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 82

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 82

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664

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

TOHN C. CONGER,-born in Bos- ton village, December 29, 1835 ; educated in district schools ; on leav- ing school served one season under Lieutenant Raynolds, upon the Uni- ted States topographical survey of the lakes ; returning home engaged in farming and brick-making until August, 1861, when he enlisted in Company A., 2nd O. V. C., following the fortunes of that patriotic regi- ment until April 8, 1863. On receiving his discharge from the army, for dis- ability, Mr. Conger again engaged in farming, continuing that occupa- tion to the present time, upon his finely improved 135 acre farm, adja- cent to the village of Peninsula. Mr. Conger has served as township clerk and in other positions of honor and trust ; is a member of Meridian Sun Lodge, No. 266, and Summit Chapter F. & A. M., and an active member of Geo. L. Waterman Post, G. A. R. Sep- tember 17, 1867, Mr. Conger was mar- ried to Miss Eunice M. Stillman, who was born in Hopkinton, R. I., January 23, 1844, who has borne him seven children-Fannie S., born December 26. 1868, married to Dr. W. O. Huston, December 28, 1887 ; Luen J., born June

JOHN C. CONGER.

20, 1870; Elmer B., born February 8, 1875 ; Pamelia P., born March 24, 1877 ; Mary G., born December 13, 1880; John C., Jr., born December 9, 1873, and Emily B., born October 28, 1886, all now living in Peninsula.

Since the decadence of that interest, however, largely through the advent of railroads, other elements of industry have been developed, so that, as a whole, the township is fairly holding its own at the present date (1891), if not slowly on the increase; large shipments to Akron and Cleveland, and more distant cities, East and West, of some of the finest building stone in the United States, are now being made from the quarries here, together with most excellent flagging, a fine quality of grindstones, etc .; immense ice houses are here yearly filled with thousands of tons of the choicest ice for the Cleveland market; cheese and butter factories dispense thousands of pounds of their rich products to the various markets of the country yearly; while a large number of private dairies, by trains run for that special purpose, supply the good people of Cleveland with a large proportion of their daily milk.

BOSTON IN COUNTY AND STATE AFFAIRS.

In county and State affairs, Boston has fairly divided the honors and responsibilities with her sister townships of Summit county, during the nine-tenths of a century of its existence now nearly accomplished.

LEWIS M. JANES, Esq., an early prominent business man of Peninsula, was Summit county's second sheriff, elected in 1844, and holding the position two full terms of two years each; also acting as the efficient deputy of several of his successors. Mr. Janes, besides being severely injured, in 1856, by a pistol shot, at the hands of a party whose property he was selling on legal pro- cess, afterwards lost his life on the ill-fated steamer, Pewabic, on Lake Huron, in August, 1865.

665

BOSTON'S CIVIL SERVICE RECORD.

HON. SIMON PERKINS WOL- COTT,-son of Hon. Alfred and . Mary (Scovill) Wolcott, born in Northfield, January 30, 1837, in infancy removing with parents to Boston; in boyhood worked on farm and at- tended district school; spent several winters preparing for college, at Hiram Eclectic Institute where Hon. James A. Garfield was then a student, finishing his preparatory course under Prof. Garfield, after his gradu- ation from Williams College; gradu- ated from Western Reserve College in 1862; studied law with Horace B. Foster, Esq., of Hudson, and one year with Hon. Newell D. Tibbals, in Akron; admitted to the Bar in 1864, locating in Kent, Portage county, where he has since continuously resided. In addition to his law prac- tice, Mr. Wolcott has officiated as Mayor of Kent two terms; member of the Board of Education ten years, and as state senator for Portage and Summit counties, in the 65th and 66th sessions of the General Assembly, 1881 to 1885. July 17, 1866, Mr. Wolcott was married to Miss Mary Helen Brewster, daughter of the late Anson A. Brewster, of Hudson, who

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HON. SIMON PERKINS WOLCOTT. .

has borne him three children-Nellie Brewster Wolcott, born February 12, 1868; Jennie Brewster Wolcott, born May 14, 1870; Duncan Brewster Wol- cott, born May 9, 1873.

AUGUSTUS CURTISS.

