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 71

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 71

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574

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

MR. KOHLER'S PLEA .-- Mr. Kohler followed his colleague in an eloquent plea occupying about two hours, premising that from the able manner in which both sides had already been presented, there was really but little more to be said. Mr. Kohler, in a calm, conversational manner, defined the different degrees of homicide and advised the jury that, though indicted for murder in the first degree, they could find a verdict for either first or second degree or manslaughter, as the evidence might warrant. He animad- verted upon the evils of intemperance and commiserated the inebriate. He spoke of Henry being an honest, hard-working man. until he went into the saloon business with his wife, when they began to lead a cat and dog life. I think it has been shown that she was drunk at the time the injuries were inflicted. I can imagine how often he recovered from his drunken stupor, got up a quarrel, knocked her down and beat her in a horrible manner, but I cannot believe that this man intended to kill his wife, because if he did he had plenty of chances; there were weapons at. hand by which he could have accomplished it, Mr. Kohler closing by saying that if they had a reasonable doubt they were bound to give the prisoner the benefit of the doubt.

THE CLOSING ARGUMENT .- No mere synopsis would do justice to the closing argument for the State, by Prosecuting Attorney Charles Baird, like that of Mr. Kohler covering about two hours. Like his predecessors, Mr. Baird spent some time in going over the laws relating to homicides, defining malice, intent, etc. He reviewed the lives of these people, of the threats and assults which had been made by the defendant against and upon his wife; of the time when she ran out of the house, towards a group of men, screaming for protection, followed by Henry, who knocked her down, and when she attempted to rise grabbed her by the hair of the head and pulled her down again, kicking her with his heavy boots so as plainly be heard in the stable some distance away; and detailed at length the revolting scene of that fatal night, as developed by the evidence, and the ghastly sight presented by the injured woman to her neighbors and the physicians in attendance, and of his leaving the house to sleep in a neighboring barn after the infliction of those injuries; cursing her in his sleep, and the next morning, when asked why he had so horribly beaten his wife, saying: "I guess I have finished her this time." Never before in the history of our country has so foul a murderer been tried for his life. His declaration the next night, when asked by a party from whom he tried to borrow a quarter, why he did not go to his own place and get it: "If I go in there I will kill some- body," showed the maliciousness of the man.

Mr. Baird then went through with the horrible details of the fatal assult, the atrocity of which drew tears from many an eye unused to weeping, saying "the man who would do this horrible thing ought to die. I know how men shrink from hanging a fellow-being. If this man intended to kill this woman when he jumped upon her with his heels, he then and there forfeited his life and you do not deprive him of it. I want you to think of that woman lying prostrate there upon the floor, saying to him: ‘For God's sake Watt, don't kill me !' thrice repeated, each time grow- ing fainter and fainter. With your verdict, gentlemen, under the evidence and the charge of this Court, we will be content.

575

AKRON'S ONLY HOMICIDE.

JUDGE GREEN'S CHARGE .- Judge Green's charge was of consid- erable length, after complimenting the jury for the close attention which they had given to the evidence and the arguments of coun- sel, explaining in full the law and rules which should govern them in their deliberations and arriving at their verdict. The several degrees of murder and as to what constituted a reasonable doubt were clearly expounded; deliberation, premeditation were lucidly explained. The law fixes no definite length of time. A purpose maliciously to kill, deliberated upon before the act is committed, however short the time, constitutes murder in the first degree. Malice is any unlawful act done for the purpose of injuring another. The defendant, in his plea of not guilty, sets up the defense of drunkenness. His condition before and after the act, only so far as it throws light upon the question as to what was his condition at the time the act was committed that produced death, should have no weight in this case; only his condition at the time the act was committed, is to be of weight. You must be satisfied, by a fair preponderance of evidence, that he is not responsible; that is, the evidence, all considered, must fail to satisfy you, beyond a reasonable doubt, of his guilt by reason of his want of responsibility. It is not claimed, and it is not law, that drunken- ness is an excuse for crime. Crime, when all the acts of hand and mind which constitute it actually exist, is not the less criminal, or the party the less guilty, because he was intoxicated when he com- mitted it. If you find that the prisoner had the purpose in mind to kill his wife, prior to the act, and then got drunk, and while so drunk did what he before that time premeditated, and with delib- erate malice had resolved to do, the fact that he was drunk at the time he did the deed would be no defense. I say to you that this defense of drunkenness, under the rules which I have given you, is a legitimate defense, and if established to your satisfaction by the proof, the defendant is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

