Probably the most widely publisized murder trial in the history of the county took place in 1892. Court records reveal that in that year Sheriff Walter Grubb arrested Ralph Crossmire, who lived on a farm near Farmers Valley with his mother. The sheriff accused Crossmire of hanging his mother in a barn at the rear of the home. The district attorney at that time was J. W.Bouton, who was later to occupy the bench in this county, and who died less than two years ago. Judge T. A. Morrison presided at the trial which was held in March of 1893. Crossmire was found guilty by the jury and on March 14, 1893, Judge Morrison sentenced him to be hanged in expiation of his crime. Crossmire went to his death on the scaffold December 14, 1893.

   Early in April of 1906, Guiseppi Tibery of Cole Creek, near Farmers Valley, was shot to death by four men who were attempting to rob his home. After a short investigation Sheriff George Mitchell arrested Frank Godino of Cole Creek, and Rocco Boqui, Salvato Caruso and Phillipo Frisina. Godino was brought to trial at the June term of court before Judge J.W. Bouton. District Attorney Guy B. Mayo, (now president of the McKean Bar Association), demanded the death penalty for the defendant, charging that he was the actual slayer. The jury found Godino Guilty, and on June 15, Judge Bouton sentenced him to be hanged. He was executed at the county jail on December 5, 1906. In September, 1906, Boqui was brought to trial for participation in the same murder. A jury found him guilty of second degree murder and he was sentenced to 15 years in the Western pennitentiary. Before they were brought to trial, Caruso and Frisina appeared before the court and pleaded guilty to charges of second degree murder. Judge Bouton sentenced them both to terms of 15 years in the Western penitentiary.

    The last resident of this county to pay with his life for the crime of murder was Rosario Gigliotti of Bradford, who was found guilty of the fatal shooting of Grace Bigler, also of Bradford. Gigliotti was arrested in 1911, and brought to trial at the February term of court the next year. After some delay, the trial was postponed to the October term of criminal court. At the trial, District Attorney Thomas Wilson demanded that Gigliotti be found guilty of first degree murder. The jury returned a guilty verdict and on October 11, 1912, Judge Bouton sentenced him to be hanged. Sheriff Mathew Bain executed Gigliotti on a scaffold erected in the county jail December 5, 1912.

    Since the Gigliotti trial a number of persons have been found guilty.

    During the summer of 1849, Sheriff E. Bard arrested Uzza Robbins and charged him with fatally poisoning his wife. Robbins was brought before Judge Horace Williston, on August 7 of the same year, but the trial was postponed until the January term of court. Before that term of court convened the courthouse was pronounced unsafe, so the trial was held in the Methodist meeting house in Smethport. Robbins was found guilty, and on January 19, 1850, Judge Williston sentenced him to be hanged. He was recommitted to the county jail and on August 30 of that year he paid the penalty for his crime. The incoplete records for that time reveal that the district attorneys were M. W. Goodrich and L. D. Wetmore. The members of the jury were not listed, but other records show that one of the jurors was the grandfather of Merle Dickinson, present deputy sheriff.

   During the term of Judge Henry W. Williams in 1878, Sheriff  Sartwell arrested Andrew Tracy of Smethport and charged him with the murder of a woman identified in the court records only by the name Mullen. With District Attorney S. W. Smith presenting the evidence of the commonwealth, Tracy was brought to trial before Judge Williams and Associate Judges Brownell and Burnham during the early part of April, 1879. He was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to be hanged. The sentence was pronounced on April 17, 1879, and on December 4 of the same year, Tracy was put to death on a scaffold erected at the county jail.

    On the eve of the trial of Nathaniel Molson of Kane, who is charged with the murder of William Campbell, Kane high school janitor, a search of the criminal court records of McKean County has revealed that in the long period of crime covered by the records only five men have been executed for committing murder within the jurisdiction of the county courts.

    The criminal records of  the county cover a period of 109 years, no records ever having been found that antedate the construction of the courthouse in 1826. Records kept during the early years of the county are vague and incomplete, but they reveal that the first court session in this county was held on the fourth monday of September, 1826. The first criminal case of which there is any record was held before the court during September of the following year.