George Swearingen married Mary Scott in 1824. Scott was from a wealthy family in Cumberland, MD. A month or two before being elected Sheriff of Washington County in 1827, Swearingen became acquainted with Rachel Cunningham, who would later be called a "lewd woman".

Swearingen's and Cunningham's relationship became the town scandal and his wife left him to return to Cumberland. Soon after, Swearingen sent Cunningham to Virginia and attempted a reconciliation with his wife. But he later moved his mistress back to Cumberland without telling his wife.

On Monday, September 8, 1828, Swearingen took his wife and their 3 year old daughter horse back riding in Cumberland. He put his daughter on the ground and led his wife, on horseback, up a steep hill and into a thicket of brushwood. It is believed that is where he cut, clubbed and killed her. He then rode after a cattle drover and told him his wife had fallen from her horse. By the time others had arrived, she was dead.

A Jury of Inquest ruled her death an "act of Providence", however, Swearingen began making contradictory remarks.

On Thursday, September 11, 1828, a second coroner's jury ruled Swearingen had killed his wife, but before he could be charged, he and Cunningham disappeared. According to the autobiographical account, "The Life and Confession of George Swearingen", he boarded a Mississippi River steamboat. Cunningham was to follow later. That's where he was arrested and held until April, 1829, when he was returned to Cumberland to stand trial.

The trial began on August 11, 1829 and lasted eight days. The jury of 12 men took 10 minutes to deliberate before returning a verdict of guilty of first-degree murder. Judge John Buchanan sentenced Swearingen to death. The death warrant was signed on September 8, 1829, exactly one year after the slaying of his wife.

George Swearingen was hanged in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland on October 2, 1829. He was 29 years old.

This information was excerpted from the 3-26-95 edition of The Herald-Mail.