Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 105

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 105

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DAVID DUNCAN BEBEE, for many years a merchant of Hudson, was elected State Senator for the Summit-Portage district in October, 1867, by his urbane and intelligent discharge of his senatorial duties, making himself so popular, in both counties, that he was unanimously tendered a second term, in 1879, the first re-election of an incumbent of that office in the history of the district.

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

MATTHEW CANFIELD READ, graduate of the class of 1848; attorney at law; editor Family Visitor, 1852 to 1854; teacher in grammar school, Western Reserve College; member of U. S. Sanitary Commission, with the Army of the Cumberland, during the War; deputy revenue collector, after the close of the War; member of Ohio geological surveying corps from 1869 till com- pletion of the survey; lecturer on zoology and geology in Western Reserve College; township clerk, justice of the peace, mayor, etc.

WILLIAM ISAAC CHAMBERLAIN, born in Connecticut in 1837, accompanied his parents to Hudson in 1838; graduate of the class of 1859; principal of Shaw Academy, Collamer, Ohio, 1859-61; tutor of Greek and Latin in Western Reserve College, 1861-66; superin- tendent Cuyahoga Falls schools, 1864, '65; assistant professor in College, 1866-69; farmer, 1869-79; secretary of Ohio State Board of Agriculture, 1880-86; and from 1886 to 1890, president of the Iowa Agricultural College, at Ames, Iowa, one of the most success- ful institutions of its kind in the United States.

CHARLES C. HINE, a representative farmer of Hudson, was elected county commissioner in October, 1885, and re-elected in 1888 for six years, making in all respects a first-class officer.

JAMES H. SEYMOUR, for many years a successful grocer in Hudson, was elected county treasurer, in October, 1886, taking charge of the funds of Summit county and of the City of Akron on the 5th day of September, 1887, and re-elected in 1888, his adminis- tration being marked with as full a degree of efficiency and integrity as the very best of his many worthy predecessors.

CALVIN PEASE HUMPHREY, born in Hudson, June 21, 1840, a graduate of the Western Reserve College, of the class of 1863, and . of Cleveland law school in 1866; was mayor of Cuyahoga Falls from 1870 to 1871, and city solicitor for Akron from 1879 to 1881, filling both positions with marked ability.

HORACE BURNHAM FOSTER, born in Leyden, Franklin county, Mass., April 26, 1828; removed to Mantua in 1837; preparatory education at Twinsburg Institute; graduate from Western Reserve College in the class of 1852; principal preparatory department, 1852, '53; tutor in college, 1853-55; superintendent Akron schools, 1855, '56; tutor in the vacant professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy from September, 1856, till the accession of Professor Charles Young, January 1, 1857; justice of the peace from 1858 to 1861; clerk of incorporated village of Hudson ten years; mayor of village eight years; a safe counsellor and a successful lawyer.

HON. WILLIAM M. BEEBE, long a prominent citizen, and for four terms mayor of Hudson; was an efficient member of the board of trustees for the Northern Ohio Insane Hospital at Cleve- land, from 1880 to 1886-six full years.

Many others of Hudson's native and adopted citizens have held high official positions in life, in other localties, whose honors and fame cannot be here recorded; but enough has been given to show that Hudson has no cause to be ashamed of the part her sons have taken in the civil affairs of life, both local and general.

PRESENT OFFICIAL ROSTER-(1891).

VILLAGE OFFICERS .- Council, John Mead, Edward B. Black- man, William B. Straight, Orson Cook, Cornelius A. Campbell;

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HUDSON'S CRIMINAL RECORD.

mayor, Henry E. Lee; clerk, Ralph T. Miller; treasurer, George V. Miller; marshal, George W. Church.

TOWNSHIP OFFICERS .- Trustees, Henry H. Chamberlin, Charles H. Kilbourn, Sherman P. Thompson; clerk, Edward E. Rogers; treasurer, Sebastian Miller; assessor, William A. Curtis (successor to John M. Seidel, after ten years service); justices of the peace, Mathew C. Read, Edward E. Rogers; constables, George W. Church, Thomas W. Elliman.

POSTMASTERS .- Hudson, Isaiah B. Jones; Darrowville, Edward O. Shiveley.

HUDSON'S CRIMINAL RECORD.

Aside from the alleged shooting, in cold blood, sundry trouble- some Indians, by certain so called "Indian hunters," of pioneer times, Hudson has been singularly exempt from crime, save those occasional minor offences incident to aggregated humanity, and diversity of temperament and habit, in the best regulated com- munities.

