USA > Ohio > Allen County > A standard history of Allen county, Ohio : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development > Part 63
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HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY
This daring Christmastide bank robbery put Lima on the map of the financial world; time lock experts came from everywhere, but no explanations were forthcoming; it was an awful setback to the sale of time lock safes; the money was missing and the safe was standing open ; the bankers had closed it themselves. They were wealthy men and the amount in question would have been no temptation to them; all con- cerned disclaimed any knowledge of crookedness, and yet all but the guilty one were under continuous suspicion; there were law suits galore and the bank went out of business; the robbery was still a mystery. Finally the old saying : "Murder will out," began to come true, and "the women in the case spilled the beans" for the man who had so successfully concealed his identity.
The master mind in the bank robbery was an insurance agent. It was found out that Thomas Wilkins put the idea into the head of Elijah Bowsher who was the bank janitor. At the risk of smothering, the janitor concealed himself within the safe before the time for the final deposit ; he was a mechanic and had understood the plan of the lock; by removing a small fixture he could open the safe door from the inside; it was a deep laid scheme on the part of Thomas Wilkins, and it was successfully carried out by Elijah Bowsher; it was their own secret until the Wilkins share of the money vanished, and the wife of Wilkins came on to Bowsher for his money. "My dog hunts best alone," but there were two persons in the arrangement; when the coast was clear Wilkins sounded the news to Bowsher who disconnected the lock and marched out of the safe; they divided the money and it was their own secret until Mrs. Wilkins demanded Bowsher's reserve fund; it is said that neither one knew the amount they had secured, but the depositors' claims were for $21,000, and this money had been put into the safe at one time and in one lump sum; the robbers did not dis- turb any other money ; they were partial to Christmas money.
Both Wilkins and Bowsher had checking accounts without the useless formality of drawing checks; the Wilkins deposit was under a couch cover in his home, while the Bowsher fund was stored in a gas pipe in the basement at the bank ; although he had been arrested and acquited, Bowsher who had wisely remained on the job until the bank suspended, finally removing to the country, and was resting in seeming security until Mrs. Wilkins was in need of more fine clothes. She was recognized as the best dressed woman in Lima while the money sewed into the couch cover lasted, but there came an evil day for Bowsher; she approached him on the question of finance. Judge William Klinger was prosecuting attorney when Bowsher found himself in "hot water." He told his story for the first time, and the public learned the sequel to the great Christmas bank robbery seven years later. While there are as many versions of the story as there are persons who relate it, some semblance of the truth in the matter is thus on record about it. There is no other robbery on record like it. Safe manufacturers all over the world know the story; it is said that Wilkins and Bowsher both served time for it, and that both are free again.
Another high finance story is the Yoakam robbery January 9, 1909, ยท at a lonely farm house in Shawnee Township; the victims were James and May Yoakam who lived alone. Their son-in-law, Fred Soutter, and their daughter happened to be guests and unknown to the robbers. Avery L. Van Gunten was Allen County sheriff and handled the case; a shaking up in Lima police circles ensued which resulted in Chief of Police Walter Mills leaving town; a saloonkeeper, Chris Geiger, mapped the road and planned the robbery; it was popularly under-
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stood that the elderly couple living there had "oodles" of money, and that they never banked any of it. It seems that the Yoakam wealth was overestimated, as the robbers only secured $600 for their trouble. "Well, that slips my mind," men would say when questioned about the story. "Well let met see-there were two old people living there alone, and the old man Yoakam owned 400 or 500 acres of land, and while the robbers encountered their daughter and her husband unexpectedly- had not contemplated visitors in the Yoakam household, they were not disconcerted ; they had a plan of the house and soon mastered the situa- tion," and all remembered Geiger as a go-between for the bandits.
