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Strangest double execution in U.S. carried out in Nevada

There has been one married couple executed simultaneously in American history—and for a murder they may or may not have committed. The evidence against Josiah and Elizabeth Potts, who was the first woman legally executed in Nevada, was purely circumstantial, and there were no reliable witnesses. Yet, a jury of their peers found them guilty of murdering their neighbor, Miles Faucett, as if they were in a hurry to get the trial over with. Neither Josiah nor Elizabeth seemed to care, as if they had a secret to hide. One of them, at least, did. Why they chose not to defend themselves strongly was just one of the mysteries involved in this bizarre murder case. The alleged murder occurred in Elko County, Nevada in 1888. The trial and hanging took place two years later. In between there were two other sensational murders in the county—and neither perpetrator was hanged. Why not? All three crimes were overshadowed by the notorious murder in England of the man who was suspected to be “Jack the Ripper?” Was there a connection? And what was the secret that one or the other Pottses had and took to the grave? Yes, the Pottses were an enigmatic couple, and they shared some bizarre secrets, like their true relationship with the peripatetic Miles Faucett and a string of children they had left across the United States. Their story gripped Nevadans and the nation in the late nineteenth century, and it’s still riveting today.