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AIDING AND ABETTING THE REBELS - 675
I looked out of the back window, and I saw him jump over the fence north of the barn and start
east across the commons, and he did run like the devil!"
EFFORTS TO RECAPTURE THE FUGITIVE.
Though the escape was soon afterwards discovered, and a vigorous pursuit at once instituted, his
tracks were so carefully concealed as for several days to entirely baffle the efforts of his pursuers,
it afterwards transpiring that a team, by preconcerted arrangements with his friends, was waiting
in the gloaming to rapidly carry him 'to some, previously provided, secure hiding place.
Prosecuting Attorney, Henry McKinney, Esq., had, two weeks before the escape of Burnett, been
succeeded in that office by Newell D. Tibbals, Esq. The new prosecutor was, of course, deeply
chagrined that so important a prisoner should have been allowed to escape; in fact, he did his
utmost to prevent it; for, being in Randolph, late on the afternoon of the day of the escape, he
received a hint that a party of Burnett's friends had gone to Akron to aid him to break jail. Mr.
Tibbals hurried home to thwart their game, but arrived a few minutes too late; it afterwards
recurring to him that the fugitive must have passed him between Akron and Middlebury, as he
met a team driving very rapidly in that direction, though it was too dark to recognize any of the
party in the wagon.
Prosecutor Tibbals also organized a posse, in Randolph, to recapture the prisoner, who was
supposed to be concealed about the premises of his father-in-law. This house was placed under
surveillance, but it • transpired that he had been concealed elsewhere, and on being driven, late in
the night, to his father-in-law's residence to bid his wife good bye, preparatory to leaving the
country, on discovering that the house was being watched, Burnett was driven rapidly away, and
on being closely followed up, jumped from the wagon and secreted himself in a dense piece of
timber, thus finally making good his escape.
GIVING "AID AND COMFORT" TO REBELS.--But the indefatigable prosecutor, was not to be
thus baffled, and at once adopted a system of tactics that ultimately secured the return and proper
punishment of the fugitive burglar. Through certain order-loving and patriotic citizens of
Randolph and Rootstown, a strategetic policy was adopted by which, from mysterious letters
received and mailed, as well as from words dropped by Burnett's friends, it was soon ascertained
that the fugitive was in "Egypt," or southern Illinois, and, through Detective James Burlison, it
was sought to locate him with sufficient accuracy to "go for him ;" but as he was rather migratory
in his habits, and as the first excitement of the war was then on, it was deemed inadvisable to
incur the expense of doing so upon an uncertainty. During the latter part of 1861, however,
Prosecutor Tibbals learned that the young man .had been arrested by the government for giving
aid and encouragement to rebels, and that, with other prisoners of State, he was confined in Fort
Lafayette, in New York harbor. He immediately arranged with J. A. Kennedy, Esq., chief of
police of New York City, to keep an eye upon him, and in case of his release from thd fort, to
detain him until sent for.
676 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
IN HIS OLD QUARTERS AGAIN.—Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, in the latter pad of
February, 1862, issued an order for the release of all State prisoners confined in the several
government forts. On Saturday, March 1, 1862, about noon, Prosecutor Tilt bals received a
telegram from Chief Kennedy that the gentleman was in his custody subject to requisition. He at
once secured tin services of expDeputy Sheriff, but then Deputy U. S. Marshal Townsend, who at
once started for New York, via Pittsburg and Philadelphia (the A. & G. W. was not then
finished), where In arrived Monday afternoon.
Meantime Sheriff Chisnell went to Columbus to procure front Governor David Tod a requisition
upon the governor of New York This was received by Mr. Townsend by mail, on Tuesday' and or
Wednesday he went to Albany, where he secured the necessary documents for returning the
fugitive to Ohio. On Thursday after noon, with his prisoner securely ironed, he started on the
return trip' via the New York & Erie and Lake Shore route' arriving in Akron Saturday noon just
one week after the receipt of Chief Kennedy's telegram. Of course, Burnett was received with
"open arms" by Sheriff Chisnell, who did not thereafter take any conned• erable amount of stock
in his "gentlemanly" pretension, but exercised the strictest surveillance' over both him and those
of his friends who thenceforth called upon him.
FINALLY PLEADS GUILTY.—At the March term of court, 1862 the case of the State of Ohio
vs. Sobieski Burnett being called, the attorney for the defense, General Lucius V. Bierce, moved
for a continuance, on the ground of the absence of a material witness This motion was promptly
overruled by Judge Stephenson Burke with the remark that the accused had had ample time,
during the year or more that he had been out of jail' to hunt up all the testi mony necessary for his
defense. Thereupon Burnett changed hi plea from not guilty, to guilty, and was at once sentenced
by Judge Burke to nine years, imprisonment in the penitentiary.
This abrupt termination of the affair was somewhat of a surprise to Prosecutor Tibbals, who had
expected from General Bierce and his associates, a most stubborn resistance, at every point' t(
meet which, by the most indefatigable labor, he had forged at unbroken and irresistible chain of
circumstantial evidence; tracing Burnett from point to point, both before and after the
commission of the burglaries in question, with other incriminating fact that could not possibly
have failed to work a conviction if spread out before the court and jury. It was probably a
knowledge a these efforts that induced the defendant's attorneys, on the failure of their motion for
another continuance, to so suddenly advise hin to change his plea from not guilty to guilty, a
proceeding, to which probably lessened the magnitude of his sentence, at by hands of Judge
Burke, by from one to three years, because of the considerable expense thus saved to the county.
THE WATCHES RECOVERED.— Burnett when at first arrested, acknowledged the robberies
to his attorneys, Messrs. Bierce Baldwin, and to them confided the place of concealment of th
stolen watches. They went to Rootstown to get them, but the first time failed to find them and
returned to the jail for more definite directions. The second effort was more successful, the
watches, wrapped in cotton batting, and enclosed in an old oyster
BURNETT'S THOROUGH REFORMATION - 677
can, having been buried near the barn of Mr. Bassett, the father-in-law. These watches were
placed in the safe of Messrs. Bierce & Baldwin, and after his escape from jail, restored to their
owners, by General Bierce, upon their paying to him $40, to cover expenses, that being, as he
alleged, the only compensation they received for their services in Burnett's defense—Burnett
having probably expended the money stolen at Peninsula, previous to his first arrest, as above
stated.
BURNETT'S LIFE IN PRISON.—The prison life of Burnett seems to have been of the
"gentlemanly" order for a long time, insomuch that he had gained over three-fourths of a year,
under the prison rules, for good behavior, which, had it continued, would have secured his
release in about seven years. Then an infraction of the rules occurred, by which all the time he
had thus gained was eited. The prison records do not state the nature of the infraction, but there
was, at that time, a report in circulation among his Portage county acquaintances, that in a similar
manner to that in which he had been supplied with tools to work himself out of jail here, he had
been furnished, through the friends who had been permitted to visit him, with a couple of
revolvers, and that he had headed an emeute which came very near liberating a large number of
prisoners. It was also rumored that for this act, he was subject to the severest punishment known
to prison rules—the pump process—until all evidence of insubordination had been washed out of
him. Be this as it may, the entire score of previous good behavior was, by that infraction of the
rules, entirely canceled. But from that time on, his conduct was exemplary, and he again earned
for himself a credit of about 90 days, his release from the penitentiary being on the 17th day of
December, 1870, just eight years and nine months from the date of his incarceration.
BURNETT'S THOROUGH REFORMATION.—Previous to going to the penitentiary, Burnett
had sworn dire vengeance against certain prominent citizens of Rootstown and Randolph, who
had taken an active part in securing his arrest, and particularly those who had been instrumental
in effecting his recapture. As the time for his release drew near, the threatened parties were
consequently somewhat fearful for the safety of their property and persons, when his liberation
should finally take place. But immediately, on gaining his liberty, Burnett visited all of the
persons he had threatened, Ind frankly told them that he had enough; that they need have no fears
from him, for that henceforth he intended to lead the life of an honest man and a law-abiding
citizen. And this resolution, I am glad to learn, he has consistently adhered to, being not only
highly respected in that portion of Portage county where he for many years resided, but having
also, for a portion of the time, been honored with an important public trust—that of United States
mail carrier—the responsible duties of which he to have discharged with the utmost fidelity. He
is now located in the western part of the State, and said to be doing well.