VERDICT OF THE JURY .- The jury retired at 9:30 A. M. on Satur- day, March 7, 1885. After deliberating until 3:30 P. M. they asked the court to re-charge them in regard to the two degrees of murder and manslaughter, which was accordingly done, and at 5:20 they announced their agreement and their verdict as follows:

We, the jury empanelled and sworn to well and truly try, and true deliverance make, between the State of Ohio and the prisoner at bar, Walter Henry, do find the said Walter Henry not guilty of murder in the first degree, but we do find him guilty of murder in the second degree.

SAMUEL FINDLEY, Foreman.

THE POPULAR VERDICT .-- The court room had been crowded throughout with the most intensely interested and excited specta- tors, so large a portion remaining in and about the building all day long, while the jury were out, that every available space was immediately occupied as soon as the agreement of the jury was announced. The great majority of the crowd who had heard the harrowing tale, as disclosed by the evidence, felt that the verdict should have been for the higher degree, but those who had care- fully studied the bearings of the law, held with the jury for the lesser degree, while the counsel and friends of the defendant, of course, felt that a verdict of manslaughter, with a limited term of imprisonment, would have been sufficient.

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE .- On Tuesday morning, March 10, 1885, Judge Green proceeded to sentence the prisoner as follows:

"Walter Henry: You were indicted by the grand jury of this county, and by said indictment were charged with purposely, of deliberate and premedi- tated malice, murdering Bridget Henry, your wife. Upon this charge you were put upon your trial before a jury so well selected that against no one of the jurors comprising it had your counsel the least objection, and the result of this trial, conducted on your behalf by able counsel, satisfies nie that you had a fair and impartial trial; that said verdict of murder in the second degree was a verdict rendered by the jury in strict conformity to law and evidence as they heard it after they were sworn as jurors, and was in no jot or tittle influenced by outside opinion; and for this you certainly have great reason to be thankful, as you must know, what every unprejudiced mind, upon reading or hearing the witnesses detail the manner in which you assaulted your wife, and which assault caused her death, would at once say how you ought to be punished. And so would each of said jurors, as men, have said; but as jurors they patiently listened to all the evidence, all that was urged in your favor, the charge of the Court, and then, under their oaths returned their verdict.

With this verdict we are satisfied. It was the least you could have pos- sibly anticipated ; and yet, from your standpoint, with all your knowledge of the facts, you might well say that the jury erred on the side of mercy, and in a manner exercised the pardoning power. The statute for the offense of which you have been convicted leaves no discretion for me, but prescribes the exact penalty, and there is nothing for me to do but to pronounce the judgment which the law has provided. The judgment of the law and the sentence of the Court is, that you be taken hence to the jail of the county and there safely kept, and that, within thirty days, you be taken to the pen- itentiary of the State, and there confined and kept at hard labor during the period of your natural life, and that you pay the costs of this prosecution. It is no part of this sentence that you be kept any portion of said time in solitary confinement."

IN THE PENITENTIARY-THE COSTS, ETC .- The prisoner was taken to the penitentiary by Sheriff William B. Gamble, on Wed- nesday, April 1, 1885, where, so far as the writer is advised, he is as docile and tractable as the average inmate of that institution. As the legal heir of his murdered wife, he inherited her property, the estate being administered by John H. Auble, Esq., from whom the prosecuting attorney received the amount of costs of prosecu- tion, amounting to $363.50, it being one of the very few cases, in the history of the county, in which the State has ever been reim- bursed in the amount of costs paid for the conviction of criminals sentenced to her model penal institution.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE "IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT"-THE INFAMOUS FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW --- EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD A "BLOOD HOUND" - DASTARDLY ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP AKRON'S WELL-KNOWN BARBER, "JIM" WORTHING- TON-MARSHAL J. J. WRIGHT FOR ONCE "TAKEN IN AND DONE FOR"- PROMINENT CITIZENS TO THE RESCUE-SLAVE-CATCHERS FOILED-INDIG- NATION OF THE PEOPLE-"JIM'S" ESCAPE VIA THE "UNDERGROUND RAILROAD" -- SAFE IN CANADA-OTHER FUGITIVES TAKE THE ALARM AND FLIT TO QUEEN VICTORIA'S DOMINIONS, ETC.

