Trial, Life and Execution of Anton Probst…, 1866
Trial, life and execution of Anton Probst: Official report of the trial of Anton Probst, for the murder of Christopher Dearing at Philadelphia, April 25, 1866. As well as his two confessions, one made on May 6th, to his spiritual adviser, the other on May 7th, 1866, to his counsel...To which is added a history of his previous life, as well as an account of his last hours and execution... 120 pp. (Philadelphia, 1866).
About the Case
In 1866, at a farm near Philadelphia, a neighbor discovered the bodies of Christopher Dearing, his wife, four children, a family friend, and an employee, hidden under piles of hay with slit throats and crushed skulls; the farm animals were starving and the house had been ransacked. A few days later, police found in Anton Probst’s possession a carpetbag containing the Dearings’ belongings. Probst, an impoverished German immigrant who had worked as a handyman for the Dearings, was charged with murder. At trial, the medical experts noted that the throats were most likely cut by an axe, and that only a very strong man could have hauled the bodies and covered them over with 500 pounds of hay. The jury found Probst guilty; he was sentenced to be hanged. After his execution, doctors performed galvanic experiments on his corpse and dissected it. His skeleton was later put on display in a medical school.