BOTH A WARNING RIND EXAMPLE.—The career of Sobieski Burnett should serve as a
warning to boys against waywardness and wrong doing, and as an example to those whose
derelictions have impelled them in the direction of a life of crime, to " right about face," and earn
for themselves that honorable position in society that an upright life will always bring.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE PENINSULA UXORICIDE--HENRY KERST, THE WIFE MURDERER—CAUSES
LEADING TO THE TRAGEDY — INTEMPERANCE AND ABUSE — DIVORCE
PRAYED FOR—SHOT TO DEATH ON THE PUBLIC HIGHWAY—GREAT
EXCITEMENT— SEARCH FOR THE MURDERER—SHOOTS AT HIS PURSUERS—
ARREST AND PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION—COMMITTED TO
JAIL--INDICTMENT AND TRIAL—THE INSANITY " DODGE "—MURDER IN THE
FIRST DEGREE—MOTION HON FOR NEW TRIAL OVERRULED—SENTENCED
TO BE HUNG—WRIT OF ERROR DENIED—PREPARATIONS FOR
EXECUTION—SUICIDE IN HIS CELL— GHASTLY EXHIBITION—CORONER'S
INQUEST, ETC.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
HENRY KERST, or "Kasch," as he was familiarly called' was a native of Germany, and with his
German wife and several children, had emigrated to America some time in the early fifties,
settling in Peninsula, in this county. Kerst was a quarryman and stone-cutter by trade, which
business he followed at Peninsula' but, after a few years, sought to increase his income by the
sale of whisky, at his house on the bank of the canal, in the south part of the village, his wife, in
addition to her household duties, aiding in the sale of whisky as occasion seemed to require.
It soon became evident to the neighbors that "Kasch" was one of his own best customers, being
frequently intoxicated' and at such times exhibiting great violence of temper, especially towards
his own family. Finally the wife sickened and died, and "Kasch" seemed to do better for a time,
so much so that after a reasonable period had elapsed, after the death of his wife, he secured a
second wife in the person of Miss Marian Wiman, or. Viman, to whom he was married by Justice
Merill Boody, at Peninsula, on the 18th day of May, 1860.
THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLE.
For a few months the relations of Mr. Kerst and his new wife seem to have been amicable and
pleasant, but his drink habit increasing upon him, he soon began to sharply criticise the conduct
of wife number two—she didn't manage household matters as economically as wife number one
did; she didn't sell as much whisky and didn't account to him for all money received for what she
did sell, etc. In short, he became very violent and abusive towards her, threatening to kill her, her
cries at one time' "Kasch is trying to kill me," bringing a neighbor to the house to quiet the
disturbance; proceedings being instituted against him for assaul with intent to kill. Through the
intervention of friends' and o his promise of better treatment, Mrs. Kerst withdrew her co plaint,
and, as on several occasions, after being driven away b his cruelty, returned to her wifely duties.
DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS.—But about the 1st of May, 1861, the conduct of Kerst became so
outrageously abusive that Mrs. Kerst left him for good, taking refuge in the family of Mr.
Frederick N.
THE MURDER, ARREST, ETC. - 679
Boies, a short distance south of the village, on the upper road, upon the west side of the river, and
immediately instituted proceedings for divorce on the charge of extreme cruelty, the court
granting her a writ of injunction restraining him from disposing of certain property to which she
looked for alimony, in case her prayer for divorce should be granted.
THE FATAL DAY.--Thus matters stood on Tuesday, the 14th day of May, 1861. Early in the
afternoon of that day, accompanied by Mrs. Boies, Mrs. Kerst went to the village to hold a
consultation with her attorneys, Wilbur F. Sanders and Jacob A. Kohler, Esqs., in regard to her
suit for divorce. There she encountered her irate husband, who was swaggering about the village
carrying a gun, which circumstance was not thought to have any special significance, inasmuch
as, being then in the height of the excitement at the beginning of the war, quite a number of
persons had met there for the purpose of forming a local military company, many of them also
carrying guns.
LYING IN AMBUSH.—On leaving the attorneys, Mrs. Kerst and Mrs. Boies started for home.
Kerst followed them, showering upon his wife such abusive epithets and threats, that they turned
back to remain until his wrath should abate, or until they could procure proper protection. Kerst
soon afterwards departing in the direction of his own house, the two women, about 4 o'clock,
again started for the Boies homestead. When about half way, and nearly opposite the residence of
Mr. Lawson Waterman, Kerst suddenly raised himself up from behind the fence, on the east side
of the road, and, resting his gun upon a rail of the fence, deliberately tired at his wife, the
charge—two bullets and several buck shot—horribly shattering her left wrist and entering her
body immediately below the breast bone. Both women turned and fled towards the village
screaming for help, Mrs. Kerst running about ten rods, only, when she fell to the ground and
expired in about twenty minutes.
THE MURDERER ARRESTED.—The utmost consternation and excitement immediately
prevailed, in and about Peninsula, and a searching party for the capture of the murderer was at
once organized. The house of the murderer was thoroughly searched, and the thicket and ravine,
beyond, between the canal and the road where the shooting occurred, were carefully explored,
and at length he was dragged from the thick jungle where he had hidden, but not until he had
discharged his gun once or twice at his pursuers, though fortunately without serious
consequences.
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION.—Notwithstanding the desire of several of those present to
deal summary justice to the murderer, better counsel prevailed, and the law was permitted to take
its course. Jacob A. Kohler, Esq., being present, as above stated, filed an affidavit, before Justice
Merrill Boody, and a preliminary hearing was at once had, the witnesses examined, besides Mrs.
Boies, being T. B. Fairchild, Isaiah Humphrey, Dr. Elwyn Humphrey, Dr. William E.
Chamberlain, Wilbur F. Sanders, Jacob A. Kohler, John Crissick, Jorgen Petersen and James
Seeley.
After hearing the evidence in regard to the shooting, and the previous and subsequent conduct of
the accused, Justice Boody held him to answer to the crime of deliberate and premeditated
murder, placing the mittimus in the hands of Special
680 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
Constable Richard P. Clark, who, within four hours from the commission of his fearful crime' by
private conveyance' safely lodged the prisoner in the county jail, 14 miles distant. At the ensuing
term of the Court of Common Pleas, commencing May 28, 1861, Judge James S. Carpenter on
the bench, Prosecuting Attorney, Newell D. Tibbals, Esq., brought the matter to the attention of
the grand jury, who returned an indictment of several counts' charging the defendant with
malicious, premeditated and deliberate murder.
PLEA OF NOT GUILTY.—CONTINUANCE.--On Monday, June 3d, 1861, the prisoner was
brought into court by Sheriff Jacob Chisnell, who, on hearing the indictment read by Prosecutor
Tibbals, entered a plea of not guilty. Counsel for the defense, consisting of William McNeil,
Esq., of Peninsula, and Lucius V. Bierce and Charles A. Baldwin, Esqs., of Akron, then asked for
a continuance of the case until the next term of court, to enable them to properly prepare their
defense' which' owing to the short time that had elapsed since the commission of the crime' was
granted by the court.
THE FINAL TRIAL.—At the following term of the court, with Judges James S. Carpenter and
William H. Canfield upon the bench, the defendant was put upon his trial, on the 26th day of
November, 1861. After the jury had been impaneled, another motion was made for continuance
on account of the illness of one material witness, and the absence of another' on behalf of the
defense, but the court overruled the motion, and the trial proceeded, the "sick" witness, a
daughter of the accused, residing in Cleveland' being present and testifying in behalf of her
father, notwithstanding her alleged disability.
THE INSANITY DODGE.—The trial occupied nearly two weeks, about 70 witnesses being
examined, including several professional experts on lunacy, and the case was very closely
contested on both sides, Hon. William H. Upson assisting Prosecutor Tibbals on behalf of the
State. The killing at the time and place, and in the manner charged in the indictment' was
admitted by the defense' the plea of insanity being interposed' and all the testimony on the part of
the defense being for the purpose of establishing that theory. Defendant's daughter (and perhaps
otters) testified that about twelve years before' he had been afflicted with sun-stroke in Germany,
and that five or six years later, after coming to America' he had a similar attack, quite a number
of witnesses testifying that he had often acted in a strange and unusual manner, indicating that he
was of unsound mind, Prosecutor Tibbals' on the other hand, introducing a number of medical
experts, who testified' from professional examination, to their belief that the prisoner was sane'
among others Superintendent Kendrick, of the Northern Ohio Hospital for the Insane, at
Newburg.
In addition to the testimony thus adduced in his behalf' the "insane" demonstrations of the
defendant, throughout the trial, were constant and unremitting' consisting mainly of facial
contortions, unintelligible mutterings and a seeming utter indifference and oblivion to the
proceedings that were being had, though at one time, during the argument of Prosecutor Tibbals'
while setting forth the quarrelsome character of the defendant' and his brutal and inhuman
treatment of his wife, he so for forgot the role he
SENTENCED TO BE EXECUTED - 681
was playing, that, in his anger, he sprang to his feet, and seizing the chair upon which he had
been sitting, essayed to strike that official down' but was was prevented from doing so by the
court constable who had the prisoner in charge.