Of course there are exceptions to all general rules, and one of Hudson's exceptions occurred something in this wise:

Sometime in the early fifties, one Nelson Hinckston estab- lished himself in the boot and shoe business in Hudson, becoming the proprietor of three buildings on the west side of Main street; the middle building being a story and a half frame, with basement, the front of the lower floor being his salesroom, the rear room his shop, the attic used for sleeping rooms, storage, etc. The next building north was Hinckston's dwelling house and the building south was occupied by Mr. Judd as a book store. One night, in the Winter of 1856-57, a fire was discovered in the basement of the store, which, being promptly extinguished, brought to light indications that the fire.had been purposely set, and pointing very strongly towards Hinckston, himself, as the incendiary, notwith- standing the fact that his own son, with one of the workmen, occupied the sleeping room above, with no other means of egress than by the stairs under which the fire had been kindled. Though very greatly excited over the affair, his neighbors took no legal steps in the premises, and gradually the feeling against Hinckston died out, and his business seemed to be running along as smoothly as before.

During the Summer of 1857, however, Mr. Jacob Niebel, an employe, began to observe symptoms indicating that his boss was again making preparations to "sell" his buildings and stock to the several insurance companies, who held risks thereon, aggregating nearly $5,000. Communicating his suspicion to a fellow-workman by the name of Thomas Cooper, the two kept watch over the movements of Hinckston, and when they believed he was about ready to apply the match, about the middle of February, 1858, other citizens were apprised of the matter, and an examination of the premises was had. It was found that through holes in the floor, bundles of waxed ends, with other inflammable substances, extended from piles of kindlings in the basement to similar com- bustibles in the store room, and these, in turn, connected with still other deposits upon the upper shelves (concealed by boxes), and these again with like readily ignited substances between the ceiling and the upper floor, and in the rooms above, so that the match

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

once applied, the entire fabric would be almost instantly in flames. Had a fire thus got fairly started, with the limited fire extinguish- ing appliances Hudson then had, not only Hinckston's three build- ings would have been burned, but the entire street, including the Mansion House, and the dwelling house of Mr. D. D. Morrell, would undoubtedly have been cleaned out.

ARRESTED ON THE FIRST ATTEMPT .- To say that Hudson was excited and indignant would be drawing it mild, and if "Judge Lynch" had been as popular then as now, even in some portions of order-loving Ohio, it is doubtful if her citizens could have been restrained from inflicting summary vengeance upon the incendiary. The affair coming to the ears of Prosecuting Attorney Henry Mckinney, the fire not having actually been set in the case in hand, that officer procured his apprehension on the first attempt using the developments in the latter case as corroborating evi- dence against him on the charge of arson. The warrant was issued by Justice M. C. Read, who, at the examination, called to his assistance Justices S. H. Pitkin, of Hudson, and M. D. Call, of Stow. The evidence was overwhelmingly conclusive, but the defendant's counsel, A. C. Voris, Esq., took the bold ground that in setting the fire in question, he had violated no provision of the Statutes of Ohio, the law then reading: "Whoever sets fire to any building, the property of another," etc., and moved that the accused be discharged. Though Justice Read was favorable to the grant- ing of the motion, his associates inclined to the view that the almost inevitable destruction of the property. of others, had his own got fairly started, was sufficient to hold him to answer to the grand jury, and he was so held. Esq. Voris immediately applied to Probate Judge Noah M. Humphrey for a writ of habeas corpus and, after a full examination of the facts in the case, and the law, the defendant was discharged, and though no pecuniary harm came to the people from the carefully planned, but happily frus- trated schemes of the fire-bug, Hudson became too hot for longer comfortable sojourn and Hinckston floated off West, and has since deceased. In the following session of the Legislature-1859, '60 ---- in which Hon. A. C. Voris was Summit county's representative, and Hon. J. A. Garfield was the State senator from the Summit-Port- age district, the law was amended, making the burning of one's own building, for the purpose of defrauding insurance companies, a penitentiary offense.

THE MALONEY-STEPLETON HOMICIDE .- On the night of the 16th day of June, 1860, the good people of Hudson were thrown into the wildest excitement by the rapidly spreading report that a most wanton and brutal murder had been perpetrated upon one of the public streets of that usually quiet and peaceful village, under the following circumstances:

A young Irishman by the name of John Maloney was in the employ of the Cleveland & Pittsburg railroad, as a track repairer, under track-master Reynolds, of Bedford. Maloney was rather above the medium height, about 24 years of age, with sandy hair and fair complexion, and of mild and pleasant countenance. Michael Stepleton was a young man of the same nationality, in his 21st year, whose parents resided in Holmes county, but who had for some time been at work on the Mahoning Branch of A. & G. W. R'y in Mantua; both young men very frequently visiting

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THE DEADLY BLUDGEON.