PRELIMINARY.

TT being now nearly a third of a century since, by its own sui- cidal act of treason and rebellion, human slavery ceased to exist within the limits of the United States, though much of the inhumanity and intolerance engendered thereby still linger, a large proportion of the present generation can have but a faint realization of the tyrannous, oppressive and barbarous practices of the slave power, on the one hand, and of the unselfish patriot- ism, the unbounded philanthropy, the untiring energy and the sleepless vigilance, of the friends of freedom, upon the other. For many years after slavery was abolished in the northern states, there was a tacit understanding that slaves escaping from those states. where it still existed into any of the free states or territories, could not be legally reclaimed, while the voluntary taking of a slave to a free state by the master, absolutely made such slave a free man; it being conceded, at the same time, that the slave states had the right, under the constitution, to enjoy the "luxury" of human bondage within their own bounds, without interference from without.

Hence, in many of the northern states, especially those border- ing upon the slave states, like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, etc., considerable numbers of escaped slaves had found lodgnient, and settled down for life as permanent and industrious citizens.

THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.

In the adoption, by Congress, of what is known in history as the "Ordinance of 1787," all the unsettled territory, then owned by the United States, comprising the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and a part of Minnesota, was forever dedicated to freedom, and those states were subsequently organized on that basis. The purchase from France, for $15,000,000, in 1803, of what was designated "The Louisiana Purchase," embraced nearly all of the present states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Min- nesota, the Dakotas, part of Colorado, most of Wyoming, the whole of Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. On all of this territory there was no restriction as to slavery.

Up to the year 1820, as a matter of amity, there had been added to the original 13 states, an equal number of free and slave states,

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

viz: Vermont in 1791, Ohio in 1802, Indiana in 1816, and Illinois in 1818, on the part of freedom, and Kentucky in 1792, Tennessee in 1796, Louisiana in 1812 and Alabama in 1819, on the part of slavery.

THE "MISSOURI COMPROMISE."

It had been fondly thought, in an early day, that the South, as well as the North, was tending towards emancipation, but when the contrary was discovered, and that the tendency was towards extending the area of human bondage, a strong anti-slavery senti- ment began to obtain in the North, so that in 1820, when it was proposed to admit Missouri as a slave state, with the prospect that the entire northwest would thereby be subjected to the same fate, the spirit of freedom in the North was fully aroused; immense remonstrances were sent in, and the northern senators and repre- sentatives, of both parties (Whigs and Democrats), arrayed them- selves against the measure, whilst an equally non-partisan stand in its favor was taken by the several delegations from the southern states.

The controversy waxed warm and warmer-red-hot, in fact- in Congress, southern members threatening to secede from the Union, on the one hand, and northern members hurling defiance in their teeth, and daring them to "try it on," as soon as they had a mind to, on the other hand. At this crisis came forward the "great pacificator," Henry Clay, senator from Kentucky, with what was afterwards known as the "Missouri Compromise," in which it was solemnly ordained, that, in consideration of the admission of Missouri without restriction as to slavery, involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment of crime, should be forever prohibited in all other territory of the United States north of latitude 36° 30'. This quieted matters down, and for 30 years was treated as a finality by both sections of the country.

THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.

Under this arrangement new states were admitted from time to time-generally in pairs-as follows: 1820, '21, Missouri, slave, Maine free; 1836, Arkansas, slave, Michigan free; 1845, Florida, slave, Iowa, free; 1845, Texas (by annexation), slave.

