PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY - 57 (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) CHAPTER VI. CRIMES AND CASUALTIES, COMPRISING GRAVE ROBBING, MURDER IN 1816. BLUE ROCK MINE DISASTER, BUCKEYE BELLE. BELLE ZANE. LABOR RIOT IN 1877. BELT LINE TURBULENCE IN 1887. GRAVE ROBBING. A young man, named Thomas Payne, came to Zanesville, penniless and a stranger, during the latter part of 1800; in February, 1811, he died suddenly and was buried in the public burying ground at the head of Main street. The night after the burial Elijah Ross and a companion went coon hunting and on their return to town about midnight passed over the hill, near the graveyard. Ross heard a noise which did not disturb him at the time, but when he had reached home and retired, he recalled the circumstance and concluded to investigate ; accordingly, early in the morning, with gun and dogs, fearing the noise might have been made by a wild animal, he went to the spot and found Paynels grave open, the coffin broken and the body missing. Two Zanesville and one Wheeling man, students of Dr. Hamm, had just succeeded in getting the body from the coffin when Ross passed the preceding night and, fearing detection, hastily dragged it by the ankles the entire distance down the hill, leaving the grave open. and at Seventh and South Streets dragged the body so roughly over a fence that some hair caught on the rail ; they had taken Dr. Hamm’s horse to carry the body but he scared and ran away, and they then secured a wheelbarrow, whose track enabled Ross to trail them to the cellar door of the tavern at the southwest corner of Main and Third streets. About two inches of snow enabled Ross to trace the course of the robbers and he followed the wheelbarrow track through South street to Diamond alley and to the cellar door ; the news spread rapidly and the excited and indignant citizens broke into the cellar and discovered the remains concealed behind some logs ; the people were furious and proposed to tear down the hotel, and one excited man ran with a flaunting torch and shouted, "This will be the quicker way to get the building down." Cooler counsel prevailed and trouble was averted, the students remaining in seclusion, and the public took charge of the body and prepared it for re-interment. Eight pall-bearers, wearing white gloves, white sashes over the shoulders and white scarfs upon their hats, bore the bier with the remains covered with a white sheet ; business was generally suspended and the entire town was in attendance ; the legislature was in session at the time but its deliberations were permanently interrupted until the incident closed with the re-interment of the body. During the winter of 1823-4 Dr. Calvin Conant, of Putnam, had four students, and as there was no medical colleges in the West, anatomical studies were pursued with difficulty. Grave robbing was extremely hazardous and operators did not acquire proficiency. Dr. Conant's stable adjoined a hotel and Jake, the colored hostler, attended to the doctor's horses. A Miss Arnold, a well- known and highly esteemed young lady, had died of an acute disease and been buried in the graveyard in Moxahala avenue. During the morning after the burial, Jake entered the doctor’s haymow and observing something white made an examination and discovered a small human foot : with a yell he left the mow and was met by one of the students, who by persuasions, threats and appeals to the hostlers’s superstitions, kept him quiet during the day and got him to bed in the evening. During the night the body was removed and secreted and was never recovered. Jake could not keep his secret and informed his employer, who became excited and incensed, and when an examination of the grave had disclosed that it had been violated. the news spread and the community was in a whirl of excitement ; warrants were issued and the suspects arrested, and the utmost tact of influential citizens was required to prevent violence. Dr. Conant made affidavit that he had no knowledge, direct or indirect, of the matter and the magistrate postponed the investigation a few days to permit public sentiment to cool ; the accused were admitted to bail, but remained in seclusion, and the startling discovery was made that there was no statute against grave robbing; the hearing was conducted in the stone academy, but not one-fourth of the crowd could enter ; the absence of a statute under which they could be tried placed the magistrate in a dilemma ; he was convinced the men would be mobbed if released and he bound them over to court on the charge of the larceny of grave clothes ; the case was postponed from time to time and was finally nollied. A few years later three of Dr. Conant's students attempted to rob a grave ; a young German committed suicide and was buried on a high bluff overlooking Salt creek. The young men of the 58 - PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY. neighborhood became aware of the intention to desecrate the grave and, armed with shot guns, placed themselves some distance from it, and with it between them and the bluff. The students took Dr. Conant's horse and gig, one in the gig and the others on horseback, and