UGUSTUS CURTISS, -born in A Boston township, February 17, 1836; moved with parents to North- field in 1840; worked on farm till

1852; at house painting till 1855; in gold mines of California 1855 to 1859; served in 2nd Ohio Cavalry 1861 to 1862, discharged at Fort Leavenworth for disability received at Carthage, Mo .; 1863 farmer and dairyman in Stow ; 1864 bought tim- ber farm in Portage township, three miles north of Akron ; October, 1868, elected sheriff of Summit county, and re-elected in 1870, serving two terms, followed for four years as chief deputy of his successor, Sheriff Levi J. McMurray, the most impor- tant event of his own incumbency being the execution of John H. Hunter, for the murder of Mr. and and Mrs. Robert Gargett, in 1872, as elsewhere detailed ; January, 1877, returned to his farm, superintending same until the Fall of 1884, when, because of asthma, he went to New Mexico, where, both as agent for the . Akron Live Stock Company, and on his own account, he has for the past eight years followed the business of growing cattle. November 23, 1865, Mr. Curtiss was married to Miss Helen A. Barnhart, daughter of the late William Barnhart, Esq., of Penin- sula, Mrs. Curtiss now sharing ranch life with her husband in the wilds of New Mexico.

666

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

HIRAM VOLNEY BRONSON, on the inauguration of the Internal Revenue system, during the war, was appointed deputy assessor, by Assessor John E. Hurlbut, making a most faithful and efficient officer throughout.

SIDNEY P. CONGER, a substantial and level-headed farmer of Boston, in May, 1866, was appointed county commissioner, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Commissioner Nel- son Upson, of Twinsburg, which position he very acceptably filled until the following December. Mr. Conger died in August, 1874, at the age of 45 years.

ARTHUR L. CONGER, one of Boston's volunteer soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, having, at the close of the war, returned to his farm, was, in 1866, elected county treasurer, which office he filled with marked ability and satisfaction for two successive terms; afterwards, taking an interest in the Whitman & Barnes Manufac- turing Company, of Akron, extensive manufacturers of reaper and mower knives, sickles, etc., of which corporation he is still an active and influential member and officer.

ALFRED WOLCOTT, Jr., the honored son of Boston's pioneer set- tler, Alfred Wolcott, Senior, was, in 1869, elected to represent his native county in the popular branch of the Ohio Legislature, and of his two years' record in that body, his constituents have no reason to be ashamed.

SIMON PERKINS WOLCOTT, eldest son of Hon. Alfred Wolcott, a graduate of Western Reserve College, now practicing law in Kent, was, in October, 1881, elected State Senator for Portage and Sum- mit counties, and re-elected in 1883, serving his joint constituency with more than average ability and satisfaction.

ARTHUR M. COLE, also a Bostonian, "native to the manor born," was called from his drugs and his dry goods, at the pleas- ant village of Peninsula, by the voice of the people of Summit county, in October, 1882, to become the custodian and disburser of the public funds, being again invested with that important trust for a second term in 1884, serving in all four years.

ROBERT L. ANDREW, now a resident of Akron, served as mem- ber of city council two terms-1886 to 1890-the last two years as president.

ANGELO ANDREW, also residing in Akron, has been for three terins -1887 to 1893-a very efficient member of the board of education.

WILLIAM H. PAYNE, for many years a resident of Boston, has also been honored by a seat in the city council of Akron, since residing there.

BOSTON'S CROOKEDNESS.

But though Boston's pioneer settlers were among the most worthy of New England's sons and daughters, and the great majority of their descendants true scions of the original stock; and though she has ever manifested commendable industry and enterprise, and a ready alacrity in supporting the national flag and the national honor; and though, as seen above, she has justly secured some of the richest civil and political prizes within the gift of the people of Summit county, the fact still remains that her fair fame has been smirched, and her bright escutcheon sadly tarnished, by certain early adverse influences, the prevalence of

· 667

BOSTON'S WRONG-DOERS.

many corrupt and denioralizing practices, and the perpetration of numerous serious, and some most fearful, crimes within her borders.

The barest allusion to most of the matters referred to above can only be given here: viz., the counterfeiting operations of "Dan" and "Jim" Brown, and their confederates, Taylor, Holmes, Ashley, et al .- the burglarizing of Edgerly's hotel, the store of Wood, Cole & Co., and the dwelling house of Frederick Wood, Esq., in 1860; the Kerst wife-murder in 1861; the Washburn- Peeples tragedy in 1871, etc., to the most of which separate chap- ters will have to be devoted.

"COL." WILLIAM ASHLEY .- William Ashley was a native of the state of Vermont, and though of good family, carefully reared and well educated, early became associated with an expert band of counterfeiters in his native State. In the middle twenties Ashley was arrested by the Vermont authorities, and placed under bonds to answer to the charge of making and having in his possession, with intent to pass, counterfeit bank notes. Forfeiting his bail he fled to Canada, a year or two later floating over into the then wilds of Ohio, making his first stop in Geauga county, where he soon afterwards found himself in trouble, and eluding the vigilance of the officers, again took to wing, next, in the last of the twenties, or first of the thirties, alighting in the then congenial climate of Boston. Here he became a favorite with, and a part of, Brown, Taylor, Holmes, Latta & Co., though still carrying on some very impor- tant "financial" operation upon his own hook.

