On February 18, 1820 – 27 year old Lavinia Fisher was hanged in South Carolina for murder, alongside her husband. She wore her white wedding dress for her execution. They were executed for the robbery murders of guests at their inn, known as the Six Mile House, at Charlestown.
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First Woman Serial Killer in The United States. Took place at the 6-mile house in Charleston South Carolina. She and her husband were hung at the Charleston South Carolina City Jail Feb 1820. She was hung in her wedding dress.
She was a beautiful woman as you can see, she was able to lure anyone into her boarding house and then kill them.
JLB dug up the body of Lavinia Fisher, the first female serial killer in the US, hanged in 1820, for med school. She hung between the med school and the Old Charleston Museum (demolished), which were connected, during the 1800's. Skull, vertebrae, and scapulae were passed down to Dr. Gilmore in the family for years.
Lavinia Fisher (1793 – February 18, 1820) is widely recognized as the first female mass murderer in the United States of America. Her origins are unknown; however, Fisher resided in the United States for a large amount of her life. She was married to John Fisher, and both were convicted of murder and robbery.
Fisher and her husband resided in Charleston, South Carolina for most of their lives. Together, they owned a hotel, the Six Mile Wayfarer House, which they managed in the early 19th century.
The hotel was located six miles north of Charleston, South Carolina, hence the name. After a short period, many reports were made to the local sheriff's department about guests disappearing.
Due to lack of evidence, and the popularity of the couple with many locals, these complaints came to nothing. Lavinia Fisher would always invite men to dinner and ask many questions about their occupation, trying to find out if they had money or not. She would send them up to their rooms with a cup of tea that was poisoned.
Once the men would drink their tea and go to bed, her husband would go to the room to make sure they were dead by stabbing them.
Another version of the legend was that the tea would only put the men to sleep for a few hours. Then, when they were almost asleep, Lavinia would pull a lever and the bed would collapse and drop the victim into a pit. Some believe that spikes were waiting at the bottom of the pit.
One day John Peeples asked if there were any vacancies and Lavinia replied that there was unfortunately no room, but he was welcome to come inside and rest and have some tea. John happened to hate tea, and not wanting to seem rude, he dumped it when she wasn't looking. She interrogated him for hours and eventually said she discovered that in fact, they did have a room. He then went to bed. He had felt suspicious about the interrogation and was worried about being robbed, so he decided to sleep in the wooden chair by the door. In the middle of the night, he awoke to the loud sound of the bed collapsing and discovered the Fisher's plan. He jumped out the window and rode to Charleston to alert the authorities.
Lavinia Fisher was hanged in 1820 but the crime was highway robbery— a capital offense at the time—not murder. She was a member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the Backcountry outside of Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether or not the Six Mile House was a hotel, but it did serve as a hideout for several outlaws.
Trial and execution[edit]
Lavinia Fisher was held at the Charleston, South Carolina jail before her hanging. Moments before her execution she is purported to have said to the crowd "If anyone has a message for the devil, give it to me." or "If any of you has a message for the devil, tell me now-- for I will be seeing him in a moment." Much of what occurred in the alleged murders at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher has become wildly exaggerated through time, so factual details are hard to find. However, it is known based on news accounts in the Charleston Post and Courier, that a vigilante gang went to the Fishers' neighborhood in February 1819 to stop the purported 'gang activities' that were occurring there. Satisfied that they had accomplished their task, the group returned to Charleston but left a young man by the name of David Ross to stand watch in the area.
Early the next day, Ross was attacked by two men and dragged before the gang that had terrorized the region. Among them was Lavinia Fisher, to whom he looked for help. However, rather than help him, she choked him and then smashed his head through a window. Ross managed to escape and immediately alerted authorities.
Immediately following this incident, another traveler, named John Peeples, stopping in at the Fisher's Six Mile House for Wayfarers was also assaulted, but he likewise was able to escape and went to the authorities.
Based on these two accounts, names and identities of the assailants were given, something that law enforcement had previously lacked. Police were immediately dispatched to the location and during the ensuing investigation, Lavinia and John were discovered, along with two other gang members. John Fisher surrendered the group to protect his wife and shield her from the possibility of gunfire. Later, during interrogation, he would again attempt to protect Lavinia by giving the identities of all involved in the gang. Nearly a full year lapsed between the time of their arrest and their execution. At their arraignment, the Fishers pleaded not guilty but were ordered to be held in jail until their trial which would take place in May while their co-conspirators were released on bail. The jury at their trial rejected their pleas of innocence and found them guilty of highway robbery. However, the judge allowed an appeal and they were given a reprieve until the January session of the court.
During this time the Fishers occupied themselves with plans to escape, as they were housed together in a 6x8 cell and not heavily guarded. On September 13 they put their plans into action and began their escape. Things did not go as planned as the rope they had made from prison linens broke, leaving Lavinia trapped in the cell and John set free. He was unwilling to continue the escape plan and was recaptured. The two were then kept under much tighter security.
The Constitutional Court rejected their appeal and both were sentenced to be hanged on February 4, 1820.[5] Awaiting execution, John accepted the counsel of the Reverend Richard Furman, a local minister, but Lavinia became even more vitriolic. Preceding their execution, the clergyman read a letter composed by John Fisher, stating that since he had become a Christian he could not be executed with a lie held to his account. Therefore he insisted on his innocence and asked mercy on those who had done him wrong in the judicial process. After the minister read the letter, Fisher began to plead his case before the gathered crowd of some 2,000. He then seemingly contradicted himself by asking for their forgiveness. Lavinia argued to the judge that they could not hang a married woman, so they hanged John a day before. It is believed[citation needed] that Mary Surratt was the first woman to be hanged in the United States, however, Lavinia was hanged 40 years prior.[2]
Burial[edit]
Following her execution, Lavinia was buried in a Potter's Field near to the place of execution which was outside the Old City Jail. Reports of her burial at 150 Meeting Street (The Circular Congregational Church) or 4 Archdale Street (The Unitarian Church) appear to have been promoted by tour guides.∼The legend of Lavinia Fisher has been told and retold since her execution in Charleston, South Carolina in 1820, and with each telling it has grown more extravagant and further from the truth. Today tourist pamphlets and websites will earnestly tell you that Lavinia was America's first female serial killer when, in fact, there is no hard evidence that she ever killed anyone. We do know that she was a violent and unrepentant outlaw, but she earned her fame by being a tough woman with a bad attitude in a town known for its genteel southern belles.