Hudson, among whose young people of the class to which they belonged, they had formed many mutual acquaintances.

THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLE .- These visits, on the part of Maloney, were said to have ripened into such intimate relations with one of his female acquaintances, by the name of Bridget Calnan, that he was fighting a little shy of both the young lady and of the village of Hudson itself. On Saturday, May 12, 1860, while Stepleton was en route from Mantua to Hudson, to spend the Sabbath, he met Maloney at Macedonia, and urged him to "come on down to Hudson where all the fun is," giving him twenty cents to pay his fare with, if he would do so. Maloney asked Stepleton if Bridget was still in Hudson, and was told that she was not. Thereupon he accepted his friend's invitation, and accompanied him to Hudson.

But it appears that Bridget Calnan was still in Hudson, and either she or her friends, taking advantage of Maloney's presence in the village, instituted legal proceedings against him, "with a view to matrimony," or-in case of refusal-to visit upon him the pains and penalties provided by law for "premature fatherhood." The former alternative was submitted to, and the "loving not wisely but too well" couple were accordingly joined in the bonds of holy wedlock by Father M. A. Scanlon, of Akron, pastor of St. Vincent De Paul's Church, on Sunday, May 13, 1860.

While it does not appear that Mr. and Mrs. Maloney, were living otherwise than happily together, he charged Stepleton with having "betrayed him" him, and became bitterly incensed against him, and had given utterance to sundry threats of vengeance, though it was claimed by Stepleton, that he was unaware of the peculiar nature of Maloney's aversion to meeting Bridget, when he falsely told him she was not in Hudson. This was the status of the existing feeling between the hitherto warm friends, when they next met, on Saturday, June 16, just exactly five weeks after the occurrences above detailed. Stepleton had come to Hudson, to have a good time among the young people of that classic village, over the Sabbath, while Maloney, for reasons not clearly apparent, leaving his youthful bride at their home in Macedonia, was in town also.

On meeting, Maloney began to upbraid Stepleton for his per- fidy, but the latter, assuring him that he had no suspicion as to how matters stood between him and Bridget, and that he never dreamed of drawing him into the trap that had been set for him, Maloney professed to be satisfied, shook hands with him, and tak- ing a drink together, spent the afternoon and evening with mutual friends, in convivial and social converse, on apparently as friendly terms as of yore.

STRIKING THE FATAL BLOW .- Thus were they in each other's company all of the afternoon and evening, and, with other boon companions, visited the drinking places of the village, though neither of them appeared to be particularly intoxicated. About eight o'clock in the evening Maloney left the company, saying that he was going to stay over night in Hudson at the house of Mr. Thomas Hurley, on leaving, cordially shaking hands with the crowd, Stepleton included, and pleasantly bidding them all "good bye."

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About nine o'clock, Stepleton and a companion by the name of John Jones, meeting Ellen Ryan, Ann Morris, Julia Calnan and Kate Fitzgerald, joined them for a walk, and as escorts to their several homes. Having left the two other girls at their respective gates, the two young men, with Ellen Ryan and Ann Morris, about 10 o'clock reached the gate of President George E. Pierce, of the Western Reserve College, in whose family Ellen Ryan lived. While standing there, merrily talking and laughing, a man sud- denly approached, and exclaiming "You are there yet!" raised a club, and, with both hands, struck Stepleton a fearful blow on the head, instantly felling him to the ground, and followed it up with two or more other heavy blows; the assailant being recognized by his voice as John Maloney.

PLUCKY ELLEN RYAN .- Even before the first blow was struck, John Jones started upon a run towards his own home, while Ann Morris ran towards the house of President Pierce, but Ellen Ryan pluckily stood her ground, and endeavored to prevent further injury to her prostrate companion, by twice pulling his assailant away from him as he was wielding his club, and who in his fury exclaimed, "Ellen Ryan, let go of me ! he has betrayed me !" The assailant then threw away his club and started on the run, towards the road leading to Macedonia, while Ellen Ryan, calling upon Ann Morris to come back to assist her, took hold of and tried to raise Stepleton, who was groaning, to his feet, but finding him helpless and unconscious, laid his head upon the step, and then went for help. M. C. Read, Esq., with Doctor George P. Ashmun were soon upon the spot, with others of the neighbors, but by this. time life was found to be extinct.

