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 84

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 84

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THE INSANITY DODGE .- The trial occupied nearly two weeks, about 70 witnesses being examined, including several professional experts on lunacy, and the case was very closely contested on both sides, Hon. William H. Upson assisting Prosecutor Tibbals on behalf of the State. The killing at the time and place, and in the manner charged in the indictment, was admitted by the defense, the plea of insanity being interposed, and all the testimony on the part of the defense being for the purpose of establishing that theory. Defendant's daughter (and perhaps others) testified that about twelve years before, he had been afflicted with sun-stroke in Germany, and that five or six years later, after coming to America, he had a similar attack, quite a number of witnesses testifying that he had often acted in a strange and unusual manner, indicat- ing that he was of unsound mind, Prosecutor Tibbals, on the other hand, introducing a number of medical experts, who testified, from professional examination, to their belief that the prisoner was sane, among others Superintendent Kendrick, of the Northern Ohio Hospital for the Insane, at Newburg.

In addition to the testimony thus 'adduced in his behalf, the "insane" demonstrations of the defendant, throughout the trial, were constant and unremitting, consisting mainly of facial con- tortions, unintelligible mutterings and à seeming utter indifference and oblivion to the proceedings that were being had, though at one time, during the argument of Prosecutor Tibbals, while setting forth the quarrelsome character of the defendant, and his brutal and inhuman treatment of his wife, he so for forgot the role he

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SENTENCED TO BE EXECUTED.

was playing, that, in his anger, he sprang to his feet, and seizing the chair upon which he had been sitting, essayed to strike that official down, but was was prevented from doing so by the court constable who had the prisoner in charge.

CHARGE, VERDICT, ETC .- At the close of the testimony for the defense, the case was ably argued on both sides, occupying nearly two full days. Judge Carpenter charged the jury in a very clear and impartial manner, lucidly expounding the law relating to homicides, and the rule of applying evidence in such cases, par- ticularly in cases like the one on trial, where insanity is interposed as the sole defense. The jury retired to their room at about 11 o'clock A. M. on Thursday, December 5, 1861, and in less than three-fourths of an hour had agreed upon a verdict of

MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.

Counsel for the defense immediately moved for a new trial, because the verdict was not warranted by the evidence, and for several other alleged reasons, mostly of a , technical nature, which motion, after full argument for and against, was overruled by the court, on the 18th day of December, 1861. The defendant being in court, was ordered by Judge Carpenter to stand up for sentence, to which command no attention was paid. He was raised then to a perpendicular by Sheriff Chisnell and his deputy, and held in that position during the delivery of the sentence, and, in the language of the newspaper reporter of the scene, "in the mean- time keeping up the crazy dodge, but more successfully imitating a driveling idiot, or the stupid, maudlin appearance of a drunken man."

The court room was crowded, and many believing his "insane" demonstrations genuine, expressed great sympathy for the doomed man, but after leaving the court room, and getting past the crowd in the corridors, on his return to jail, he so far recovered his sanity as to inquire of the jailer when he was to hang. After reviewing the testimony, the fairness of the trial, the verdict of the jury and the full concurrence of the court therewith, Judge Carpenter said:

"The history of your case is briefly this: You married the victim of your crime about a year before her death. You did not live happily together. Perhaps she had not all the art of soothing your ferocious temper that a former wife, who had followed you from Germany, had had. You complained that she was not as obedient as the other; that she would not sell whisky at your grocery like the other, and that she kept back the money. You complained that she was not as good a housekeeper as the other; that your affairs were not as prosperous; that you were not as happy with her as with the other. You grew abusive, violent,

and at length drove her from your house. * *

* After repeated interference of neighbors in her defense, she at length left you and instituted proceedings for divorce. She was returning from an interview with her counsel and a preparation of papers for that purpose, to a neighbor's where she had taken refuge from your violence, when, having waylaid her path, with a gun you had carefully loaded, you took deadly aim and fired upon your wife. She fled from you and fell down and died, and her spirit went to her God and your God.