The story was heard from several sources, and it seems that the old man and his wife slept down stairs, while the guests were occu- pying an upper room; the bandits bound the old people hand and foot and then they bound the guests; when all were bound the bandits pro- ceeded to search the house; when they did not find the amount of money they expected, they proceeded to torture the old people; they turned the bed clothes over their heads and put acid on their toes, making them believe they were burning them in their beds; the old man who was eighty-seven years old, never went to sleep again without having visions of midnight marauders; they told where their money was and the midnight visitors left them tied when they left the house; it was a night of terror for them, and warning to others not to hoard money in their homes.
Next morning, when three strangers boarded the Toledo Interurban car north of Lima, Carl Jacobs, the conductor, gave the alarm which resulted in the capture of Thomas Dillon, James Morgan and Thomas Henderson, but James Morgan escaped and was later captured in Indiana. In their trial the bandits connected Mr. Geiger with the robbery; he had furnished them the plan of the house, and it is said there was enough against him to "hold him the rest of his days," if he had escaped connection with the Yoakam robbery; he died in the peni- tentiary. Sheriff Van Gunten found the money in a box car at Deshler. While other holdups have been staged in Allen County, nothing else attracted as much attention as the Christmastide safe robbery, and the Yoakam farm house tragedy; while there was no loss of life, there was terrible suspense. Mr. Yoakam did not live many years. With improved highways and automobile travel, rural residents have learned to guard themselves. The bandits in the Yoakam case were headed for Toledo, and criminals still rendezvous in that city. The cheapest bookkeeper available is the bank, and a check book is safer than a stocking deposit ; the checks come back as records of all business transactions.
While there is a great deal of wealth in Allen County today, there was a coterie of business men a generation ago who attracted more attention to themselves; there was more said about the investments of B. C. Faurot and of C. S. Brice than is said about any present day financiers ; conservatism is characteristic of Lima business men today. Senator Brice attracted the attention of the whole financial world when in connection with Li Hung Chang he organized a syndicate to build railroads in China. When Li Hung Chang visited America, he and Senator Brice became good friends, and when their railroad stock was on the market they did not have to seek for buyers. Stock was being taken by London and Paris bankers, and United States investors were eager for it. The death of Senator Brice and Li Hung Chang just when their undertaking was an assured financial possibility stopped the whole thing. While Senator Brice had removed to New York, Lima always claimed him as a citizen.
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It has been impossible to gain an accurate knowledge of the income tax in Allen County ; the deputy revenue collector, S. P. Herr, reports that some of it is collected through Toledo, and some through Wash- ington, beside the local collections ; personally, Mr. Herr had collected income tax ranging from three cents to $2,854, but he had no figures at hand covering any definite period. County Treasurer L. E. Miller does not have the government records. It seems that those who have money must pay for the privilege vouchsafed to them; must pay for their stewardship. It is said there will be classification of property under the commission form of government. and Lima property owners may have greater assessments because of the valuation or nature of property ; the question is argued pro and con, but 1922 will settle the question. Andrew Mellon, U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, estimated that on March 15, 1921, when the time limit was imposed for income tax, "when laboriously recknoned incomes and business profits for the year of 1920 were presented in the form of business and excess profits tax returns . to collectors of internal revenue throughout the country, the United States Government would be richer by approximately $500,000,000, but the receipts will be used immediately to retire some short term borrow- ings or certificates of indebtedness; some of the tax experts expected the collection to reach $600,000,000, but there will be use for the extra funds in reducing the public debt, and the redemption of war saving securities. While one year ago the income tax reached $800,000,000, the business depression covering the last half of 1920 was expected to reduce the last collection."
The rule will hold good in Allen County that the pioneer families who are now possessed of wealth have it as a result of the real estate investments of their ancestry; they secured land and benefited from its advance in value. At this centennial period there is very little real estate, however, that has not passed from the hands of the original owner by sale rather than inheritance. The name of James W. Riley as surveyor appears in the records that bring up the Congress land transfers, and there are still a few pieces of realty that have descended through the family name. It is said the Barney Satterthwaite holdings have only changed ownership by inheritance, Adeline Satterthwaite now owning centrally located property in Lima that has never been trans- ferred since the original purchase ; there are forty-nine and ninety-nine- year leases-just a recent thing in the Allen County real estate world, and thus some of this centrally located property is destined to remain in the same ownership indefinitely.
