An Old-Time Hanging Remembered

Philadelphia, 1878

Samuel Hulett, whose death at an advanced age was reported a few days ago, was one of the passengers in the mail coach between Philadelphia and Reading in 1830, when the horses were stopped and the passengers plundered by Wilson, Porter and Potete, whose arrest and trial, and execution of Porter were causes of much public feeling at the time.

The mail coach was on its way to Reading, and had reached Turner's lane, a mile or two above the built up portion of the city, when the lead horses were suddenly brought to a stand and a pistol put at the head of the driver and one or more of the passengers, to intimidate them and prevent resistance. The money and jewels were surrendered upon demand, and no violence was used. It was supposed that the bank messenger, William Miller, who held for many years the situation of bailiff in the United States district court, would be in the coach, but he had been unable to reach the White Swan Hotel in time to take son were captured in Philadelphia, but passage that morning.

Porter and Wilson were captured in Philadelphia, but Potete was arrested in Baltimore, and, upon being brought on here, consented to take the witness stand against his confederates. Samuel Hulett was a material witness, and Porter and Wilson were convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The robbery of the mail was then a capital offense, when the lives of passengers or any one was put in jeopardy, as was done. Wilson was saved through the intercession of influential friends, but Porter expiated his crime upon the gallows, having on the day of the execution ridden upon his coffin from the Arch street prison to the hanging ground, not far from the Eastern penitentiary. Potete, who had committed a crime in Baltimore, was taken back there and served out a term of imprisonment. Wilson became an exemplary citizen, and was living when last heard of a few years ago. — Philadelphia Ledger.