The legend of Lavinia Fisher will vary from teller to teller but the gist of the story told for the last 120 years goes something like this. John and Lavinia Fisher owned an inn, the Six Mile House, on a lonely road outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The building was well maintained and was a welcome sight to weary travelers, but it was rumored that sometimes guests checked in and did not check out. One night a fur trader named John Peoples stopped at the inn and was warmly greeted by the Fishers. The beautiful Lavinia Fisher was especially friendly. People thought the Fishers were being a little too friendly and, suspicious of their intentions, he went to bed early.
People's suspicions grew and he could not sleep. He decided not to lie in the bed but to sit in the corner facing the door so he could see if anyone came in to attack him. His suspicions were confirmed when a trapdoor sprung, dropping the bed into the cellar where John Fisher was waiting with an axe. People escaped and hurried back to Charleston to tell the authorities. John and Lavinia were arrested and their property was searched. The human remains were found, including many bodies in a lime pit in the cellar under the trap door. The Fishers were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.
The unrepentant, Lavinia Fisher went to the gallows in 1820 wearing her wedding dress. John Fisher pinned all the blame on his wife, but he was hanged along with her. Lavinia's ghost now haunts the Old Jail on Magazine Street in Charleston as well as the Unitarian Cemetary.
The Truth
At Murder by Gaslight, we love a good legend, but we love the truth even more. Lavinia Fisher was hanged in 1820 but the crime was highway robbery— a capital offense at the time—not murder. She was a member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the Backcountry outside of Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether or not the Six Mile House was a hotel, but it did serve as a hideout for a number of outlaws.
Wagon trade in and out of Charleston was a profitable business and an important part of the city's economy. In 1819 trade was disrupted by a gang of highwaymen stopping wagons on the road and stealing goods and money. Since the victims were unable to identify their assailants the authorities were powerless to act. A group of Charleston citizens decided to take matters into their own hands and if necessary invoke "Lynch Law." According to the Charleston News and Courier:
A gang of desperados have for some time past occupied certain houses in the vicinity of Ashley Ferry; practicing every deception upon the unwary and frequently committing robberies upon defenseless travelers. As they could not be identified, and thereby brought to punishment, it was determined, by a number of citizens, to break them up, and they accordingly proceeded, in a cavalcade, on Thursday afternoon, to the spot, having previously obtained permission of the owners of some small houses, to which these desperados resorted, to proceed against the premises in such manner as circumstances might require.
The cavalcade proceeded first to the Five Mile House where they gave the occupants fifteen minutes to vacate the premises before they burned it to the ground. At the Six Mile House, they evicted the occupants and left a man named Dave Ross behind to guard it. Believing their work was finished, the cavalcade returned to Charleston.
The next morning, two men from the outlaw gang broke into the house and assaulted Dave Ross, driving him outside where he was surrounded by a gang of nine or ten men and one woman, the beautiful Lavinia Fisher. Ross looked to Lavinia for help, but she choked him and shoved his head through a window. Two hours later, John Peoples was heading out of Charleston in his wagon and stopped near the Six Mile House to water his horse. He was accosted by the gang, including Lavinia Fisher. They stole about forty dollars from him.
Peoples returned to Charleston and this time he was able to tell the authorities the identities of his attackers. He did not know all of their names but he had…
"Just cause to believe that among them was William Hayward, John Fisher and his wife Lavinia Fisher, Joseph Roberts, and John Andrews."
This, along with Dave Ross's story, forced the authorities to act. Sheriff's deputy Colonel Nathanial Green Cleary got a bench warrant from Judge Charles Jones Colcock and set out for Six Mile House. John and Lavinia Fisher, along with several members of the gang, gave up without a fight and were taken to jail in Charleston. Over the next several days many other gang members were arrested. John Peoples identified them as the group who robbed him. John and Lavinia Fisher were charged with highway robbery—a hanging offense at the time. While they were awaiting trial, a grave containing the remains of two human bodies, was found about 200 yards from Six Mile House. They were believed to be the bodies of a white man and a black woman, dead for at least two years. With so many people in and out of Six Mile House during that time, it was impossible to identify their killers, and no one was ever charged with their murder. Only two bodies, no more, were found at Six Mile House.
Trial: May 1819
The Fishers pleaded not guilty to the charge of a highway robber, but the jury thought otherwise.
Verdict: Guilty of highway robbery.
Aftermath:
John and Lavinia planned to appeal their conviction to the Constitutional Court and while they awaited the hearing they were kept in the Charleston jail. Because they were a married couple, John and Lavinia were kept in the debtors' quarters in the upper part of the jail rather than the heavily guarded lower floor. On September 13 they attempted to escape through a hole they made under the window of the cell. John went first down a rope made of blankets but it broke before he reached the ground. He could have escaped alone but chose to stay behind with Lavinia.
Their motion for a retrial was rejected by the Constitutional Court and the Fishers could do nothing now but wait for execution. The Reverend Richard Furman would visit them often to help them make peace with their maker. He appeared to make some headway with John, but Lavinia was more likely to curse than pray.
On February 4, 1820, they were taken to a gallows erected on Meeting Street just outside the city limits of Charleston. Each was wearing a loose-fitting white robe over their clothes, possibly the source of the "wedding dress" myth. It was a public execution and everyone, including the fine ladies of Charleston, came out to see Lavinia Fisher hang.
John mounted the gallows peacefully but Lavinia had to be physically dragged to the platform where she beseeched the crowd to help her. According to one historian:
"She stamped in rage and swore with all the vehemence of her amazing vocabulary, calling down damnation on a governor who would let a woman swing. The crowd stood shocked into silence, while she cut short one curse with another and ended with a volley of shrieks." When Lavinia was quiet Reverend Furman read a letter from John Fisher in which he thanked the reverend for "explaining the mysteries of our Holy Religion." John then told the crowd he was innocent and blamed Colonel Cleary for coaching the witness who accused him.
The legend of Lavinia Fisher had probably already started but her (true) last words to the crowd at her hanging guaranteed her immortality:
"If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me—I'll carry it."
Written stories of Lavinia Fisher are usually accompanied by a painting—at the top of this post— alleged to be a portrait of Lavinia. It begs the question, when did she pose for it? During her life as a highwayman in the squalor of Six Mile House, or in the year she spent in Charleston jail?
The Fishers were buried in a potter's field, not the Unitarian Cemetery Lavinia supposedly haunts.