CHARGE, VERDICT, ETC.—At the close of the testimony for the defense, the case was ably
argued on both sides, occupying nearly two full days. Judge Carpenter charged the jury in a very
clear and impartial manner, lucidly expounding the law relating to homicicles, and the rule of
applying evidence in such cases, particularly in cases like the one on trial, where insanity is
interposed as the sole defense. The jury retired to their room at about 11 o’clock A. M. on
Thursday, December 5, 1861, and in less than three-fourths of an hour had agreed upon a verdict
of
MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.
Counsel for the defense immediately moved for a new trial, because the verdict was not
warranted by the evidence, and for several other alleged reasons, mostly of a technical nature,
which motion, after full argument for and against, was overruled by the court, on the 18th day of
December, 1861. The defendant being in court, was ordered by Judge Carpenter to stand up for
sentence, to which command no attention was paid. He was raised then to a perpendicular by
Sheriff Chisnell and his deputy, and held in that position during the delivery of the sentence, and,
in the language of the newspaper. reporter of the scene, "in the meantime keeping up the crazy
dodge, but more successfully imitating driveling idiot, or the stupid, maudlin appearance of a
drunken an."
The court room was crowded, and many believing his " insane" demonstrations genuine,
expressed great sympathy for the doomed man, but after leaving the court room, and getting past
the crowd in the corridors, on his return to jail, he so far recovered his sanity as to inquire of the
jailer when he was to hang. After reviewing the testimony, the fairness of the trial, the verdict of
the jury and the full concurrence of the court therewith, Judge Carpenter said:
"The history of your case is briefly this: You married the victim of your crime about a year before
her death. You did not live happily together. Perhaps she had not all the art of soothing your
ferocious temper that a former wife, who had followed you from Germany, had had. You
complained that she was not as obedient as the other; that she would not sell whisky at your
grocery like the other, and, that she kept back the money. You complained that she was not as
good a housekeeper as the other; that your affairs were not as prosperous; that you were not as
happy with her as with the other. You grew abusive, violent, and at length drove her from your
house. * * * After repeated interference of neighbors in her defense, she at length left you and
instituted proceedings for divorce. She was returning from an interview with her counsel and a
preparation of papers for that purpose, to a neighbor's where she had taken refuge from your
violence, when, having waylaid her path, with a gun you had carefully loaded, you took deadly
aim and fired upon your wife. She fled from you and fell down and died, and her spirit
went to her God and your God.
682 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
"The stormy out-bursts of your temper, probably the result of habitual license under intoxicating
stimulants, easily suggested your defense of insanity, a defense which you attempted to aid
before the jury by simulating paroxysms of the terrible visitation. But the twelve jurors' while too
humane to be indifferent to the slightest indications in your favor, were too discerning and
reflective to be the dupes of imposture.
"How vain, then, how utterly unavailing will be all simulations and dissemblings--all pretenses
and self-deceivings—before the God who looks upon the heart! Think, I beseech you, of your
crime. Think of your past life. Think how you will answer to Him who declared in His own great
law for you, and for us all, 'Thou shalt not kill.'
"And now, as you are soon to pass beyond the reach of human pity, I pray you fly to Him whose
pity is ever interceding' whose atoning blood can blot out the hand-writing of your guilt' whose
arms are ever open to your repentant soul.
"The judgment of the court, and the sentence of the law is, that you be taken hence to the jail of
the county, that you be there safely kept by the jailer thereof, until Friday, the 25th day of April,
1862, and that on said 25th day of April you be taken to the place of execution' and there, on
Friday, the said 25th day of April, 18f2, between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 3
o'clock in the afternoon of said day, you, Henry Kerst, be hanged by the neck until you are dead;
and may He who is the Resurrection and the Life, stand by you in that hour of need."
SUPREME COURT APPEALED TO.—A carefully drawn bill of exceptions having been
prepared by defendant's counsel, application was made to the Supreme Court for the allowance of
a writ of error, which was argued before that body, at Columbus, on Saturday, January 4, 1862,
by General L. V. Bierce in behalf of the condemned prisoner, and Prosecutor N. D. Tibbals on
behalf of the State—the latter's first plea before the Supreme Court. The application was denied,
the decision being announced by Chief Justice Scott. Strong efforts were also made, by counsel
and friends, to secure from Governor David Tod a commutation of sentence from death to
imprisonment for life. But, after a full review of the case, Governor Tod declined to interfere, so
that there was nothing left but to proceed with the preparations for the execution.
HIS OWN EXECUTIONER.—Sheriff Chisnell was therefore getting the necessary paraphernalia
ready for carrying out the sentence of the court upon the doomed man. The gallows—the same
which had originally been provided for the execution of James Parks' as hereafter recorded—was
stored in the loft of the jail barn, ready to be set up when the fatal day arrived. The rope,
manufactured by Nahum Fay, Esq., of Akron, had been procured, and the proper assistants and
witnesses had been provided, but the customary provision for a "dead watch" had been neglected,
and on the corning of April 23d, two days before the execution was to have taken place, it was
found that the brutal uxoricide had taken th law into his own hands, and had inflicted upon
himself the jus penalty due to his terrible crime.
A GHASTLY SPECTACLE.—When the fact became known through out the town that Kerst
had committed suicide, the excitemen was intense and hundreds of men and boys rushed to the
jail to
HIS OWN EXECUTIONER - 683
learn the particulars, and gratify a morbid curiosity of viewing the body of the double
murderer—Sheriff Chisnell very properly permitting the body to remain in the position in which
it was found, for several hours, to await the action of the coroner—and the distorted features, the
staring eyes, the protruding tongue, have doubtless haunted many sensitive witnesses of the
ghastly spectacle to the present time.
HOW IT WAS DONE.—The prison beds at that time were composed of strips of heavy canvas,
fastened, by strong cords, to hooks in the walls, about two and a half or three feet from the cell
floor. Kerst had unfastened his bed from the hooks, and laid it upon the floor' at the back side of
the cell. He had then made a loop at the end of one of the cords, at the corner of the sacking, and
twisting the cord about his neck, slipped the loop over one of the hooks, and, by simply lying
down, had deliberately strangled himself to death, an act that must have required the utmost
coolness of mind arid strength of nerve to accomplish.
THE CORONER'S INQUEST.—A messenger was sent to Cuyahoga Falls' to notify Coroner
Joseph T. Holloway, who the same day issued a warrant to Constable Merrick Burton to summon
a jury of inquest, which was done accordingly. The jury after viewing the body, and its
surroundings, and hearing the testimony of Sheriff Jacob Chisnell and Joel Honeywell, returned
their verdict as follows:
"We, the jury, do find that the deceased came to his death by hanging or strangling himself with a
small rope or cord, about four feet long, which was by him fastened to a hook in the wall, about
three feet from the floor, evidently procured by himself from his hammock in the cell of said
jail."
Apropos of the death penalty, while the writer, in his eight years' experience, as sheriff of
Summit county, was fortunately spared the disagreeable duty of executing a human
being—though having one or two very narrow escapes—he was an early advocate of the
measure, recently enacted into a law, of having all the executions of the State performed in the
State Penitentiary, thus obviating the excitements, and frequent disturbances, and sometimes
barbarous scenes, incident to local executions at county-seats.
It is proper to state, in concluding thig chapter, that the children of the legally condemned, and
self-executed wife-murderer, are all highly honorable people, and greatly respected in the
communities in which they reside; the fearful crime of the father doubtless being the result of
indulgence in intoxicating liquors rather than innate depravity—another warning to all, especially
he young, to forever totally abstain from the use of every species of intoxicating drinks.
CHAPTER XXXI.
