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 121

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 121

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APPLICATION FOR COMMUTATION OF SENTENCE .- As the time appointed for his execution drew nigh, Governor Hayes was appealed to by defendant's counsel, for a commutation of his sen- tence to imprisonment for life. To this end, Dr. Kendrick, super- intendent of the Northern Ohio Hospital for the Insane, was invited to visit him in jail with the view of testing the soundness or unsoundness of his mind. To fully test the matter and satisfy himself, Dr. Kendrick first visited him alone, and afterwards, the same day, in company with Drs. William Bowen and George P. Ashmun. After a long interview, and the application of a great variety of tests usual in such examinations, though treated to numerous outbursts of mirth, wrath, fury, etc., they were unani- mous in the conclusion that "though he showed signs of great weakness of intellect, no indications whatever of insanity appeared." He was thereupon informed by his counsel that there was no further hope.

STILL INSISTS THAT HE IS INSANE .- On being informed by his counsel of the result of the medical examination, Hunter furnished, on Saturday, November 18, for publication in The Beacon, the following:

" I am now aware that my time is short in this world, and that all hope of salvation on earth is lost. I must and will give myself to God, hoping that he will have a home prepared for me in Heaven, where trouble and sor- row is never known. I can earnestly say that I harbor no ungrateful feeling or ill-will towards any person on earth. But I now say, myself, that I ani not sane and rational at all times, and I have been pronounced insane twelve years ago in Canada, as I will give an instance. Once, when the Prince of Wales visited America and the Provinces, I went up to him when he stood on the flat-car at the depot, threw off my coat to whip him; and came near dragging him off the car. I was arrested and confined for a short time. Was that sane or insane? But the next thing I shall speak of is capital punishment. What is it? I can tell you. It is an act of barbarity, and is not in accordance with the laws of God, or humanity, and ought not to be allowed to exist in a land where the word of God prevails and Christianity reigns. And I hope and pray that I may be the last man ever to be sentenced to such a fate."

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE .- As Hunter had, from time to time, asseverated that however closely they might watch him he had the means to end his life by his own hand, from this time on his actions were closely scrutinized through the day, and a strict watch kept upon him through the night. On Monday,

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ATTEMPT TO COMMIT SUICIDE.

the day before the execution, he sent word to the writer that he wished to see him immediately after dinner. Accordingly, about half past one o'clock, I repaired to the jail, when he greeted me pleasantly, saying that though I had already granted him many favors, he had yet one more favor to ask of me. He then handed mne a sealed letter, saying he had written his last letter to the public which he wished me not to open until after his death, and then publish in The Beacon, which I promised to do. Half an hour later he made the attempt to take his own life in the follow- ing manner:

Sheriff Curtiss had thoroughly searched the jail and had removed from his reach everything with which he could possibly kill himself, and leaving Mrs. Curtiss at the point of observation from the sheriff's sleeping room, at the southwest corner of the jail, stepped across to the court house to attend to his official duties there. Soon after he left, Mrs. Curtiss saw Hunter dis- tribute a lot of apples among his fellow-prisoners, and after they had commenced eating them, saw him enter his cell and close the grated door after him, a circumstance so unusual as to excite her suspicion that something was wrong, and she immediately sent for her husband. Hurrying across the street, Sheriff Curtiss at once repaired to his cell, where he found Hunter seated, in a reclining posture, upon his bed, in his shirt sleeves, with a large jet of blood spurting from a gash about half an inch in length just below the elbow, on his left arm. A physician, who happened to be at the court house, was immediately summoned. The application of a compress stanched the flow of blood, and though he struggled desperately, and attempted to tear off the bandage, he was so bound and secured as to be unable to do himself any further harm. On making a further examination of his cell, Sheriff Curtiss found a small piece of glass, that might have been produced by the breaking of a bottle or tumbler, in form something like an Indian arrow head, about three-fourths of an inch in length, extremely sharp pointed at one end and double edged, like a sur- geon's lancet, and with this, as Sheriff Curtiss supposed, an incision had been made in the arm, severing a vein only, and not an artery, as he had evidently intended.

HIS LAST WRITTEN STATEMENT .- On opening the letter above alluded to, it was found to read as follows:

" SUMMIT COUNTY JAIL, November 20, 1871.