Lavinia Fisher is included in Murder by Gaslight because of her legend as a murderess. It is unlikely that she ever murdered anyone.
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First Woman Serial Killer in The United States. Took place at the 6-mile house in Charleston South Carolina. She and her husband were hung at the Charleston South Carolina City Jail Feb 1820. She was hung in her wedding dress.
She was a beautiful woman as you can see, she was able to lure anyone into her boarding house and then kill them.
JLB dug up the body of Lavinia Fisher, the first female serial killer in the US, hanged in 1820, for med school. She hung between the med school and the Old Charleston Museum (demolished), which were connected, during the 1800's. Skull, vertebrae, and scapulae were passed down to Dr. Gilmore in the family for years.
Lavinia Fisher (1793 – February 18, 1820) is widely recognized as the first female mass murderer in the United States of America. Her origins are unknown; however, Fisher resided in the United States for a large amount of her life. She was married to John Fisher, and both were convicted of murder and robbery.
Fisher and her husband resided in Charleston, South Carolina for most of their lives. Together, they owned a hotel, the Six Mile Wayfarer House, which they managed in the early 19th century.
The hotel was located six miles north of Charleston, South Carolina, hence the name. After a short period, many reports were made to the local sheriff's department about guests disappearing.
Due to lack of evidence, and the popularity of the couple with many locals, these complaints came to nothing. Lavinia Fisher would always invite men to dinner and ask many questions about their occupation, trying to find out if they had money or not. She would send them up to their rooms with a cup of tea that was poisoned.
Once the men would drink their tea and go to bed, her husband would go to the room to make sure they were dead by stabbing them.
Another version of the legend was that the tea would only put the men to sleep for a few hours. Then, when they were almost asleep, Lavinia would pull a lever and the bed would collapse and drop the victim into a pit. Some believe that spikes were waiting at the bottom of the pit.
One day John Peeples asked if there were any vacancies and Lavinia replied that there was unfortunately no room, but he was welcome to come inside and rest and have some tea. John happened to hate tea, and not wanting to seem rude, he dumped it when she wasn't looking. She interrogated him for hours and eventually said she discovered that in fact, they did have a room. He then went to bed. He had felt suspicious about the interrogation and was worried about being robbed, so he decided to sleep in the wooden chair by the door. In the middle of the night, he awoke to the loud sound of the bed collapsing and discovered the Fisher's plan. He jumped out the window and rode to Charleston to alert the authorities.
Lavinia Fisher was hanged in 1820 but the crime was highway robbery— a capital offense at the time—not murder. She was a member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the Backcountry outside of Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether or not the Six Mile House was a hotel, but it did serve as a hideout for several outlaws.
Trial and execution[edit]
Lavinia Fisher was held at the Charleston, South Carolina jail before her hanging. Moments before her execution she is purported to have said to the crowd "If anyone has a message for the devil, give it to me." or "If any of you has a message for the devil, tell me now-- for I will be seeing him in a moment." Much of what occurred in the alleged murders at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher has become wildly exaggerated through time, so factual details are hard to find. However, it is known based on news accounts in the Charleston Post and Courier, that a vigilante gang went to the Fishers' neighborhood in February 1819 to stop the purported 'gang activities' that were occurring there. Satisfied that they had accomplished their task, the group returned to Charleston but left a young man by the name of David Ross to stand watch in the area.
Early the next day, Ross was attacked by two men and dragged before the gang that had terrorized the region. Among them was Lavinia Fisher, to whom he looked for help. However, rather than help him, she choked him and then smashed his head through a window. Ross managed to escape and immediately alerted authorities.
Immediately following this incident, another traveler, named John Peeples, stopping in at the Fisher's Six Mile House for Wayfarers was also assaulted, but he likewise was able to escape and went to the authorities.
Based on these two accounts, names and identities of the assailants were given, something that law enforcement had previously lacked. Police were immediately dispatched to the location and during the ensuing investigation, Lavinia and John were discovered, along with two other gang members. John Fisher surrendered the group to protect his wife and shield her from the possibility of gunfire. Later, during interrogation, he would again attempt to protect Lavinia by giving the identities of all involved in the gang. Nearly a full year lapsed between the time of their arrest and their execution. At their arraignment, the Fishers pleaded not guilty but were ordered to be held in jail until their trial which would take place in May while their co-conspirators were released on bail. The jury at their trial rejected their pleas of innocence and found them guilty of highway robbery. However, the judge allowed an appeal and they were given a reprieve until the January session of the court.
During this time the Fishers occupied themselves with plans to escape, as they were housed together in a 6x8 cell and not heavily guarded. On September 13 they put their plans into action and began their escape. Things did not go as planned as the rope they had made from prison linens broke, leaving Lavinia trapped in the cell and John set free. He was unwilling to continue the escape plan and was recaptured. The two were then kept under much tighter security.
The Constitutional Court rejected their appeal and both were sentenced to be hanged on February 4, 1820.[5] Awaiting execution, John accepted the counsel of the Reverend Richard Furman, a local minister, but Lavinia became even more vitriolic. Preceding their execution, the clergyman read a letter composed by John Fisher, stating that since he had become a Christian he could not be executed with a lie held to his account. Therefore he insisted on his innocence and asked mercy on those who had done him wrong in the judicial process. After the minister read the letter, Fisher began to plead his case before the gathered crowd of some 2,000. He then seemingly contradicted himself by asking for their forgiveness. Lavinia argued to the judge that they could not hang a married woman, so they hanged John a day before. It is believed[citation needed] that Mary Surratt was the first woman to be hanged in the United States, however, Lavinia was hanged 40 years prior.[2]
Burial[edit]
Following her execution, Lavinia was buried in a Potter's Field near to the place of execution which was outside the Old City Jail. Reports of her burial at 150 Meeting Street (The Circular Congregational Church) or 4 Archdale Street (The Unitarian Church) appear to have been promoted by tour guides.∼The legend of Lavinia Fisher has been told and retold since her execution in Charleston, South Carolina in 1820, and with each telling it has grown more extravagant and further from the truth. Today tourist pamphlets and websites will earnestly tell you that Lavinia was America's first female serial killer when, in fact, there is no hard evidence that she ever killed anyone. We do know that she was a violent and unrepentant outlaw, but she earned her fame by being a tough woman with a bad attitude in a town known for its genteel southern belles.
