08/03/2026
Part 2 America250 series Notable Monroe County criminal cases prosecuted by the early district attorneys and the law enforcement and other resources of the time.
The Brodhead Murder: Friday September 25, 1868.
Location: Delaware Water Gap (Near the Brainerd House).
Victims: Theodore Brodhead, killed. Thomas Brodhead wounded.
Perpetrators: William Brooks and Charles Orme.
Law Enforcement: Sheriff Charles Henry and later Peter Mervine
Trial: Monday, December 28, 1868 through
District Attorney: Stephen Holmes, assisted by William Davis and Samuel S. Dreher for the Commonwealth.
Defense: Charlton Burnett John B. Storm and David S. Lee.
“The Jeffersonian Stroudsburg PA October 1, 1868: A Water Gap Tragedy! One man Slain and another seriously wounded! A community in arms to arrest the perpetrators! Unbounded excitement!"
Delaware Water Gap, Saturday September 26 about half past ten o’clock in the forenoon of yesterday, Friday, a terrible occurrence took place, on the public highway a few rods below the Kittatinny House,… man came rushing up to the village of Dutotsburg calling for help to go to the mountains in search of two strange men who, he said, had shot and mortally wounded Theodore and Thomas Brodhead. Very soon the road leading to the scene was thronged with men hastening with any weapons they could command, to avenge the blood of their fellow citizens. Your correspondent was among that number.” The Jeffersonian identifies the writer by the initials ABB.
ABB continues: “… Reaching the spot there was a terrible picture to behold. There lay the lifeless form of Theodore Brodhead. A ball had pierced his side, and the assassins had done their work to him. Thomas Brodhead sat bleeding, his face almost entirely covered with blood and wounds. He was still able to speak. The murderers had perpetrated their fiendish deed and fled down the road towards the mountains. Armed men, at once, organized themselves into squads and set off, in various directions, to head off the wretches. Every man in the neighborhood in less than one hour was on the pursuit.” An impressive mobilization by the locals.
The Article continues: “ So thoroughly and so quickly was the chase commenced that in two hours’ time the fellows found themselves so cornered that they left the mountains and were discovered making for the west side of Cherry Creek. The creek chanced to be bank full and one of the men came very near swamping in endeavoring to cross. At length they were hemmed in on the opposite side of the creek in a small strip of woods near the place of Mr. Alsop. At this point they seemed, at first, inclined to show fight by pointing a pistol, but the Sheriff (Charles Henry) coming up, and finding themselves surrounded, they came out of the thicket facing the guns pointed at them, and gave themselves up. They were now taken to the village, the crowd increasing with every moment. When I first saw the criminals I remarked that they had a younger appearance than I expected. Some person in the crowd observed that, “they will not get much older.“
“At the village ‘Judge Lynch’ was loudly and repeatedly called for, and it was with the very utmost exertion that the Sheriff kept the people from tearing them away from him and hanging or shooting them on the spot. There is no doubt that if they had been taken by any other party in search of them they would’ve been dead men forthwith.”
“On searching them it was found that they had thrown away their pistols and had very little about their persons, except some pocket knives stolen from a hardware store in Stroudsburg the night before. Soon after their arrest the carpet bag was brought in from the mountains which they had thrown away in their flight and which contained various utensils such as professional burglars usually carry. At length they were marched off towards Stroudsburg jail, an armed band of citizens accompanying the Sheriff, determined they should be well secured."
“The fellows gave their names as William BROOKS and Charles ORME, one Scotch and the other an Englishman. It seems they came down the railroad from Stroudsburg and, just above Water Gap, seeing a village nestled against the hills thought there might be a speculation there suitable to their occupation , aimed for it. Coming up to the Brainerd House by Thomas Brodhead, they went in and called for something to drink, calling in two or three people of the place who chanced to be there. Mr. Brodhead was not at home at this time. It is supposed they surveyed the premises and determined to rob the place as soon as opportunity offered. All others having stepped out, they broke open the drawer, took the contents of money, some eight or $10, and left.”
Thomas Brodhead, the owner of the Brainerd House accompanied by his brother Theodore went after the two thieves and caught up with them near the stables of the Kittatinny House. The following account, provided undoubtedly by the surviving brother, Thomas Brodhead is copied from the article:
“Thomas hurried on, running, got before them, and, taking hold of them, told them they had robbed his money drawer and must go back with him. At first they refused, threw some money down by the side of the road and told him That was all they had. They afterwards pretended to be willing to go back and stepping aside a pace or two one of them drew a pistol aiming at Theodore as he was approaching. Theodore said “you better not shoot“ or “you dare not shoot“ When he drew the weapon on Thomas as the ball taking affect in a thick package of letters in his coat pocket and thus saving his life. Immediately a revolver was drawn on Theodore again and he fell, the ball entering his right side passing through both lungs, the heart, and almost severing the main blood channel through the heart. After the first shot Thomas supposing himself mortally wounded sprung for his adversary, determined to hold him till help arrived as he was calling “Murder!” at the top of his voice. Whilst thus in close contest one or more shots were fired which merely grazed his head by watchful dodging. The men were continually prompting each other on in their deadly work when it was found their pistols were empty. With these they then hammered his head until one told the other to get a stone and pound out his brains. Weakened and overpowered, Thomas, at last, released his hold when the murderers ran rapidly down the road leading through the Gap. At this writing Thomas is not thought to be dangerously wounded. The excitement is intense. Our quiet community was never startled with an affair so tragic and so sad. A, B. B.”
The funeral of Theodore Brodhead took place on Sunday September 27, 1868 at the Church of the Mountains. The day was wet and unpleasant and “yet the church could not hold the congregated mass of people that assembled. That a fellow citizen had been cut down, without a moments warning, by the hands of two unknown wretches, was terrible news to the minds of a peaceable community. It is a sad lesson of the treachery and awful depravity that may and Kindle in the human heart to be exposed to bloodshed and murder. What a sad spirit of suspicion such an event must produce, in any community, on the minds of the people, causing them to look upon strangers with great distress, and interrupting that spirit of brotherhood and humanity which all good men desire to see the increase and for which they pray. The funeral services were very impressive conducted by Reverend Pierce, Everett, and Pitts. A train of carriages a mile in length formed the procession to the grave The remains were in entered at Shawnee.”
Attached is an enhanced colorized photo of Thomas (left) and Theodore (right) Brodhead.
Part 3 will detail the prosecution and trial of William Brooks and Charles Orme.
