Twenty-seven Luzerne County cases resulted in executions between 1849 and 1938, which was the last time a local capital inmate was put to death.

According to records reviewed by the Times Leader, the first execution in what is now Luzerne County took place in 1779, under military law.

Luzerne County was formed in 1786, from part of what had been Northumberland County.

Below is a list of county inmates executed up to 1938.

Hangings

July 1, 1779: Michael Rosebury is hanged along the Susquehanna River just south of the present Market Street Bridge, Wilkes-Barre. Rosebury was a soldier in the Continental Army camped at Fort Wyoming in June and July. He was convicted of being a Tory who supported the British during the Revolutionary War, inducing other soldiers to leave the Continental Army.

March 2, 1849: James Cadden, a minor from Hanover Township, is hanged in the jail’s courtyard on East Market Street, Wilkes-Barre, for the shooting death of another minor, Daniel Gilligan, in Hanover Township. The two had a fight about Gilligan boarding Freemasons in his Hanover Township home. Cadden became the first inmate to be sentenced to death in Luzerne County.

Sept. 9, 1853: Reese Evans, 19, of Wilkes-Barre, is hanged in the jail’s courtyard for the shooting death of Lewis Reese during an argument about a clothing debt. Spectators climbed trees and sat on the courthouse roof on Public Square to view the hanging.

April 21, 1854: James Quinn is hanged in the jail’s courtyard for the axe murder of Mahala Wiggins on a boat crossing the Susquehanna River between Nanticoke and West Nanticoke in June 1853.

April 30, 1858: William Muller, a German immigrant, is hanged in the jail’s courtyard for the hatchet murder of George Mathis in Bear Creek Township. Muller and Mathis were arguing about a cow Muller had sold and kept the money from Mathis.

May 1867: Alexander “Bird” Wiley is hanged for a fatal shooting of a woman.

Nov. 12, 1868: Neal Devenney is hanged for killing his wife in Hazleton. Devenney was the last man hanged in the old county jail, which stood at East Market and South Washington streets.

June 21, 1877: Andrew Lenahan, a coal miner from Ashley and a member of the Molly Maguires, is hanged outside the county’s jail on Water Street, Wilkes-Barre, for the fatal shooting of John Reilly, a district of the peace, near Nicholson Street, Wilkes-Barre, on Sept. 15, 1874.

April 3, 1888: Adam Volkavitch is hanged for killing John Biosky near Mill Creek in Plains Township on April 15, 1887.

June 25, 1889: “Red Nose” Mike Rizzillo is hanged for his role in killing Lehigh Valley Railroad paymaster Bernard McClure and stable boss Hugh Flannagan along Mill Creek in Plains Township on Oct. 19, 1888. McClure and Flannagan were traveling on horseback with $12,000 to pay railroad laborers.

March 26, 1891: George W. Moss, a Civil War veteran, is hanged in his Union uniform for the shooting death of his wife, Rhonda Moss, inside their North Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, home on Oct. 10, 1889.

June 6, 1892: Edward McMillan, is hanged for the torture death of his wife, Ann McMillan, after she refused to give him fifty cents to buy whiskey. He was convicted of using a hot iron poker to torture his wife on Feb. 14, 1891.

July 22, 1897: “Terrible” Pete Wassil is hanged for the shooting death of Charles Legus at a tavern in Georgetown, Wilkes-Barre Township, on Jan. 15, 1896. Wassil attempted an escape when his friends plan to ignite dynamite at his cell window. Three people were convicted in the escape plot.

Jan. 21, 1901: John Lutz is hanged for the axe murder of his wife inside their West Pittston home at Franklin and Montgomery streets on Nov. 28, 1899. The jury deliberated for 16 days before convicting Lutz.

Sept. 29, 1903: Peter Lanousky is hanged for the murder of Anthony Sennick inside a coal mine in Exeter on Feb. 11, 1902.

May 4, 1905: Martin Rasmus is hanged for killing Henry Ortwine inside a house on Main Street, Glen Lyon, on June 11, 1904.

Oct. 14, 1909: Tom Willis and Stanley Nazarko are hanged 38 minutes apart during the 10 a.m. hour.

Willis, the only black man to be hanged in the county, was convicted for the murder of horse veterinarian Cameron Coole inside a West Pittston barn on Dec. 26, 1907. Nazarko was convicted for the shooting death of his mistress, Mary Czelikowska, outside a tavern in Pittston on Aug. 20, 1908.

Electrocutions

The following inmates were executed by electric chair under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections.

Sept. 25, 1922: Antonio Puntario and Peter Erico are executed for the shooting death of police Det. Samuel Lucchino in Pittston on July 21, 1921.

June 30, 1930: Frank Tawza, of Wilkes-Barre, is executed for the shooting death of Luzerne assistant police chief Thomas Krokoskey at a lumber yard in Luzerne.

May 25, 1931: John Nafus and Sigismund Szachewicz are executed for killing four men when they ignited dynamite in a coal car in Warrior Run outside a mine owned by the Glen Alden Coal Co. on Jan. 13, 1930.

Jan. 5, 1933: Joseph Hudock is executed for the shooting death of Stanley Yurish in Butler Township on May 15, 1932.

Jan. 8, 1934: Anthony Petrosky, 19, and Frank Stabinski, 21, both of Ashley, are executed for the beating death of Mary Malinowski, 18, in Hanover Township.

May 6, 1935: Robert Edwards, 23, of Edwardsville, is executed for beating death of mother-to-be Freda McKenchnie in Harveys Lake on July 10, 1934. Edwards claimed McKenchnie slipped in a boat and struck her head.

Jan. 18, 1938: Michael Fuggman, 53, is executed for cigar box bombings that killed four people, including one child, on Good Friday, April 9, 1936.

Reach Edward Lewis at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TLEdLewis.

First Published: February 17, 2015, 2:45 p.m.