BOSTON'S LAST GREAT SENSATION-THE WASHBURN-PEOPLES HOMICIDE-AN
IRATE HUSBAND'S VENGEANCE ON THE INVADER OF HIS MARITAL DOMAIN
-PREPARATIONS FOR THE BLOODY DEED -CONFRONTING HIS VICTIM IN HIS
OWN HOUSE-VICTIM FLEES FOR HIS LIFE-AVENGER GIVES CHASE,
SHOOTING AS HE RUNS-FOUR SHOTS TAKE EFFECT' TWO FATAL-MURDERER
WALKS FOUR MILES TO GIVE HIMSELF UP-MAGISTRATE FAILS TO
COMPREHEND THE SITUATION- -WALKS BACK HOME AGAIN AND QUIETLY
RETIRES TO BED-ARRESTED ON MAYOR'S WARRANT--CORONER'S INQUEST
ON VICTIM-MURDERER COMMITTED TO JAIL-INDICTMENT BY GRAND
JURY-HEARING IN COURT OF COMMON PLEAS-BOTH HEREDITARY INSANITY
AND UNCONTROLLABLE IMPULSE URGED IN DEFENSE-EXCITING TRIAL
-VERDICT, MURDER IN SECOND DEGREE- IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE-STILL
DOING PENANCE-THE CONVICT'S FAMILY-WIFE DIVORCED AND
RE-MARRIED-CHILDREN HIGHLY RESPECTABLE YOUNG LADIES' ETC.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
FROM 1835 to 1838, there lived in Akron, with his family, a very clever but rather eccentric man
by the name of Ebenezer Sumner Washburn, a native of Haddam, Conn., then about 40 years of
age. Though not college-bred, Mr. Washburn was well educated, studious and of quite a literary
turn of mind, often contributing articles to the local press, and possessing considerable talent as a
poet. Mr. Washburn was, by profession, a teacher, and while in Akron taught during the Winter
season in one or more contiguous districts not now remembered; in the Summer performing such
convenient manual labor as he could find to do in the village and among the neighboring farmers.
In the latter part of 1838, Mr. Washburn removed his family into a cabin' standing between the
canal and the river' a short distance south of "Johnny Cake Lock," near the north line of
Northampton, and in the Winter of 1838, '39 was engaged in teaching a school near what is now
known as the Mix farm, on the east side of the river, ferrying himself over, morning and night, in
a "dugout," or log canoe, generally accompanied by several of his own and neighbor's children'
who were in attendance upon his school.
A TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE.—On the morning of February 14' 1839, taking with him three
of his own children and a 12-year-old daughter of Mr. William Hardy, he started to cross the
river in his frail craft, which, from the turbulence of the current' owing to a recent freshet, was
capsized in the middle of the stream' and all four of the children drowned, Mr. Washburn himself
narrowly escaping a similar fate.
This sad bereavement cast a deep gloom over the minds of both Mr. and Mrs. Washburn,
producing settled melancholy and despondency in both, though he continued to teach for many
years in Bath and Richfield, where they afterwards lived' while Mrs. Washburn continued to
minister faithfully to the care and comfort of their increasing and growing family.
A PATRIOTIC SOLDIER - 685
VENDRUTH WASHBURN.—To mitigate the sorrow of the bereaved family for the loss of their
little ones, other children were from time to time born to them' among the rest, on the 7th day of
January' 1845' a son, whom they christened Vendruth. This son grew vigorously' and being bright
as a child, and sprightly as a lad, though not taking very readily to his books, his father gave him
as good an education as his circumstances would admit of, at the same time requiring him' as he
grew older, to aid in the support of the family' by performing such labor as could be found for
such a hoy to do among the farmers of the neighborhood.
THE BOY SOLDIER.—Thus matters stood at the breaking out of the war' in 1861. Though then
but 16 years old, the heart of young Washburn was at once fired with patriotic ardor, and though
considered rather too young to be received into the volunteer service, yet, being robust of stature,
by representing himself as 18 years of age, he secured enlistment in the regular army, with which
he served three full years, afterwards going into the veteran volunteer service, in which, after
serving about six months, he was taken prisoner, and being afterwards paroled returned home,
but making a most faithful soldier throughout.
THAT MIDDLE INITIAL " D."—The reader will have noticed that the name given to the boy in
question' was " Vendruth'" only. But' probably from the fact that the accent' in the pronunciation
of the name, was placed upon the last syllable' on his enlisting in the army it was taken to be a
double name' and he was accordingly entered upon the army rolls as "V. D. Washburn'" and for
the purpose of future identification as such honorably discharged soldier' should circumstances
make such identification necessary, these initials were adopted and retained.
HE TAKES TO HIMSELF A WIFE.On the 5th day of October, 1865, the ex-soldier boy, then
but little more than 21 years of age, applied to Probate Judge Stephen H. Pitkin, for a marriage
license for himself and Miss Ellen Elizabeth Kelly, a- resident of the township of Boston' the
marriage being solemnized the same day by Justice Wm. L. Clarke, of Akron. The newly wedded
couple established themselves in a small single-room cabin in the northwestern portion of Boston
township' a short distance south of the residence of the mother of the bride, and about
three-fourths of a mile east of the parents of the groom. Here they lived quietly and, so far as is
known, happily, until the Summer of 1870, two little girls, then respectively four and two years
old, having in the meantime been born to them; the husband comfortably supporting his little
family by general labor among the neighboring farmers.
TROUBLE IN STORE FOR THEM.—Charles Peoples' a young single man of the neighborhood,
and about the same age, or perhaps a little older, also an ex-soldier, was own cousin to Mrs.
Washburn, and' working about from farm to farm, with no definite place of abode' made the
house of his friend a sort of headquarters' his cousin, Mrs. Washburn, doing his washing and
mending, and sometimes caring for him for days at a time when sick or unable to secure
employment.
Thus matters stood on the first of July, 1870, soon after which, from certain developments'
Washburn became cognizant of the fact that, taking advantage of his absence, and in spite of the
relationship existing between them, Peoples had criminally and
686 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
forcibly invaded the sanctity of his home. This knowledge very naturally aroused within him a
very deep sense of indignation, and he determined to call the betrayer of his confidence, and the
despoiler of his domestic happiness, to account, for the great wrong he had done to him and his.
Though Peoples had visited the house several times, nothing had been said to him by Washburn
about the matter up to Saturday, the 16th day of July, 1870. In the meantime, on Sunday, the
10th day of July, being already the owner of a revolver, he had purchased a supply of ammunition
at the grocery store of Mr. Daniel Peck, in Peninsula, and returning home, had, in the presence of
a neighbor by the name of John H. Johnson, cleaned and loaded the revolver therewith. This, it
was afterwards claimed by Washburn, was done without any intention of using the weapon upon
Peoples, himself, but for the purpose of enabling his wife to defend herself against the advances
of her libidinous cousin, should he again attempt to criminally assault her.
THE FATAL DAY.—On Saturday morning, July 16, 1870, Washburn went to the farm of Mr.
James W. Lockert, in the northeast part of Richfield, taking his oldest little girl along with him as
far as the house of his parents, leaving her in the care of her grandmother Washburn, until his
return. Working through the forenoon, and taking dinner at Mr. Lockert's, he started to return
home between 1 and 2 o'clock.
Soon after reaching his mother's, Peoples came along, traveling in the same direction. Washburn
inquired of Peoples if he was its going to his house, and being answered in the affirmative, the
two men, with the little girl, soon started on together. It does not appear that their conversation,
or their actions towards each other, were anything but cordial on the way, no hint whatever
having best been communicated to Peoples, by Washburn, in regard to his grievances.
A FEARFUL TRAGEDY.--On arriving at the house, Peoples was greeted kindly by his cousin,
Mrs. Washburn, and the two men seated themselves upon the lounge. Presently the nearest
neighbor, Mr. John H. Johnson, returning from the spring with a pail of water, came in and
setting his pail upon the table, picked up an accordion and, seating himself in the door,
commenced playing on it, the conversation becoming general; after a little all three taking seats
outside the house and entertaining each other with stories and incidents of the war.
A little later, Washburn requested Johnson to go home' as he wanted to have a private talk with
Peoples, and Johnson' pleasantly remarking that he would have gone before if .he had told
him to, took up his pail of water and started. He had gone but a short distance when Washburn
called him back and requested him to take the children along, as had frequently been his custom;
so again setting down his pail-of water, he took the youngest child in his arms and the other by
the hand and started for his own cabin, some fifteen or twenty rods distant.
On the departure of Johnson, Washburn and Peoples again seated themselves upon the lounge.
After some general conversation, Washburn accused Peoples of his perfidy and wrong doing;
which accusation Peoples at first denied, but finally acknowledged, and to Washburn's inquiry as
to what he (Peoples), would do were
PLANNING HIS DEFENSE - 687
he in his (Washburn's), place, he replied that he would try and settle it if he could, so as not have
the affair become public. Washburn then demanded, as his ultimatum for settlement, that Peoples
should leave the country, and never return, to which Peoples demurred, and finally announcing,
with an oath, that he would do as he had a mind to, started from the lounge, when Washburn
raised his revolver, which he had previously taken from the nail where it was hanging behind the
door, and fired. Peoples rushed from the house and fled into the woods, Washburn following and
firing as they ran, both climbing over the fence in the rear of the house in their flight. About
thirty or forty rods from the fence Peoples fell upon his face, and Washburn coming up placed
the muzzle of the revolver against the back of his head and sent a bullet crashing through his
brain. The autopsy disclosed four wounds; a flesh wound in the left hand, a flesh wound in the
right ear' a fatal wound in the left breast and a fatal wound in the back part of the head.