The legend of Lavinia Fisher will vary from teller to teller but the gist of the story told for the last 120 years goes something like this. John and Lavinia Fisher owned an inn, the Six Mile House, on a lonely road outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The building was well maintained and was a welcome sight to weary travelers, but it was rumored that sometimes guests checked in and did not check out. One night a fur trader named John Peoples stopped at the inn and was warmly greeted by the Fishers. The beautiful Lavinia Fisher was especially friendly. People thought the Fishers were being a little too friendly and, suspicious of their intentions, he went to bed early.
People's suspicions grew and he could not sleep. He decided not to lie in the bed but to sit in the corner facing the door so he could see if anyone came in to attack him. His suspicions were confirmed when a trapdoor sprung, dropping the bed into the cellar where John Fisher was waiting with an axe. People escaped and hurried back to Charleston to tell the authorities. John and Lavinia were arrested and their property was searched. The human remains were found, including many bodies in a lime pit in the cellar under the trap door. The Fishers were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.
The unrepentant, Lavinia Fisher went to the gallows in 1820 wearing her wedding dress. John Fisher pinned all the blame on his wife, but he was hanged along with her. Lavinia's ghost now haunts the Old Jail on Magazine Street in Charleston as well as the Unitarian Cemetary.
The Truth
At Murder by Gaslight, we love a good legend, but we love the truth even more. Lavinia Fisher was hanged in 1820 but the crime was highway robbery— a capital offense at the time—not murder. She was a member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the Backcountry outside of Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether or not the Six Mile House was a hotel, but it did serve as a hideout for a number of outlaws.
Wagon trade in and out of Charleston was a profitable business and an important part of the city's economy. In 1819 trade was disrupted by a gang of highwaymen stopping wagons on the road and stealing goods and money. Since the victims were unable to identify their assailants the authorities were powerless to act. A group of Charleston citizens decided to take matters into their own hands and if necessary invoke "Lynch Law." According to the Charleston News and Courier:
A gang of desperados have for some time past occupied certain houses in the vicinity of Ashley Ferry; practicing every deception upon the unwary and frequently committing robberies upon defenseless travelers. As they could not be identified, and thereby brought to punishment, it was determined, by a number of citizens, to break them up, and they accordingly proceeded, in a cavalcade, on Thursday afternoon, to the spot, having previously obtained permission of the owners of some small houses, to which these desperados resorted, to proceed against the premises in such manner as circumstances might require.
The cavalcade proceeded first to the Five Mile House where they gave the occupants fifteen minutes to vacate the premises before they burned it to the ground. At the Six Mile House, they evicted the occupants and left a man named Dave Ross behind to guard it. Believing their work was finished, the cavalcade returned to Charleston.
The next morning, two men from the outlaw gang broke into the house and assaulted Dave Ross, driving him outside where he was surrounded by a gang of nine or ten men and one woman, the beautiful Lavinia Fisher. Ross looked to Lavinia for help, but she choked him and shoved his head through a window. Two hours later, John Peoples was heading out of Charleston in his wagon and stopped near the Six Mile House to water his horse. He was accosted by the gang, including Lavinia Fisher. They stole about forty dollars from him.
Peoples returned to Charleston and this time he was able to tell the authorities the identities of his attackers. He did not know all of their names but he had…
"Just cause to believe that among them was William Hayward, John Fisher and his wife Lavinia Fisher, Joseph Roberts, and John Andrews."
This, along with Dave Ross's story, forced the authorities to act. Sheriff's deputy Colonel Nathanial Green Cleary got a bench warrant from Judge Charles Jones Colcock and set out for Six Mile House. John and Lavinia Fisher, along with several members of the gang, gave up without a fight and were taken to jail in Charleston. Over the next several days many other gang members were arrested. John Peoples identified them as the group who robbed him. John and Lavinia Fisher were charged with highway robbery—a hanging offense at the time. While they were awaiting trial, a grave containing the remains of two human bodies, was found about 200 yards from Six Mile House. They were believed to be the bodies of a white man and a black woman, dead for at least two years. With so many people in and out of Six Mile House during that time, it was impossible to identify their killers, and no one was ever charged with their murder. Only two bodies, no more, were found at Six Mile House.
Trial: May 1819
The Fishers pleaded not guilty to the charge of a highway robber, but the jury thought otherwise.
Verdict: Guilty of highway robbery.
Aftermath:
John and Lavinia planned to appeal their conviction to the Constitutional Court and while they awaited the hearing they were kept in the Charleston jail. Because they were a married couple, John and Lavinia were kept in the debtors' quarters in the upper part of the jail rather than the heavily guarded lower floor. On September 13 they attempted to escape through a hole they made under the window of the cell. John went first down a rope made of blankets but it broke before he reached the ground. He could have escaped alone but chose to stay behind with Lavinia.
Their motion for a retrial was rejected by the Constitutional Court and the Fishers could do nothing now but wait for execution. The Reverend Richard Furman would visit them often to help them make peace with their maker. He appeared to make some headway with John, but Lavinia was more likely to curse than pray.
On February 4, 1820, they were taken to a gallows erected on Meeting Street just outside the city limits of Charleston. Each was wearing a loose-fitting white robe over their clothes, possibly the source of the "wedding dress" myth. It was a public execution and everyone, including the fine ladies of Charleston, came out to see Lavinia Fisher hang.
John mounted the gallows peacefully but Lavinia had to be physically dragged to the platform where she beseeched the crowd to help her. According to one historian:
"She stamped in rage and swore with all the vehemence of her amazing vocabulary, calling down damnation on a governor who would let a woman swing. The crowd stood shocked into silence, while she cut short one curse with another and ended with a volley of shrieks." When Lavinia was quiet Reverend Furman read a letter from John Fisher in which he thanked the reverend for "explaining the mysteries of our Holy Religion." John then told the crowd he was innocent and blamed Colonel Cleary for coaching the witness who accused him.
The legend of Lavinia Fisher had probably already started but her (true) last words to the crowd at her hanging guaranteed her immortality:
"If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me—I'll carry it."
Written stories of Lavinia Fisher are usually accompanied by a painting—at the top of this post— alleged to be a portrait of Lavinia. It begs the question, when did she pose for it? During her life as a highwayman in the squalor of Six Mile House, or in the year she spent in Charleston jail?
The Fishers were buried in a potter's field, not the Unitarian Cemetery Lavinia supposedly haunts.
Lavinia Fisher is included in Murder by Gaslight because of her legend as a murderess. It is unlikely that she ever murdered anyone.
