In the summer of 1867, a palpable sense of fear gripped the growing immigrant communities of West Virginia. A ruthless killer was in their midst, targeting fellow German expatriates for what little money they carried. His name was Joseph Eisele, a man who would become known as "The Parkersburg Murderer," and his second victim was a German merchant from Wheeling named Aloys Ulrich. The brutal killing on June 29, 1867, would be one of three murders that marked a brief but terrifying chapter in the state's history.
Aloys Ulrich was a male merchant living and working in Wheeling, a city with a large and vibrant German population in the mid-19th century. It was this shared heritage that his killer, Joseph Eisele, exploited. Eisele, a carpenter and woodworker by trade, had recently settled in Parkersburg after emigrating from the Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, around 1864. Plagued by mounting debts from his time spent in local saloons, Eisele had turned to murder and robbery.
His first victim, just weeks before, was a Parkersburg saloon owner named Joseph Lillenthal.
For his next crime, Eisele traveled to Wheeling and sought out Ulrich. He concocted a false story about a promising business deal, a pretext to lure the merchant to a remote location. Trusting his fellow countryman, Ulrich agreed to accompany Eisele to a secluded spot along the tracks of the Hempfield Railroad. There, in the quiet isolation near a stone culvert, Eisele’s true intentions were violently revealed. He attacked Ulrich with a hatchet, the same weapon he had used before, and bludgeoned and stabbed him to death. After the vicious assault, Eisele stole what money he could find and Ulrich's watch before disappearing.
For six months, the murder of Aloys Ulrich remained unsolved, adding to the anxiety created by the similar killing in Parkersburg. Eisele laid low until his financial desperation drove him to kill again. In December 1867, he murdered a Hungarian horse trader named Rudolph Tsutor in Parkersburg, once more using his hatchet. Eisele's murderous spree finally came to an end on January 6, 1868, when his attempt to kill a fourth man, a coal merchant named John White to whom he owed money, went awry. White fought back, and his screams drew the attention of others nearby.
Eisele, who sometimes used the alias John Schafer, was quickly apprehended. A search of his possessions uncovered items belonging to both Aloys Ulrich and Rudolph Tsutor, definitively linking him to the string of brutal robberies and murders. Faced with the evidence, Eisele confessed to all three killings. His arrest brought both relief and outrage, with a large crowd gathering at the jail demanding he be lynched, forcing authorities to place him in protective custody.
The legal process was swift. Just two weeks after his arrest, Joseph Eisele’s trial began. He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and one count of malicious maiming with intent to kill. He presented a written confession, translated from German, in which he expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness. The grand jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death.
On March 6, 1868, Joseph Eisele was taken to a field outside Parkersburg for a public execution. The event drew a massive crowd, with estimates of 5,000 to 7,000 spectators gathering to witness the end of the Parkersburg Murderer. A militia escort was required to guide Eisele through the throng to the gallows. He was executed by hanging, and his body was reportedly buried in a prison cemetery. The gruesome crimes left a lasting scar on the communities of Wheeling and Parkersburg, a chilling reminder of the violent end that befell Aloys Ulrich and the other men who had the misfortune of crossing paths with a desperate and ruthless killer.
