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 83

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 83

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673

PLANNING TO BREAK JAIL.

to succeed me as sheriff, his term to begin on the first Monday of January, 1861. During the time that Mr. Burnett had been in jail, several unsuccessful attempts had been made, by the prisoners, to dig through and under the walls, necessitating, of course, consid- erable expense to the county for repairs. After one of these attempts, in the latter part of November, I ordered my jailer to keep each prisoner confined to his own cell, instead of giving them the customary range of the corridors, during the day; letting them out a few-minutes, only, morning and evening for exercise.

After a few days' confinement, Burnett sent word by the jailer that he wanted to see me. On repairing to his cell, Burnett inquired why I was keeping him and his fellow prisoners in such close confinement.

"Well, Burnett," I replied, "I'll tell you. It isn't because we have any fears of you fellows breaking out of jail, as we do not depend upon the strength of these soft sandstone walls for keeping you, but upon the 'length' of our ears and the sharpness of our eyes. But every few days you make the attempt, putting us to the trouble and expense of repairs, and I am keeping you shut up simply to keep you from mutilating the walls."

"Now, sheriff," said Burnett, "I want to make a bargain with you. I am going to get my trial put over until the January term, which will carry it beyond your time as sheriff. Now, if you will give us the run of the jail again, I pledge you my word and honor that there shall be no more attempts to break out, while you are sheriff. I won't try it myself, and I wont let any of the rest of the fellows try it."

"Well, Burnett," I responded, "I'll do it," and calling to the jailer for the keys, I then and there unlocked all the cell doors, and as I was leaving the jail, Burnett sung out: "Now, boys, three cheers for Sheriff Lane!" and the cheers were given with a will "indicative of sound lungs at least. I did not then live in the jail myself, and though I had a very faithful jailer and turnkey-the late Mayor John L. Robertson-it was my custom to personally visit and inspect the jail two or three times a week, and when passing through, Burnett would say: "All right! sheriff; no more quarrying done while you are sheriff, but when that new chap comes in I'm going out !

AND OUT HE DOES GO .- Mr. Jacob Chisnell, hitherto a resident of Green township, superseded me as sheriff, on Monday, January 7, 1861. Previous to this, Mr. Chisnell had had no experience in the handling of criminals. On the day of his accession, both myself and County Auditor Charles B. Bernard, Esq., now of Cleve- land, took occasion to warn the new incumbent on the slippery character of this particular prisoner, and to advise him of the fact that Burnett had secured a continuance of his case for the express purpose of taking advantage of his inexperience. "Never you fear;" replied the new sheriff, "he'll have to be. smarter than I think he is, if he gets away from me!"

I immediately entered upon my new duties, as editor of the BEACON, and gave the matter no further thought, until some ten days later, when, on meeting Mr. Chisnell upon the street, I inquired how he was getting along? "First rate," said he. "Why, that man Burnett, that you cautioned me about, is a real clever fellow, and a perfect gentleman." "He'll be gentleman enough

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

to get away from you, if you don't keep your eye 'peeled,'" I laugh- ingly responded, and with another "never you fear," from Mr. C. we parted. About five days later Mr. Chisnell called into my office quite early in the morning and in answer to my question, "What's the news?" rather huskily replied, "Burnett's gone!"

HOW IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED .- In the construction of the jail, the floor between the prison proper and what was then called the "Debtors' Rooms," in the upper story, was composed of ten-inch square oak timbers laid side by side, with a covering of regular matched flooring on top, and a sheathing of common sheet iron underneath. The southeast cell of the upper tier, being unoccu- pied at the time, had been unlocked and unvisited by the new turnkey, Mr. Ben Chisnell, prisoners having free access thereto at any time when not locked up in their own respective cells.

Burnett's wife and other Portage county friends were very attentive to him, some of them visiting him almost every day, and some of whom, by reason of not being closely searched by the new turnkey before entering the jail, had managed to convey to him a long-handled two-inch auger. Having wrenched off a section of the iron sheathing in this unoccupied and unvisited cell, he had leisurely twice bored off one of the timbers overhead, and through the upper floor, making a hole about ten by eighteen inches, through which he would, of course, find no difficulty in elevating himself to the room above, at his convenience.