On February 18, 1820 – 27 year old Lavinia Fisher was hanged in South Carolina for murder, alongside her husband. She wore her white wedding dress for her execution. They were executed for the robbery murders of guests at their inn, known as the Six Mile House, at Charlestown.
------------------------
First Woman Serial Killer in The United States. Took place at the 6-mile house in Charleston South Carolina. She and her husband were hung at the Charleston South Carolina City Jail Feb 1820. She was hung in her wedding dress.
She was a beautiful woman as you can see, she was able to lure anyone into her boarding house and then kill them.
JLB dug up the body of Lavinia Fisher, the first female serial killer in the US, hanged in 1820, for med school. She hung between the med school and the Old Charleston Museum (demolished), which were connected, during the 1800's. Skull, vertebrae, and scapulae were passed down to Dr. Gilmore in the family for years.
Lavinia Fisher (1793 – February 18, 1820) is widely recognized as the first female mass murderer in the United States of America. Her origins are unknown; however, Fisher resided in the United States for a large amount of her life. She was married to John Fisher, and both were convicted of murder and robbery.
Fisher and her husband resided in Charleston, South Carolina for most of their lives. Together, they owned a hotel, the Six Mile Wayfarer House, which they managed in the early 19th century.
The hotel was located six miles north of Charleston, South Carolina, hence the name. After a short period, many reports were made to the local sheriff's department about guests disappearing.
Due to lack of evidence, and the popularity of the couple with many locals, these complaints came to nothing. Lavinia Fisher would always invite men to dinner and ask many questions about their occupation, trying to find out if they had money or not. She would send them up to their rooms with a cup of tea that was poisoned.
Once the men would drink their tea and go to bed, her husband would go to the room to make sure they were dead by stabbing them.
Another version of the legend was that the tea would only put the men to sleep for a few hours. Then, when they were almost asleep, Lavinia would pull a lever and the bed would collapse and drop the victim into a pit. Some believe that spikes were waiting at the bottom of the pit.
One day John Peeples asked if there were any vacancies and Lavinia replied that there was unfortunately no room, but he was welcome to come inside and rest and have some tea. John happened to hate tea, and not wanting to seem rude, he dumped it when she wasn't looking. She interrogated him for hours and eventually said she discovered that in fact, they did have a room. He then went to bed. He had felt suspicious about the interrogation and was worried about being robbed, so he decided to sleep in the wooden chair by the door. In the middle of the night, he awoke to the loud sound of the bed collapsing and discovered the Fisher's plan. He jumped out the window and rode to Charleston to alert the authorities.
Lavinia Fisher was hanged in 1820 but the crime was highway robbery— a capital offense at the time—not murder. She was a member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the Backcountry outside of Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether or not the Six Mile House was a hotel, but it did serve as a hideout for several outlaws.
Trial and execution[edit]
Lavinia Fisher was held at the Charleston, South Carolina jail before her hanging. Moments before her execution she is purported to have said to the crowd "If anyone has a message for the devil, give it to me." or "If any of you has a message for the devil, tell me now-- for I will be seeing him in a moment." Much of what occurred in the alleged murders at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher has become wildly exaggerated through time, so factual details are hard to find. However, it is known based on news accounts in the Charleston Post and Courier, that a vigilante gang went to the Fishers' neighborhood in February 1819 to stop the purported 'gang activities' that were occurring there. Satisfied that they had accomplished their task, the group returned to Charleston but left a young man by the name of David Ross to stand watch in the area.
Early the next day, Ross was attacked by two men and dragged before the gang that had terrorized the region. Among them was Lavinia Fisher, to whom he looked for help. However, rather than help him, she choked him and then smashed his head through a window. Ross managed to escape and immediately alerted authorities.
Immediately following this incident, another traveler, named John Peeples, stopping in at the Fisher's Six Mile House for Wayfarers was also assaulted, but he likewise was able to escape and went to the authorities.
Based on these two accounts, names and identities of the assailants were given, something that law enforcement had previously lacked. Police were immediately dispatched to the location and during the ensuing investigation, Lavinia and John were discovered, along with two other gang members. John Fisher surrendered the group to protect his wife and shield her from the possibility of gunfire. Later, during interrogation, he would again attempt to protect Lavinia by giving the identities of all involved in the gang. Nearly a full year lapsed between the time of their arrest and their execution. At their arraignment, the Fishers pleaded not guilty but were ordered to be held in jail until their trial which would take place in May while their co-conspirators were released on bail. The jury at their trial rejected their pleas of innocence and found them guilty of highway robbery. However, the judge allowed an appeal and they were given a reprieve until the January session of the court.
During this time the Fishers occupied themselves with plans to escape, as they were housed together in a 6x8 cell and not heavily guarded. On September 13 they put their plans into action and began their escape. Things did not go as planned as the rope they had made from prison linens broke, leaving Lavinia trapped in the cell and John set free. He was unwilling to continue the escape plan and was recaptured. The two were then kept under much tighter security.
The Constitutional Court rejected their appeal and both were sentenced to be hanged on February 4, 1820.[5] Awaiting execution, John accepted the counsel of the Reverend Richard Furman, a local minister, but Lavinia became even more vitriolic. Preceding their execution, the clergyman read a letter composed by John Fisher, stating that since he had become a Christian he could not be executed with a lie held to his account. Therefore he insisted on his innocence and asked mercy on those who had done him wrong in the judicial process. After the minister read the letter, Fisher began to plead his case before the gathered crowd of some 2,000. He then seemingly contradicted himself by asking for their forgiveness. Lavinia argued to the judge that they could not hang a married woman, so they hanged John a day before. It is believed[citation needed] that Mary Surratt was the first woman to be hanged in the United States, however, Lavinia was hanged 40 years prior.[2]
Burial[edit]
Following her execution, Lavinia was buried in a Potter's Field near to the place of execution which was outside the Old City Jail. Reports of her burial at 150 Meeting Street (The Circular Congregational Church) or 4 Archdale Street (The Unitarian Church) appear to have been promoted by tour guides.∼The legend of Lavinia Fisher has been told and retold since her execution in Charleston, South Carolina in 1820, and with each telling it has grown more extravagant and further from the truth. Today tourist pamphlets and websites will earnestly tell you that Lavinia was America's first female serial killer when, in fact, there is no hard evidence that she ever killed anyone. We do know that she was a violent and unrepentant outlaw, but she earned her fame by being a tough woman with a bad attitude in a town known for its genteel southern belles.