"MR. LANE :- I now seat myself to inform you, and through you the pub- lic, that I am this day going to commit suicide. I do it with long premedi- tation, but I do it without malice, either against myself or any other person in this world. Then it cannot be called murder in the first degree. The sheriff sat up with nie all last night to watch me; but little did he think that I sat up to watch him at the same time. I thought it was rather hard for him to set up with me all night, to try and keep me alive so that he could have the pleasure of killing me the next day. These laws don't suit some believers, myself among the number. Let those who make such laws experiment upon themselves. I consider they are the Devil's laws, and let him get caught in his own trap. I certainly would not allow any person who wishes to go to heaven, to throw himself body and soul into such a place as to be hanged by the neck until he is dead, for God has said: Deut. 21:23, Gal. 3:13. That is my belief. Read that before you think any more. I hope my friends-Christians-will, at as early a day as possible, abolish all such inhumanity as trying to swing a man into heaven by a rope, and then have the assurance to say that that is in accordance with the laws of God. God

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

made man and he made the laws. But He never made a law to hang either you or me. So, therefore, you must not think but what you will do right if you aet accordingly.

"I am clear, in iny own conscience, at this present moment, of what I am about to do, as you are in your belief, for I act in accordance with the laws of God, as you are acting in accordance with the laws of inhumanity and barbarity. You ought to turn from your wretched cruelty, no matter what people may say about it, when you know you are wrong. Well might you say that if I was the last man to commit such a crime you would give me clear ; but seeing that I am not, then the jury must be told to make an example of me. But, my Christian professor, you are only making an example of yourself, not only before your fellow-men but before your God.

"I will close by saying: Let all bitterness, and wrath, and clamor and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Peace be to the brethren, and love, with faith from God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Now may the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always, by all means. The Lord be with you all and save my soul. Amen.

JOHN H. HUNTER."

Accompanying the above, and written just before the inter- view with me at the jail door, was the following "last word" to myself and the public:

"AKRON JAIL, November 20, 1 o'clock P. M.

"MR. LANE :- Please add one more favor to the many already done me, by publishing this my dying declaration: I, John H. Hunter, now declare, in the presence of my Maker, that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, Sheriff Curtiss is ignorant of all this act of suicide that I am about to coll- mit. So, therefore, there is no person to blame, for they have kept a close watch over mne, or I should have done this long ago, as I never intended to die on the gallows. I have had the instrument to do it with for nearly four months in the jail. I doubt whether it will ever be found after I am gone, as it is a very small article, and is almost invisible a short distance off. Farewell!

JOHN H. HUNTER."

THE EXECUTION-DYING SPEECH, ETC .- The gallows had been erected in the corridor, in the northeast corner of the jail, and was the same upon which James Parks and several other murderers in adjoining counties had previously been hung. As in the case of Parks, on the day appointed for his execution here, a crowd began to assemble about the jail early in the day, composed indiscrim- inately of men, women and children, which was greatly aug- mnented as the hour of execution drew nigh, and much excitement existed, although there were no such disorderly demonstrations as had previously been manifested when Streeter was executed at Medina, or have since occurred at Ashland and other points in Ohio where murderers have been legally done to death upon the scaffold.

As the hour approached, the distress of the doomed man became very great, the most abject fear taking entire possession of him. There were only some twenty persons present, all told, including the sheriff and his assistants, attorneys, clergymen, newspaper reporters, etc., among the latter the writer of this nar- rative. At 20 minutes to 11 o'clock, Rev. Lathrop Cooley, of the Disciple Church, who had been his spiritual adviser throughout, had religious services with the doomed man alone in his cell; besides fervently praying with him, exhorting him to meet his fate with fortitude and resignation. The prisoner was not inclined to talk very much, but kept up an almost continuous moaning.

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- DYING SPEECH-EASY DEATH, ETC.

At 20 minutes past 11 o'clock Sheriff Curtiss and Mr. Cooley led · him from his cell to the scaffold, his step being so faltering, and his nerves so unstrung that he almost had to be lifted from his feet while passing along the corridor and ascending the stairs.