ANOTHER " MCFARLAND AFFAIR."—About a year previous to the events here written of,
there had been enacted a domestic tragedy in the city of New York, which had created intense
excitement' not only in that city, but through the entire country, the parties to which were a
shyster-lawyer by the name of Daniel McFarland, his divorced wife (who, as Miss Abby Sage,
had won success and popularity as a writer), and Mr. Albert Deane Richardson, a writer on the
New York Tribune, and who had been one of its most brilliant army correspondents in the War
of the Rebellion, and after the war had written a very graphic and popular life of General Grant.
McFarland had become extremely jealous of the attentions bestowed upon his talented wife, by
her many male admirers, and at length became so unkind and abusive that a separation was had'
the oldest of their two children remaining with the father and the youngest with the mother.
Temporarily migrating to Indiana, she had, under the then free and easy divorce laws of that
State, secured a divorce from her husband, with the custody of the winger child confirmed to her,
soon afterwards returning to New ork and resuming her literary labors.
In these troubles she had been especially befriended by Mr. Richardson, who, after her return
from New York, became very attentive to her, with a view to matrimony. This very greatly
exasperated the ex-husband, McFarland, who, going to the Tribune building on the 1st day of
December, 1869, made a deadly assault upon the unarmed victim of his wrath, fatally shooting
hirn as he was fleeing for his life. Richardson, after lingering a few hours; died from the effects
of his wounds, but not until he had been married, by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, to the lady, for
befriending whom, he had lost his life, and had executed a will endowing her with such property
as he possessed. McFarland was, of course, arrested, but admitted to bail, and after a delay of
many months, and with full opportunity, by himself and through his counsel and friends, for
witness and jury mixing' was brought to trial with the anticipated result of a triumphant acquittal,
on the ground that the murderous attack and fatal shooting were done under the influence of an
"uncontrollable impulse," notwithstanding the evident preparation he had made to accomplish
that result.
688 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
On finding that he had probably killed his victim' Washburn called to his neighbor Johnson who,
though hearing the shots had no conception of their fatal import. Being busy reading, in his own
cabin, he did not immediately respond to the call' when Washburn, in a louder tone' called again.
On going to the door and inquiring what was wanted, Washburn replied, with an oath, "I have
shot Charlie Peoples, and I want you to come over help take care of him." On going with him to
where Peoples la the woods, some 40 or more rods from Washburn's house, speaking to him,
there was but a single gasp before life extinct. Telling Johnson why he had killed Peoples, and
requ ing him to get another neighbor, by the name of Sutton' to take care of Peoples' body, said
he was going to Peninsula to himself up, at the same time telling Johnson to take care of
revolver, and not disturb, the two remaining loads.
"GIVING HIMSELF UP."- On reaching Peninsula, Washburn first went to the store of Justice
Merrill Boody, who at the moment, was in the midst of a business transaction with a gentleman
from Cleveland, and inquired as to whether any money been paid in on a small judgment in his
favor against his mo in-law. On receiving a negative answer, Washburn said tha believed he
would give him self up. Having been a good deal ann about the judgment in question, and feeling
a little prov at the interruption to his business transaction with the Cleve gentleman, and not
having the remotest idea of what lie want to "give himself up" for, Justice Boody curtly replied' "I
don want you—I wouldn't give two cents for you!"
Thereupon Washburn went to the office of Dr. Sumner Pixie and on meeting the doctor
exclaimed: "Here's another McFar land affair!" In reply to the doctor's question as to what meant,
Washburn told him what he had done, and why and ho he did it, and asked the doctor to advise
him what to do. The doctor advised 'him to go and give himself up to the authorities. Washburn
replied that he had already been to 'Squire Boody' hut that Boody said that he did not want him,
that he wouldn't give two cents for him' etc. The doctor then advised him to go back home and
attend to his own business.
PROMPT ACTION BY MAYOR McNEIL.—Washburn took the doctor's advice, went home,
ate his supper and went to bed' night setting in about the time he left the village for his home.
Doctor Pixley spread the news of the homicide' as detailed to him by the perpetrator thereof. In
the meantime, too, Johnson had summoned the neighbors, a number of whom had assembled
about the scene of the bloody tragedy, though, under the prevailing notion that a dead body must
not be removed from the place where found, until the coroner has first viewed it, it was left in the
woods all night. Mr. Henry Crissick filed an affidavit before Mayor William McNeil, of
Peninsula, who placed his warrant in the hands of Constable Otis W. Fitts, for the murderer's
arrest. Summoning a posse, the constable started for the scene of the murder, arriving at the
house of Washburn about midnight. He offered no resistance, but begged the constable to allow
him to remain with his family until morning, when he would report at any place that officer
might name, which, had his request been granted' he undoubtedly would have done.
THE PRISONER ON TRIAL - 689
A LAST LOOK AT HIS VICTIM.—But that indulgence Constable Titts could not grant, and he
accordingly dressed himself, and was soon ready to start. Going with the officer and others to
where the body of his victim lay, by the light of a lantern, carried by one of the party, he gazed
for the last time, as he supposed, upon the earthly remains of his former friend and comrade in
arms, slain by his own hand, without any audible expression of regret, or visible emotion, the
party reaching Peninsula about daylight on Sunday morning.
POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION.—Though the cause of the death of Charles Peoples was
abundantly apparent, from the repeated declarations of Washburn, Mayor McNeil deemed it
necessary to hold a coroner's inquest over the remains. The body, therefore, was removed, on
Sunday morning, to the town house in Peninsula, where, during the day, an autopsy was made by
Drs. Sumner Pixley and Elwyn Humphrey, to enable them to intelligently testify before the
mayor, on the preliminary examination of the prisoner, in regard to the nature and extent of the
wounds, which had been inflicted upon the deceased; Washburn inquiring afterwards, of Dr.
Humphrey, whether what he had suffered, from the conduct of Peoples' would not be considered
sufficient to drive him insane?
PRELIMINARY HEARING, INDICTMENT, ETC.
In mayor's court, on Monday morning, July 18, a preliminary examination was held before Mayor
McNeil, who, after the examination of a large number of witnesses, held the accused, without
bail, to answer to the charge of willful and premeditated murder, and on the same day he was
duly committed to jail by Constable Fitts. At the October term, 1870, of the Court of Common
Pleas for Summit county, Prosecuting Attorney, Jacob A. Kohler, Esq., laid Mayor McNeil's
transcript before the grand jury, which returned a "True Bill," containing some five or six counts,
charging the prisoner with the premeditated and malicious murder of Charles Peoples.
To this indictment, on its being read to him, in open court, by Prosecutor Kohler, the defendant
entered a plea of not guilty, and being destitute of means to employ counsel, General Alvin C. 's
Voris and Hon. Henry McKinney were assigned to defend him on the trial, which was set for
Monday, November 7, 1870, Governor Sidney Edgerton, being assigned to assist in the
prosecution.
THE FINAL HEARING.—At the time designated, Judge Washington W. Boynton presiding, the
prisoner was put upon his final trial. The 36 jurors originally summoned having been exhausted
without securing a full panel, several other venires were issued, and three full days were
consumed, and about 90 persons examined as to their qualifications, before twelve jurors
satisfactory to both the State and defendant were secured, the panel finally agreed upon being as
follows: Rees J. Thomas, Loten Hartle, Nathan Swinehart, Edwin R. Newell, Melchiah
Sherbondy, Vincent G. Harris, Thomas Wright, Elias Rothrock, Isaac Winters, Sylvester Van
Hyning, Alpheus Myers, William T. Bell.
THE PLEA OF INSANITY.—The case was opened with a clear and concise statement, by
Prosecuting Attorney Kohler, giving the main facts pertaining to the homicide, and the proofs
which
44
690 -AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
would be offered by the State, General Voris making a comprehensive statement in behalf of the
accused, from which, as slowing the theory of the defense, we quote as follows:
"The subject, of this awful visitation was born in this county, in 1845, and has always lived in
this vicinity, except the four years of the late war, when he' from the 16th to the 20th years of his
age, served as a soldier-three years in the regular army and one y( in a volunteer regiment. We
shall prove that in October, 1865, lie was married to the lady sitting here, who is, unfortunately,
hut innocently, the cause of the tragic death of Charles Peoples; that two children, one little girl
of four and another of two years 01 age' are the result of their union; that up to the time of his
marriage, the accused had filled the full measure of obligations to the laws and to community,
exhibiting nothing in his conduct of waywardness more than usual in the history of American
boys."