AIDED BY A LUNATIC .- At this time, the only inmate of the upper jail was a lunatic by the name of William Pierce, well known to all old residents, and who was afterwards, until his recent death, an inmate of the insane ward of our county, infirm- ary. His lunacy, at that time, being of a mild type, he was per- mitted, during the day, to pass in and out as he pleased, and busied himself in assisting about the kitchen, yard, stable, etc.

How Burnett finally escaped is best told by the lunatic him- self. When questioned upon the subject Pierce said: "One day I heard noise that sounded like the gnawing of a rat. It would gnaw awhile, and then it would stop a while, and kept at it two or three days. But there was one thing curious about it, it did not gnaw any during the night. Well, I thought a rat had got under the floor and was trying to gnaw through, and I began to look in the different rooms to see where it would come out.

"By and by I saw what I thought was the rat's tooth coming through the floor in the corner, there, but after watching it a few minutes, I found it was the point of an auger, and pretty soon the auger itself came through. I stooped down and said, 'hello, there!' and some one below said 'Is that you, Pierce?' I said 'Yes, who are you?' He said 'I'm Burnett. You keep quiet; don't say any- thing, and I'll come up, by and by; and see you.' So he keep on boring until he made a hole big enough to crawl through, and last night, just at dark, he called to me to give him a lift. I reached down and took hold of his hands and helped him up through. Then I asked him what he was going to do next? He said he wanted to get outside, if the coast was clear, and I told him I would go down and see. So I went down, and the family were all eating supper in the dining room. I came back up stairs and told him if he was going, I thought he had better go then, and that when he got out of the back door he had better run. After he left,

675

AIDING AND ABETTING THE REBELS.

I looked out of the back window, and I saw him jump over the fence north of the barn and start east across the commons, and he did run like the devil!"

EFFORTS TO RECAPTURE THE FUGITIVE.

Though the escape was soon afterwards discovered, and a vig- orous pursuit at once instituted, his tracks were so carefully con- cealed as for several day's to entirely baffle the efforts of his pursuers, it afterwards transpiring that a team, by preconcerted arrangements with his friends, was waiting in the gloaming to rapidly carry him to some, previously provided, secure hiding place.

Prosecuting Attorney, Henry McKinney, Esq., had, two weeks before the escape of Burnett, been succeeded in that office by Newell D. Tibbals, Esq. The new prosecutor was, of course, deeply chagrined that so important a prisoner should have been allowed to escape; in fact, he did his utmost to prevent it; for, being in Randolph, late on the afternoon of the day of the escape, he received a hint that a party of Burnett's friends had gone to Akron to aid him to break jail. Mr. Tibbals hurried home to thwart their game, but arrived a few minutes too late; it afterwards recur- ring to him that the fugitive must have passed him between Akron and Middlebury, as he met a team driving very rapidly in that direction, though it was too dark to recognize any of the party in the wagon.

Prosecutor Tibbals also organized a posse, in Randolph, to recapture the prisoner, who was supposed to be concealed about the premises of his father-in-law. This house was placed under surveillance, but it transpired that he had been concealed else- where, and on being driven, late in the night, to his father-in-law's residence to bid his wife good bye, preparatory to leaving the country, on discovering that the house was being watched, Bur- nett was driven rapidly away, and on being closely followed up, jumped from the wagon and secreted himself in a dense piece of timber, thus finally making good his escape.

GIVING "AID AND COMFORT" TO REBELS .- But the indefatiga- ble prosecutor, was not to be thus baffled, and at once adopted a system of tactics that ultimately secured the return and proper punishment of the fugitive burglar. Through certain order-lov- ing and patriotic citizens of Randolph and Rootstown, a strategetic policy was adopted by which, from mysterious letters received and inailed, as well as from words dropped by Burnett's friends, it was soon ascertained that the fugitive was in "Egypt," or southern Illinois, and, through Detective James Burlison, it was sought to locate him with sufficient accuracy to "go for him;" but as he was rather migratory in his habits, and as the first excitement of the war was then on, it was deemed inadvisable to incur the expense of doing so upon an uncertainty. During the latter part of 1861, how- ever, Prosecutor Tibbals learned that the young man had been arrested by the government for giving aid and encouragement to rebels, and that, with other prisoners of State, he was con- fined in Fort Lafayette, in New York harbor. He immediately arranged with J. A. Kennedy, Esq., chief of police of New York City, to keep an eye upon him, and in case of his release from the fort, to detain him until sent for.

