SHERIFF OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS HANGING ROPE AND HANGING INVITATION

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/20/2026

A rare and morbid reminder of public executions that used to occur with regularity at the end of the 1800s. In the 19th century, there was a curious trend of sending formal invitations to the guests. These invitations to hangings and other forms of execution could be as ceremonial as an invite to a wedding, sometimes handwritten, other times specially engraved. This example is from the office of the Sheriff of St. Clair County, Illinois, inviting the bearer to the execution of George Centrell in the jail yard at Belleville on Nov 30th 1894 for the murder of Frederick Kohn, a local farmer that employed Central. Included is a 5" section of rope from the hangman's noose, cut as a souvenir by a spectator. There is a period section of very old darkened paper with iron ink inscription: PIECE OF ROPE THAT HUNG GEO CENTRAL (sic) / BELLEVILLE ILLS NOV 30 - 1894 / ALSO SHERIFF'S GATE / PASS TO THE EXECUTION. Included are modern copies of the newspaper articles related to the initial murder, apparently the result of a love affair gone bad that also resulted in a death sentence for the wife Kohn who waylaid her husband with Centrell. At his hanging, Mrs. Kohn shouted out a good-bye to Centrell who told the Sheriff: "That woman makes me tired." Not examined out of riker case.

Item Dimensions: Shadow Box: 8 - 1/4" x 1" x 12 - 1/4".