Jereboam Orville Beauchamp (born September 24, 1802 - hanged July 7, 1826 in Frankfort, Kentucky) was an American lawyer and convicted murderer, who was one of the central figures in The Beauchamp-Sharp Tragedy.

Jereboam came from a fairly prominent and respectable family and was born in Kentucky. His father was a farmer, and Jereboam received a good education and at age eighteen began studying law in Glasgow, Kentucky.

He began courting a woman who was sixteen years his senior named Ann Cook and soon fell deeply in love with her. But she would only marry him on the condition that he kill a prominent figure, a former attorney-general of Kentucky, Colonel Solomon P. Sharp who had jilted her and slandered her name. It is believed that Col. Sharp was the father of her illegitimate stillborn baby in 1820.

Jereboam vowed he would avenge her, so in the Fall of 1821 he went to Frankfort, Kentucky to seek out Sharp and murder him. His plans failed and he returned home without completing his promise to Ann. In 1824 Jereboam was admitted to the bar, and in June he and Ann were married.

During the legislative election of 1824, John V. Waring had conducted a smear campaign against Sharp by printing out handbills accusing him of seducing Ann Cook of Bowling Green, Kentucky and fathering an illegitimate child born to her in 1820.

Jereboam, infuriated by these accusations about his wife and Sharp, vowed revenge, and in the early hours of November 7, 1825 he knocked on Col. Solomon P. Sharps' door in Frankfort, Kentucky and fatally stabbed him after asking him if he was indeed Col. Sharp.

Jereboam was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. He and Ann persuaded his jailers to allow them to stay together in the cell. On July 5, 1826 they attempted a double suicide by taking laudanum. The attempt was unsuccessful and a guard was placed in their cell.

On July 7, the day set for the hanging, they persuaded their guard to allow them some privacy. They then made a second suicide attempt, this time with a knife that Ann had sneaked in.

Jereboam was hustled off to the gallows, but was so weak from his wounds he had to be supported by two men before being hanged. Ann succumbed to her wounds at nearly the same time.

They were buried in an embrace in the same coffin, and a poem that Ann had written on the eve of their deaths adorns their double tombstone. The Beauchamp-Sharp Tragedy created a national sensation at the time, and has been the subject or inspiration for many books and story plots, the most famous of which are probably Edgar Allan Poe's "Scenes from Politian" (1835) and Robert Penn Warren's "World Enough and Time" (1950).

A cousin, Noah Beauchamp was hanged in 1842 for stabbing a man to death in Indiana.

Jereboam Orville Beauchamp (September 6, 1802 – July 7, 1826) was an American lawyer who assassinated Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp, an event known as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy.

In 1821, Sharp was accused of fathering the illegitimate stillborn child of a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child, and public opinion favored him.

In 1824, Beauchamp married Cooke. During Sharp's 1825 campaign for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives, the issue of Cooke's child was again raised, and handbills printed by Sharp's political opponents claimed he denied paternity based on the fact that the child was a mulatto, the child of a Cooke family slave. Whether Sharp actually made this claim has never been determined with certainty, but Beauchamp believed he had and swore to avenge his wife's honor. In the early morning of November 7, 1825, Beauchamp tricked Sharp into answering the door at Sharp's home in Frankfort and fatally stabbed him.

Beauchamp was convicted of the murder and sentenced to hang. The morning of Beauchamp's execution, he and his wife attempted a double suicide by stabbing themselves with a knife she had smuggled into his cell. She was successful; he was not. Beauchamp was rushed to the gallows before he could bleed to death. He was hanged on July 7, 1826, and died after a brief struggle. The bodies of Jereboam and Anna Beauchamp were positioned in an embrace and buried in a single coffin, according to their wishes. The Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy inspired fictional works such as Edgar Allan Poe's unfinished Politian and Robert Penn Warren's World Enough and Time.

Early life

Jereboam Beauchamp was born September 6, 1802 in the area that is now Simpson County, Kentucky. He was the second son of Thomas and Sally (Smithers) Beauchamp. He was named after one of his father's older brothers, Jereboam O. Beauchamp, who was a state senator from Washington County, Kentucky.

Beauchamp was educated at Dr. Benjamin Thurston's academy in Barren County, Kentucky until the age of sixteen. Recognizing that his father was not able to sufficiently provide for the family, Beauchamp attempted to fund his education by finding employment as a shopkeeper. While this provided the funds for his education, it did not afford him the time to pursue his studies. On a recommendation from Thurston, he became preceptor of a school. After saving some money, he returned to Thurston's school as a student, and was later employed by the school as an usher.

By age eighteen, Beauchamp had finished his preparatory studies. After observing the lawyers practicing in Glasgow and Bowling Green, he determined to pursue a career in the legal profession. He came to admire, in particular, a young lawyer named Solomon P. Sharp, with whom he aspired to study. In 1820, however, he became disenchanted with Sharp when rumors surfaced that he had fathered an illegitimate child with a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child.