After commenting at length on the conduct of Peoples' and the causes leading to the fatal event,
General Voris concluded as follows: " We expect to show that the seeds of insanity were planted
in his system by the laws that gave him existence, and from maternal and paternal ancestors; that
in the Summer of 1863, while struggling on the fated field of Chickamauga, he had a sun-stroke
from whicb he never fully recovered; .that he was laboring under delusions at the time of the
alleged homicide; that whatever he may have done on the 16th day of July last, and however
atrocious his acts may appear to have been, they were the offspring or product of an insane mind,
overpowered by the overwhelming miseries tbat fiercely took possession of this unfortunate
man."
EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES.-Witnesses in chief, on behalf of the State, were introduced
as follows: Daniel Peck, Mrs. Newell Stocker, Miss Dustine Stocker, John H. Johnson, Lorenzo
Seeley. Dr. Sumner Pixley, Merill Boody, John Cole, Otis W. Fitts, Dr Elwyn Humphrey and
Wallace Humphrey, a day and a-half being occupied in their examination.
The witnesses for the defense were: Merrill Boody, Dr. Sumner Pixley, Dr. William Bowen, J. B.
Lambert, Harmon Graves, E. S. Washburn (father of the prisoner), Mrs. Elizabeth Washburn
(mother of accused), Ellen Elizabeth Washburn (wife of the accused, but who, being objected to
by the State, was ruled out), Vendruth D. Washburn (the defendant), Dr. A. E. Ewing, Dr.
William Bowen, about the same time being consumed in the examination in chief and
cross-examination as for the State.
TESTIMONY IN REBUTTAL.—Though interposing the plea of justifiable homicide, the entire
effort of the defense was to establish their theory of the mental unsoundness of their client' and
his lack of responsibility for the act which he had perpetrated. In rebuttal, to controvert the
insanity hypothesis, witnesses were introduced as follows: James W. Lockert, George
Greenleese, S. M. Campbell, John Cole, Dr. W. C. Jacobs, Sidney P. Conger, Alexander Snow,
Holland Snow, Jane Kelly (sister of the defendant's wife), Dr. George P. Ashmun, Dr. Thomas
McEbright, Charles Lemoin, Warren S. Wicks, John Chapman' William Chapman, Dr. C. F.' H.
Biggs, James Black, Peter Baumgardner, James Brittain, A. J. Sovacool, V. C. Carpenter, M. B.
Roach, E. D. Hancock, Henry S. Barnhart, Levi Newell, Patrick Agnew, Charles, Reed, Thomas
Smith and J. C. Templeton.
691 - ARGUMENTS OF COUNSEL—CHARGE, ETC.
ARGUMENTS OF COUNSEL.—Testimony closed on Monday evening the seventh day of the
trial. On Tuesday morning, Governor Edgerton addressed the jury, on behalf of the State, for
about two :hours in a full and candid review of the circumstances attending the homicide' and of
the evidence tending to show that the crime was not only deliberately planned, but inexorably
carried out; giving especial emphasis to the increasing tendency and the imminent danger of
interposing the plea of insanity as an excuse for the perpetration of the most flagrant and ruthless
crimes.
Hon. Henry McKinney followed in a very lucid analysis of the testimony bearing upon the
mental derangement of the accused, and of the effect that the real or supposed invasion of his
marital rights' would be likely to have upon a sensitive mind, especially a mind predisposed to
insanity by hereditary taint.
General Voris followed his colleague, on the defense, by a full and clear presentation of
authorities on the subject of insanity and its relation to crime, and in an earnest, eloquent and
solemn appeal to the jury for the acquittal of his unfortunate, rather than criminal, client.
Prosecuting Attorney Kohler, closing on behalf of the State, gave a brief but perspicuous review
of the laws governing the trials for homicide, the utter fallacy of the theory of insanity, either
hereditary or impulsive, as applicable to the case on trial' because of the manifest planning and
deliberation—the procuring of the ammunition and the careful cleaning and loading of the
revolver, nearly a week in advance; the sending away of his children.: the pursuit of his wounded
victim when he was fleeing from his murderous fury, and the ruthless sending of a bullet through
his brain while already in the agonies of death; and of his preconceived line of defense, by saying
to one doctor, "there is another McFarland affair," and inquiring of another, while returning from
holding an autopsy upon his victim, whether the treatment he had received at the hands of the
man he had slain would be considered enough to drive him insane, etc., all pointing to a most
deliberate and malicious murder; closing with a most powerful appeal to the jury to do full and
impartial justice between the accused and the State, to the end that her laws should be vindicated
and her citizens protected in their persons and their lives.
JUDGE BOYNTON'S CHARGE.—Judge Boynton occupied about an hour in delivering his
charge to the jury, carefully defining the several degrees of homicide, and the law applicable
thereto, and especially when hereditary insanity or uncontrollable impulse is interposed as a
defense, closing as follows:
"In view of what was said to you by one of the counsel for the defense, I deem it my duty to say
that public sentiment is not the law of the land. It may be made so by legislation, but until so
made it should be entirely disregarded in courts of justice. The personal safety of the victim--the
common welfare of the community' and the social order of the State, alike demand that the law,
as it is, should be strictly enforced. The result to be reached by you should be controlled by, and
arise from, an honest, careful and dispassionate consideration of the evidence, and by that only.
That the accused took the life of Charles Peoples is conceded. If he was insane when he fired the
fatal shot, as I have before said
692 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
to you, you should acquit him. If not, and you are clearly satisfied of his guilt, it is ybinding',
equally solemn and binding, to so declare by your verdict."
THE VERDICT, SENTENCE, ETC.—Under the charge of Judge Boynton, after a few hours'
deliberation, the jury returned their verdict as follows: "We, the jury, impaneled and sworn to
well and truly try, and true deliverance make between the State of Ohio and the prisoner at the
bar, Vendruth D. Washburn, do find him guilty of murder in the second degree. Edwin R.
Newell, foreman."
Counsel for the defense having achieved the main object of their efforts, in reducing the verdict
from the first to the second degree, thus averting the death penalty from their client, interposed
no motion new trial, or arrest of judgment, by proceedings in error, and on Monday, November
21, 1870, the prisoner was brought into court for sentence. On being asked the usual question by
Judge Boynton as to whether he had anything to say why the sentence of the law should not be
pronounced against him in accordance with the verdict, the prisoner passed up to the judge a slip
of paper, on which was written a request for a private interview with the judge. On reading it
Judge Boynton said that he could not grant the request, but that the prisoner, by himself or his
counsel, could make any statement he desired, whereupon Washburn then said:
"I claim that justice has not been done me. I don't know much about law, for I never read much,
but I know that any man would do just as I did under the same circumstances. There was enough
reason for my doing as I did. I have served my country several years, but I don’t know as the
lives I have saved, and the service I have done the government, and the sufferings I have gone
through, will make any difference with what will be done with me in this, case. When I shot it
was under an impulse that I could not resist, and I don't think that ought to be held responsible,
for I couldn't help it. I think I ought to have a new trial. This would be right and fair, for the judge
and jury that tried me would have done just as I did. It is unjust to punish me for what I did."
Judge Boynton, continuing said: "However brave you may have been in defense of the
government furnishes no reason to treat lightly the crime of which you stand convicted. The man
who shoots another must suffer the penalty the law has affixed to the crime. From the evidence
offered in the case, it seems that you were bent on killing Peoples.. You got him into your house,
away from all help, closed the door, took down the pistol from where it was hanging, and, as
your victim was hitching door' the lounge towards the door, in the vain hope of escaping, you
deliberately shot him, and followed him, shooting again and again passing sentence upon you, the
court has no discretion. The statute prescribes the punishment for murder in the second degree, of
which crime the jury have found you guilty, which punishment is imprisonment in the State's
prison for the term of your natural life. It is, therefore, the judgment of this court that you be
taken hence to the jail of the county, and thence, within thirty days, to the penitentiary, there to be
confined during your' natural life. It is no part of the sentence of this court that you be put into
solitary confinement."
PRISON—DIVORCE, ETC. - 693
CONDUCT OF THE PRISONER.-The bearing of the prisoner in jail had been generally pacific
and amiable up to the finding of the verdict of the jury and the certainty that a new trial would
not be granted. He then became somewhat ill-natured, and on going from the jail to the court
house to receive his sentence, stoutly resisted Sheriff Curtiss and his deputy in their attempt to
lock arms with him. He also became a good deal agitated during the delivery of the sentence, by
Judge Boynton, but quietly accompanied the officers back to jail.