The legend of Lavinia Fisher will vary from teller to teller but the gist of the story told for the last 120 years goes something like this. John and Lavinia Fisher owned an inn, the Six Mile House, on a lonely road outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The building was well maintained and was a welcome sight to weary travelers, but it was rumored that sometimes guests checked in and did not check out. One night a fur trader named John Peoples stopped at the inn and was warmly greeted by the Fishers. The beautiful Lavinia Fisher was especially friendly. People thought the Fishers were being a little too friendly and, suspicious of their intentions, he went to bed early.
People's suspicions grew and he could not sleep. He decided not to lie in the bed but to sit in the corner facing the door so he could see if anyone came in to attack him. His suspicions were confirmed when a trapdoor sprung, dropping the bed into the cellar where John Fisher was waiting with an axe. People escaped and hurried back to Charleston to tell the authorities. John and Lavinia were arrested and their property was searched. The human remains were found, including many bodies in a lime pit in the cellar under the trap door. The Fishers were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.
The unrepentant, Lavinia Fisher went to the gallows in 1820 wearing her wedding dress. John Fisher pinned all the blame on his wife, but he was hanged along with her. Lavinia's ghost now haunts the Old Jail on Magazine Street in Charleston as well as the Unitarian Cemetary.
The Truth
At Murder by Gaslight, we love a good legend, but we love the truth even more. Lavinia Fisher was hanged in 1820 but the crime was highway robbery— a capital offense at the time—not murder. She was a member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the Backcountry outside of Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether or not the Six Mile House was a hotel, but it did serve as a hideout for a number of outlaws.
Wagon trade in and out of Charleston was a profitable business and an important part of the city's economy. In 1819 trade was disrupted by a gang of highwaymen stopping wagons on the road and stealing goods and money. Since the victims were unable to identify their assailants the authorities were powerless to act. A group of Charleston citizens decided to take matters into their own hands and if necessary invoke "Lynch Law." According to the Charleston News and Courier:
A gang of desperados have for some time past occupied certain houses in the vicinity of Ashley Ferry; practicing every deception upon the unwary and frequently committing robberies upon defenseless travelers. As they could not be identified, and thereby brought to punishment, it was determined, by a number of citizens, to break them up, and they accordingly proceeded, in a cavalcade, on Thursday afternoon, to the spot, having previously obtained permission of the owners of some small houses, to which these desperados resorted, to proceed against the premises in such manner as circumstances might require.
The cavalcade proceeded first to the Five Mile House where they gave the occupants fifteen minutes to vacate the premises before they burned it to the ground. At the Six Mile House, they evicted the occupants and left a man named Dave Ross behind to guard it. Believing their work was finished, the cavalcade returned to Charleston.
The next morning, two men from the outlaw gang broke into the house and assaulted Dave Ross, driving him outside where he was surrounded by a gang of nine or ten men and one woman, the beautiful Lavinia Fisher. Ross looked to Lavinia for help, but she choked him and shoved his head through a window. Two hours later, John Peoples was heading out of Charleston in his wagon and stopped near the Six Mile House to water his horse. He was accosted by the gang, including Lavinia Fisher. They stole about forty dollars from him.
Peoples returned to Charleston and this time he was able to tell the authorities the identities of his attackers. He did not know all of their names but he had…
"Just cause to believe that among them was William Hayward, John Fisher and his wife Lavinia Fisher, Joseph Roberts, and John Andrews."
This, along with Dave Ross's story, forced the authorities to act. Sheriff's deputy Colonel Nathanial Green Cleary got a bench warrant from Judge Charles Jones Colcock and set out for Six Mile House. John and Lavinia Fisher, along with several members of the gang, gave up without a fight and were taken to jail in Charleston. Over the next several days many other gang members were arrested. John Peoples identified them as the group who robbed him. John and Lavinia Fisher were charged with highway robbery—a hanging offense at the time. While they were awaiting trial, a grave containing the remains of two human bodies, was found about 200 yards from Six Mile House. They were believed to be the bodies of a white man and a black woman, dead for at least two years. With so many people in and out of Six Mile House during that time, it was impossible to identify their killers, and no one was ever charged with their murder. Only two bodies, no more, were found at Six Mile House.
Trial: May 1819
The Fishers pleaded not guilty to the charge of a highway robber, but the jury thought otherwise.
Verdict: Guilty of highway robbery.
Aftermath:
John and Lavinia planned to appeal their conviction to the Constitutional Court and while they awaited the hearing they were kept in the Charleston jail. Because they were a married couple, John and Lavinia were kept in the debtors' quarters in the upper part of the jail rather than the heavily guarded lower floor. On September 13 they attempted to escape through a hole they made under the window of the cell. John went first down a rope made of blankets but it broke before he reached the ground. He could have escaped alone but chose to stay behind with Lavinia.
Their motion for a retrial was rejected by the Constitutional Court and the Fishers could do nothing now but wait for execution. The Reverend Richard Furman would visit them often to help them make peace with their maker. He appeared to make some headway with John, but Lavinia was more likely to curse than pray.
On February 4, 1820, they were taken to a gallows erected on Meeting Street just outside the city limits of Charleston. Each was wearing a loose-fitting white robe over their clothes, possibly the source of the "wedding dress" myth. It was a public execution and everyone, including the fine ladies of Charleston, came out to see Lavinia Fisher hang.
John mounted the gallows peacefully but Lavinia had to be physically dragged to the platform where she beseeched the crowd to help her. According to one historian:
"She stamped in rage and swore with all the vehemence of her amazing vocabulary, calling down damnation on a governor who would let a woman swing. The crowd stood shocked into silence, while she cut short one curse with another and ended with a volley of shrieks." When Lavinia was quiet Reverend Furman read a letter from John Fisher in which he thanked the reverend for "explaining the mysteries of our Holy Religion." John then told the crowd he was innocent and blamed Colonel Cleary for coaching the witness who accused him.
The legend of Lavinia Fisher had probably already started but her (true) last words to the crowd at her hanging guaranteed her immortality:
"If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me—I'll carry it."
Written stories of Lavinia Fisher are usually accompanied by a painting—at the top of this post— alleged to be a portrait of Lavinia. It begs the question, when did she pose for it? During her life as a highwayman in the squalor of Six Mile House, or in the year she spent in Charleston jail?
The Fishers were buried in a potter's field, not the Unitarian Cemetery Lavinia supposedly haunts.