Up to this time, it will be observed, the slave and the free states exactly balanced each other, 15 each. When, therefore, in the session of 1849, '50, California suddenly sprang into the arena, in full panoply of free-statehood, with no eligible slave territory to match, something " had to be did," or the slave power would lose its grip. It wouldn't do, in this free country to let freedom get ahead of slavery! So, when California asked for admission, with a free constitution, the fillibustering began. Under semi-barbaric Mexico, slavery was impossible in all the territory which she had recently ceded to the United States-California, Utah, Mexico, Arizona, etc. But under the super-civilized sway of " Uncle Sam," it would never do to doom the whole of said territory to perpetual freedom! Oh, no!

So, not only was the " Wilmot Proviso," pending the negotia- tions for the transfer, forever excluding slavery from the proposed acquisition, after prolonged and exciting discussion, voted down, but attached to the bill for the admission of California as a free

579

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

state, was a provision for the organization of New Mexico and Utah as territories, without any restrictions as to slavery, and also the enactment of the world-wide infamous Fugitive Slave Law.

This iniquitous law not only authorized the slave owner to enter and traverse any state or territory into which his slave had theretofore fled, or might thereafter escape, but it attached heavy penalties to the harboring or aiding, by so much as a night's lodg- ing, or a meal of victuals, a fugitive slave; compelled the marshals, deputy marshals, district attorneys, judges, commissioners and other officers of the United States, under heavy penalties and for- feitures, to aid the claimant in the pursuit and reclamation of his slave, and also compelled the citizens of said free states and terri- tories, when called upon, to act as a posse comitatus, in making arrests and otherwise aiding the slave-catcher in his nefarious ·operations.

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

For many years, many humane and philanthropic persons in the border states, had not only felt it a privilege, but a sacred duty to succor and speed the fugitive on his way to freedom in Canada, or in safe localities in the free States. As this assistance had to be secretly rendered, though these philanthropists, in different locali- ties speedily became known to each other, the rapidity and the certainty, as well as the secrecy, with which a fugitive, and some- times entire families, could be transported to places of safety, caused the system to be known as the "The Underground Rail- road."

Instead of being disheartened and subdued by the pains and penalties imposed by the Fugitive Slave Law, and the vigorous campaign of "pernicious activity," immediately inaugurated by the owners of escaped slaves, and their willing tools, in and out of office, in the North, the friends of freedom put on renewed zeal and diligence; the "lines" were increased, the "stations" rapidly multiplied and the "agents," "conductors," "engineers," etc., became aggressive and alert.

THE SLAVE-CATCHERS IN AKRON .- During the three or four years immediately succeeding the passage of the law, many former slaves were of course returned to their masters, while many free colored men and women were also, through the cupidity and greed of professional spotters, and the iniquitous looseness of the law, consigned to life-long bondage in the extreme South. In fact, the attempted execution of the law became simply a system of kidnapping, with no pretense of a fair and open trial in the localities where the apprehensions were made, or otherwise. In many instances, too, where arrests came to the knowledge of the people before the kidnappers had had time to get off with their victims, rescues were made, sometimes resulting in serious and bloody riots, and protracted and exciting litigation, both in favor of the victim, and against those who opposed or refused to help execute the inhuman and very generally execrated law.

Though there were in Akron, and Summit county, several well-known agents of the U. G. R. R., and plenty of others who had aided the "panting fugitive" in his flight towards Queen Victoria's Dominions-Canada-and though it was well under- stood that several former slaves were residing here, and here- abouts, the people of Akron were not brought to a full realization

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

of the cruel and devilish enormity of the system, and the law in question, until the Spring of 1854, the circumstances attending which were as follows:

"JIM" WORTHINGTON .- Sometime in the early forties there had come into Akron a tall, athletic and very black young negro, who called himself James Worthington. "Jim," as he soon came to be known, was a barber by trade, and at once opened a shop for the practice of his profession, and being a good "artist," and of an enterprising turn of mind, soon became a general favorite, and did a lucrative business, soon fitting up his shop with fine mahogany and plush upholstered chairs, large and attractive mirrors and pictures upon the wall, with a striped pole in front about a foot in diameter and 25 or 30 feet in height, surmounted by a large gilt pine-apple, the artistical work upon which was executed by the writer, then exercising one section of his "versatile genius" as a "House, Sign and Ornamental Painter."