Courtship of Anna Cooke

Beauchamp left Bowling Green and resided at his father's estate in Simpson County, where he sought to recover from an illness. He learned that, following her public disgrace, Cooke had become a recluse at "Retirement", her mother's estate, which was only a mile from the Beauchamp estate. Having heard tales of Cooke's beauty and accomplishments from a mutual friend, he became determined to gain an audience with her. At first, she rejected all requests to keep company, but eventually Beauchamp was allowed in under the guise of borrowing books from Cooke's library. The two eventually became friends, and in 1821, began courting. Beauchamp was eighteen years old; Cooke was at least thirty-four.

In 1821, when the topic of marriage was breached, Cooke told Beauchamp she would only marry him on the condition that he kill Sharp. Beauchamp consented to this condition. Against Cooke's advice, Beauchamp traveled immediately to Frankfort, where Sharp had recently been named attorney general.

According to Beauchamp's account of the meeting, he found Sharp and challenged him to a duel, but Sharp refused because he was not armed. Beauchamp, who wielded a knife, produced a second knife and offered it to Sharp. Sharp again declined the challenge. When Beauchamp offered the challenge a third time, Sharp began to flee, but Beauchamp caught him by the collar. Sharp fell to his knees and declared his life to be in Beauchamp's hands, begging him to spare it. Beauchamp kicked him, cursed him for a coward, and threatened to horsewhip him every day until he consented to the duel. The day following this encounter, Beauchamp sought Sharp in the streets of Frankfort, but was told he had removed to Bowling Green. He came to Bowling Green, only to learn that Sharp was not there. Foiled in his attempt, he returned to the home of Anna Cooke.

Following Beauchamp's unsuccessful attempt to kill Sharp, Cooke decided to lure Sharp to her house and kill him herself. Beauchamp did not like this plan because he wanted to be the one to kill Sharp and defend his wife-to-be's honor; nevertheless, Cooke would not be swayed, and Beauchamp began teaching her to use a gun. Upon learning that Sharp was in Bowling Green on business, Cooke sent him a letter condemning Beauchamp's attempt on his life and asking to see him again. Sharp questioned the young man who delivered the letter and suspected a trap. He sent a reply that he would meet her at the time appointed. Beauchamp, hoping to kill Sharp before the meeting, traveled to Bowling Green, but found Sharp already departed for Frankfort. He had once again eluded the trap they had set for him. Beauchamp determined to finish his legal studies in Bowling Green and wait for Sharp to return there.

Beauchamp was admitted to the bar in April 1823, and despite his inability to kill Sharp, married Anna Cooke in June 1824. More determined than ever to defend the honor of the woman who was now his wife, he concocted another ruse to lure Sharp to Bowling Green. He wrote letters to Sharp under various pseudonyms, each one asking for his help in some sort of legal matter. So as not to be detected, each letter was sent from a different post office. When Sharp failed to answer any of the letters, Beauchamp decided to go to Frankfort and assassinate him.

Assassination of Solomon Sharp

Back in Frankfort, Solomon Sharp was in the middle of a bitter political battle known as the Old Court-New Court controversy. Sharp identified with the New Court, or Relief party, which promoted a legislative agenda favorable to debtors. On the other side was the Old Court, or Anti-Relief party, which worked to secure the rights of creditors to collect debts owed them. Sharp had served as the state's attorney general under New Court governors John Adair and Joseph Desha. The New Court party's power was beginning to wane however, and in 1825, Sharp resigned to run for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives. During the campaign, the issue of Sharp's alleged seduction of Anna Cooke was again raised. Handbills printed by Old Court partisan John Upshaw Waring further alleged that Sharp had denied paternity of the child based on the fact that it was a mulatto fathered by a Cooke family slave. The story again failed to gain sufficient traction with the public, and Sharp won the election over his opponent, John J. Crittenden.

Whether Sharp had actually made the claim in Waring's handbill is still uncertain, but Beauchamp believed he had. He began to make preparations to assassinate Sharp and flee to Missouri following the commission of the crime. He planned to commit the murder in the early morning of November 7, the day the legislature would convene its session, hoping the timing would cast suspicion on Sharp's political enemies. Three weeks prior to that date, he sold his property and made it known that he was planning to move to Missouri. He hired laborers to help him load his wagons two days before the planned assassination.

Beauchamp's plan to move to Missouri was complicated, however, by a warrant sworn out against him by a woman named Ruth Reed. Reed claimed that Beauchamp was the father of her illegitimate child, born on June 10, 1824. The warrant was sworn out October 25, 1825, but Beauchamp maintained that a friend told him it was merely harassment and the he should continue with his plans to remove to Missouri. Later, Beauchamp would claim that he had arranged for the warrant to be issued so that he would have a plausible reason to be in Frankfort at the time of Sharp's murder. Historian Fred Johnson, however, states that the incorporation of the warrant into Beauchamp's story was probably done after the fact as a means of damage control – especially considering that fathering an illegitimate child was the action for which he was about to murder Solomon Sharp.