ARREST OF THE MURDERER .-- The news of the homicide spread from house to house with great rapidity, and, as might have been expected, caused the most intense excitement among the staid and peaceful denizens of Hudson. The murderer was almost imme- diately followed to Macedonia, where he was found in bed with. his young wife, as calm as though nothing extraordinary had occurred. He was taken into custody and conveyed to Hudson the same night, where he was kept, closely guarded, until Monday morning, when, on preliminary examination before Justice Harry C. Thompson, he was held to answer for the crime of murder and duly committed to jail.

INDICTMENT, TRIAL, SENTENCE, ETC .- Though the May term of the Court was still in session, Prosecuting Attorney Mckinney did not deem it advisable to impanel a special grand jury, and the trial was consequently postponed until the November term. At that term an indictment was returned, charging the defendant with wilful and premeditated murder, to which charge on being arraigned, Maloney entered a plea of "Not Guilty." Monday, November 26, was designated as the time for the trial to begin, 36 jurors having been summoned to appear on that day, from which to select the necessary number to try the case.

The case was conducted on the part of the State by Prosecut- ing Attorney Henry Mckinney, assisted by William H. Upson and Matthew C. Read, and on the part of the defense by Judge Van R. Humphrey and General Lucius V. Bierce. The trial occupied the time of the court, including the impaneling of the jury, the exami- nation of witnesses, the arguments of counsel, the charge of the

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IMPRISONMENT, PARDON, SUBSEQUENT LIFE, ETC.

judge and the deliberations of the jury, seven full days. The arguments, covering two entire days, were all. very able, and the charge of Judge Carpenter, occupying a full hour in its delivery, . was able, clear and impartial. The jury were out about six hours, and at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday, December 4, 1860, returned a verdict of Murder in the Second Degree. The penalty for this degree of homicide being imprisonment for life, sentence to that effect was duly pronounced by Judge Carpenter, in appropriate and impressive terms, a few days after the rendition of the verdict as above stated.

IMPRISONMENT-PARDON, ETC .- On the 14th day of December, 1860, among the last batch of prisoners delivered at the peniten- tiary, by the writer, near the close of his first four years' siege as sheriff of Summit county, was the Life Convict, John Maloney. John was quiet, thoughtful and apparently exceedingly regretful for what he had done, freely expressing to the writer the belief that but for strong drink, he would not have committed the fearful deed for which he was about to suffer. On entering the prison he resignedly, if not cheerfully, submitted to all its rules and regula- tions, and soon won and continued to hold, the good will of the officers and those under whom he performed his daily tasks. After a suitable lapse of time, kind friends interested themselves in his behalf, and petitioned Governor Jacob D. Cox for his pardon, which was accordingly granted on the 22d day of October, 1867, and he was restored to liberty, just six years, ten months and eight days after his incarceration, and recent inquiry has disclosed the fact that in an adjoining county, with the wife to whom he was wedded under such adverse circumstances, he has since lived happily and uprightly, and is an industrious and respected citizen of the community in which he, and his quite numerous family now reside. The simple story of John Maloney has a double moral, which is not only self-evident, but which the youth of our county, of whatever station or condition in life, will do well to thoughtfully ponder and conscientiously heed.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

NORTHAMPTON'S BEGINNING -INDIAN AND FRONTIER MATTERS-PIONEER SETTLERS, INCIDENTS, ETC .- GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT-"BOOTHSPORT,"" "NILES" AND OTHER BUSINESS CENTERS-A FRUITFUL COUPLE-ORGAN- IZATION, NAME, ETC .- NORTHAMPTON'S MILITARY PROWESS-CIVIL SERVICE "REFORM"-SINGULAR CONDUCT OF A PUBLIC OFFICIAL-INDUSTRIAL. MATTERS, RESOURCES, ETC .- EARLY CROOKEDNESS-THE DUNN-WHIPPLE TRAGEDY-BROOKS-TEDROW HOMICIDE-PRESENT STATUS, ETC.

LOCALITY, BEGINNING, ETC.

TOWN 3, Range 11, as designated in the original survey of the Western Reserve, and which afterwards came to be known as- Northampton, is bounded on the north by Boston, east by Stow, south by Portage and west by Bath townships. The Big Cuyahoga river traverses its entire length, north and south, in the western portion of the township. Bordering upon the river on either side,. with the exception of a few quite large areas of bottom lands, the country is extremely rugged, though the central and eastern portion is comparatively level and well adapted to general agricul- ture, the bottom lands affording a number of fine and very fertile- farms, while the intervening hills and gullies are admirably suited to grazing and dairy purposes.