Being seated upon a chair on the platform, Sheriff Curtiss read the death warrant to him and asked him if he had anything to say why the sentence of the law should not be put into execu- tion. He then asked how much time he had to speak, and the sheriff told him he could have ten minutes. Then, in a broken and disconnected manner, he spoke as follows:

"I am innocent of the crime for which I am to suffer. I did not intend to do the deed. I here pray that the Lord will forgive all my sins and that he will forgive all my enemies. I now forgive all my enemies, hoping that all will forgive me. I have no enmity against my girl, Chloe Gargett, and I hope the Lord will forgive her. I must now take my leave of my friends and of the world. I have no confession to make of any crime whatever. I have never committed any offence in any country where I have lived. I hope the Lord will take me to heaven. I have always loved Mr. and Mrs. Gargett and did not intend to take their lives. Witnesses swore false against me, but I forgive them. I now forgive all, and hope that the Lord will forgive my soul. [To the sheriff.] Give my love to your wife who has cared for me so well, and to my attorneys and friends."

He then asked Mr. Cooley to pray for him, which he did, after reading a portion of Scripture, in a very impressive manner. Mr. Cooley then took him by the hand and bade him farewell, saying: "Good bye, John; we have met often but shall meet no more here." Sheriff Curtiss and Deputy Sheriff David A. Scott then pinioned his arms and feet and placed him, standing, upon the . drop. The prisoner tremblingly continued to utter words of prayer, and cries for mercy, saying:

"O Lord God ! save me and deliver me ! O God ! I will be with Thee in heaven, and may Jesus Christ pardon me. Bless those that curse me, I will forgive them all and hope to meet them all in heaven, and those that I shot. Give my love to all. I am an innocent man. I never premeditated it. I hope God will take me and all my friends to heaven-my girl and all. Will not some one pray for me?"

Mr. Cooley then again ascended the platform and offered another fervent prayer that fortitude might be given the doomed man to meet his impending fate, and for his eternal salvation. Sheriff Curtiss then stepped forward with the black cap, which Hunter begged him not to put on him. Informing him that it was his duty to do so, the sheriff pulled the cap down over his face and shut out forever the light of this world from his mortal vision.

At 18 minutes to 12 o'clock the noose was adjusted about his neck, and at precisely 16 minutes to 12 the trap was sprung, the body falling just seven feet and ten inches, the toes of his bouts just clearing the floor of the jail, his last exclamation being; "O my Lord, God Almighty ! Give my love to all, both enemies and friends."

In falling, the noose slipped from under the left ear to the left side of the back part of the head, and it was feared that death must result from strangulation, and that his struggles would be severe. With the exception of a slight vibratory motion of the body, however, and, at the second minute after falling, a very slight contraction of the muscles of the legs, there was no strug- gle whatever, and at exactly eight minutes from the time the trap

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was sprung, the attending physicians pronounced life extinct, and John H. Hunter had, so far as human laws could do it, fully expi- ated the dreadful crime he had committed.

THE DISPOSITION OF HIS BODY .- Hunter left a written request that Messrs. Voris, Sanford and Cooley should take charge of his body after his death, and with the following directions: "Let the doctors make a thorough examination of my head, but not, on any condition, cut my body. After this examination the body is to be given in charge to the gentlemen named to be interred with such ceremonies as they may think proper."

Accordingly, on the afternoon of the execution, some eleven or twelve physicians and surgeons of the city and vicinity, assembled in the upper portion of the jail, when an autopsy upon the head of the dead malefactor was performed by Dr. Byron S. Chase. A most thorough and critical examination of the brain was made by all physicians present. It was found to weigh 461/2 ounces, con- siderably over the average, and in a perfectly sound and healthy condition. No marks of concussion from any external blow could be found, and the general verdict was adverse to any form of insanity whatever. Thus, if the science of anatomy is of any value, it was demonstrated that, however honest his counsel may have been in their most earnest advocacy of that theory of defense, and however firmly the belief in his insanity was entertained by his friends, the verdict of the jury and the the judgment of the court were fully vindicated, and the general verdict of the people, that his punishment was just, emphatically confirmed.

SPIRITED CONTEST FOR THE "CADAVER."-In the late evening of the day of execution, the body of the murderer, dressed in the plain black suit worn upon the gallows, and enclosed in a plain pine coffin, was quietly taken to Glendale cemetery, by Superin- tendent Wills, accompanied by Rev. L. Cooley, H. C. Sanford, Esq., Sheriff Augustus Curtiss, and deputy sheriffs David A. Scott and Mills Curtiss, and buried in the pottersfield, in the northwest por- tion of the grounds.