Many business men who require all their capital in operating the business, pay exorbitant rentals; the long-term lease enables them to improve business property to suit themselves, and thus much property that had been allowed to depreciate in value is utilized; some centrally located property in Lima is allowed to remain idle because the owner does not need the money and will not sell it. While there are but few non-resident landlords, it is said that comparatively few business men own the real estate where they operate their business; it is said that amicable relations exist between landlords and tenents; in these days of business readjustments, landlords have been content with a reasonable return from their holdings; when a landlord makes five per cent net on his investments, the word profiteer is not applied to him; the rent hog is seldom mentioned in Allen County. Lima landlords have been con- sidered humane all through the war period of advanced prices.
C. A. Graham of Lima relates that the Graham farmstead owned by himself and two brothers, T. H., and G. W. Graham, was one time
1
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all in Allen County, and that it has never changed ownership only by inheritance ; the land in Union Township, Auglaize County at this time, was entered by his grandfather, Charles Graham; when he died it descended to his two sons, John and Christopher. In time Christopher sold his equity to John Graham who died December 1, 1913, and his three sons now own the property ; forty acres of it lies in Perry Town- ship, separated from the rest by a fence on the Allen-Auglaize County line, and it belongs to G. W. Graham. The deed to this land was made by President Andrew Jackson, and there has never been a transfer of any of it from the Graham family. The same thing is reported in Sugar Creek Township; the eighty-acre tract owned by W. I. Miller was deeded by President Jackson to Thomas Miller; from him it was inherited by Thomas W. Miller, and it is now owned by W. I. Miller in the third generation from the original purchaser without transfer of title from the family name; perhaps there is other "Congress" land in Allen County. The Graham land was purchased from the government in 1831, and in the following year a two-story hewed log house made from black walnut was built on it; in 1867 a frame house built from the same kind of timber marked the site, and although on the Auglaize . side it is a landmark there today; until 1848, this land was in Allen County.
The forty-nine and ninety-nine-year lease is not a mortgage ; simply for a consideration the owner who does not wish to expend money for improvements relinquishes his control of the property; he has a fixed income from it. Since the 1920 Interchurch World Religious Survey in Allen County revealed the fact that eighty per cent of the farmers own and occupy their own land, there is perhaps very little mortgaged prop- erty ; since "wild oats" is generally sowed on mortgaged land, it follows that there is excellent morale in Allen County. Some rhymester says:
"Wild oats, my son, are sown at night, But be it plainly understood, That in the next morning's early light, It does not make good breakfast food."
The first real estate dealer in Allen County was Christopher Wood whose personal history is elsewhere given; he was an early settler, and when Lima was placed on the map of Allen County, he became the county's representative in the sale of lots; it is said the lot sale prices averaged about $25, and that the entire quarter square now occupied by Memorial Hall as a clearing house for all the social and business interests of Allen County, was transferred by him to Dr. William Cun- ningham for $36.75, and this property was not transferred again until it reverted back to Allen County. In 1838, Thomas K. Jacobs, who located in Lima as a tailor, but who later sustained many different business relations to the community, entered actively into the real estate busi- ness, and in his day he handled more property than any other dealer; the Jacobs family has always been identified with the real estate business in Lima to the third generation. There are several Jacobs additions to the original plat of Lima.