Without tracing title from the King of England to the Connec- ticut colony, by the grant of 1665, or from the Indians, east of the river, by the treaty of Fort McIntosh, January 21, 1785, and on the west side by treaty of Fort Industry, in 1805, and by the United States, in turn, to the State of Connecticut, it is sufficient, here, to say that in about the year 1801 it was sold to the Connecticut Land Company, by whom it was disposed of, by a sort of a lottery scheme, or drawing, to parties purchasing shares therein, in proportion to the amount of money so paid in.

The original proprietors of Tract 3, Range 11, thus acquiring title, were W. Billings, Oliver P. Holden, Solomon Stoddard, Daniel Wright, Joseph Pratt, Luther Loomis, David King, John Leavitt, Jr., Ebenezer King, Jr., Timothy Phelps, and Fidelio King, the six last named gentlemen being townsmen of the writer, in Connec- ticut (old Suffield ), Mr. David King being the grandfather of Akron's present well-known citizen, David L. King, Esq.

INDIAN AND FRONTIER MATTERS .- Within the limits of this. township were some of the most extensive and important Indian mounds, fortifications and other works in the entire west, and it was against the Indian garrison here, probably, that Captain Samuel Brady made his hostile demonstrations in 1780, and from whence, on being repulsed, he made his memorable run and leap- for life, at the present village of Kent, as recorded in another chap- ter of this work.

Here, too, in the summer of 1812, an encampment of militia, under command of General Elijah Wadsworth, of Warren, was stationed, in the vicinity of Old Portage, for the protection of the

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BOATS FOR COMMODORE PERRY.

frontier ; reinforced, after the cowardly surrender of his army at Detroit, by General William Hull, August 16, 1812, by a battalion of militia, under the command of Major George Darrow, of Hudson, one company of which was in command of Captain Rial McArthur, of Northampton. It was at this point, also, that the boats were built which are alleged to have formed a part of Commodore Perry's fleet in the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813-the "Portage," the "Porcupine" and the "Hornet"-the former so named from the "port" where it was built; the second from the fact that the late William Cogswell, of Bath, who helped to build the boats, captured one of those prickly little animals and tossed it on board just as the boat was being launched, and the third from the circum- stance that at the pineries, in Northfield, where the boats were being fitted with masts and spars, it was discovered that near the top of the tree selected for the mast of the boat in question, there was a large hornet's nest, one of the men volunteering to climb the tree and plug the hole in the nest before proceeding to chop it down.

WILLIAM PRIOR, - born in Hampshire county, Massachu- setts, April 6, 1783 ; came with family to Ohio in 1802, his father, Simeon Prior, being the first white settler in Northampton township, coming by ox-teams to Lake Ontario; from thence, in open boats, via Lake Onta- rio, the Niagara river and Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, and from thence through the unbroken wilderness to their destination. Simeon Prior was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and the son, Wil- liam, bravely defended his country in the War of 1812; on attaining his majority, young Prior went South and pre-empted a tract of Congress lands, but shortly afterwards returned to Northampton, and purchased the quarter section, on which he spent the balance of his life, and where he died in June, 1872, in the 90th year of his age. He filled many positions of private and public trust, for many years holding commissions as justice of the peace, from the earlier Govern- ors of Ohio. His first wife was Sarah Wharton, of Wheeling, Vir- ginia, who bore him four sons, Edward, Henry W., Robert and Simeon -- and three daughters, Susau, Katha- rine and Sarah, all now deceased, except Sarah, residing in Marysville,

EDI

co. CHI.

WILLIAM PRIOR.

Missouri. His second wife was Polly Culver, who bore him two children- William, who died suddenly at his home near Cuyahoga Falls, Septem- ber 7, 1891, aged 66 years, 4 months and 17 days, and George W., killed in the battle of the Wilderness, May 9, 1864.

EARLY SETTLEMENT, NAME, ETC .- Notwithstanding the relin- quishment of their title to these lands, by the two treaties above named, so reluctant were the Indians to leave the graves of their ancestors and their favorite hunting and fishing grounds, that many of them lingered in the neighborhood for several years, not only to the great annoyance of their pale-faced neighbors, but also very materially retarding the settling up of the township; not entirely disappearing until the commencement of the War of 1812,

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Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228