when the place was reached the horses were hitched in the bushes below the bluff. The grave was found and the watchers permitted the diggers to continue until they supposed the coffin was reached, when a volley was fired ; the doctors jumped over the precipice in the darkness against trees, bushes and briars, their clothing was torn and soiled, their bodies scratched and bruised, and one so severely injured as to be in retirement for some time. The men with the horses found their mounts and rode hastily away, but the man with the gig was so frightened and confused by the darkness that he could not find it and walked home. The watchers found the horse and gig and took them to town the next day and delivered them to Dr. Conant, who again entered a disclaimer of any knowledge or consent to the attempted robbery. About 3 :30 a. m., November 14, 1878, the two veteran officers, "Dave" Launder and "Mike" Brown, were attracted by the sound of an approaching wagon while standing at the corner of West Main and Pine streets ; when it came up the occupant inquired whether he was on the National pike, and in reply to an inquiry stated that he lived in the country but was a stranger in the city, and was on his way to Kerkersville with corn. Launder remarked something was wrong and when he approached the wagon saw some sacks upon which he laid his hand and remarked they were soft for corn. Brown, in the meantime, had moved to seize the bridle and the driver gave the horse a violent blow with his whip and dashed away, but Launder jumped into the wagon ; not having a firm footing and the road being rough the officer was readily knocked from the wagon by a blow from the butt end of the whip, when Brown fired at the rapidly disappearing wagon without effect. Surmising that a robbery had been committed, they reported at once to Lieutenant William Linton, who procured a team and with Officer Stitt gave vigorous pursuit, and those who knew Linton in his best days can conceive what it meant. About fifteen miles west of the city the wagon was sighted and fire opened on it, which was returned, and a running fire was maintained for half a mile, one shot taking effect in Stitt's wrist, when he took the lines and Linton conducted the firing; when the tollgate west of Brownsville was reached the quarry's horse struck and demolished it, but the driver, not knowing the nature of the obstruction, leaped from the wagon and took to the woods with Linton in pursuit. The fugitive was not found and Linton returned to discover four bodies, in coarse coffee sacks, in the wagon, and his comrade bleeding and suffering intensely from his wound. The toll-keeper aroused the neighbors and a posse was formed and the officers returned to the city. The bodies were recognized, two being men and one a girl of about twelve years, all of whom had been buried November 12 in Woodlawn cemetery, and the other a woman, who had been buried in Greenwood, the preceding day ; their friends were notified and the remains re-interred, and examination of the cemeteries presented no indications that the graves had been desecrated, an evidenced that the robbery had been conducted by experts in the ghoulish occupation. Linton went to Columbus and Marshal Fell to Newark, where the latter secured the services of the veteran "Doc" Brooks, but no clues were discovered and they decided to go to Columbus; Kerkersville a man with soiled clothes and very jaded entered the coach, and the officers argue that a man who had walked from Brownsville to Kerkersville would be very much fatigued, an Brooks secured a seat behind him and found ye low clay on his clothing and hands ; when the train slowed down for Columbus the man moved to leave the coach and was arrested and ironed and brought to Zanesville at 8 p. m. and lodging in jail. He confessed, but refused to name his confederates, but during the clay both were discovered and arrested ; one was a well-know young man, of respectable family, at Zanesville the other a physician, of Columbus, and the prisoner was in the business for the money it produced. November 18 the trio was indicted of each desecration ; on the 21st the operator plea guilty to two and was not asked about the other the Zanesville man emphatically denied his guilty and the physician would not plead until he h consulted attorneys ; November 26 he plead n guilty, but on the 29th changed his plea to guilty The case of the Zanesville man was continued to the ensuing term, on the averment that in feverish condition of public sentiment he co not hope for a fair trial, but he later withdrew plea and acknowledged his guilt. The physician and the Zanesville man were each sentenced to pay a fine of $250.00 and be imprisoned three months, and their tool was fined $25.00 and imprisoned one month. MURDER IN 1816. During the fall of 1816 Jacob Lewis murdered Samuel Jones, near the mouth of Symmes creek and at the fall term, 1817, was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged Wednesday, December 31, 1817. He was confined in the small PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY - 59 brick jail in Fourth street, in the rear of the court house, and preparations were made for the execution; the