Austin's Historic Courthouse was the Site of Lander County's First Legal Hanging

Lander County Courthouse today

   A few years before the historic, brick Lander County Courthouse in Austin was erected in 1872, an earlier wooden structure with a courtyard stood on the site. That courtyard, in fact, was the location of the county’s first legal hanging on October 30, 1868.

   The man who was hanged was Rufus Britton Anderson, a 21-year-old relative newcomer to Austin (one newspaper account said he had only been in town for a few months). He apparently came to Austin because his mother had remarried [she was now known as Mrs. Zottman] and moved there earlier.

   According to an account in the San Francisco Chronicle on the day of his hanging, Anderson had previously lived in San Francisco and went by the name Johnny Callahan. The newspaper noted that while living there Anderson and another youth had been implicated in the killing of a Chinese man.

   He remained in jail for several months before being discharged without any charges. More than a few media outlets suggested that Anderson had been released after agreeing to testify against is co-conspirator.

   The Chronicle said Anderson, described as hot-tempered, had been attending school in Austin. He also had, for several days, “been uttering terrible threats against his step-father [who by then had separated from his mother], brother-in-law, and even his sister, appearing more like a fiend than a human being.”

   On the evening of May 5, 1868, Anderson joined his mother to collect money from a man named N.T. Slocum, who had been boarding with the Zottmans but had moved out when the couple separated.

   The two went to a cabin where Slocum was now living and found him with four other people, a man and his wife who were named McIntyre, and two brothers with the last name of Eggleston. Once there, Mrs. Zottman demanded Slocum pay his past-due board bill.

   Slocum said he didn’t have any money at that time, but would be able to get some the next day. Mrs. Zottman then asked Slocum if he planned to deduct work he had done for her husband from his bill, to which Slocum said he would.

   At this, Anderson apparently grew angry and said that Slocum “was no man, and had not the principles of a man about him, repeating the words several times in an insulting manner,” according to the Chronicle.

   Slocum rose from his bed, where had been sitting, and asked Anderson not to talk to him in such a way and attempted to head out the cabin door. One of the Eggleston brothers stepped between the two and said there would be no such “difficulties” in the house.

   At this, Mrs. Zottman is said to have screamed out several times, “Oh, my God! You will kill me!”

   Anderson then stepped around Eggleston, pulled out his pistol, and fired twice at Slocum. The other Eggleston brother grabbed at Anderson and knocked his arm enough so that a third shot missed Slocum and the bullet went into the cabin floor.

   “Slocum then fell toward the bed and died almost without a quiver,” the Chronicle reported. “The pistol was then wrenched from Anderson’s hand. The Eggleston brothers subdued the young man and turned him over to the authorities.

   Following a sensational trial and an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, which failed, Anderson was sentenced to be hung from a gallows erected in the courthouse courtyard.

   At ten minutes before 1 p.m. on October 30, he was accompanied to the top of the gallows by a Catholic priest and a deputy sheriff. After making a few remarks and asking for forgiveness, the deputy tied his hands and feet together, and then placed a noose around Anderson’s neck. When the signal was given, the drop fell and, if all had gone according to plan, he would have been executed.

   “To the horror of the crowd, the knot broke and Anderson lay stretched senseless upon the ground,” the Chronicle said. “The crowd uttered a wild cry and attempted to rush for the spot, but were kept back by the militia.”

   Anderson was revived and taken back to the top of the gallows to be hung again. Everything was repeated—and again the knot broke, with the young man slamming into the ground.

   Senseless, he was carried to a chair on the gallows and again the authorities tried to fix the knot.

   “His face was livid with the terrible suffering he had endured,” the newspaper said. “And a feeling of sympathy for the unfortunate young man was freely expressed by the crowd in attendance.”

   But authorities were determined to hang him, which they managed to successfully achieve on the third try.

   “And thus ended the career of a young man who, but for evil associations, might have been a useful member of the community,” the Chronicle concluded.

   Today, visitors to the Austin courthouse will find a small display reprinting a newspaper article about the twice-botched execution of Rufus B. Anderson.