Lavinia Fisher is included in Murder by Gaslight because of her legend as a murderess. It is unlikely that she ever murdered anyone.
------------------------
First Woman Serial Killer in The United States. Took place at the 6-mile house in Charleston South Carolina. She and her husband were hung at the Charleston South Carolina City Jail Feb 1820. She was hung in her wedding dress.
She was a beautiful woman as you can see, she was able to lure anyone into her boarding house and then kill them.
JLB dug up the body of Lavinia Fisher, the first female serial killer in the US, hanged in 1820, for med school. She hung between the med school and the Old Charleston Museum (demolished), which were connected, during the 1800's. Skull, vertebrae, and scapulae were passed down to Dr. Gilmore in the family for years.
Lavinia Fisher (1793 – February 18, 1820) is widely recognized as the first female mass murderer in the United States of America. Her origins are unknown; however, Fisher resided in the United States for a large amount of her life. She was married to John Fisher, and both were convicted of murder and robbery.
Fisher and her husband resided in Charleston, South Carolina for most of their lives. Together, they owned a hotel, the Six Mile Wayfarer House, which they managed in the early 19th century.
The hotel was located six miles north of Charleston, South Carolina, hence the name. After a short period, many reports were made to the local sheriff's department about guests disappearing.
Due to lack of evidence, and the popularity of the couple with many locals, these complaints came to nothing. Lavinia Fisher would always invite men to dinner and ask many questions about their occupation, trying to find out if they had money or not. She would send them up to their rooms with a cup of tea that was poisoned.
Once the men would drink their tea and go to bed, her husband would go to the room to make sure they were dead by stabbing them.
Another version of the legend was that the tea would only put the men to sleep for a few hours. Then, when they were almost asleep, Lavinia would pull a lever and the bed would collapse and drop the victim into a pit. Some believe that spikes were waiting at the bottom of the pit.
One day John Peeples asked if there were any vacancies and Lavinia replied that there was unfortunately no room, but he was welcome to come inside and rest and have some tea. John happened to hate tea, and not wanting to seem rude, he dumped it when she wasn't looking. She interrogated him for hours and eventually said she discovered that in fact, they did have a room. He then went to bed. He had felt suspicious about the interrogation and was worried about being robbed, so he decided to sleep in the wooden chair by the door. In the middle of the night, he awoke to the loud sound of the bed collapsing and discovered the Fisher's plan. He jumped out the window and rode to Charleston to alert the authorities.
Lavinia Fisher was hanged in 1820 but the crime was highway robbery— a capital offense at the time—not murder. She was a member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the Backcountry outside of Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether or not the Six Mile House was a hotel, but it did serve as a hideout for several outlaws.
Trial and execution[edit]
Lavinia Fisher was held at the Charleston, South Carolina jail before her hanging. Moments before her execution she is purported to have said to the crowd "If anyone has a message for the devil, give it to me." or "If any of you has a message for the devil, tell me now-- for I will be seeing him in a moment." Much of what occurred in the alleged murders at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher has become wildly exaggerated through time, so factual details are hard to find. However, it is known based on news accounts in the Charleston Post and Courier, that a vigilante gang went to the Fishers' neighborhood in February 1819 to stop the purported 'gang activities' that were occurring there. Satisfied that they had accomplished their task, the group returned to Charleston but left a young man by the name of David Ross to stand watch in the area.
Early the next day, Ross was attacked by two men and dragged before the gang that had terrorized the region. Among them was Lavinia Fisher, to whom he looked for help. However, rather than help him, she choked him and then smashed his head through a window. Ross managed to escape and immediately alerted authorities.
Immediately following this incident, another traveler, named John Peeples, stopping in at the Fisher's Six Mile House for Wayfarers was also assaulted, but he likewise was able to escape and went to the authorities.
Based on these two accounts, names and identities of the assailants were given, something that law enforcement had previously lacked. Police were immediately dispatched to the location and during the ensuing investigation, Lavinia and John were discovered, along with two other gang members. John Fisher surrendered the group to protect his wife and shield her from the possibility of gunfire. Later, during interrogation, he would again attempt to protect Lavinia by giving the identities of all involved in the gang. Nearly a full year lapsed between the time of their arrest and their execution. At their arraignment, the Fishers pleaded not guilty but were ordered to be held in jail until their trial which would take place in May while their co-conspirators were released on bail. The jury at their trial rejected their pleas of innocence and found them guilty of highway robbery. However, the judge allowed an appeal and they were given a reprieve until the January session of the court.
During this time the Fishers occupied themselves with plans to escape, as they were housed together in a 6x8 cell and not heavily guarded. On September 13 they put their plans into action and began their escape. Things did not go as planned as the rope they had made from prison linens broke, leaving Lavinia trapped in the cell and John set free. He was unwilling to continue the escape plan and was recaptured. The two were then kept under much tighter security.
The Constitutional Court rejected their appeal and both were sentenced to be hanged on February 4, 1820.[5] Awaiting execution, John accepted the counsel of the Reverend Richard Furman, a local minister, but Lavinia became even more vitriolic. Preceding their execution, the clergyman read a letter composed by John Fisher, stating that since he had become a Christian he could not be executed with a lie held to his account. Therefore he insisted on his innocence and asked mercy on those who had done him wrong in the judicial process. After the minister read the letter, Fisher began to plead his case before the gathered crowd of some 2,000. He then seemingly contradicted himself by asking for their forgiveness. Lavinia argued to the judge that they could not hang a married woman, so they hanged John a day before. It is believed[citation needed] that Mary Surratt was the first woman to be hanged in the United States, however, Lavinia was hanged 40 years prior.[2]
Burial[edit]
Following her execution, Lavinia was buried in a Potter's Field near to the place of execution which was outside the Old City Jail. Reports of her burial at 150 Meeting Street (The Circular Congregational Church) or 4 Archdale Street (The Unitarian Church) appear to have been promoted by tour guides.∼The legend of Lavinia Fisher has been told and retold since her execution in Charleston, South Carolina in 1820, and with each telling it has grown more extravagant and further from the truth. Today tourist pamphlets and websites will earnestly tell you that Lavinia was America's first female serial killer when, in fact, there is no hard evidence that she ever killed anyone. We do know that she was a violent and unrepentant outlaw, but she earned her fame by being a tough woman with a bad attitude in a town known for its genteel southern belles.