When Gen. William Blackburn as receiver for the United States land office in Wapakoneta was transferred to Lima he soon turned his attention to real estate, removing from Lima to Allentown but he was unable to change the location of the county seat; while General Black- burn was in charge of the government land office in Lima, there were no local banks and since he handled large sums of silver and gold he
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was obliged to transport it to Columbus by wagon; it was a position of great responsibility, but there were fewer highway robbers in the coun- try; with the increase in population came the criminal class; while Gen- eral Blackburn was in control of the land office in Lima there was just one error in his accounts; he did not retain a commission and after his death it was returned to his estate, May 7, 1858, being the date of the credit. It is not often that "dealers in dirt" forget the commission ; that is why they commit themselves.
There is now a Lima Real Estate Board, organized November 21, 1918, which is a factor in local developments; no organization does more to advertise the community. The Real Estate Board has advocated the reappraisal of property, and has volunteered its service in securing fair valuation. The constitution says: "The object of this board is to establish and standardize the business of Real Estate Brokerage so that it shall obtain and hold the confidence and respect of both owners
and purchasers, *
* to institute rules for uniform commissions, customs and practices so far as they may be reasonable; to cultivate and enforce fair dealing, and foster goodfellowship among its members in their business of buying, selling, renting and managing real estate and loaning money thereon ; to provide an organized center of effort for adequate and economic civic development; to procure just and even taxation ; to promote such a system of law and administration as shall protect our citizens, encourage industry and attract the desirable population to which our condition entitles us; to especially guard and advance the interests of real estate ownership and leaseholds; and to devise, advocate and support legislation calculated to improve our cities," and it is provided that active and associate members may constitute the board.
As secretary of the Lima Real Estate Board, John J. Wyre said there had not been much real estate activity in the last half of 1920, but that Allen County had always been a good field for real estate dealers ; there has always been property activity. While the settlers had advantage of the preemption price of $1.25 an acre, much Allen County farm land has reached $250 and $300 in recent years; there has been an upward trend of values since 1900, but the rapid advance came when in 1914, the war-ridden countries of Europe began demanding American food products ; inflated prices came first to farmers and they have been first to feel the reduction ; a recent farm journal editorial says: "Slow business, closed shops and mills, reduced railroad operations, wage cuts, strikes and unemployment are met with in every direction; the farmer was made the goat six months ago, but the rest are getting theirs now ; and however much the farmer may sympathize with other people in their troubles, he cannot forget the fact that the rest must travel the path that he was forced to walk in before we shall reach the level of economic equality that must precede any return of prosperity for anybody."
The novice may be unable to detect propaganda, but another recent editorial from the Lima Republican-Gazette says: "The land boom in Kansas, Iowa and other agricultural states is now bearing bitter fruit; farmers who bought land at two or three times its pre-war prices on a basis of inflated commodity prices, are now facing payment for it on a basis of prices not much above normal ; they cannot do it. Most of the land that has bid up to $400 or $500 an acre, never paid more than a fair sum on $200 an acre before the war. *
* * The city speculators who hold a large proportion of the farms bought at fancy prices need not be given any great amount of sympathy; they might have known
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better ; they were primarily responsible for the absurd inflation to which so much farm land was subjected, and which played havoc with farm values generally; they took a chance just as they might have done in the grain market and got stung. * It is the old story of excitable people being carried off their feet in boom times, and fancying that the high prices and profits will last forever."
It seems that Allen County-both rural and urban, has escaped the extreme fluctuations reported in some parts of the country, and the reac- tion will not prove so violent; however, figures from the United States Bureau of Agriculture show that Allen County farm properties have increased seventy-eight per cent in value in the last ten years ; the grain harvests have shown an increase of from thirty-three to 500 per cent in the same time: valuation of farm lands and buildings in the county in 1910 was $22,755,352, while the 1920 valuation was stated as $40,608,- 408 in the census estimate; there are slightly fewer farms in operation in the county than ten years ago; in 1910, there were 2,939 farms under cultivation, while in 1920 there were 2,909-a difference of thirty farms in ten years. There are three negroes operating Allen County farms ; the others are white men. The religious survey reported eighty per cent of the farms as operated by their owners, while the census figures say sixty-seven per cent; in 1910 there were 240,472 acres under cultiva- tion, while ten years later the census showed 241,488 acres-an increase of more than 1,000 acres.