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"The stormy out-bursts of your temper. probably the result of habitual license under intoxicating stimulants, easily suggested your defense of insanity, a defense which you attempted to aid before the jury by simulating paroxysms of the terrible visitation. But the twelve jurors, while too humane to be indifferent to the slightest indications in your favor, were too discerning and reflect -. ive to be the dupes of imposture.

"How vain, then, how utterly unavailing will be all simula- tions and dissemblings-all pretenses and self-deceivings-before the God who looks upon the heart! Think, I beseech you, of your crime. Think of your past life. Think how you will answer to Him who declared in His own great law for you, and for us all, ' Thou shalt not kill.'

"And now, as you are soon to pass beyond the reach of human pity, I pray you fly to Him whose pity is ever interceding, whose atoning blood can blot out the hand-writing of your guilt, whose arms are ever open to your repentant soul.

"The judgment of the court, and the sentence of the law is, that you be taken hence to the jail of the county, that you be there safely kept by the jailer thereof, until Friday, the 25th day of April, 1862, and that on said 25th day of April you be taken to the place of execution, and there, on Friday, the said 25th day of April, 1862, between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 3 o'clock in the afternoon of said day, you, Henry Kerst, be hanged by the neck until you are dead; and may He who is the Resurrec- tion and the Life, stand by you in that hour of need."

SUPREME COURT APPEALED TO .- A carefully drawn bill of excep- tions having been prepared by defendant's counsel, application was made to the Supreme Court for the allowance of a writ of error, which was argued before that body, at Columbus, on Satur- day, January 4, 1862, by General L. V. Bierce in behalf of the con- demned prisoner, and Prosecutor N. D. Tibbals on behalf of the State-the latter's first plea before the Supreme Court. The appli- cation was denied, the decision being announced by Chief Justice Scott. Strong efforts were also made, by counsel and friends, to secure from Governor David Tod a commutation of sentence from death to imprisonment for life. But, after a full review of the case, Governor Tod declined to interfere, so that there was nothing left but to proceed with the preparations for the execution.

HIS OWN EXECUTIONER .- Sheriff. Chisnell was therefore getting the necessary paraphernalia ready for carrying out the sentence of the court upon the doomed man. The gallows-the same which had originally been provided for the execution of James Parks, as hereafter recorded-was stored in the loft of the jail barn, ready to be set up when the fatal day arrived. The rope, manufactured by Nahum Fay, Esq., of Akron, had been procured, and the proper assistants and witnesses had been provided, but the customary provision for a "dead watch" had been neglected, and on the morning of April 23d, two days before the execution was to have taken place, it was found that the brutal uxoricide had taken the law into his own hands, and had inflicted upon himself the just penalty due to his terrible crime.

A GHASTLY SPECTACLE .- When the fact became known through- out the town that Kerst had committed suicide, the excitement was intense and hundreds of men and boys rushed to the jail to

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HIS OWN EXECUTIONER.

learn the particulars, and gratify a morbid curiosity of viewing the body of the double murderer-Sheriff Chisnell very properly per- mitting the body to remain in the position in which it was found, for several hours, to await the action of the coroner-and the dis- torted features, the staring eyes, the protruding tongue, have doubt- less haunted many sensitive witnesses of the ghastly spectacle to the present time.

HOW IT WAS DONE .- The prison beds at that time were com- posed of strips of heavy canvas, fastened, by strong cords, to hooks in the walls, about two and a half or three feet from the cell floor. Kerst had unfastened his bed from the hooks, and laid it upon the floor, at the back side of the cell. He had then made a loop at the end of one of the cords, at the corner of the sacking, and twisting the cord about his neck, slipped the loop over one of the hooks, and, by simply lying down, had deliberately strangled himself to death, an act that must have required the utmost cool- ness of mind and strength of nerve to accomplish.