As Beauchamp prepared to go to Frankfort on November 6, he packed a change of clothes, a black mask, and a knife with poison on the tip, which would become the murder weapon. Beauchamp arrived in Frankfort to find that all of the inns were filled. He eventually found lodging at the private residence of Joel Scott, warden of the state penitentiary. Between nine and ten o'clock that evening, he slipped out of the house and proceeded to Sharp's residence. He was dressed in a disguise, and carried his usual clothes with him; he buried these along the bank of the Kentucky River so he could retrieve them following the murder. Discovering that Sharp was not home, Beauchamp sought him in the city and found him at a local tavern. He returned to Sharp's house and waited for him there. He observed Sharp enter the house at approximately midnight.

At two o'clock in the morning, Beauchamp determined that everyone in the house was asleep and approached the house. In his Confession, he described the murder of Sharp thusly:

I put on my mask, drew my dagger and proceeded to the door; I knocked three times loud and quick, Colonel Sharp said; "Who's there" - "Covington I replied," quickly Sharp's foot was heard upon the floor. I saw under the door as he approached without a light. I drew my mask over my face and immediately Colonel Sharp opened the door. I advanced into the room and with my left hand I grasped his right wrist. The violence of the grasp made him spring back and trying to disengage his wrist, he said, "What Covington is this." I replied John A. Covington. "I don't know you," said Colonel Sharp, I know John W. Covington." Mrs. Sharp appeared at the partition door and then disappeared, seeing her disappear I said in a persuasive tone of voice, "Come to the light Colonel and you will know me," and pulling him by the arm he came readily to the door and still holding his wrist with my left hand I stripped my hat and handkerchief from over my forehead and looked into Sharp's face. He knew me the more readily I imagine, by my long, bush, curly suit of hair. He sprang back and exclaimed in a tone of horror and despair, "Great God it is him," and as he said that he fell on his knees. I let go of his wrist and grasped him by the throat dashing him against the facing of the door and muttered in his face, "die you villain." As I said that I plunged the dagger to his heart.

—Jereboam Beauchamp, Confession of Jereboam O. Beauchamp, pp. 39–41

Sharp died within moments. Fleeing the scene, Beauchamp went to the bank of the river where he had hidden his change of clothes. He changed out of his disguise and sank it in the river with a stone, then returned to his dormitory at the house of Joel Scott.

When the Scott family awoke the next morning, Beauchamp emerged from his quarters. He feigned surprise when told of the murder and apparently his ruse was believed. After being assured that there were no suspects yet, he called for his horse and began his return trip to Bowling Green. After four days, he arrived and told his wife that Sharp was dead. The next morning, a posse from Frankfort arrived and informed Beauchamp that he was under suspicion for the murder. He agreed to accompany the men to Frankfort and face the charge.

Trial for murder

Beauchamp arrived in Frankfort on November 15, 1825. He was pleased to find that New Court partisans were declaring Sharp's assassination to be the work of the Old Court party, just as he had hoped. Suspicion had first rested on Waring, who had printed the handbills critical of Sharp. Waring was a notably violent man and had both political and personal motivation to commit the crime. However, he was cleared of suspicion when investigators learned that, at the time of the murder, Waring was in Fayette County recovering from injuries sustained in an unrelated altercation.

This revelation had turned suspicion to Beauchamp. Beauchamp was also loyal to the Old Court Party, and by all accounts, hated Sharp for his political principles. There was also the matter of Sharp's alleged involvement with Anna Cooke-Beauchamp. Beauchamp had opportunity to commit the crime by virtue of having been in Frankfort the night of the killing, and his host, Joel Scott, said that he had heard Beauchamp leave in the night. After presenting some preliminary testimony to an examining court, Commonwealth's Attorney Charles Bibb asked for additional time to assemble more witnesses. Beauchamp assented to the request. A second delay pushed the hearings back to mid-December.

A dagger was taken from Beauchamp upon his arrest, but it did not match the wound on Sharp's body. (In his Confession, Beauchamp claimed to have buried the actual murder weapon – which was never found – by the bank of the river near where the murder took place.) An attempt was made to match Beauchamp's shoe to a track found outside Sharp's house the morning of the murder, but they did not match. A handkerchief found at the scene of the crime and believed to belong to the murderer had been lost by the posse during their return from Bowling Green. (Beauchamp later claimed to have stolen and burned it after the posse had gone to sleep one night.)

Eliza Sharp testified that the voice of the killer was distinct. A test was devised allowing Ms. Sharp to hear Beauchamp's voice; she immediately identified it as that of the killer. (Beauchamp claimed he had disguised his voice on the night of the murder and thought Ms. Sharp would not recognize it.) Patrick H. Darby, an Old Court partisan, claimed that in 1824, he had a chance encounter with the man he now knew as Beauchamp. Darby said the man – a stranger to him at the time – had asked for Darby's help in prosecuting an unspecified claim against Sharp. The man then identified himself as the husband of Anna Cooke and declared his intention to kill Sharp. Based on this circumstantial evidence, Beauchamp was held for trial at the next term of the circuit court in March 1826.