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

IN HIS OLD QUARTERS AGAIN .- Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, in the latter part of February, 1862, issued an order for the release of all State prisoners confined in the several government forts. On Saturday, March 1, 1862, about noon, Prosecutor Tib- bals received a telegram from Chief Kennedy that the gentleman was in his custody subject to requisition. He at once secured the services of ex-Deputy Sheriff, but then Deputy U. S. Marshal, Townsend, who at once started for New York, via Pittsburg and Philadelphia (the A. & G. W. was not then finished), where he arrived Monday afternoon.

Meantime Sheriff Chisnell went to Columbus to procure from Governor David Tod a requisition upon the governor of New York .. This was received by Mr. Townsend by mail, on Tuesday, and on Wednesday he went to Albany, where he secured the necessary documents for returning the fugitive to Ohio. On Thursday after- noon, with his prisoner securely ironed, he started on the return trip, via the New York & Erie and Lake Shore route, arriving in Akron Saturday noon, just one week after the receipt of Chief Kennedy's telegram. Of course, Burnett was received with "open arms" by Sheriff Chisnell, who did not thereafter take any consid- erable amount of stock in his "gentlemanly" pretentions, but exercised the strictest surveillance, over both him and those of his friends who thenceforth called upon him.

FINALLY PLEADS GUILTY .- At the March term of court, 1862, the case of the State of Ohio vs. Sobieski Burnett being called, the attorney for the defense, General Lucius V. Bierce, moved for a con- tinuance, on the ground of the absence of a material witness. This motion was promptly overruled by Judge Stephenson Burke, with the remark that the accused had had ample time, during the year or more that he had been out of jail, to hunt up all the testi- mony necessary for his defense. Thereupon Burnett changed his plea from not guilty, to guilty, and was at once sentenced by Judge Burke to nine years' imprisonment in the penitentiary.

This abrupt termination of the affair was somewhat of a sur- prise to Prosecutor Tibbals, who had expected from General Bierce, and his associates, a most stubborn resistance, at every point, to meet which, by the most indefatigable labor, he had forged an unbroken and irresistible chain of circumstantial evidence; trac- ing Burnett from point to point, both before and after the commis- sion of the burglaries in question, with other incriminating facts that could not possibly have failed to work a conviction if spread out before the court and jury. It was probably a knowledge of these efforts that induced the defendant's attorneys, on the failure of their motion for another continuance, to so suddenly advise him to change his plea from not guilty to guilty, a proceeding, too, which probably lessened the magnitude of his sentence, at the hands of Judge Burke, by from one to three years, because of the considerable expense thus saved to the county.

THE WATCHES RECOVERED .- Burnett, when at first arrested, acknowledged the robberies to his attorneys, Messrs. Bierce & Baldwin, and to them confided the place of concealment of the stolen watches. They went to Rootstown to get them, but the first time failed to find them and returned to the jail for more definite directions. The second effort was more successful, the watches, wrapped in cotton batting, and enclosed in an old oyster

677

BURNETT'S THOROUGH REFORMATION.

can, having been buried near the barn of Mr. Bassett, the father- in-law. These watches were placed in the safe of Messrs. Bierce . & Baldwin, and after his escape from jail, restored to their owners, by General Bierce, upon their paying to him $40, to cover expenses, that being, as he alleged, the only compensation they received for their services in Burnett's defense-Burnett having probably ex- pended the money stolen at Peninsula, previous to his first arrest, as above stated.

BURNETT'S LIFE IN PRISON .- The prison life of Burnett seems to have been of the "gentlemanly" order for a long time, insomuch that he had gained over three-fourths of a year, under the prison rules, for good behavior, which, had it continued, would have secured his release in about seven years. Then an infraction of the rules occurred, by which all the time he had thus gained was forfeited. The prison records do not state the nature of the infrac- tion, but there was, at that time, a report in circulation among his Portage county acquaintances, that in a similar manner to that in which he had been supplied with tools to work himself out of jail, here, he had been furnished, through the friends who had been permitted to visit him, with a couple of revolvers, and that he had headed an emeute which came very near liberating a large num- ber of prisoners. It was also rumored that for this act, he was sub- ject to the severest punishment known to prison rules-the pump process-until all evidence of insubordination had been washed out of him. Be this as it may, the entire score of previous good behavior was, by that infraction of the rules, entirely canceled. But from that time on, his conduct was exemplary, and he again earned for himself a credit of about 90 days, his release from the penitentiary being on the 17th day of December, 1870, just eight years and nine months from the date of his incarceration.

