Abigail Stephens - Murderer

Thomas Probert was the jailer in Mt. Sterling for ten years from approximately 1866 to his death in 1876. In researching this time period, one named jumped out. Abigail Stephens had been held in Thomas' jail for 152 days. She had been charged with murder, and Thomas was seeking reimbursement for costs associated with her incarceration.

In my blog post from two days ago, correspondent "Fair Play" complained that seventeen Mt. Sterling residents had been murdered with seemingly few consequences. He was seeking stricter enforcement of the law in a town where he felt human life was no longer valued. Among those listed in his complaint was Eveline Hubbard who was "killed with a hatchet."

Due to my love of historical newspapers, I had researched Abigail Stephens to see what was behind such a gruesome, hands-on murder. I didn't expect to find this result.

Reprinted from the Mt. Sterling Sentinel,

One of the most cruel and cold-blooded murders was committed in the upper portion,of this county on Sunday last that it has ever been our lot to chronicle. The particulars, as we learn them, as as follows:

Evaline Hubbard, a woman of easy virtue, lives on the Long Branch. on the road leading from the State road to Gatewood's old mill, in a settlement commonly called "Pennsylvania" and has for a neighbor George Stephens, who has for a wife a woman heretofore known by the name of Abigail Hedger, also a woman of bad character.

It seems, from all we can learn, that Stephens' wife has been for a long time jealous of the charms of Evaline for her husband, and catching her away from her house on the day named, just in the edge of the woods, attacked her with a hatchet, cutting her several times in the face and head, causing her death instantly, She then left her where she was found during the day, presenting a ghastly spectacle.

Mrs. Stephens was arrested and charged with the crime, which we are informed she acknowledged and exhibited the hatchet with which the work of death was performed; but , we are informed since then, she denies any knowledge of the affair. The case was to be tried before Esquire Bedford, sitting as an examining court, on Wednesday, but up to the time of going to press, we have not learned the result of this trial.

Unfortunately, it will require another trip to Mt. Sterling and a check of the Mt. Sterling Sentinel on microfilm to find out about Abigail's ultimate fate. I can't imagine being a woman in that jail. Today's jails would seem luxurious by comparison.

Source: Eastern Kentucky Tragedies: Particulars of Two Terrible Murders.
             Courier-Journal (1869-1922) [Louisville, Ky] 24 July 1874; 3.    

The Montgomery County Jail

Mt. Sterling went through a series of jails. The conditions must have been horrendous. The community solicited bids for a new jail in 1861, but with the beginning of the Civil War, plans were delayed and eventually scrapped. In The History of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky there is this description:

During the war, the jail was used to hold Rebel soldiers as well as criminals, and conditions seem, if anything, to have worsened. In a letter written from Canada by Henry Stone of the 9th Kentucky Cavalry, Co. D, CSA in 1863, he says, "Got a letter from Cousin Sallie Johnson, who says three Rebels got out of Mt. Sterling dungeon the other night, prying bars in the widow loose. There was a tier of bars at each window, eight feet from the floor and nothing to pry with then I was there. I suffered in that place. It was dark at night; no candle; cold and damp, no fire, and for the first three nights I had no blanket. I had to eat, sleep, drink and answer nature in the same room. (p.106)

40 Broadway Street

After the war, and with Thomas' elected to become the new jailer, a new jail was completed by 1871 on Broadway on the present site of the City Building. According to the 1870 Census, the "jail house" consisted of living quarters for Thomas and his family as well as a "cook" and three inmates housed in the jail.

The 1870 Census lists Thomas and his wife, Kate, daughter, Lucy, young daughters Mary Lou and Lizzie, son-in-law, and Albert Story and his wife Atlanta (Addie). Addie was his oldest daughter, now married, and her husband was running the "confectionery" business.

The cook was a black woman named Rachel Regan, who undoubtedly had been a slave just five years earlier. The prisoners included two white prisoners, John Broth and Wm. Landsaw, and one black prisoner named Jim Wyatt.

Side Entrance to Jail and
Upper Story Living Quarters

Quoting the History of Mt. Sterling:

The jailer at this time was T. H. Probert, who was paid 75 cents a day (per prisoner) for "dieting" prisoners. The county also assumed the costs of fuel, medicine and doctor's visits for inmates. City prisoners in this period were used as labor at a rock quarry on Queen St., working out their fines at $1.50 a day, or were used by the jailer in cleaning streets.

This was to be Thomas' job until his death ten years later. It was probably not the best job, but one with a guaranteed, legal income in the tumultuous period following the end of the war.

Sources:
Boyd, Carl B and Boyd, Hazel Mason. History of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, 1792-1918, pp. 106-107.