gallows were erected and on the appointed day a great crowd gathered from the surrounding country to witness the interesting (?) Sight; Governor Worthington suspended the sentence six weeks, and the indignation at the gubernatorial interference was very intense, and threats were made to take the prisoner and conclude the anticipated entertainment ; the crowd was very rough and lawless, and finally captured and hanged a dog to glut its thirst for a sight of physical suffering. When the period of the respite expired the time was again extended and the prisoner was transferred to the penitentiary, for safe keeping, and by special act of the General Assembly for sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life. ROCK MINE DISASTER. Near where Blue Rock run empties into the Muskingum river, in Harrison township, a four-foot vain of coal was owned and mined by Stephen H. Guthrie and James Owens, in 1856; former owners had worked it in a reckless manner, some rooms being forty feet square, with only small pillars to support the immense weight of 200 feet hill above the mine. In the Morning of Friday, April 25, 1856, twenty men entered the mine, and 11 a. m. a fall occurred, commencing 700 feet from the entrance and extending a distance a distance of 400 feet, through which the rescuers were compelled to burrow to release the imprisoned men; when the fall occurred sixteen persons, mostly boys, near the entrance, made their escape by precipitate flight. but James Pearson, aged 31 ; James Gatwood, 22: Wm. Edgell, Jr., 20; and Edward Savage, 16, were imprisoned. When the realized they were entombed they went to a small room in the mine, shoveled together some loose earth and prepared beds upon which to die and surrendered to what appeared the inevitable. Two dinner pails, left by men who had escaped, three jugs contain, five quarts of water, and some oil for the lamps were their only supplies. and as there was no method of measuring time they were entirely at loss to know how it passed; the confined air was cold and they suffered severely from cold and dampness, and when the food and water were exhausted drank water impregnated with copperas, which seemed to assuage the hunger, and as they became weak from lack of food they were delirious and dreamed of sumptuous repasts. The work of rescue was begun at once, and while speed was so essential the greatest caution was equally necessary ; a single false move meant destruction to the working force, as the hill was crumbling over their heads and the weight and pressure of tens of thousands of tons of loose material had to be resisted. Only three men could work in the narrow entry at one time, and the space at the breast permitted only one man, the others removing the debris thrown back by the man ahead; posts and caps were used to support the falling roof, and as the debris consisted of large rocks as well as loose material, the labor was more than ordinarily severe ; once a large rock blocked progress, and as it was hazardous to blast it, the obstruction was blocked up and excavation made under it. Foul air was troublesome and lamps would not burn, and it became necessary to weatherboard the sides and roof and plaster them with mud to exclude the deadly gas. Immense crowds were in constant attendance and intelligence from inside was eagerly sought; miners came from miles around, and merchants and farmers readily joined in the common labor, experienced volunteers for the inside work being abundant. The opening, was completed about midnight Friday, April 29, and the imprisoned miners were brought to the surface at 1 a. m., Saturday, April 30, having been imprisoned fourteen days and thirteen hours, with scarcely any food ; they were black as the coal dust in which they had slept ; their features were pinched and shrunken, their cheeks furrowed by white streaks washed by the tears shed during their agony, and their great white eyes stared wildly from amid the grime on their faces. Physicians were in attendance and their nourishment carefully guarded. When they entered the mine the trees were bare of leaf, and when the morning dawned the men looked upon the same trees clothed in bright green. That the rescue was timely was attested by the fall of more than fifty feet of the entry within six hours after the delivery ; if the work had been delayed the rescuers would have been buried in the avalanche and the imprisoned men would have suffered the terrible death which was so fully anticipated. The heroism of the rescuers is deserving of preservation among the records of the county ; they were in constant, imminent danger, and no ties bound them to the imprisoned men but those of common humanity ; while the heroism of Muskingum soldierly is a glorious one, the courageous action of the coal miners of the county is equally meritorious. LABOR RIOT, 1877. The wide spread labor troubles which occurred in July, 1877, gave Zanesville a shock which paralyzed for several days. The destruction of railroad property at Pittsburg, Sunday, July 22, created considerable apprehension throughout the country of similar outbreaks at commercial centers, but no fears were entertained at home as no 60 - PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY. known cause existed for it. The Clarendon Hotel was in course of erection and the contractor, T. B. Townsend, was paying the prevailing rate and no dissatisfaction was expressed with either the rates or hours of labor. Rumors were current on Sunday that the strike would reach Zanesville solely by imitation and perhaps sympathy. Monday morning, July 23, work was resumed on the Clarendon and about 8 a. m. crowds of idle men assembled upon the Court House esplanade, and the only unusual appearance was a small knot of men near the Fourth street corner, who soon drew a crowd about them by their animated conversation and gestures ; about 8 :3o there were perhaps three hundred men assembled when one of the small group drew a paper from his pocket and announced he would record the names of all men who desired to strike. As the leaders were chronic idlers their names were at once given and other men in the crowd, temporarily idle, gave theirs until quite a number were on the list. The crowd then moved across the street, occupied the sidewalk and stood upon the brick piles so as to prevent Townsendls men from working; the man with the paper informed the contractor that unless he raised the menls wages they must quit ; a short parley occurred, the rioters withdrew and Townsend suspended work, his men being desirous of continuing, but it was deemed prudent, under the circumstances, to not aggravate the ruffians. The news spread rapidly and the crowds increased ; Henry Blandy, as an employer, and John Mack and George M. Kerner, as representative workmen, spoke to the crowds from the court house steps counselling the maintenance of law and order, and two or three agitators were called out and pictured the wrongs of capital upon labor. A proposition to form a procession was promptly acted upon and the workmen at the Third street foundry were compelled to quit ; thence to the Baltimore & Ohio railroad shops in the west side, where the men were required to stop work ; the mob then divided and visited the various manufacturing plants, all of which were compelled to shut down, and the drivers of the street cars were ordered to run their cars to the barns. On the followina: day the attempt to resume traffic was resisted and one car was derailed at the corner of Main and Seventh streets. Citizens were very much alarmed ; the leaders of the mob were recognized as "bums" and idlers but it was not known how far the dissatisfaction extended to the people at large; the police force was entirely inadequate for such an emergency, and bands of private citizens, with arms, patrolled the streets during Monday and Tuesday nights. Wednesday morning an immense attendance of citizens answered a private call for consultation at the Mayor's office, and before noon hundreds of men with a white ribbon in the lapel and a gun in pocket appeared upon the streets. Ben. F. Fell was city marshal, Joseph Howland, deputy marshal, and the veteran, “Bill" Linton, lieutenant of police ; with these officers at the head of the police force, backed by the presence of t white ribbon men, fifteen of the ringleaders we arrested and confined in the city prison, at th corner of Fountain and Potter alleys ; the rioters were tried, convicted and punished ; many le the city and those who remained never again repeated their efforts to reform things. During the excitement threats were made to burn the Baltimore & Ohio railroad shops and the residences of a few prominent employers, all o which were guarded by armed men ; the local military were on duty at Newark and two of the guardsmen who came home on furlough were chased by the mob and sheltered in the Baltimore & Ohio railroad depot ; the mob threatened to burn the freight house and Lieutenant Linton secreted some men with Winchesters among the cars an instructed them to train their guns on the leader and upon the first overt act to shoot to disable, but no occasion was given to execute the order. THE BUCKEYE BELLE was a Zanesville packet in the trade between the home city and Marietta, and about 5 p. m., November 12, 1852, after her landing at Beverly was proceeding up the canal and when about twenty feet from the guard gates the boilers exploded, tearing everything to fragments as far back as the wheel house, the hull immediate sinking to the bottom of the canal. The noise of the explosion brought people not only from the nearby villages but from the surrounding country ; the villagers were early on hand and assistance was soon rendered ; of about forty-five per sons aboard not to exceed ten escaped injury, an the bank was covered with dead and mutilate bodies, and fragments of the boat and cargo Twenty persons were instantly killed and six die within a few days ; the bodies of thirteen unknown persons were buried in the Beverly cemetery and a large box, containing fragments of human flesh, was interred at the same time. THE BELLE ZANE was a steamer which was regarded as a mode in appearance and speed, and had a capacity o three hundred tons ; she was built on the Monongahala river but was owned at Zanesville, an was in the regular packet trade between the latter city and Pittsburg. All her officers, except the