In anticipation of this trial, Beauchamp's uncle Jereboam assembled a legal team for his nephew that included former U.S. senator John Pope. The grand jury convened in March and returned an indictment against Beauchamp for Sharp's murder. Beauchamp asked for more time to gather witnesses before his trial began; the court acceded to this request, and scheduled a special session in May specifically to try Beauchamp's case.

Beauchamp's trial began May 8, 1826. After a change of venue was denied, Beauchamp pled innocent to the charge against him. A jury was empaneled, and testimony began May 10. Eliza Sharp detailed the events of the night of the murder and reiterated that Beauchamp's voice was that of the murderer. John Lowe, a magistrate of Simpson County, testified that he had heard Beauchamp threaten to kill Sharp, and said that on Beauchamp's return from Frankfort, he had observed him waving a red flag and declaring to his wife that he had "gained the victory."

Patrick Darby also repeated his testimony of the 1824 meeting between he and Beauchamp. Darby said that in the course of the conversation, Beauchamp had told him that Sharp offered him one thousand dollars, a slave girl, and 200 acres (0.81 km²) of land if he and his wife Anna would leave him (Sharp) alone. Sharp apparently reneged on the promise, and Beauchamp told Darby he was going to kill Sharp. Other witnesses testified that Beauchamp habitually referred to Sharp's friend, John W. Covington as "John A. Covington", which was the name the assassin had used to gain entry to Sharp's house.

Testimony in the trial concluded on May 15, 1826; summations concluded four days later. Despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury deliberated only an hour before convicting Beauchamp of Sharp's murder. He was sentenced to death by hanging on June 26 of that year. Beauchamp requested a stay of execution in order to write a justification for his actions. The stay was granted, and the execution was rescheduled for July 7, 1826. Though Anna Beauchamp was questioned, a charge against her for being an accessory to the crime was dismissed.

Execution by hanging

While imprisoned and awaiting execution, Beauchamp penned a confession. In it, Beauchamp accused Patrick Darby of perjuring himself with regard to the alleged 1824 meeting between Darby and Beauchamp. Many believed Beauchamp's harsh words about Darby in his confession were meant to curry favor with New Court governor Joseph Desha – who considered Darby a political enemy – and thereby secure a pardon from him. The confession was finished in mid-June 1826, and Beauchamp's uncle, Senator Beauchamp, took it to the state printer to have it published immediately. The printer was an Old Court supporter, however, and would not publish it.

Anna Beauchamp joined her husband in his cell at her own request. During their incarceration, they tried to bribe a guard into allowing them to escape. When that failed, they attempted to pass a letter to Senator Beauchamp asking him to help them escape, an attempt which likewise failed. Both Senator Beauchamp and the younger Jereboam Beauchamp made repeated requests for a pardon from Governor Desha, but to no avail. Beauchamp's final request to Desha for a stay of execution was rejected July 5, 1826. Their last hope exhausted, Jereboam and Anna Beauchamp attempted a double suicide by drinking a vial of laudanum that Anna had smuggled into the cell. Both of them survived the attempt. The following morning, they were put on suicide watch and threatened with separation.

The night before her husband's execution, Anna Beauchamp took a second dose of laudanum but was unable to keep it down. On July 7, 1826, the date of Beauchamp's execution, Anna Beauchamp requested that the guard give her privacy to dress. Once the guard left, Anna produced a knife she had smuggled into the cell, and both she and her husband stabbed themselves with it. Anna was taken to a nearby house to be treated by doctors.

Too weak to stand or walk, Beauchamp was loaded onto a cart to be conveyed to the gallows. He begged to see Anna before he was taken, but the guards told him she was not seriously injured and would recover. Beauchamp continued to insist on seeing his wife, and the guards finally acquiesced. Upon arriving, Beauchamp was angered that the guards had lied to him regarding his wife's condition. He remained with her until he could no longer feel her pulse. He kissed her lifeless lips, and was hurried to the gallows so that he might be hanged before he died of his stab wounds.

On his way to the gallows, Beauchamp asked to see Patrick Darby, who was among the assembled spectators. Beauchamp smiled and offered his hand, but Darby declined the gesture. Beauchamp then publicly denied that Darby had any involvement with the murder, but accused Darby of having lied about the 1824 meeting where Darby testified that Beauchamp told him of his plan to kill Sharp. Darby denied this accusation and tried to engage Beauchamp in a discussion about it, hoping he would retract the charge, but Beauchamp immediately ordered the cart driver to continue to the gallows.

At the gallows, two men supported Beauchamp as the noose was put in place around his neck. He requested a drink of water, and that the band play Bonaparte's Retreat from Moscow. On his signal, the cart that held him drove away, and he died after a brief struggle. His father requested his body and, following instructions Beauchamp had given him ahead of time, positioned the bodies of Jereboam and Anna in an embrace and buried them in the same coffin. A poem that Anna had written was etched on their double tombstone.

