William "Amos" Wilson

Following his sister's death, William withdrew from society, wandering westward across southeastern Pennsylvania and ultimately living his last 19 years in a cave near Hummelstown.

[3] William hastily assembled a group of respected officials, including Judge Atlee, to witness Elizabeth's confession.

However, he unexpectedly met her in a wood about 3 km (1.9 mi) west of the town, then killed the children and swore Elizabeth to silence.

Biddle's journal includes a brief discussion of the Wilson case and, in addition to court and Council records, is one of the more reputable sources regarding the matter.

He was successful in compiling a list of several people, but he became ill around Christmas and spent some time recuperating at a friend's home in Philadelphia.

The last of the Revolutionary War-era pontoon bridges spanning the Schuylkill had been destroyed by an earlier flood in 1784 and the ferry was the only means of crossing the river in that area.

The animal struggled against the current but was struck in the head by a chunk of ice or driftwood just fifty feet from the opposite shore.

William swam the rest of the way, and by the time he reached dry land he was approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) downstream from where he'd entered the water, beyond the area of Gray's Ferry.

The sheriff of Chester (given as either Ezekiel Leonard or William Gibbons[4][14]) was one of the many who had come to believe that Elizabeth was innocent and who, following her confession, suspected that she might be pardoned.

He stationed flagmen at intervals along the Queens Highway (4th Street), leading from Philadelphia, who could signal if William were coming with a pardon.

Varying accounts state that William arrived anywhere from mere moments to twenty-three minutes too late to deliver Biddle's pardon and save his sister's life.

[1][3][4][7][12][15][16] According to legend, when William rose from the mud beneath the gallows tree his hair had turned prematurely white and his face was marked by the lines of old age.

He was known as the Hermit of Welsh Mountain, suggesting that he spent some time on or around that ridge on the line between Chester and the easternmost point of Lancaster County, just east of New Holland.

The cave (today known as Indian Echo Caverns) where William set up residence is located at the foot of a high bluff, or "palisades," at the head of a horseshoe bend on the Swatara Creek, approximately 6.2 miles (10.0 km) upstream from where it meets the Susquehanna River at Middletown.

While there is no evidence that local residents were ever abusive to William, it became a challenge to visit the cave and to catch a glimpse of its famous occupant.

[1][16] On 13 October 1821, the Harrisburg Intelligencer ran the following notice: As was the case with his sister, the details and location of William's burial remain unknown, although it is often assumed that he was buried somewhere on his friend's farm in Lower Swatara Township.

The tragic, lurid tale of William and Elizabeth Wilson quickly became familiar throughout the Philadelphia area and was told and retold in local papers throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

[18] Although Elizabeth was certainly the focus of most early accounts, some of which make only passing references to her brother, William was also the subject of several sensationalist publications.

The writer describes himself as William's friend and claims to have visited him the night before he died; he is generally assumed to have been the farmer who lived across the Creek.

The second part of the pamphlet is The Sweets of Solitude, or Instructions to Mankind How They May Be Happy in a Miserable World, and is purported to have been written by Wilson himself.

In actuality, the book contains numerous errors in chronology and geography and is often dramatically at odds with the historical record and with most other accounts of the Wilsons' story.

The book often appears more concerned with providing moral instruction than with presenting a factual account; The Life of Amos Wilson contains the passage, "You see by the foregoing pages the gradation of evils dependent on a departure from...dignified modesty," and admonishes readers to "(t)urn your attention to those houses of debauchery where Vice reigns triumphant, and on whom poor mourning Virtue sheds a tear of pity."

As such, its author may have changed the names of his lead characters in light of their questionable relationship with the historical figures of William and Elizabeth.

"[20] In the mid-19th century, a Chester newspaper printed an account of William's tale that made no mention of his time in the cave and stated that he died in 1819.

Again, these passages sometimes seem to have more to do with reinforcing a rigid, traditional morality than with relating the factual story of William and Elizabeth Wilson, and as many exist only in a single source their authenticity must be viewed skeptically.

Today, William Wilson is perhaps better known in Dauphin County than in Chester, as his story is still heard frequently at Indian Echo Caverns, where it provides a dramatic conclusion to the guided tours presented daily.

For many years the Caverns exhibited a table and chair that had supposedly belonged to Wilson; these were removed some time ago and were almost certainly not authentic.

For many years local residents claimed to see and hear a spectral horseman galloping across Chester and Delaware Counties and up to the old jail.

[3][8][17] When trees were cleared to make a parking lot for Indian Echo Cave, it was said that the newly opened space revealed Elizabeth Wilson's wandering spirit.

More poignant are tales from East Bradford Township of a female spirit walking through the woods where (according to some accounts) the bodies of Elizabeth's children were discovered, looking for something lost beneath the leaves.