"Jim" was not only popular, but seemingly very prosperous, so- much so that in the early fifties he had purchased a lot and erected for himself a nice two-story house in what was then known as " Spicer Town," the same building now being known as number 534 East Buchtel avenue.

In the meantime "Jim" had married a very handsome and bright light-colored mulatto girl by the name of Maggie Bird, whose brother, William Bird, also soon afterwards opened a rival tonsorial establishment, with appointments, including the striped pole, fully as splendid as "Jim's."

BETRAYED BY HIS WIFE .- From some cause, not now apparent, but probably from the bitterness of the rivalry between her brother and her husband, or possibly because of "Jim's" jealousy of his handsome and inuch admired wife, soon after the completion of the new house, "Mag," as she was called, left him, and to her betrayal of his secret "Jim" attributed the attempt to relegate him to the condition of "involuntary servitude" from which it was claimed he had secaped some twelve or fifteen years before, which attempt occurred something in this wise:

About the middle of May, 1854, a well-dressed, pleasant-appear- ing stranger called at "Jim's" shop for a shave, and in the course of his conversation, intimated that he wanted to buy a house and lot in Akron, for a widowed sister, who was desirous of settling here for the purpose of educating her children. Being then with- out a wife, and perhaps thinking to make a good "spec" on his investment, " Jim" took the stranger to his new house, with which he expressed himself well-pleased, and after a full discussion of of the terms, etc., and getting a week's option, took his departure. "Jim" little dreamed that it was himself, personally, instead of his house, that was being examined.

MARSHAL J. J. WRIGHT VICTIMIZED .- One of the most efficient local rogue-catchers, and criminal detectives of that day, was our present fellow-citizen, Capt. J. J. Wright, then marslial of Akron. On returning home from the performance of his official labors, on the evening of May 17, 1854, he was informed that the "Sheriff from Chicago" wanted to see him on important business at the depot, at 7 o'clock the next morning. Ever alert in the perforni- ance of his duty, Wright was promptly on hand; in fact most too promptly, as the sequel proved, for the success of the ruse that

581

THE SLAVE-CATCHERS FOILED.

was attempted to be played upon him, for he was there at six o'clock, fully an hour before the time designated.

He found there two men, one of whom was said "Sheriff from Chicago," and the other was a deputy United States Marshal from Newark, Ohio. They informed Wright that they were after an extensive gang who were making and circulating counterfeit silver coin, one of whom was a barber by the name of Jim Worth- ington, who had sold a lot of spurious coin to a man who was already in jail in Chicago, and they wanted to make the arrest as quietly as possible so as not to alarm the rest of the gang in this vicinity, exhibiting at the same time what purported to be a war- rant for "Jim's " arrest on that charge.

Having himself suspected that a part of "Jim's" prosperity was due to crookedness of some sort, and indeed having heard rumors that he was handling the "queer," Wright readily went along to show them the way, and to aid in making the arrest, if his services should become necessary.

WORTHINGTON'S ARREST .- "Jim" was found in his yard and the "Sheriff from Chicago," without resistance, took hold of one arm and the Newark Marshall seized him by the other, at the same time announcing the cause of his arrest, as it had been stated to Wright. Jim declared hinself innocent of any such crime, and charged that it was a different scheme altogether, instigated by his wife, and demanded to see General Bierce, and be tried in Akron. He was told that he would have a hearing at Hudson, where some of his accomplices were already in custody. He declared that he had no accomplices, and had done nothing wrong, and insisted on seeing counsel which they promised he should have, but took him direct to the depot, and refused to go further.

THE KIDNAPPERS FOILED .- By this time Marshal Wright began to surmise that he had been imposed upon, and started upon the double-quick to find Gen. Bierce. In the meantime Mr. Eleazer C. Sackett, a wide awake, old time Abolitionist, had come to the depot to take the train to Cleveland. Immediately divining the situation, he started post-haste for the house of Christopher P. Wolcott, Esq., then living on Broadway, near Market, and from there to the residence of William H. Upson, Esq., near by, also giving the alarm to others as he went along, so that in an incredi- bly short space of time a large crowd of excited people, had gath- ered in and about the station.

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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