IN THE PENITENTIARY.—From this time on, while awaiting transportation to Columbus, the
prisoner Was somewhat morose and irritable, and on starting with him, on November 28, 1870,
the sheriff anticipated considerable trouble on the way, but was happily disappointed, the
prisoner, having evidently concluded to submit to the inevitable with the best grace possible,
being perfectly quiet and amiable throughout the entire journey. The total cost of the trial
(exclusive of transportation fees), paid by the state treasurer to Sheriff Curtiss' was $734.05.
His PRISON DEPORTMENT.-For twenty-one years has Vendruth Washburn been separated
from the world by the gloomy walls of his prison-hpuse, and though he is reported by the prison
officers to have a clean record as to deportment and conformity to prison rules, he is very restive
under his protracted confinement, as is evidenced by the earnest appeals that he has from time to
time made to his counsel, and others, to intervene in his behalf in an effort to secure a pardon,
still claiming that, admitting his sanity at the commission of the act for which he was convicted,
he has been sufficiently punished for visiting summary vengeance upon the invader of his
domestic rights and marital sanctities.
PETITION FOR DIVORCE--CURIOUS ANSWER.—The wife, Ellen Elizabeth Washburn,
remained true to her original marital relations for nearly four years, when, on the 7th day of
October, 1874, through her attorney, William McNeil, Esq., she filed her petition in the court of
Common Pleas, setting forth that ever since her marriage to the said Vendruth D. Washburn, on
the 5th day of October, 1865, she had conducted herself toward him as a "faithful and obedient
wife;" and, after reciting the fact of his conviction, Sentence and incarceration in the penitentiary,
asking that she might be divorced' with custody of children, etc.
A copy of this petition, accompanied by the usual summons, eras duly served upon Washburn in
the penitentiary, by the sheriff )f. Franklin county. Washburn at once returned the copy of the
petition to County Clerk George W. Weeks, with the following request endorsed thereon:
STATE PRISON, COLUMBUS, Ohio,
October 27, 1874.
GEO. W. WEEKS, ESQ.—SIR : I write a few lines which I request you to read to the court in the
presence of the plaintiff, Ellen E. Washburn :
I V. D. Washburn, defendant' ask that the plaintiff above named withdraw her petition for
divorce. First, because she cannot obtain the divorce without committing the crimp of perjury;
she cannot truthfully affirm that she has been a true and a faithful and obedient wife of Defendant
V. D. Washburn. Second for her to obtain a divorce under such circumstances as exist in this
case, and to marry again is for her to live in adultery. Third, if she persists in pressing the suit for
divorce, it may compel me to reveal that which will be seriously to her disadvantage ; it may
bring her to the same humiliating position in which I am now placed. Fourth, I still have
694 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
so great a degree of regard for the mother of my children as to desire her best good and to desire
that she commit no further crime. Fifth, I do therefore send her this solemn warning—warning
her to turn from sin and from crime, and to escape temporal and eternal punishment before it is
everlastingly too late * * * before she drags herself and her own flesh and blood down to the
world of eternal woe. I have warned you, my once loved wife. Beware ! BEWARE ! BEWARE!
V. D. WASHBURN.
DECREE OF DIVORCE GRANTED.—Yet, notwithstanding this solemn warning, the petition
was not withdrawn, and the decree of divorce was duly granted, with the custody of the children,
then eight and six years old, respectively, confirmed to the mother, Mrs. Washburn was
subsequently married to Mr. James Hall, of Boston township, with whom she is still living. The
two daughters, now grown to womanhood' with commendable perseverance, in the face of
poverty and the odium inseparable from the wrongdoing and misfortunes of the father' have
secured for themselves a first-class education, with a view of teaching, and are both highly
respected by all who know them.
CHAPTER XXXII.
COPLEY IN EMBRYO—TOPOGRAPHY THE BIG SWAMP--A GAMY LOCALITY.
DANGER AND DEATH THERE' TOO—EFFORTS AT RECLAMATION--EARLY
SETTLEMENT ORGANIZATION, ETC.—GROWTH POPULATION, ETC.—
BUSINESS STATUS " SPIRIT " MANIFESTATIONS--PIONEER TEMPERANCE
SOCIETY— EDUCATION AND RELIGION — MILITARY RECORD — COPLEY IN
PUBLIC OFFICE—HER NEW RAILROAD—INSANE HOMICIDE, ETC.
THE STARTING POINT.
PREVIOUS to the erection of Summit county' in 1840, Copley was part and parcel of Medina
county, which, though designated as a separate county, was legally associated with Portage
county until its own distinct organization, in 1818. Copley was originally a part of what was
designated as Wolf Creek township, embracing the present townships of Copley, Norton,
Wadsworth, Sharon' Guilford' and Montville. In the original survey, Copley was officially known
as "Township 2, Range 12, of the Western Reserve'" and is bounded on the north by Bath, east by
Portage, south by Norton and west by Sharon.
TOPOGRAPHICAL.--Though not bordered upon, or traversed by, any considerable streams of
water' like some of the townships both north and south of it, quite a large proportion of the
township originally was, and in fact still is, quite wet, Pigeon Creek, Chocolog Creek and Wolf
Creek traversing nearly its entire length and breadth, from the north and west, culminating in a
succession of ponds and marshes, pretty generally known as Copley swamp, but embracing about
equal proportions of Copley, Portage and Norton townships.
Upon the confines of this swamp, on the west side, are three quite extensive bodies of water,
designated, respectively, Chocolog Pond, White Pond and Black Pond, which in the past have
afforded fine sporting grounds for the hunters and fishermen of the neighborhood, White Pond,
in later years, furnishing large quantities of the very purest ice for the Akron market.
THERE WAS SPORT IN THOSE DAYS.—Besides the several varieties of fish and small game
formerly abounding in and about the ponds in question, the swamp' every Autumn, for many
years, swarmed with myriads of pigeons, of which thousands upon thousands were captured and
slaughtered annually by the surrounding inhabitants. At an early day, also, larger game—wolves,
bears, deer' wild-turkeys, etc.'—was abundant' a circular hunt occurring in December, 1821, in
which some 200 persons participated, surrounding Copley swamp, and at a given signal
marching towards the center. The result of the day's work, according to the recollection of the
late Julius A. Sumner, was the killing of 75 deer, four bears and two wolves, and, according to
the recollection of the late Avery Spicer, (whose father, Major Miner Spicer, was one of the chief
managers of the hunt), 100 deer, 18 bears and two wolves, besides a great variety of smaller
game.
696 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
DR. BYRON CHAPMAN,—son of Ashbel and Polly (Lane) Chapman, was born near
Skeneatteles' N. Y., January 8, 1822; at the age of 13' in 1835, came with parents to Ohio' settling
in Copley; raised on farm with common school education; at 22, commenced the study of
medicine with his brother William, then practicing in Copley, attending lectures two terms in
Cleveland Medical College' from which he was graduated in March, 1847. Dr. William Chapman
dying, soon after his graduation, he took charge of his brother's patients and has been in constant
and successful practice in Copley and vicinity ever since. December 23, 1847, he was married to
Miss Matilda A. Dils, of New Hudson, Oakland county, Michigan, a native of Cayuga county,
New York, who has borne him two children—Willis D., whose portrait and biography will be
found elsewhere, and Fanny P., widow of the late Albert E. Heistand, now living with her father
in Copley. Though an ardent Republican, Dr. Chapman has never sought or held office,
excepting those of treasurer of his township and of postmaster, but has ever been active in
promoting the educational and moral inter.
For several years after the writer came here, (1835), each recurring Winter would bring to the
Akron market a liberal supply of venison and wild turkey from the Copley swamp, and less than
thirty years ago a fine deer was driven from the swamp, and after circling around toward New
Portage, and again northward toward Akron, was finally brought to bay and killed upon what was
then designated as the "Island," between Manning's Pond and Summit Lake, but by whom is not
now remembered; an occasional turkey having been gathered in in still later years.
THERE WERE PERILS THERE, ALSO.—Though there are many quite extensive areas of solid
land, called islands, in different portions of the swamp, much of it was extremely soft and miry,
especially in the rainy seasons of the year. Thus it was quite hazardous traveling through it,
except in cold weather, and even then' persons inexperienced in woodcraft were in imminent
danger of becoming lost, many instances occurring where parties, thus becoming bewildered,
have undergone considerable hardship before finding their way out, the universal tendency, it is
said, of persons thus lost, being to travel in a circle, instead of in a straight line in any desired
given direction.
