These two events appeared to have been combined into the commonly told myth of how a face appeared in the courthouse window, but neither Pierce nor Wells could have been the "face in the window." Both Pierce and Wells died before the windows were installed in the new courthouse. The "West Alabamian" reported that windows were being installed in the courthouse on February 20, 1878. These windows were the windows in the main courtroom, which were the first windows installed to prepare for a court session scheduled in the middle of March. The garret windows, including the one with the ghostly face, were not installed until weeks after Wells' death.