In his prime, Ashley was a remarkably fine specimen of physi- cal manhood, handsome of feature, majestic of stature, and of most gentlemanly deportment. Though never in the military service, his martial bearing spontaneously attached to his name the mili- tary prefix of "Colonel."

"MOVING ON THEIR WORKS."-Though spasmodic efforts had from time to time previously been made, and though a few of the subordinates and undergraduates of the gang had been arrested and punished, no concerted and determined action, by the authori- ties of Portage and contiguous counties, had been taken until 1837. At this time Gen. Lucius V. Bierce, prosecuting attorney, George Y. Wallace, sheriff, and Marshal Ithiel Mills, in co-operation with similar officers in Cuyahoga and Medina counties, made a con- certed effort to break up the gang, being ably seconded in their efforts by local officers and citizens of the several townships affected. Among the most active in "spying out the land" in Boston township, and in furnishing the officers with "pointers," were Alfred Wolcott, Esq., James Stanford, Hermon and Hiram V. Bronson, Lewis M. Janes, George H. Haskell, Esq., with others whose names do not now readily recur to the writer.

"COL." ASHLEY ARRESTED .- In the latter part of the Summer of 1837, the officers obtained such clews as enabled them to pounce upon Ashley in the very midst of his "financial" labors, sur- rounded by his entire counterfeiting paraphernalia, consisting of bank-note plates, dies, presses, paper, ink, etc., with large quanti- ties of bills in blank, and several thousand dollars fully executed; Prosecuting Attorney Bierce afterwards presenting the writer with a fine mahogany double cylinder copper-plate press, which was preserved as a relic, and for use, for several years, until finally

668

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

destroyed by fire. Ashley was taken into custody, and on being arraigned before Jacob Brown, Esq., of Akron, waived an exami- nation and was held in the sum of $10,000 to answer to the Court of Common Pleas of Portage county, in default of which he was committed to jail at Ravenna. He was indicted at the September term of the court, for having counterfeit money in his possession with intent to pass the same, to which, on being arraigned, he entered a plea of not guilty.

The hearing was postponed, by reason of the ill-health of the accused, until the March term 1838, when, after a full and fair trial, Ashley was pronounced guilty as charged in the indictment.

SENTENCE-IMPRISONMENT -- DEATH.

In pronouncing sentence upon "Col." Ashley, Judge Van R. Humphrey, who had personally known him for several years, was greatly affected, remarking that passing sentence upon a fellow- being, under any circumstances, was truly a solemn duty; but in this instance, where the court had been intimately acquainted with the prisoner for many years; a man whose intelligence and address better fitted him to occupy a high seat in the counsels of the Nation, than the cot of a felon's cell, and especially in view of the apparent frail condition of his health, the task was difficult and painful in the extreme.

"Col." Ashley's naturally vigorous constitution had been gradually undermined by the excesses incident to his peculiar calling, and, from the time of his arrest, it was evident that quick consumption had marked him for its own. Though he was sen- tenced to seven years' imprisonment in the penitentiary, it was thought to be almost, if not quite, impracticable to convey him thither. But he was finally taken by Sheriff Wallace, by easy private carriage, to Columbus, and delivered at the prison May 30, 1838, where he died June 10th, surviving his incarceration only twelve days.

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, ETC.

At Peninsula there are three handsome church edifices, the Protestant Episcopal "Bronson Memorial Church" founded by Mr. and Mrs. Hermon Bronson (whose portraits and biographies will be found herein), on the west side, the Methodist Episcopal upon the east side, and the Catholic, with a membership of 23 families, Rev. F. B. Doherty holding mass therein every other Sabbath. The township is also thoroughly supplied with good school buildings and competent teachers, the Union or graded system being liberally maintained at Peninsula, so that notwithstanding the early adverse influences above and hereafter alluded to, Boston township, for nearly half a century, has held as high a rank in point of morality and intelligence, as any other township in Summit county, or elsewhere.

PRESENT OFFICIAL ROSTER.

Boston's township officers for the current year (1891) are as follows: Trustees, Hiram Lee, Anthony Pfaus, James Cassidy; clerk, Jorgen Petersen; treasurer, Henry Kerst; justices of the

669

OFFICIAL ROSTER FOR 1891.

peace, Henry C. Currier, Joseph Drake; constables, Orrin Mark- ham, Alfred Wolcott.