Senator Beauchamp eventually found a publisher for his nephew's Confession. The first printing of the book ran on August 11, 1826. Sharp's brother, Dr. Leander Sharp, attempted to counter Beauchamp's Confession with Vindication of the character of the late Col. Solomon P. Sharp, which he wrote in 1827. In this book, Dr. Sharp claimed to have seen a "first version" of the confession in which Beauchamp implicated Darby. Darby threatened to sue Dr. Sharp if he published Vindication, and John Waring threatened to kill him if he did so. Consequently, the manuscript was never published, but was found years later during a remodel of Sharp's house.

Later, Beauchamp's murder of Sharp served as inspiration for fictional works, including Edgar Allan Poe's Politian and Robert Penn Warren's World Enough and Time.

Wikipedia.org

The Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy (sometimes called the Kentucky Tragedy) was the murder of Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp by Jereboam O. Beauchamp. As a young lawyer, Beauchamp had been an admirer of Sharp until Sharp allegedly fathered an illegitimate child with a woman named Anna Cooke.

Sharp denied paternity of the stillborn child. Later, Beauchamp began a relationship with Cooke, who agreed to marry him on the condition that he kill Sharp. Beauchamp and Cooke married in June 1824, and in the early morning of November 7, 1825, Beauchamp murdered Sharp at Sharp's home in Frankfort, Kentucky.

An investigation soon revealed Beauchamp as the killer, and he was apprehended at his home in Glasgow, Kentucky, four days after the murder. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging. He was granted a stay of execution to allow him to pen a justification for his actions. Anna Cooke-Beauchamp was tried for complicity in the murder, but was acquitted for lack of evidence. Nevertheless, her devotion to Beauchamp prompted her to stay in his cell with him, where the two attempted a double suicide by drinking laudanum shortly before the execution. This attempt failed. On the morning of the execution, the couple again attempted suicide, this time by stabbing themselves with a knife Anna had smuggled into the cell. When the guards discovered the attempt, Beauchamp was rushed to the gallows, where he was hanged before he could die of his stab wound. He was the first person legally executed in the state of Kentucky. Anna Cooke-Beauchamp died from her wounds shortly before her husband was hanged. In accordance with their wishes, the couple's bodies were positioned in an embrace and buried in the same coffin.

While the primary motive for Sharp's murder was defending the honor of Anna Cooke, speculation raged that Sharp's political opponents instigated the crime. Sharp was a leader of the New Court party during the Old Court – New Court controversy in Kentucky. At least one Old Court partisan alleged that Sharp denied paternity of Cooke's son by claiming the child was a mulatto, the son of a family slave. Whether Sharp actually made such a claim has never been verified. New Court partisans insisted that the allegation was concocted to stir Beauchamp's anger and provoke him to murder. The Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy served as the inspiration for literary works, most notably Edgar Allan Poe's unfinished Politian and Robert Penn Warren's World Enough and Time.

Background

Jereboam Beauchamp was born in Barren County, Kentucky, in 1802. Educated in the school of Dr. Benjamin Thurston, he resolved to study law at age eighteen. While observing the lawyers practicing in Glasgow and Bowling Green, Beauchamp was particularly impressed with the abilities of Solomon P. Sharp. Sharp had twice been elected to the state legislature and had served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Beauchamp became disenchanted with Sharp when, in 1820, a woman named Anna Cooke claimed Sharp was the father of her stillborn infant. Sharp denied paternity of the child. Public opinion favored Sharp, and a disgraced Cooke became a recluse at her mother's estate in Bowling Green.

Beauchamp's father lived only a mile (1.6 km) from Cooke's estate, and Jereboam began to seek audience with her. Beauchamp gradually gained Cooke's trust by visiting under the guise of borrowing books from her library. By summer 1821, the two became friends and began a courtship. Beauchamp was eighteen; Cooke was at least thirty-four. As the courtship progressed, Cooke told Beauchamp that, before they could be married, Beauchamp would have to kill Solomon Sharp. Beauchamp agreed to this request, expressing his own desire to dispatch Sharp.

The preferred method of honor killing in that day was a duel. Despite Cooke's admonition that Sharp would not accept a challenge to duel, Beauchamp traveled to Frankfort to gain an audience with Sharp, who had recently been named the state's attorney general by Governor John Adair. Beauchamp's account of the interview states that he bullied and humiliated Sharp, that Sharp begged for his life, and that Beauchamp promised to horsewhip Sharp every day until he consented to the duel. For two days, Beauchamp remained in Frankfort, awaiting the duel. He then discovered that Sharp had left town, allegedly destined for Bowling Green. Beauchamp rode to Bowling Green, only to find that Sharp was not there and was not expected. Thus, apparent disinformation saved Sharp from Beauchamp's first attempt on his life.

Cooke then resolved to kill Sharp herself. The next time Sharp was in Bowling Green on business, she sent a letter to him that denounced Beauchamp's actions in Frankfort and claiming she had broken off all contact with him. She requested that Sharp visit her at her estate before he left town. Sharp questioned the messenger who delivered the letter and suspected a trap. Nonetheless, he sent a response that he would visit at the time appointed. Beauchamp and Cooke awaited the visit, but Sharp did not come. Beauchamp rode to Bowling Green to investigate and found that Sharp had left for Frankfort two days earlier, leaving substantial unfinished business. The plot had been foiled again, but Beauchamp concluded that Sharp would eventually have to return to Bowling Green and finish the business he had left. Determined to await Sharp's return to the city, Beauchamp opened a legal practice there. Throughout 1822 and 1823, Beauchamp practiced law and waited for Sharp to return. He never did.