BURNETT'S THOROUGH REFORMATION .- Previous to going to the penitentiary, Burnett had sworn dire vengeance against certain prominent citizens of Rootstown and Randolph, who had taken an active part in securing his arrest, and particularly those who had been instrumental in effecting his recapture. As the time for his release drew near, the threatened parties were consequently some- what fearful for the safety of their property and persons, when his liberation should finally take place. But immediately, on gaining his liberty, Burnett visited all of the persons he had threatened, and frankly told them that he had enough; that they need have no fears from him, for that henceforth he intended to lead the life of an honest man and a law-abiding citizen. And this resolution, I am glad to learn, he has consistently adhered to, being not only highly respected in that portion of Portage county where he for many years resided, but having also, for a portion of the time, been honored with an important public trust-that of United States mail carrier-the responsible duties of which he is said to have discharged with the utmost fidelity. He is now located in the western part of the State, and said to be doing well.

BOTH A WARNING AND EXAMPLE .- The career of Sobieski Bur- nett should serve as a warning to boys against waywardness and wrong doing, and as an example to those whose derelictions have impelled them in the direction of a life of crime, to "right about face," and earn for themselves that honorable position in society that an upright life will always bring.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE PENINSULA UXORICIDE-HENRY KERST, THE WIFE MURDERER-CAUSES LEADING TO THE TRAGEDY - INTEMPERANCE AND ABUSE - DIVORCE PRAYED FOR-SHOT TO DEATH ON THE PUBLIC HIGHWAY-GREAT EXCITE- MENT-SEARCH FOR THE MURDERER-SHOOTS AT HIS PURSUERS-ARREST AND PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION-COMMITTED TO JAIL-INDICTMENT AND TRIAL-THE INSANITY "DODGE"-MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE-MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL OVERRULED-SENTENCED TO BE HUNG-WRIT OF ERROR DENIED-PREPARATIONS FOR EXECUTION-SUICIDE IN HIS CELL- GHASTLY EXHIBITION-CORONER'S INQUEST, ETC.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

H ENRY KERST, or "Kasch," as he was familiarly called, was a native of Germany, and with his German wife and several children, had emigrated to America some time in the early fifties, settling in Peninsula, in this county. Kerst was a quarryman and stone-cutter by trade, which business he followed at Peninsula, but, after a few years, sought to increase his income by the sale of whisky, at his house on the bank of the canal, in the south part of the village, his wife, in addition to her household duties, aiding in the sale of whisky as occasion seemed to require.

It soon became evident to the neighbors that "Kasch" was one- of his own best customers, being frequently intoxicated, and at such times exhibiting great violence of temper, especially towards his own family. Finally the wife sickened and died, and "Kasch" seemed to do better for a time, so much so that after a reasonable period had elapsed, after the death of his wife, he secured a second wife in the person of Miss Marian Wiman, or Viman, to whom he- was married by Justice Merill Boody, at Peninsula, on the 18th. day of May, 1860.

THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLE.

For a few months the relations of Mr. Kerst and his new wife seem to have been amicable and pleasant, but his drink habit increasing upon him, he soon began to sharply criticise the con- duct of wife number two-she didn't manage household matters as economically as wife number one did; she didn't sell as much whisky and didn't account to him for all money received for what she did sell, etc. In short, he became very violent and abusive towards her, threatening to kill her, her cries at one time, "Kasch is trying to kill ine," bringing a neighbor to the house to quiet the disturbance; proceedings being instituted against him for assault with intent to kill. Through the intervention of friends, and on his promise of better treatment, Mrs. Kerst withdrew her con- plaint, and, as on several occasions, after being driven away by his cruelty, returned to her wifely duties.

DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS .- But about the 1st of May, 1861, the conduct of Kerst became so outrageously abusive that Mrs. Kerst left him for good, taking refuge in the family of Mr. Frederick N.

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THE MURDER, ARREST, ETC.

Boies, a short distance, south of the village, on the upper road, upon the west side of the river, and immediately instituted pro -. ceedings for divorce on the charge of extreme cruelty, the court granting her a writ of injunction restraining him from disposing of certain property to which she looked for alimony, in case her prayer for divorce should be granted.

