarrenRobert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
's World Enough and Time was also inspired by them.