Despite Beauchamp's inability to kill Sharp, Cooke married Beauchamp in mid-June 1824. Beauchamp immediately hatched another plot to kill Sharp. He began sending letters – each from a different post office and signed with a pseudonym – requesting Sharp's assistance in settling a land claim and asking when he would again be in Green River country. Sharp finally answered Beauchamp's last letter – mailed in June 1825 – but gave no date for his arrival.

Murder

Serving as attorney general in Governor Adair's administration, Sharp had become involved in the Old Court – New Court controversy. The conflict was primarily between debtors who sought relief from their financial burdens after the Panic of 1819 (the New Court, or Relief, faction) and the creditors to whom these obligations were owed (the Old Court, or Anti-Relief, faction.) Sharp, who came from humble beginnings, sided with the New Court. By 1825, the New Court faction's power was on the decline. In an attempt to bolster the party's influence, Sharp resigned as attorney general in 1825 to run for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives. His opponent was Old Court stalwart John J. Crittenden.

During the campaign, Old Court supporters again raised the issue of Sharp's seduction and abandonment of Anna Cooke. Old Court supporter John Upshaw Waring printed handbills that not only accused Sharp of fathering Cooke's child, but further claiming that Sharp had denied paternity of the child on the grounds that it was a mulatto and the son of a Cooke family slave. Whether Sharp actually made such a claim has never been determined with certainty. Despite the allegations, Sharp won the election.

Word of Sharp's alleged claims soon reached Jereboam Beauchamp, reigniting his hatred of Sharp and strengthening his resolve to kill him. Beauchamp now abandoned the idea of killing Sharp "honorably" in a duel. Instead, he decided to assassinate Sharp, casting suspicion on his political enemies. To add to the political intrigue, Beauchamp plotted to commit the murder on the eve of the General Assembly's opening session.

Beauchamp came to Frankfort on business on November 6. Unable to find lodging at the local inns, he rented a room in the private residence of Joel Scott, warden of the state penitentiary. Sometime after midnight, Scott heard a commotion from Beauchamp's room and, upon investigating, found the door latch open and the room unoccupied. Beauchamp, clad in a disguise, buried a set of his clothes near the Kentucky River, then proceeded to Sharp's house. Sharp was not at home, but Beauchamp soon found him at a local hotel. He returned to Sharp's house, concealed himself nearby, and waited for Sharp to return. He observed Sharp re-enter the house about midnight.

Beauchamp approached the house at approximately two o'clock in the morning on November 7, 1825. In his Confession, he described the encounter:

I put on my mask, drew my dagger and proceeded to the door; I knocked three times loud and quick, Colonel Sharp said; "Who's there" - "Covington I replied," quickly Sharp's foot was heard upon the floor. I saw under the door as he approached without a light. I drew my mask over my face and immediately Colonel Sharp opened the door. I advanced into the room and with my left hand I grasped his right wrist. The violence of the grasp made him spring back and trying to disengage his wrist, he said, "What Covington is this." I replied John A. Covington. "I don't know you," said Colonel Sharp, I know John W. Covington." Mrs. Sharp appeared at the partition door and then disappeared, seeing her disappear I said in a persuasive tone of voice, "Come to the light Colonel and you will know me," and pulling him by the arm he came readily to the door and still holding his wrist with my left hand I stripped my hat and handkerchief from over my forehead and looked into Sharp's face. He knew me the more readily I imagine, by my long, bush, curly suit of hair. He sprang back and exclaimed in a tone of horror and despair, "Great God it is him," and as he said that he fell on his knees. I let go of his wrist and grasped him by the throat dashing him against the facing of the door and muttered in his face, "die you villain." As I said that I plunged the dagger to his heart.

The wound severed Sharp's aorta, killing him almost instantly. Sharp's wife Eliza witnessed the entire scene from the top of the stairs in the house, but Beauchamp fled before he could be identified or captured. Returning to the location where he had buried his regular attire, he changed clothes, tied the accoutrements of his disguise to a rock, and sank them in the Kentucky River. He then returned to his room at the house of Joel Scott, where he remained until the following morning.

Arrest

The Kentucky General Assembly authorized the governor to offer a reward of $3,000 for the arrest and conviction of Sharp's killer. The trustees of the city of Frankfort added a reward of $1,000, and friends of Sharp raised an additional $2,000 reward. Suspicion for the killing rested on three men: Beauchamp, Waring, and Patrick H. Darby. During Sharp's 1824 campaign for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives, Darby had remarked that, should Sharp be elected, "he would never take his seat and would be as good as a dead man". Waring had made similar threats, boasting that he had already stabbed six men.

