Our region’s resting grounds include grave markers that tell remarkable stories about people whose lives impacted our area. Some were famous. Others were simply ordinary people who led extraordinary lives. This is the fourth in a series.

Jim Thorpe

The man called the world’s greatest athlete is entombed in a town named in his honor.

Born 1887, James Francis Thorpe of Oklahoma was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States.

A versatile athlete, he won gold in the 1912 Summer Olympics for pentathlon and decathlon. He also excelled in professional football, baseball and basketball.

After his 1953 death at age 65 of heart failure, Thorpe’s third wife, Patricia, entered into an agreement with the towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk to move his remains to Pennsylvania.

The towns erected a monument, then merged and took on the name Jim Thorpe in his honor.

In June 2010, son Jack Thorpe filed a federal lawsuit, seeking to have his father’s remains returned and re-interred near other family members in Oklahoma.

He claimed that the agreement between his stepmother and borough officials in Pennsylvania was made against the wishes of other family members, who want him buried in Native American land.

Jack Thorpe died on Feb. 22, 2011, but litigation did not.

Over the next several years, more legal entanglements ensued, working their way through the judiciary.

Finally, on Oct. 5, 2015, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the matter, apparently bringing the legal process to an end and allowing the body of Jim Thorpe to remain.

Critics say Jim Thorpe, the man, never actually visited the town where his body rests. They say the closest he got to Carbon County was when he attended school in Carlisle, 100 miles away.

But at this point, Thorpe’s presence has been in Jim Thorpe Borough for 72 years. So he’s spent more time in Pennsylvania than anyplace else.

His large tomb and adjacent park can be visited at 1 Joe Boyle Circle, North Street, Route 903.

John Kehoe

Resting on a very steep Tamaqua hillside is the body of the alleged leader of a reputed vigilante group.

John “Black Jack” Kehoe was hanged on Dec. 18, 1878, accused in the June 1862 beating death in Audenried of mine ticket boss Frank W.S. Langdon.

Kehoe operated the Hibernian House in Girardville, believed to be the former headquarters of a secret society called the Molly Maguires.

“The Mollies” reign of terror arose in Pennsylvania’s southern anthracite coal fields from about 1861 to 1875.

According to accounts, embittered Irish miners waged a campaign of sabotage to retaliate against mine owners’ cruelty and other hardships thrust upon workers and their families.

But some historians say these events should be subjected to much scrutiny. Many feel the Mollies were perhaps wrongfully accused of wrongdoings. Or even the victims of setups.

Some say juries held anti-Irish immigration sentiment or were partial for other reasons.

On Jan. 14, 1979, Kehoe was granted a posthumous pardon by Gov. Milton Shapp after a thorough review of the evidence suggested that Kehoe could not have committed the crime.

But Kehoe’s hanging was only one of many.

On June 21, 1877, 10 alleged Mollies were hanged in prisons in Mauch Chunk and Pottsville. The circumstances of the cases are still studied.

Known as “The Day of the Rope,” it remains one of the largest official mass executions in American history.

Kehoe’s tombstone in Old St. Jerome’s Cemetery can be seen from a wooden viewing platform on Mahanoy Street.

Jost Folhaber

Jost Folhaber was a Berks County peddler traveling from Reading to Catawissa on horseback.

On the day of his murder, he stopped at a Tuscarora tavern owned by John Reich.

There he encountered 31-year old Benjamin Bailey, a traveler from Morristown, New Jersey, who’d been staying at the tavern.

Bailey heard the sound of jingling coins coming from Folhaber’s pockets.

When Folhaber eventually resumed his trip on the Catawissa Trail, Bailey secretly followed.

Folhaber and his horse made it to the top of Locust Mountain near Brandonville, where they stopped to rest.

The horse was drinking at a nearby dam while Folhaber picked huckleberries.

Bailey, intent on robbery, ambushed Folhaber. He shot him from behind. But Folhaber was still alive. So Bailey used an ax to split open his skull.

He then shot the horse and fled with $25 in coins.

The decomposed body was found two weeks later and was buried on the spot.

Bailey was caught and hanged in front of 7,000 witnesses. His execution took place on Jan. 6, 1798, at Reading Commons, now Penn Square.

His final words were: “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Folhaber’s death was the first documented murder in the region that became Schuylkill County.

His grave remains on private property high up on Catawissa Trail, a rocky, 3-mile hike.