captain, were Zanesville men, and in December 1845, she was loaded, for Louisiana points, with a miscellaneous cargo and en-route took on large PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY - 61 quantities of produce and cattle, so that her freight capacity was fully occupied and her cabin was profitably filled. The rivers were low and progress was much delayed; sunken boats were bad been snagged and unusual caution was exercised to escape disaster from such concealed sources. The weather was extremely cold and at 2 a. m., December 19, with a crash and severe shock the vessel suddenly turned on her side and the boilers rolled into the river ; the cabin was torn from the hull and floated several miles down stream with many persons clinging to the wreckage; the crew acted heroically, but about twenty persons were drowned and the vessel and cargo was a total loss. BELT LINE TURBULENCE. The most spectacular character in the Muskingum valley, during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, was Col. Albert E. Boone, who became acquainted with its topography and commerce through connection with United States mail star route contracts, and he essayed the role of what he termed a railroad promoter, although the term agitator would more appropriately indicate his occupation. He platted lines from the Lakes to the Atlantic coast, with the pivotal point, and aroused the people as they had never been before ; his sincerity and integrity were never impeached, but it required sometime for the Colonel to demonstrate to the public the impracticable character of his schemes; his schemes: what he actually accomplished is here recited. Among his numerous projections were the Zanesville, Mount Vernon & Marion, and Painesville, Wooster & Ohio railways, the former of which is the original, official name of the present Zanesville Belt Line. Zanesville capitalists had not subscribed to Boone's vagaries and he had declared that a dozen first-class funerals would do the city an immense benefit ; he secured some private rights of way and privileges from the city but found his plans thwarted by certain real estate holdings of the Baltimore & Ohio, and Zanesville, Newcomerstown & Cleveland railroad companies: the former owned all the property west of Third street as far south as the first large warehouse at the southwest corner of Third and North streets, together with all the land south to Market and west of Beech alley ; Boone desired a connection between the north end of Third street and the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley track at Second and Main, and the Baltimore & Ohio property was in his way. About 3 a. m., Sunday, November 6, 1887, a force of laborers, teamsters and trackmen assembled along Beach alley, and by moving houses bodily from their foundations, ordering the occupants to vacate, tunneling through houses where the debris from razing would obstruct track laying, and by similar lawless acts, a track was laid commencing at Second street, passing diagonally across private property to Beach alley, along it to North street, and thence diagonally across Baltimore & Ohio railroad ground, upon which some small tenements were standing, and demolished, to the Boone right-of- way at North Third street. The news of the turbulence spread rapidly and immense crowds assembled and, as Boone was then at the height of his notoriety, the sentiment was in his favor. The Judge of the Common Pleas Court was out of the city and F. A. Durban took a special engine to Cambridge and secured an injunction from the court in Guernsey county, which was served at 1 p. m. A rumor having gained currency that the Baltimore & Ohio was bringing a large force of men to expel the trespassers and remove the tracks which had been laid, the sheriff called out the local infantry company and placed them to guard the violaters of the law, and the local battery of artillery was assembled but remained at the armory. The infantry were deployed along the line of the workers and when a Baltimore & Ohio official inquired of Captain Beckhardt what his men were called out for he replied. "To brevent de beace." About 6 p. 111. Willis Bailey, president of the Z., N. & C. secured an injunction against Boone, but no attention was paid to it, and throughout the entire proceedings he displayed a contempt for law and the rights of others. Next day he issued a card justifying his action "in desecrating the Sabbath," in which he alleged that the actions of David Lee and Willis Bailey rendered it necessary, and presumed to declare what rights each of the contestants had in the matter ; he closed his card with the unfulfilled prophecy that "if Boone lives the next two years the idle property, some thirty acres in the Eighth ward, may be put to better use than holding condemned cars and raising grass for sodding graves." The tracks, laid with so much bombast, were soon after removed and the first of Boone's bubbles was punctured, but it is due him to assert that his agitation caused others to investigate his projects, and by separating the practical from the impracticable, the city was benefited by the construction of the Zanesville & Ohio River railroad and the Belt Line.