A warrant was sworn out for Waring's arrest, but it was soon discovered that he was incapacitated after being shot through both hips the day before Sharp's death. When Darby discovered that he was under suspicion, he began his own investigation into the murder. He traveled to Simpson County where he met Captain John F. Lowe, who told Darby that Beauchamp had related to him detailed plans for the assassination. He also furnished Darby with a letter that contained damaging admissions against Beauchamp.

The first night following the murder, Beauchamp stayed at the home of a relative in Bloomfield, Kentucky. The next day, he traveled to Bardstown, where he spent the night. He lodged with his brother-in-law in Bowling Green on the night of November 9 before returning to his home in Glasgow on November 10. He and Anna had planned to flee to Missouri, but before nightfall, a posse had arrived from Frankfort to arrest him. He was brought to Frankfort and tried before an examining court, but Commonwealth's Attorney Charles S. Bibb confessed that he had not yet collected enough evidence to detain him. Beauchamp was released, but agreed to stay in Frankfort for ten days to allow the court to finish its investigation. During this time, Beauchamp wrote letters to John J. Crittenden and George M. Bibb requesting their legal aid in the matter. Neither letter was answered. Meanwhile Beauchamp's uncle, a state senator, composed a defense team that included former U.S. Senator John Pope.

During the investigation, unsuccessful attempts were made to match a knife taken from Beauchamp upon his arrest to the type of wound observed on Sharp's body. Efforts to match a footprint found near Sharp's house to Beauchamp were similarly unsuccessful. The posse that arrested Beauchamp had taken a bloody handkerchief from the crime scene, but had lost it on the trip back to Frankfort after the arrest. The best evidence presented by the prosecution was the testimony of Sharp's wife Eliza that she heard the killer's voice and that it was distinctly high-pitched. When given the opportunity to hear Beauchamp's voice, she identified it as that of the killer.

Trial

Beauchamp was indicted, and his trial began May 8, 1826. Beauchamp pleaded not guilty, but never testified during the trial. Captain Lowe was called to repeat the story he had originally related to Patrick Darby regarding Beauchamp's threats to kill Sharp. He further testified that Beauchamp returned home following the murder waving a red flag and declaring that he had "gained the victory." He also turned over to the court a letter from the Beauchamps regarding the murder. In the letter, Beauchamp maintained his innocence, but told Lowe that his enemies were plotting against him and asked him to testify in his behalf. The letter gave Lowe several talking points to mention if called to testify, some true and some otherwise.

Eliza Sharp repeated her assertion that the murderer's voice was that of Beauchamp. Joel Scott, the warden who gave Beauchamp lodging the night of the murder, testified that he heard Beauchamp leave during the night and return later that night. He also mentioned that Beauchamp was extremely inquisitive about the crime upon being told of it the next morning. The most extensive testimony came from Darby, who recounted his 1824 meeting with Beauchamp. According to Darby, Beauchamp claimed that Sharp offered him and Anna $1,000, a slave girl, and 200 acres (0.81 km²) of land if they would leave him alone. Sharp later reneged on the offer.

Some witnesses maintained that the killer's claim to be John A. Covington was telling. They said that both Sharp and Beauchamp had been acquainted with John W. Covington, and that Beauchamp often mistakenly called him John A. Covington. Other witnesses told of threats they had heard Beauchamp make against Sharp.

Beauchamp's defense team attempted to discredit Patrick Darby by stressing his association with the Old Court and playing up the theory that the killing was politically motivated. They also presented witnesses who testified that they knew of no hostility between Beauchamp and Sharp and questioned whether Darby and Beauchamp's 1824 meeting ever occurred.

During closing arguments, defense counsel John Pope attempted to discredit Darby, a tactic that provoked Darby to assault one of Pope's co-counselors with a cane. The trial lasted thirteen days, and despite the absence of any physical evidence, including a murder weapon, the jury returned a guilty verdict after only an hour of deliberation on May 19. Beauchamp was sentenced to be executed by hanging on June 16, 1826.

During the trial, Anna Beauchamp appealed to John Waring for help on her husband's behalf. She also tried to entice John Lowe to commit perjury and testify on her husband's behalf. Both appeals were denied. On May 20, Anna was examined by two justices of the peace on suspicion of being an accessory to the murder, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The jailer permitted Anna to stay in the cell with Beauchamp at her own request.

Pope's request to have the verdict overturned was denied, but the judge granted Beauchamp a stay of execution until July 7 to allow him to produce a written justification of his actions. In it, he explained how he killed Sharp to defend Anna's honor. Beauchamp had hoped to publish his work before his execution, but the libelous charges it contained – that prosecution witnesses committed perjury and bribery to see him convicted – delayed its publication.

Execution

The Beauchamps were accused of trying to bribe a guard to let them escape, but this attempt failed. They also attempted to get a letter to Senator Beauchamp requesting his help in escaping. A final plea for another stay of execution from Governor Desha was denied on July 5. Later that day, the couple attempted a double suicide by taking large doses of laudanum, but both were unsuccessful.

