Documenting and Analyzing the History of Federal Executions
Gibson Ishtanubbee and Isham Seeley
Gibson Ishtanubbee and Isham Seeley robbed and killed Funny, a Chickasaw doctor, and his cook, a Black woman named Mason, in 1872. Though they confided in neighbors and friends what they had done, no one betrayed their confidence for several years. Then, after a falling out with Ishtanubbee, Kitsie Cobb told authorities about the killings.
Another man cam forward and offered similar details. On that basis, Ishtanubbee and Seeley were tried in federal court, convicted, and sentenced to death on February 5, 1876. They were hanged at Fort Smith on April 21, 1876.
I am a sociologist and death penalty scholar at the State University of New York at Geneseo. I am also a Pittsburgh native. My present research focuses on the history of the death penalty in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pa.
This website is dedicated to collecting, analyzing, and sharing information about all Allegheny County cases in which a death sentence was imposed.
Please share any questions or comments, errors or omissions, or other matters of interest related to these cases or to the broader history of the death penalty in Allegheny County.
View all posts by Bill Lofquist
The Federal Death Penalty Project 