PENINSULA MUNICIPAL OFFICERS .- Mayor, H. C. Currier; clerk, Charles M. Petersen; treasurer, Henry Kerst; marshal, Brigham Roswell; councilmen, Lorenzo Seeley, Michael Myron, Joseph Simon, Conrad Kerst, John Tracy, D. P. Chamberlin.

POSTMASTERS. - Frederick Wood, Peninsula; Thomas Smith, Boston; Thomas Smith, Everett.

CHAPTER XXIX.

DARING BURGLARIES IN PENINSULA-SINGULAR DETECTION OF THE BURGLAR -SON OF A FORMER WEALTHY RESIDENT OF PORTAGE COUNTY-ARREST, EXAMINATION AND COMMITTAL-INDICTMENT BY GRAND JURY-INGEN- IOUS ESCAPE FROM JAIL, AIDED BY A LUNATIC-ABETTING TREASON -- CONFINEMENT IN FORT LAFAYETTE-DISCHARGE BY ORDER OF SECRETARY STANTON-DETAINED BY NEW YORK CHIEF OF POLICE -REQUISITION FROM GOVERNOR TOD ON THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK FOR HIS EXTRADITION -IN HIS OLD QUARTERS AGAIN-ENTERS A PLEA OF GUILTY-NINE YEARS IMPRISONMENT - LEADER OF REVOLT IN PENITENTIARY - THOROUGH REFORMATION - UNITED STATES MAIL CARRIER - HIGHLY RESPECTED CITIZEN, ETC.

A MIDNIGHT RAID.

ON the night of July 12, 1860, a series of the most adroit burgla- ries were committed in the compact little village of Peninsula, fourteen miles nortlı of Akron, upon the Ohio Canal. Stephen Edgerly was proprietor of the only hotel in the village at that time, the "Edgerly House," later kept by Mr. Andrew R. Cassidy, under the name of the "Cassidy House." Mr. Edgerly himself was quite deaf, and consequently a good subject for burglars to work upon. But Mrs. Edgerly was in possession of all her facul- ties, and generally a very wide-awake sort of a woman. Some time during the night in question, Mrs. Edgerly heard the house- dog sounding an alarm, and got up and let the dog out of the house, and hearing nothing further from him soon went to sleep again. In the morning it was discovered that Mr. Edgerly's sleep- ing apartment had been entered and from $60 to $75 had been extracted from the sleeping landlord's pockets.

On the opposite side of the river, at the west end of the "Long Bridge," stood the store of Wood, Cole & Co. (Frederick Wood and Thomas Wood, still living in Peninsula, and the late Edmund H. Cole, father of ex-County Treasurer Dr. A. M. Cole). In this store the clerk, Mr. Ransom Cole, was asleep on the coun- ter, with his watch in the pocket of his vest under his pillow. Noiselessly entering the store, the burglar proceeded to rifle the money drawer of its contents (about $30), excepting a couple of counterfeit five-dollar bills, which he seems to have been too shrewd to appropriate. He then manipulated the clerk's vest out from under his head, and transferred the watch and chain fron the clerk's vest pocket to his own, together with about $20 in money ; some $400 in cash, in another place, not being found by the burglar. On getting outside the door the burglar seems to have struck a light and examined his booty, as a worthless one- dollar bill was thrown away, while the mark made by lighting a match was found upon the side of the store. Both the hotel and the store had been entered by the front doors, the keys in the locks being readily turned from the outside by means of burglars' "nippers."

671

THE BURGLAR UNDER ARREST.

From the store of Messrs. Wood, Cole & Co. the burglar, with rare good judgment, went to the house of Mr. Frederick Wood, which he entered through a window which had been left unfas- tened. Here, proceeding to the sleeping room of Mr. and Mrs. Wood, he overhauled Mr. Wood's clothes, in the pockets of which was a small sum of money which he confiscated, and also a $150 gold watch, with which, and his previous gatherings, he made a successful retreat, not only from the house of Mr. Wood, but from the village.

It was supposed at the time that the several victims must have been chloroformed by the skilful operator, but my subsequent acquaintance with him led mne to believe that the lightness of his step, the softness of his touch, and the celerity of his movements, would render all such extraneous aids in the exercise of his chosen "profession" entirely unnecessary. Mr. Wood and his family had that evening attended the commencement concert at Hudson, returning home an hour or two after midnight, and it was surmised that the thief got sight of his watch there, and followed him to Peninsula after the close of the concert.

