Looking Back

Brother vs. Brother Leads to Death

by James Rada

When Cain slew his brother, Abel, it was over who was more beloved by God. When Samuel Shockey killed his brother, Jacob, it was over who a young woman named Iva Wills loved more.

Iva was Jacob’s common-law wife or girlfriend, depending on who you asked. She was an attractive, petite redhead who had met Jacob in Ohio and returned with him when he returned to his hometown of Beartown, Pennsylvania, in March 1924.

The son of a Monterey merchant, Jacob, who was 30 years old, had enlisted in the Army under a fake name and served in the 14th U.S. Infantry at Columbus, Ohio, according to The Gettysburg Times. He had deserted and then re-enlisted in the 11th U.S. Cavalry about a year later under his own name in Columbus, Ohio. It was during this time that he met Iva, who would have been in her early teens.

After his enlistment was up, Jacob worked for a year as a Michigan State Trooper. He returned to Beartown in 1924 with Iva, who was now 19 years old. He worked odd jobs and drank too much. While drunk, he would sometimes hit Iva or threaten to shoot her.

They weren’t back in Beartown for too long before Iva had had enough. On March 20, 1924, after Jacob struck her and then went out hunting, Iva left their house and found Samuel Shockey. Iva told Samuel her story, and he took her someplace safe. The two of them were walking down the mountain when they met up with 13-year-old Katherine Woodring.

The three of them continued walking toward Katherine’s home when they met Jacob. He had returned home and found Iva gone. He set off in search of her, threatening several people as he questioned them and ranted about finding Iva.

According to court testimony, both brothers were armed, but Jacob had his rifle raised, and Samuel was forced to lay down his shotgun. Jacob hit Iva, and when Samuel intervened, Jacob hit him with the butt of his rifle.

That started a fistfight between the brothers as they fought for control of the rifle, which had gotten flung away from them. Katherine ran away in a panic, but Iva tried to separate the two men who were rolling around on the ground exchanging blows.

Jacob managed to retrieve his rifle and fired two shots at his brother, missing him. Samuel scurried away and managed to get his shotgun and aim it at his brother. According to Samuel’s court testimony, Jacob taunted him, saying that he was afraid to shoot. Samuel said that Jacob was actually preparing to fire when Samuel was forced to shoot him.

The shot killed Jacob.

Samuel panicked. He was already wanted for forgery in Waynesboro. He grabbed Iva’s hand, and they fled toward the home of Clyde Quilley further up the mountain when they heard people coming, drawn by the sound of the shots.

The pair ran back down the trail, where they dragged Jacob’s body off to the side and covered it with brush. Then they ran off in another direction to find a place to hide.

The group hadn’t been drawn by the shots but by Katherine’s warning of the armed brothers fighting. As the group came down the trail, Elmer Shockey, one of Jacob’s and Samuel’s brothers, found Jacob’s body.

The Pennsylvania State Police formed a posse. During the manhunt, Sheriff Merle Ankerbrand’s car broke down, causing his group to turn back to Waynesboro. Tracking dogs were brought in, but with five inches or more of snow on the ground, they weren’t able to help.

Elmer led the posse to a small shelter where Samuel had operated a still. If Samuel had hidden there, he was gone by the time the posse arrived. They met a boy who told them he had seen Samuel and a girl the previous night, and he gave them directions to where he had seen them.

“Before them was a tent. A thin, smoking stove pipe protruded from the roof. A man emerged from the tent, gathered a handful of wood, and re-entered. That man was Samuel Shockey,” The Gettysburg Times reported.

Corporal McCarthy silently approached the tent as the other men surrounded the clearing and slowly moved in. McCarthy threw back the tent flap and shoved his rifle into Samuel’s face. Before McCarthy could say anything, Constable Klipp lunged through the opening in the tent, tackled Samuel, and pinned him to the ground.

“I never thought anybody would be fool enough to come after me on a day like this,” the newspaper reported.

A Murderer is Murdered

The case came to trial on April 30, 1924.

No one, not even Samuel, denied that he had killed his brother. Samuel had even taken the stand and testified to it. The defense tried to paint Jacob as dangerous and treacherous as witnesses testified to Jacob’s violence against Iva and others.

However, Samuel’s past came under scrutiny by the prosecution. In 1920, Samuel had been indicted with three others for larceny but had been found not guilty. The following year, he and two of his brothers had been indicted for larceny. This time, he was found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison. He had escaped but then gave himself up after being on the run for seven months. He then had to serve an additional six months for the escape. These were not violent crimes, but they showed Samuel’s disregard for the law.

The jury found Samuel guilty of second-degree murder. The defense team made a motion for a new trial, but it was overturned. Edmund C. Wingerd and John W. Hoke, for the defense, asked for leniency in view of the facts of the case and extenuating circumstances. They urged Judge Biddle to make the sentence more in line with a manslaughter conviction. District Attorney Clippinger pressed for the maximum 10- to 20-year sentence.

Judge Biddle sentenced Jacob to nine years in Eastern Penitentiary.

“Mr. Hoke said that there is no doubt in his mind but that if Shockey had been a man of good reputation, he would have been acquitted in a few minutes by the jury under the evidence of the case,” The Gettysburg Times reported.

Sheriff Merle Ankerbrand escorted Samuel to prison while the courts decided what to do with Iva, who had not only been a witness during the trial but had also been arrested as an accessory to Jacob’s murder.

“Evidence in the case of Samuel Shockey did not incriminate the girl. In fact, it was said in the course of the testimony that she tried to separate the quarreling brothers,” the newspaper reported.

Most people believed that she and Samuel were in love, which could have also been a motive for the murder. She was eventually released without being charged.

After a little more than three years in prison, Samuel had become a trustee and was granted extra privileges. One evening, he escaped from the convict barracks at Graterford. He was traced to the home of Charles Wade in Cascade, Maryland, on February 3, 1928, but all the officers found was Samuel’s prison uniform.

His escape caused concern because Samuel had threatened the people of Beartown who had testified for the prosecution during his trial. Some of the families moved away rather than wait to see if Samuel would come for them.

On February 11, Samuel, who was hiding out near Beartown, talked to his brother, Christian Shockey, and said that he wanted to turn himself in. Samuel asked his brother to give him a shave and haircut first. They made arrangements to meet at 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon.

When Christian showed up, he found his brother lying dead on the side of the trail in a scene strangely reminiscent of when Jacob had been killed four years earlier. Samuel had been shot in the head and abdomen and probably hit on the head with an axe.

“First believed to have been a suicide, an autopsy showed that three sponge-ball bullets fired from a shotgun had put an end to the comparatively short criminal career of the mountaineer ‘bad man,’” The Gettysburg Times reported.

Thousands of curious people turned out to view Samuel’s body, perhaps to make sure the bad man of the mountains was really dead.

Forest Ranger Harry Thomas tracked down where Samuel had been hiding since his escape. It was a canvas and oilcloth shack stocked with stolen goods.

“No clues but enemies several ‘avowed enemies’ of the convict, whom he had threatened for the aid which they gave state authorities after he had killed his brother four years ago,” the newspaper reported.

None of those leads panned out, however, and Samuel’s killer was never discovered.