There was no law in Ohio, at that time, for the turning over, by the public authorities, of the bodies of criminals or unknown dead, to medical institutions or associations, for scientific purposes, and such subjects as were needed for that purpose, had to be clandestinely procured. There were at least three parties on the alert to secure the body in question-one, a party of medical students from Cleveland, the other two parties being rival physi- cians resident in the city of Akron. The former becoming satis- fied that there was no show for them, early withdrew from the contest. The two Akron teams were captained by Dr. "X" and Dr. "Y" respectively. Hardly had the burial party retired from the grave, and while the superintendent was still engaged in putting out his horse, just over the hill, before the Dr. "Y" crowd commenced digging for the body, but before reaching the coffin, the superintendent returned and made them retire. Scott was then detailed to watch the grave, and on his return, after a tem- porary absence, found the Dr. "X"crowd busy throwing out the earth, and commanded them to desist, but they utterly refused to do so, and kept on vigorously at their ghoulish work. Before reaching the coffin, however, the superintendent again appeared upon the ground, rather carelessly firing his revolver into the

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THE MURDERER'S BODY SKELETONIZED.

surrounding bushes and shrubbery, when the diggers thought it prudent to retreat. This faction then hunted up a couple of the cemetery trustees, who, while they had no legal authority to order the superintendent to deliver over the body, did order him to withdraw his guards from that portion of the grounds. This order the superintendent, good conscientious man, was most seriously disinclined to obey, and while discussing the matter with one of the trustees and one or two of the M. D.'s, the Dr. "Y" crowd quietly slipped in, and laboring with an expedition known only to "resurrectionists," abstracted the body, and without stopping to readjust the grave, retired from the field-i. e. potter's field-in triumph, and the well prepared skeleton of the murderer of Robert and Elizabeth Gargett-John H. Hunter-is now doing duty in the cabinet of a prominent physician and surgeon in the city of Akron.

SUBSEQUENT FAMILY HISTORY .- By a will executed in 1861, Robert Gargett, devised to his wife the use of the home farm dur- ing her natural life, and at her decease to his youngest son, Robert Rodney Gargett; all other property, real and personal, to the wife absolutely, to be by her managed and disposed of as she might deem right and just. Mrs. Gargett dying first, the terms of the will, except as to the home farm of 101 acres, willed to Rodney, were inoperative, and the estate was duly administered upon, the balance of the real estate being partitioned to the several heirs, and the farm stock and other personal property sold and the pro- ceeds distributed according to law.

At the public sale, Rodney purchased the larger portion of the farm stock, amounting to several thousand dollars, which, in addi- tion to his own share of his proceeds, necessitated the borrowing of a considerable sum of money, for which mortgages were exe- cuted upon his inherited homestead. Instead, however, of settling right down to the steady-going and economical farm life of his lamented father, young Gargett at once began to "take on airs," purchasing a nice team and carriage, supplying himself and wife with gold watches, and other luxuries, and so largely devoted himself to the comforts and pleasures of life, that on the maturity of his paper, for borrowed money, he was unable to meet the pay- ments, and at the January term, 1877, of the Court of Common Pleas of Summit county, a decree of foreclosure of a mortgage given to Robert Whipp was rendered, and the mortgaged property ordered to be sold. The writer was then sheriff, and the property, appraised at $6,060.00, was sold to Mr. Jackson Law, assignee of the mortgage, and plaintiff in the suit for foreclosure, for two- thirds the appraised value, to-wit, $4,040.00, leaving, after satisfy- ing judgment and costs, a surplus of $130.05 only, which was duly paid over by me to the defendant. A year or two later Mr. Gar- gett removed to Michigan, where he purchased a small farm, which, as the writer is informed, he has since conducted with a fair degree of diligence and success, also, according to reports among his old neighbors in Richfield, having been elected to the responsible position of justice of the peace in the township of his adoption. Miss Chloe Gargett, after the trebly fatal termination of her youthful romance and infatuation-but against whom no suspicion of unchaste intimacy with her vain-braggart lover was ever entertained by those who knew her-also, after the sad occur- rences herein narrated, went to her friends in Michigan, where she -

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was subsequently married to a highly respectable gentleman by the name of George Halliday, a hardware merchant, but after- wards, by reason of the loss of his entire stock of goods by fire, without insurance, retiring to a farm, where they are reported to be now living in prosperity and happiness.

