In the winter of 1867, the city of Parkersburg, West Virginia, was a bustling river town, a hub of transportation and commerce that had served as a vital center for Union forces during the Civil War. Its growth, fueled by the railroad and the burgeoning oil and gas industry, also attracted a diverse array of people seeking their fortunes, including immigrants from distant lands.
Among them was a Hungarian horse trader named Rudolph Tsutor, a man of good family and education who found himself in the city on business. His journey, however, would end in a small apartment near the railroad depot, where his life was brutally cut short on December 6, 1867.
Rudolph Tsutor was a well-educated man, so much so that at the time of his death, he was considering an offer to teach French and German in Ohio. He had moved to a house in the suburbs of Parkersburg only a few months before his death. About a month prior, his wife and daughter had reportedly traveled to Ohio, leaving him to his business dealings. It was one such transaction, the recent sale of a horse, that likely made him a target. In Parkersburg, he crossed paths with a German immigrant named Joseph Eisele, a carpenter by trade who was better known for frequenting saloons and accumulating massive debts. Eisele befriended the visiting horse trader, a friendly gesture that masked a sinister and desperate intent.
On that cold December day, Eisele invited his new acquaintance, Rudolph, to his rented apartment. There, motivated by a need for money to pay off his debts, Eisele committed a shocking act of violence. He took a hatchet and struck Tsutor on the back of the head, killing him with a single blow. In a gruesome display of brutality, Eisele then crushed his victim's temple and slashed his throat from ear to ear. He stole $75 from the murdered man and promptly used the money to settle his accounts, including one with a local physician, Dr. Koch. The discovery of the murder sent a wave of fear through the quiet city, with newspapers decrying the "atrocious murder" and the "red hand of murder" that seemed to be at work in their midst.
The investigation into Tsutor's death was part of a larger series of horrific crimes that had plagued the area, earning the unknown perpetrator the moniker "The Parkersburg Murderer." The sheer brutality of the killings had terrified the community. The break in the case came not from Tsutor's murder, but a month later, on January 6, 1868, when Eisele, using the alias John Schafer, attempted to murder another man he owed money to, a coal merchant named John White. White fought back and survived the hatchet attack, and Eisele was finally apprehended.
Once in custody, authorities found items belonging to Rudolph Tsutor and another of Eisele's victims in his possession. Faced with the evidence, Joseph Eisele confessed to the murders of three men: Joseph Lillenthal, a saloon owner killed in June; Aloys Ulrich, a merchant he decapitated along the Hempfield Railroad, also in June; and Rudolph Tsutor. His written confession detailed his crimes, which were all driven by his desperate need for money. The news of his arrest brought a mob of angered citizens to the jail, threatening to lynch him, and he had to be held in protective custody.
Joseph Eisele's trial was swift. He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and one count of malicious maiming with intent to kill. The court sentenced him to death. During the proceedings, the presiding grand jury speaker remarked on the tragedy that such an educated man had chosen such a dark and violent path. On March 6, 1868, Joseph Eisele was publicly hanged in a field outside Parkersburg. The execution was a major public event, reportedly attended by as many as 5,000 people, who watched as the man known as The Parkersburg Murderer paid the ultimate price for his crimes, bringing a close to a terrifying chapter in the city's history.