It is not now remembered that loss of life to any adult person ever resulted from thus becoming
bewildered in the swamp' though some thirty years ago, the sad death of a six-year-old boy
occurred therein, under the following circumstances: Doctor Henry Hetrick, since a resident of
Copley, in 1861, lived near the north line of Coventry, west of the canal. A little six-year-old son
of Mrs. Hetrick (formerly Mrs. Houck) was living with an uncle near East Liberty, in Green
township, some seven miles to the
NAME OF TOWNSHIP, SETTLEMENT, ETC - 697
ests of the county, state and nationial, being especially efficient in sup ing the government with
the in of war, during the great slave holdd rebellion.
southeast. On Friday, July 26, little Benny, being sent by his uncle to watch the barn door to keep
the hogs out, while the farm hands were in the field after a load of grain, being probably seized
with a desire to see his mother, unnoticed by the family, started off the direction of her Coventry
home. He seems to have traversed the rather difficult route correctly, until within a few rods of
his other's house, when, seeing a neighbor at his gate, being of a timid nature, the little fellow
climbed over the fence, as if to reach the house through the back lot. The supposition is that he
was unable to recognize his home from the rear, and wandered on, climbing into the road
beyond, the last seen of him alive being on Sherbondy hill, on the road to Loyal Oak.
THE SEARCH-FOUND DEAD.-The parents supposing that the child was still at his uncle's, and
the uncle supposing that he was at his mother's' several days elapsed before it was known that he
was missing. Then a vigorous search was instituted by the family and neighbors, which was kept
up for about ten days, but without obtaining any clue whatever, other than above indicated. On
Wednesday, August 14, some twenty days after his disappearance, Curtis Robinson and Abner
and William Scranton, while hunting in the swamp, found the dead body of the little wanderer
about eighty rods south of Black Pond, the child evidently having followed the ditch leading
from the pond to Pigeon Creek, until he sank exhausted down to death. The body was in such a
stage of decomposition as to be recognized only by its clothing. The parents were promptly
notified, a coffin procured, and the remains removed to the family residence, where the funeral
was largely attended by sympathizing friends and neighbors on Thursday, August 15.
EFFORTS AT RECLAMATION.—An immense amount of time and money have already been
expended in the construction of public roads through different portions of this swamp, and in
ditching and other efforts to utilize these swamp lands for grazing and agricultural purposes, and
several hundred acres have thus far been reclaimed and put under cultivation. But owing to the
peculiar construction of the Ohio Canal, near the junction of Wolf Creek and the Tuscarawas
river, the full benefit of the reclamation project by drainage has not yet been secured. Through
the efforts of Senator J. Park Alexander and Representative Henry C. Sanford, the Legislature
has authorized the construction of a culvert under the canal' for the purpose of running said
surplus water into the Tuscarawas river, which, if successful, it is confidently expected will add
several thousand acres to the tillable and taxable lands of the several townships interested.
A "LORDLY" NAME.-In the distribution of the lands of the Western Reserve, Township, 2,
Range 12, fell principally to one Gardner Green, of Boston, Mass., and was at first called
Greenfield, but was afterwards changed by Mr. Green to Copley, in honor of his wife, whose
maiden name was Copley, said to have been a lineal descendant of Lord Copley, of England.
Thus, though largely Republican in politics, and eminently Democratic in thought and habit, the
good people of Copley can justly boast that, in name at least, their township is a veritable " sprig
of nobility."
WHEN AND BY WHOM SETTLED.—The first actual white settler in the township, is believed
to have been Jonah Turner, a native
698 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.
of Pennsylvania, who' in 1814, located on "Stony Ridge'" about two miles west of Montrose.
Turner was a member of Major Croghan's battalion, in the war of 1812, and is said to have
selected this location while encamped near by, on the march of the battalion from Pittsburg to
Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky, in the Summer of 1813, where, with a garrison of but 150
men, and a single cannon, such a gallant and successful defense was made against 500 British
troops, and about the same number of Indians and six pieces of artillery, under the veteran
General Proctor—Major Croghan being then but 21 years of age.
From the fact that the Indians of this vicinity vanished with the breaking out of the war, allying
themselves with the British forces as above indicated, and the further fact that Copley was not
settled as early as many of the other townships of the county, no stories of collisions between
white and red men, are to be found among the traditionary lore of this township.
LUTHER H. PARMELEE,—son of Elisha and Roxa (Stanley) Parmelee, natives of Goshen,
Conn.' was born in Mt. Morris, Livingston county, N. Y., August 13, 1812; educated at Batavia,
Genesee county, N. Y.; at 17 engaged in clerking in Westfield, Chautauqua county, N. Y.;
February, 1832 came with family to Hudson, Ohio, working on father's farm Summers and
teaching school Winters; in Spring of 1835, entered store of Oviatt & Baldwin, at Copley Center,
as clerk; in 1838 formed mercantile partnership with Leavitt Weeks, continuing until 1845, when
he removed to Akron, where he resided 10 years. May 14, 1838, Mr. Parmelee was married in
Copley, to Miss Tamma Ingersoll, daughter of Noah and Mary (Stickels) Ingersoll, who has
borne him seven children—Helen E., wife of George 0. Rice, of Kent; Walter M., Caroline G.,
wife of A. L. Ewell, of Kent; Luther H. (deceased); Mary H., wife Henry C. Rea, of Kent; Frank
H., of Kent, and Roxa S., wife of W. I. Canis, of Kent; the family having removed to Kent in the
Fall of 1855. While a resident of Copley, Mr. Parmelee served as township clerk, assessor,
trustee and member of board of education, and since residing in Kent has held the offices of
township trustee' clerk, school director, justice of the peace, member of the board of education
and treasurer, village councilman, recorder, treasurer, treasurer of union school board, county
commissioner, county coroner, cashier of the Kent Savings and Loan Association and treasurer of
Portage and Summit. Pioneer Association.
It will be impossible to give the names of all the early settlers in the township, but of those
coming thither previous to 1820 we may mention the following : George Hawkins, 1815;
Lawrence More, 1816; Allen Bosworth, 1817; Jacob Spafford, Nathaniel Davis and Jonathan
Starr, 1818, and Chester Orcutt, 1819.
Copley was organized, as a distinct township, in July 1819, one year, only, after the organization
of Medina county, of which it was then a part. The election records are not now in existence,
GROWTH, POPULATION, ETC.- 699
and it is not remembered by any of the present residents of the township who the original officers
of the township were, though it is quite certain that. Mr. Jonathan Starr was the first town clerk,
as well as the first justice of the peace (elected in 1820), though Mr. Lawrence More, who had
been previously elected by the several associated townships above named, continued to act until
the close of his term.
GROWTH, POPULATION, ETC.-After its organization, settlement, by sturdy and enterprising
emigrants, mostly from New England, but with a healthy mixture from New York, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and other States, was quite rapid, so that, by 1835, the township was nearly, if not
quite, as populous as it is now. The census of 1840, gave it a population of 1,439, while that of
1880 made the tuber but 1,337 (being a shrinkage, in the forty intervening years, of 102 souls),
while the census of 1890 credits the township with 1,321, a loss of 16 during the decade—a
condition of things accounted for in the fact that the services of the timber-slasher and log-burner
are no longer needed; and in the still further fact that the labor of the country has been largely
transferred from the farm to the work-shop, for the fabrication of labor-saving agricultural
implements; aided, too, by the concentration of mercantile and mechanical operations, that used
to be done at township centers, in the larger villages and cities.
COPLEY'S BUSINESS STATUS.—Aside from the swampy portion of the township, described
above, with the exception of a few stony ridges in different localities, the land is of a gently
rolling conformation, and of a general fertility equal to that of any other township on the Reserve;
and it is safe to say that its farms are as well tilled and cared for, and its farm buildings as
commodious and carefully kept, as those of any other community in Ohio. Copley may' therefore,
emphatically be called an agricultural township' producing, in abundance, nearly every species of
grain, vegetables and fruit known to this climate, as well as some of the very best stock raised in
Northern Ohio.
In the center of the town is a hotel' store, postoffice, and sundry mechanical establishments,
though for reasons stated above, these branches of business are on a much smaller scale than
forty years ago. Though abounding in water, Copley never possessed any considerable amount of
machinery-propelling water power, the Zeigler Flouring Mill, on Wolf Creek, two miles south of
the center' originally erected by Allen Pardee, being the only permanent establishment of the kind
in the township. One or two grist mills also had an early brief existence, while quite an extensive
steam-driven flour mill, with three run of stones, was established at the center about 1858, by the
late John C. Stearns, and Darwin Clarke, which' after a fairly successful run of about two years,
was unfortunately destroyed by fire, and never rebuilt. Quite a number of sawmills have also
existed from time to time in the township, driven by both water and steam power, some of
which—notably that of Mr. William C. Sackett, on the eastern line of the township —did quite
an extensive business for several years, but most of them are now a memory only.
The manufacture of " black salts," or potash, was also quite an industry in Copley, and
surrounding townships, during the early forest-slashing period, " asheries " being then quite
common, the
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