On 10 January 1950, Marian L. Baker was brutally murdered by Edward Lester Gibbs. This collection contains W. Hensel Brown's copies of the clerk's file, transcripts, appeal briefs, and other court records from the murder trial of Edward L. Gibbs, 1950. Newspaper articles report on the 1950 trial and his 1951 electrocution.
Admin/Biographical History
Edward Lester Gibbs (1924-1951), veteran (98th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force) and husband of Helen Woodward, was from Gloucester County, NJ. In 1950, he was a student at Franklin and Marshall College. (1)
Marian Louise Baker (1928-1950), the daughter of Walter M. Baker and Helen Beatrice Soule Britcher, was originally from New Bloomfield, Perry County, PA. (2) She had spent much of her childhood in Conestoga, PA with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy O'Donel. (3) In 1950, she worked as a cashier and secretary in the treasurer's office at Franklin and Marshall College (4) and was engaged to Edward Rankin. (5)
W. Hensel Brown was the attorney chosen to defend Gibbs.
"On January 10, 1950, Marian Louise Baker was brutally slain by being
beaten to death with a lug wrench. Eight days later Edward Lester
Gibbs, defendant, confessed the killing. Thereafter, he was indicted in
Lancaster County, tried by a jury, and convicted of murder in the first
degree with the penalty fixed at death. Prior to his bringing this appeal, his motion for new trial was denied and sentence was imposed in accordance with the verdict.
At the time of the killing, defendant, a married war veteran twenty-five years of age, was a student at Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. *185 In the early afternoon of January 10, 1950, he was in downtown Lancaster when he saw Miss Baker, an employee of the college. He offered to drive her back to the campus in his car and she accepted. However, instead of returning directly to the college, they rode out of town and into the open country. When they reached an isolated spot several miles from the city she commented on the view and defendant stopped the car so that they both might enjoy it. While sitting there he suddenly reached over and began choking her. She broke away and got out of the car. He followed her and after choking her again, he returned to the car, unlocked and opened the luggage compartment, removed the lug wrench, and beat her over the head with it until she was dead. He then left but later returned to hide the body and remove any incriminating evidence. The body was not discovered until four days later.
On January 18, 1950, defendant admitted committing the crime and on that same day he signed a statement setting forth the facts as we have synopsized them here. Neither at the trial nor at any other time did he deny the truth of that confession and substantially all of the facts contained in it were verified by the independent investigation of the Pennsylvania State Police." (6)
1 "Edward Lester Gibbs," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76555590/edward-lester-gibbs.
2 "Marian Louise Baker," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76632108/marian-louise-baker.
3 "Vintage photos, the 1950 murder of an F&M secretary," PennLive.com, last modified January 8, 2016, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/01/vintage_photos_the_1950_murder.html.
4 "Marian Louise Baker," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76632108/marian-louise-baker.
5 "Vintage photos, the 1950 murder of an F&M secretary," PennLive.com, last modified January 8, 2016, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/01/vintage_photos_the_1950_murder.html.
6 "Opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Drew, November 20, 1950," Justia, accessed November 27, 2018, https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/1950/366-pa-182-0.html.
Crime scene photograph used as evidence in the Commonwealth v. Gibbs murder trial. View of the entrance to the mens' room in the rear of Erb's Service Station, located in East Lampeter Township, where a diamond ring, the property of Marian Louise Baker, had been recovered.
Crime scene photograph used as evidence in the Commonwealth v. Gibbs murder trial. Up-turned ground that was located approximately 75 feet north of the north side of the driveway at a point that was used by the Harnish family as a dump.
Crime scene photograph used as evidence in the Commonwealth v. Gibbs murder trial. View of the excavated portion under the porch of the Harnish cabin after the body of Marian Louise Baker had been removed.
Crime scene photograph used as evidence in the Commonwealth v. Gibbs murder trial. Edward Lester Gibbs, later convicted of murder, pointing to a spot on the ground at the north side of the north driveway on the Harnish property where he had killed Marian Louise Baker.
Crime scene photograph used as evidence in the Commonwealth v. Gibbs murder trial. Edward Lester Gibbs, later convicted of murder, in the cellar of East Hall with a shovel in his left hand which he described as being the shovel that he used in attempting to bury the body of Marian Louise Baker at the Harnish cottage.
Crime scene photograph used as evidence in the Commonwealth v. Gibbs murder trial. Edward Lester Gibbs, later convicted of murder, pointing ot a spot on the ground approximately 25 feet west of the dump where he had hid the body of Marian Louise Baker.
Crime scene photograph used as evidence in the Commonwealth v. Gibbs murder trial. View of the dump used by the Harnish family and the path leading south to the direction of the driveway.
Crime scene photograph used as evidence in the Commonwealth v. Gibbs murder trial. Close up of the wooden horse and also of the corrigated iron showing that there are two large sheets of corrigated iron and one small sheet. It also shows part of a metal wire basket used for burning rubbish and parts of the beaver board and many tree leaves.
