The information below originally appeared in the Nevada State Journal on Aug. 15, 1954.
Three years and five trials after the discovery of I.N. Sharp’s dismembered body near Rabbithole sulphur mines in Humboldt County, J.W. Rover was ceremoniously hanged in the Washoe County Courthouse yard.
The hanging was Reno’s first and only public execution, and it took place on a cold, snowy afternoon, Feb. 19, 1878. Reno was not quite a decade on the map at the time, but it managed to carry out justice in a fairly authoritative manner. The citizens pointed out, with some complacency, that Rover’s hanging was the first execution in all of Washoe County, and those involved, with the exception of J.W. Rover, seemed to think the affair was creditable if not exactly commendable.
The case begins
The Rover case began in the spring of 1875, when Rover and J.J. McWorthy located a suphur mine near Rabbithole Springs, to the east of the southern end of the Black Rock Desert. McWorthy claimed the location in his name alone, according to later accounts, a matter which led to some annoyance on Rover’s part. Rover, however, agreed to stay and work the claim, and the pair were joined by a third man, I.N. Sharp…