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Note: From the Wheeling Register (W. VA.), 16 January 1880, page 3:
"Mrs. Hannah Miller, of Luzerne county, Pa., has just made confession of a murder committed in that county eight years ago by William Allenbaum, whose mistress she was, and two accomplices, Wesley Johnson and a man who goes by the name of "Big Yank." The victim was a young man named William Keating, of good connections. The woman says Allenbaum and his companions were returning with booty from a robbery committed by them, when they met Keating. He was climbing over a fence when Allenbaum raised a fence rail and struck him over the neck, producing instant death. One proposed burying him, another suggested that he be thrown into the Susquehanna river, but Allenbaum said 'Let's burn him.' In a wood near by they found a pile of brush and logs, and by this they placed the body of young Keating and burned it. The mine lamp, dinner pail and shoes they took to the river, and after filling them with gravel, threw them into the stream. Allenbaum was arrested yesterday, and warrants are out for the arrest of his companions."
Notes: Articles about this revelation regarding the murder committed in 1872 ran in newspapers across the country (including Maryland, Philadelphia, Illinois, etc.). Most of the articles were the same apart from the Philadelphia Inquirer which gave Wesley's last name as "Williams." Also, the Inquirer said Wesley and Big Yank were both from Plains.
The William Allenbaum referred to is probably William Allabaugh. On the 1870 census of Plymouth Township, there is a 20 year old William Allabaugh who was living with his mother, Sarah. Also living in Plymouth Township was a Mary Keating (widow) with her son, William, age 27. The surname is misspelled on the census as "Kating." Two doors down from the Keatings lived William and Hannah Miller.
Making this case even more bizarre is that Hannah Miller's son-in-law, Charles Chamberlain, was tried for Keating's murder and acquitted. See the notes on Charles Chamberlain in my database for further information. It is not known at this time whether Charles' trial was part of this expose caused by Hannah Miller's coming forward in 1880 or not. It is a possibility that Charles is the "Big Yank" referred to in the article, however, Charles, his wife and child were living in Plymouth, not Plains, on the 1880 census.
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