THE FATAL DAY .- Thus matters stood on Tuesday, the 14tlı day of May, 1861. Early in the afternoon of that day, accompanied by Mrs. Boies, Mrs. Kerst went to the village to hold a consulta- tion with her attorneys, Wilbur F. Sanders and Jacob A. Kohler, Esqs., in regard to her suit for divorce. There she encountered her irate husband, who was swaggering about the village carrying a gun, which circumstance was not thought to have any special significance, inasmuch as, being then in the height of the excitement at the beginning of the war, quite a number of persons had met there for the purpose of forming a local military company, many of them also carrying guns.

LYING IN AMBUSH .- On leaving the attorneys, Mrs. Kerst and Mrs. Boies started for home. Kerst followed them, showering upon his wife such abusive epithets and threats, that they turned back to remain until his wrath should abate, or until they could' procure proper protection. Kerst soon afterwards departing in the direction of his own house, the two women, about 4 o'clock, again started for the Boies homestead. When about half way, and nearly opposite the residence of Mr. Lawson Waterman, Kerst suddenly raised himself up 'from behind the fence, on the east side of the road, and, resting his gun upon a rail of the fence, deliberately fired at his wife, the charge-two bullets and several buck shot- horribly shattering her left wrist and entering her body immedi- ately below the breast bone. Both women turned and fled towards the village screaming for help, Mrs. Kerst running about ten rods, only, when she fell to the ground and expired in about twenty minutes.

THE MURDERER ARRESTED .- The utmost consternation and excitement immediately prevailed, in and about Peninsula, and a searching party for the capture of the murderer was at once organized. The house of the murderer was thoroughly searched, and the thicket and ravine, beyond, between the canal and the road where the shooting occurred, were carefully explored, and at length he was dragged from the thick jungle where he had hid- den, but not until he had discharged his gun once or twice at his pursuers, though fortunately without serious consequences.

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION .- Notwithstanding the desire of several of those present to deal summary justice to the murderer, better counsel prevailed, and the law was permitted to take its course. Jacob A. Kohler, Esq., being present, as above stated, filed an affidavit, before Justice Merrill Boody, and a preliminary hear- ing was at once had, the witnesses examined, besides Mrs. Boies, being T. B. Fairchild, Isaiah Humphrey, Dr. Elwyn Humphrey, Dr. William E. Chamberlain, Wilbur F. Sanders, Jacob A. Kohler, John Crissick, Jorgen Petersen and James Seeley.

After hearing the evidence in regard to the shooting, and the previous and subsequent conduct of the accused, Justice Boody held him to answer to the crime of deliberate and premedi- tated murder, placing the mittimus in the hands of Special

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Constable Richard P. Clark, who, within four hours from the com- mission of his fearful crime, by private conveyance, safely lodged the prisoner in the county jail, 14 miles distant. At the ensuing term of the Court of Common Pleas, commencing May 28, 1861, Judge James S. Carpenter on the bench, Prosecuting Attorney, Newell D. Tibbals, Esq., brought the matter to the attention of the grand jury, who returned an indictment of several counts, charg- ing the defendant with malicious, premeditated and deliberate murder.

PLEA OF NOT GUILTY .- CONTINUANCE .- On Monday, June 3d, 1861, the prisoner was brought into court by Sheriff Jacob Chisnell, who, on hearing the indictment read by Prosecutor Tibbals, entered a plea of not guilty. Counsel for the defense, consisting of William McNeil, Esq., of Peninsula, and Lucius V. Bierce and Charles A. Baldwin, Esqs., of Akron, then asked for a continuance of the case until the next term of court, to enable them to properly prepare their defense, which, owing to the short time that had elapsed since the commission of the crime, was granted by the court.

THE FINAL TRIAL .- At the following term of the court, with Judges James S. Carpenter and William H. Canfield upon the bench, the defendant was put upon his trial, on the 26th day of November, 1861. After the jury had been impaneled, another motion was made for continuance on account of the illness of one material witness, and the absence of another, on behalf of the defense, but the court overruled the motion, and the trial pro- ceeded, the "sick" witness, a daughter of the accused, residing in Cleveland, being present and testifying in behalf of her father, notwithstanding her alleged disability.

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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