TRACING THE BURGLAR .- Nearly a month elapsed without any trace of the burglar, though the best skill and vigilance of our local detectives had been put forth. In the meantime Messrs. Wood, Cole & Co. had, in addition to efforts of the officers, and the publicity which had been given to the affair through the news- papers, issued a private circular, minutely describing the watches which had been stolen. One of these circulars fell into the hands of a merchant by the name of Converse, at the center of Roots- town, in Portage county, Mr. Converse also being the postmaster of that town.

In the same town, making his headquarters with his father- in-law, a Mr. Bassett, about two miles south of the center, near the Randolph line, was a young man of rather doubtful reputation, by the name of Sobieski Burnett. He was the son of a foriner highly respected resident of that neighborhood, General Joel B. Burnett, then, I believe, residing in Missouri, but now, if living, as I think he is, a wealthy citizen of New York City.

Young Burnett had been so incorrigible, as a boy, that his father had finally cast him adrift, and for a time he had been received by General L. V. Bierce, an old friend of the father, as an office boy, and embryo law student. This was altogether too tame for his restless and "enterprising" turn of mind, and he drifted off down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and into all the evil asso- ciations at that time pertaining thereto; occasionally, however, returning to Rootstown, and finally marrying a playmate of his 'childhood, a Miss Bassett, with whose parents they were then making their home as above stated. Having no visible business, but always well-dressed and seemingly flush of money, jewelry, etc., young Burnett was more than suspected of being a "crook," and was generally pretty closely watched by the business men of the vicinity whenever he visited their establishments.

"PUTTING HIS FOOT IN IT."-Somewhere about the 9th day of August, 1860, young Burnett visited the store of Mr. Converse, to make some small purchases, and while there rather conspicuously displayed the pretty little gold watch that he was carrying. Mr. Converse remarked, "What a pretty locket you've got," whereupon

672

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Burnett replied: "It's not a locket, but a watch," and proceeded to exhibit it in detail to Mr. Converse, it being one of those then very rare, and not very plenty, reversible pieces of mechanism, that can be changed from open-face to hunting-case, and vice- versa, at will. Burnett soon afterward leaving the store, Mr. Converse proceeded to consult Mr. Wood's circular, and finding that the description of the stolen watch precisely tallied with that exhibited by Burnett, Mr. Converse immediately dispatched a messenger to Peninsula to apprise Mr. Wood of the fact.

EARLY SUNDAY MORNING CALL .- Thereupon, on Saturday, August 11, Mr. Wood drove to Akron and laid the case before the writer, who was then sheriff of Summit county, who the same evening dispatched his efficient deputy, Mr. Alfred R. Townsend, accompanied by the late David A. Scott, with Mr. Wood, to Roots- town to investigate the matter. Arriving in the center of the town late at night, they held a quiet consultation with Mr. Converse, and becoming satisfied that they were on the right track, they proceeded to the residence of Mr. Bassett, which they rather unceremoniously invaded just as the day was breaking on Sunday morning.

Mr. Burnett and his wife, aroused from their matin slumbers by the stir that was being made by the entrance of the officers, had already arisen from their bed, though hardly in appropriate costume for receiving visitors. Burnett was immediately placed in irons, the officers assisting him to dress, while the wife was incautiously permitted to gather up her wardrobe and leave the room before the proper search was instituted. The missing watches were, therefore, not found, nor anything else that could in any way implicate him in the Peninsula robberies, but sundry burglarious implements and other evidences of crookedness were brought to light in the search.

The statement of the merchant in question in regard to the peculiar make of the watch which Burnett had shown him was sufficient to warrant his apprehension, and he was accordingly brought to Akron and lodged in jail.

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION .- Warrants were issued by Justice John W. Stephens, upon which, on the 15th day of August, 1860, a preliminary examination was had. The testimony of Mr. Converse, and other circumstances surrounding the case, were deemed sufficient by Justice Stephens to hold the young man to bail in the sum of $2,000 and $1,000 respectively, for both the Wood and the Edgerly burglaries, and in default of bail he was remanded to jail to await the action of the grand jury, at the coming Novem- ber term of the court of Common Pleas. In the meantime other indications of his guilt became manifest; other parties had seen the watch described, in Burnett's possession; he had let slip sun- dry damaging admissions; in short a very strong chain of circum- stantial evidence was being formulated, link by link, tending to prove his guilt beyond a peradventure.

PLANNING TO ESCAPE .- The grand jury, at the November terni of the court of Common Pleas, returned bills of indictment against Burnett, in both of the cases in which he had been bound over to court, and it was expected that his trial would take place, in due course, at that term of court. In the meantime there had, in Octo- ber, been an election at which Mr. Jacob Chisnell had been elected

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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