On July 7, the morning of Beauchamp's scheduled execution, Anna requested that the guard allow her privacy while she dressed. Anna again attempted to overdose on laudanum, but was unable to keep it down. Anna then produced a knife that she had smuggled into the cell, and the couple attempted another double suicide by stabbing themselves with it. When they were discovered, Anna was taken to the jailer's home and tended to by doctors.

Weakened by his own wounds, Beauchamp was loaded on a cart to be taken to the gallows and hanged before he bled to death. He insisted on seeing his wife before being executed, but doctors told him she was not severely injured and would recover. Beauchamp protested that not being allowed to see his wife was cruel, and the guards consented to take him to her. Upon arriving, he was angered to see that the doctors had lied to him; Anna was too weak even to speak to him. He remained with her until he could no longer feel her pulse. He then kissed her lifeless lips and declared "For you I lived — for you I die."

On his way to the gallows, Beauchamp asked to see Patrick Darby, who was among the assembled spectators. Beauchamp smiled and offered his hand, but Darby declined the gesture. Beauchamp then publicly denied that Darby had any involvement with the murder, but accused Darby of having lied about the 1824 meeting where Darby testified that Beauchamp told him of his plan to kill Sharp. Darby denied this accusation of perjury and tried to engage Beauchamp in a discussion about it, hoping he would retract the charge, but Beauchamp immediately ordered the cart driver to continue to the gallows.

Upon arriving at the gallows, Beauchamp assured the assembled clergy that he had a salvation experience on July 6. Too weak to stand, he was held upright by two men while the noose was tied around his neck. At Beauchamp's request, the Twenty-Second Regiment musicians played Bonaparte's Retreat from Moscow while five thousand spectators watched his execution. It was the first legal hanging in Kentucky's history. Beauchamp's father requested the bodies of his son and daughter-in-law for burial. The two bodies were put in a single coffin, locked in an embrace as they had requested. They were buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Bloomfield, Kentucky. The couple's tombstone was engraved with a poem written by Anna Beauchamp.

Aftermath

Beauchamp's confession was published in 1826, the same year as The Letters of Ann Cook – the authorship of which is disputed – and a transcript of Beauchamp's trial authored by J. G. Dana and R. S. Thomas. The following year, Sharp's brother, Dr. Leander Sharp, penned Vindication of the character of the late Col. Solomon P. Sharp to defend Sharp from the charges made in Beauchamp's confession. Patrick Darby threatened to sue Dr. Sharp if the work were published. John Waring went a step further, threatening Dr. Sharp's life if he published Vindication. All copies of the work were left in the Sharps' home in Frankfort, where they were discovered many years later during a remodel.

Though many regarded Sharp's murder as an honor killing, some New Court partisans charged that Beauchamp had been incited to violence by members of the Old Court party, specifically Patrick Darby. Sharp was thought to be the minority party's choice for Speaker of the House for the 1826 session. By enticing Beauchamp to murder Sharp, the Old Court could remove a political enemy. Sharp's widow Eliza apparently subscribed to this notion. In an 1826 letter in the New Court Argus of Western America, she referred to Darby as "the chief instigator of the foul murder which has deprived me of all my heart held most dear on earth."

Some Old Court partisans claimed that Governor Desha had offered Beauchamp a pardon if he would implicate Darby and Achilles Sneed, clerk of the Old Court, in his confession. Shortly before his execution, Beauchamp was heard to say he had "been New Court long enough, and would die an Old Court man." Beauchamp had steadfastly identified with the Old Court, and his claim seems to imply that he had at least considered colluding with the New Court powers to secure his pardon. Such a deal is explicitly mentioned in one version of Beauchamp's Confession. Beauchamp ultimately rejected the deal for fear that he would be double-crossed by the New Court, leaving him imprisoned and deprived of the "chivalrous" motive for his actions.

Darby himself denied involvement with the murder, claiming that New Court partisans such as Francis P. Blair and Amos Kendall were seeking to defame him. He also countered that Eliza Sharp's letter to the New Court Argus was written by New Court supporters, including Kendall, the newspaper's editor. The claims and counterclaims between the two sides reached such an extreme that an 1826 letter in the New Court Argus suggested that New Court supporters had instigated Sharp's murder in order to blame Old Court partisans and affix a stigma to them.

Darby eventually brought suit for libel against Kendall and Eliza Sharp, as well as Senator Beauchamp and Sharp's brother Leander. Numerous delays and changes of venue prevented any of the suits from ever going to trial. Darby died in December 1829.

In fiction

The Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy inspired fictional works, notably Edgar Allan Poe's unfinished play Politian and Robert Penn Warren's World Enough and Time. William Gilmore Simms wrote three works based on the Sharp's murder and aftermath: Beauchampe: or The Kentucky Tragedy, A Tale of Passion, Charlemont, and Beauchampe: A Sequel to Charlemonte. Greyslaer: A Romance of the Mohawk by Charles Fenno Hoffman, Octavia Bragaldi by Charlotte Barnes, Sybil by John Savage, and Conrad and Eudora; or, The Death of Alonzo: A Tragedy and Leoni, The Orphan of Venice both by Thomas Holley Chivers, all draw to some degree on the events that surround Sharp's murder.

Wikipedia.org