A local report says that building in Lima in 1920 fell under the 1919 expenditure by $1,000,000, although there is an estimated increase in the population; the 1920 building report was in turn approximately $100,000 more than it had been in 1918-the last year of the war. With the end of the war there was a building boom which dropped off again ; it is said that a presidential campaign always produces a slump in business; building material had reached the high water mark, and it is said reconstruction periods are always accompanied by periods of stag- nation. While Allen County property will not be apt to advance much higher in price, conservative dealers expect it to hold its own, and busi- ness is approaching "normalcy" again. Some of the landmarks of Lima have changed ownership, and while it is comparatively an easy matter to list property sometimes the prices are prohibitive.
CHAPTER XLVI
HOSPITALS IN ALLEN COUNTY
One full rounded-out century seems a good while in human history. May 12, 1920-just three months from the first centenary in Allen County-was the centenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. She is the woman who gave to the world the idea of scientific nursing; she is the mother of hospitals. The names of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton, the Red Cross Army nurse, cannot be too highly honored in any community.
The popular understanding of the word "hospital" is different from the dictionary definition for it. While it costs money to have appendi- citis or to be a victim of the surgeon's blade, the hospital is nevertheless the helping hand held out to, for and by society. Webster says the hos- pital is a building appropriated for the reception of sick, infirm and helpless paupers who are supported and nursed by charity, but that phase of life is not emphasized in Allen County hospitals. It is a place where those in need of nursing and medicine receive attention. There are public and private charities, but the hospital is not necessarily a charity. The Christian Science practitioner, the osteopath and chiro- practic "doctors" alike recognize the advantages of good nursing, and the hospital serves an excellent purpose in the community. While enter- prising citizens sometimes operate hospitals on a basis of profit, the idea is an outgrowth of Christianity.
The hospital is a sort of an auxiliary to the medical doctor, and the surgeon frequently makes of it a life-saving station. While all reputable physicians order patients to the different Allen County hospitals, the surgery is limited to few practitioners, specialists being available at all times. The original hospital in this part of the moral heritage was at Fort Amanda. In the center of the palisade was a building which was used for stores and in 1813, when an army hospital was needed, an upper story was added, and most of those who now rest in the military ceme- tery there died in this hospital-not a cheerful thought for an invalid facing a hospital experience. However, the soldiers far from relatives and friends must have appreciated its friendly shelter. While there is no record of the army staff of physicians, after the hospital was estab- lished in the blockhouse at Fort Amanda, the Rev. Samuel Shannon, who had left Princeton College to join the army, became the resident chaplain. Under present-day conditions both doctors of divinity and doctors of medicine pay professional visits to hospitals. Sometimes the doctor of law is called into the case. There is mention of Dr. Samuel Lewis at Fort Amanda, with the statement that there was a shortage of army surgeons, and that Rev. Samuel Shannon, who was army chap- lain, acted in both spiritual and medical advisory capacity.
The first local record of charity or oversight of Allen County's unfortunates was October 1, 1831, when the county commissioners appointed Henry Lippincott to prepare plans for "fixing some place of confinement for Uri Martin, under arrest as an insane person." Another account says it was William Martin, and states that Sheriff Lippincott was awarded $4 for his services in arranging this place of confinement for the afflicted man, and the question arises as to whether it were a hospital or a prison. Since the man was not a criminal it seems proper to consider his place of confinement as a hospital. It seems that the case was urgent,
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and that temporary quarters was provided "till better arrangements can be made," and the commissioners met again in the afternoon of the same day relative to the Martin incident. They considered calling a physician but since it was mental trouble they did not do it. They thought it would require more than medicine to restore the man's mental condition. It was a long look ahead from this first case of insanity to the State Hospital for criminally insane now within the borders of Allen County.
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