Thus ends, in brief, one of the most thrilling episodes that ever agitated the public mind of Summit county-and very largely of the two contiguous States of Ohio and Michigan-and one which should forever serve as a warning against the seductive influence, and imminent danger, of indulging in epistolary corre- spondence with a stranger of the opposite sex, "with a view to matrimony," or otherwise, before having met him or her face to face; an indulgence which in this case, consigned three human beings to premature graves (one in deep disgrace and ignominy), and entailed life-long sorrow upon the surviving principal in the tragedy, and upon the very large circle of her relatives and friends.

CHAPTER XLVII.

:SPRINGFIELD-PIONEER MATTERS-ORGANIZATION AND GROWTH-TOPOGRAPHY, RESOURCES, ETC .- INDIAN EXODUS AND SCARE-VILLAGES, HAMLETS, ETC., ABOLITION, "RIOT," FREE SPEECH VINDICATED, ANTIQUATED EGGS, ETC .- EDUCATIONAL, RAILROAD AND MILITARY MATTERS-CRIMINAL STATUS- MURDER OF JOHN RHODENBAUGH, A LONG-TIME RESIDENT OF SPRINGFIELD, NEAR KENT, IN 1865 -TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF MURDERERS, JACK COOPER AND JOEL BEERY-EXECUTION OF COOPER, LIFE SENTENCE OF BEERY-THE ROOF-MUSSON HOMICIDE IN 1866-EXCITING PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF THE MURDERER - PROMINENT AND WEALTHY CITIZEN IMPLICATED-TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL OF THE LATTER, WHILE FORMER PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE-LIFE SENTENCE, PARDON, SUBSEQUENT LIFE, ETC .- SPRINGFIELD'S HONORABLE CIVIL RECORD, ETC.

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.

THE township of Springfield is located on the south line of the Connecticut Western Reserve, and is the tenth township from the east line of the State, and is consequently designated on the county records as lot 1, range 10. It was originally, like all of the Reserve, attached to Trumbull county, but became a part of Por- tage county on its organization, June 8, 1808, which relation was maintained until the new county of Summit was erected, in 1840. The act, erecting Portage county, was passed February 10, 1807, to take effect June 7, 1807 ; but for some reason, now unexplainable, the organization of the new county was postponed one year, as above indicated. Like all of the townships of the Reserve, Spring- field was originally five miles square, about half of one square mile having been clipped out of the northwest corner and attached to the township of Middlebury, in March, 1857, and now forming a portion of the Sixth Ward, of the city of Akron.

EARLY SETTLEMENT .- The township was surveyed by Gen. Simon Perkins, for the Connecticut Land Company, in 1806. It was what was called an "equalizing" township; i. e., certain por- tions of the territory were assigned to the purchaser of Shalers- ville, to bring it up to the quality of the average townships of the Reserve. The portions thus assigned were the east half and a strip off the west side, the latter portion being purchased by Henry and Charles Chittenden, from Connecticut, Henry Chittenden being, for many years, a prominent citizen of the township and village of Middlebury, as farmer, contractor, hotel-keeper, etc.

The first settler in the township, is believed to have been Ariel Bradley, the grandfather of the present Mr. James Bradley, of Mogadore, who came to what is now Mahoning county in 1801, to Suffield in 1805, crossing the line, late in 1806, or early in 1807, and settling on lot 12, part of which is now in the village of Mogadore ; Mr. Thomas Hale, grandfather of the present efficient secretary of the Summit County Agricultural Society, Mr. Albert Hale, coming in from Suffield, Connecticut, about the same time.

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

About 1807, also, came Reuben Tupper, Nathan Moore, Benja- min Baldwin, John Hall 2d, (father of John J. Hall, Esq., of Akron) and his younger brother, James Hall. The three former were from Connecticut, and the two latter, though of Scotch-Irish descent, came from Pennsylvania; an uncle, Robert Hall, with his family, coming in the same year. Robert also had had a son John, hence the appellation, John Hall 2d. ' The latter and his brother, James, then being both considerably under age, built a cabin and settled upon a farm about half a mile east of the " Burgh," or so- called center of the town, while the uncle and his family located upon what was for many years afterwards known as the Weaver farm, now owned by Peter Lepper, on the Akron and Mogadore road.

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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