The legend of Lavinia Fisher will vary from teller to teller but the gist of the story told for the last 120 years goes something like this. John and Lavinia Fisher owned an inn, the Six Mile House, on a lonely road outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The building was well maintained and was a welcome sight to weary travelers, but it was rumored that sometimes guests checked in and did not check out. One night a fur trader named John Peoples stopped at the inn and was warmly greeted by the Fishers. The beautiful Lavinia Fisher was especially friendly. People thought the Fishers were being a little too friendly and, suspicious of their intentions, he went to bed early.
People's suspicions grew and he could not sleep. He decided not to lie in the bed but to sit in the corner facing the door so he could see if anyone came in to attack him. His suspicions were confirmed when a trapdoor sprung, dropping the bed into the cellar where John Fisher was waiting with an axe. People escaped and hurried back to Charleston to tell the authorities. John and Lavinia were arrested and their property was searched. The human remains were found, including many bodies in a lime pit in the cellar under the trap door. The Fishers were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.
The unrepentant, Lavinia Fisher went to the gallows in 1820 wearing her wedding dress. John Fisher pinned all the blame on his wife, but he was hanged along with her. Lavinia's ghost now haunts the Old Jail on Magazine Street in Charleston as well as the Unitarian Cemetary.
The Truth
At Murder by Gaslight, we love a good legend, but we love the truth even more. Lavinia Fisher was hanged in 1820 but the crime was highway robbery— a capital offense at the time—not murder. She was a member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the Backcountry outside of Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether or not the Six Mile House was a hotel, but it did serve as a hideout for a number of outlaws.
Wagon trade in and out of Charleston was a profitable business and an important part of the city's economy. In 1819 trade was disrupted by a gang of highwaymen stopping wagons on the road and stealing goods and money. Since the victims were unable to identify their assailants the authorities were powerless to act. A group of Charleston citizens decided to take matters into their own hands and if necessary invoke "Lynch Law." According to the Charleston News and Courier:
A gang of desperados have for some time past occupied certain houses in the vicinity of Ashley Ferry; practicing every deception upon the unwary and frequently committing robberies upon defenseless travelers. As they could not be identified, and thereby brought to punishment, it was determined, by a number of citizens, to break them up, and they accordingly proceeded, in a cavalcade, on Thursday afternoon, to the spot, having previously obtained permission of the owners of some small houses, to which these desperados resorted, to proceed against the premises in such manner as circumstances might require.
The cavalcade proceeded first to the Five Mile House where they gave the occupants fifteen minutes to vacate the premises before they burned it to the ground. At the Six Mile House, they evicted the occupants and left a man named Dave Ross behind to guard it. Believing their work was finished, the cavalcade returned to Charleston.
The next morning, two men from the outlaw gang broke into the house and assaulted Dave Ross, driving him outside where he was surrounded by a gang of nine or ten men and one woman, the beautiful Lavinia Fisher. Ross looked to Lavinia for help, but she choked him and shoved his head through a window. Two hours later, John Peoples was heading out of Charleston in his wagon and stopped near the Six Mile House to water his horse. He was accosted by the gang, including Lavinia Fisher. They stole about forty dollars from him.
Peoples returned to Charleston and this time he was able to tell the authorities the identities of his attackers. He did not know all of their names but he had…
"Just cause to believe that among them was William Hayward, John Fisher and his wife Lavinia Fisher, Joseph Roberts, and John Andrews."
This, along with Dave Ross's story, forced the authorities to act. Sheriff's deputy Colonel Nathanial Green Cleary got a bench warrant from Judge Charles Jones Colcock and set out for Six Mile House. John and Lavinia Fisher, along with several members of the gang, gave up without a fight and were taken to jail in Charleston. Over the next several days many other gang members were arrested. John Peoples identified them as the group who robbed him. John and Lavinia Fisher were charged with highway robbery—a hanging offense at the time. While they were awaiting trial, a grave containing the remains of two human bodies, was found about 200 yards from Six Mile House. They were believed to be the bodies of a white man and a black woman, dead for at least two years. With so many people in and out of Six Mile House during that time, it was impossible to identify their killers, and no one was ever charged with their murder. Only two bodies, no more, were found at Six Mile House.
Trial: May 1819
The Fishers pleaded not guilty to the charge of a highway robber, but the jury thought otherwise.
Verdict: Guilty of highway robbery.
Aftermath:
John and Lavinia planned to appeal their conviction to the Constitutional Court and while they awaited the hearing they were kept in the Charleston jail. Because they were a married couple, John and Lavinia were kept in the debtors' quarters in the upper part of the jail rather than the heavily guarded lower floor. On September 13 they attempted to escape through a hole they made under the window of the cell. John went first down a rope made of blankets but it broke before he reached the ground. He could have escaped alone but chose to stay behind with Lavinia.
Their motion for a retrial was rejected by the Constitutional Court and the Fishers could do nothing now but wait for execution. The Reverend Richard Furman would visit them often to help them make peace with their maker. He appeared to make some headway with John, but Lavinia was more likely to curse than pray.
On February 4, 1820, they were taken to a gallows erected on Meeting Street just outside the city limits of Charleston. Each was wearing a loose-fitting white robe over their clothes, possibly the source of the "wedding dress" myth. It was a public execution and everyone, including the fine ladies of Charleston, came out to see Lavinia Fisher hang.
John mounted the gallows peacefully but Lavinia had to be physically dragged to the platform where she beseeched the crowd to help her. According to one historian:
"She stamped in rage and swore with all the vehemence of her amazing vocabulary, calling down damnation on a governor who would let a woman swing. The crowd stood shocked into silence, while she cut short one curse with another and ended with a volley of shrieks." When Lavinia was quiet Reverend Furman read a letter from John Fisher in which he thanked the reverend for "explaining the mysteries of our Holy Religion." John then told the crowd he was innocent and blamed Colonel Cleary for coaching the witness who accused him.
The legend of Lavinia Fisher had probably already started but her (true) last words to the crowd at her hanging guaranteed her immortality:
"If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me—I'll carry it."
Written stories of Lavinia Fisher are usually accompanied by a painting—at the top of this post— alleged to be a portrait of Lavinia. It begs the question, when did she pose for it? During her life as a highwayman in the squalor of Six Mile House, or in the year she spent in Charleston jail?
The Fishers were buried in a potter's field, not the Unitarian Cemetery Lavinia supposedly haunts.
Lavinia Fisher is included in Murder by Gaslight because of her legend as a murderess. It is unlikely that she ever murdered anyone.
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