THE CORONER'S INQUEST .- A messenger was sent to Cuyahoga Falls, to notify Coroner Joseph T. Holloway, who the same day issued a warrant to Constable Merrick Burton to summon a jury of inquest, which was done accordingly. The jury after viewing the body, and its surroundings, and hearing the testimony of Sheriff Jacob Chisnell and Joel Honeywell, returned their verdict as follows:

"We, the jury, do find that the deceased came to his death by hanging or strangling himself with a small rope or cord, about four feet long, which was by him fastened to a hook in the wall, about three feet from the floor, evidently procured by himself from his hammock in the cell of said jail."

Apropos of the death penalty, while the writer, in his eight years' experience, as sheriff of Summit county, was fortunately spared the disagreeable duty of executing a human being-though having one or two very narrow escapes-he was an early advocate of the measure, recently enacted into a law, of having all the exe- cutions of the State performed in the State Penitentiary, thus obviating the excitements, and frequent disturbances, and some- times barbarous scenes, incident to local executions at county- seats.

It is proper to state, in concluding this chapter, that the chil- dren of the legally condemned, and self-executed wife-murderer, are all highly honorable people, and greatly respected in the com- munities in which they reside; the fearful crime of the father doubtless being the result of indulgence in intoxicating liquors rather than innate depravity-another warning to all, especially the young, to forever totally abstain from the use of every species of intoxicating drinks.

CHAPTER XXXI.

BOSTON'S LAST GREAT SENSATION -- THE WASHBURN-PEOPLES HOMICIDE-AN , IRATE HUSBAND'S VENGEANCE ON THE INVADER OF HIS MARITAL DOMAIN -PREPARATIONS FOR THE BLOODY DEED -CONFRONTING HIS VICTIM IN HIS OWN HOUSE-VICTIM FLEES FOR HIS LIFE-AVENGER GIVES CHASE, SHOOTING AS HE RUNS-FOUR SHOTS TAKE EFFECT, TWO FATAL-MUR- DERER WALKS FOUR MILES TO GIVE HIMSELF UP-MAGISTRATE FAILS TO COMPREHEND THE SITUATION -- WALKS BACK HOME AGAIN AND QUIETLY RETIRES TO BED-ARRESTED ON MAYOR'S WARRANT -- CORONER'S INQUEST ON VICTIM -MURDERER COMMITTED TO JAIL-INDICTMENT BY GRAND JURY-HEARING IN COURT OF COMMON PLEAS-BOTII HEREDITARY INSAN- ITY AND UNCONTROLLABLE IMPULSE URGED IN DEFENSE-EXCITING TRIAL -VERDICT, MURDER IN SECOND DEGREE-IMPRISONMEMT FOR LIFE-STILL · DOING PENANCE-THE CONVICT'S FAMILY-WIFE DIVORCED AND RE-MAR- RIED-CHILDREN HIGHLY RESPECTABLE YOUNG LADIES, ETC.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

FROM 1835 to 1838, there lived in Akron, with his family, a very clever but rather eccentric man by the name of Ebenezer Sumner Washburn, a native of Haddam, Conn., then about 40 years of age. Though not college-bred, Mr. Washburn was well educated, studi- ous and of quite a literary turn of mind, often contributing articles to the local press, and possessing considerable talent as a poet. Mr. Washburn was, by profession, a teacher, and while in Akron taught during the Winter season in one or more contiguous districts not now remembered; in the Summer performing such convenient manual labor as he could find to do in the village and among the neighboring farmers.

In the latter part of 1838, Mr. Washburn removed his family into a cabin, standing between the canal and the river, a short dis- tance south of "Johnny Cake Lock," near the north line of North- ampton, and in the Winter of 1838, '39 was engaged in teaching a school near what is now known as the Mix farm, on the east side of the river, ferrying himself over, morning and night, in a "dug- out," or log canoe, generally accompanied by several of his own and neighbor's children, who were in attendance upon his school.

A TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE .- On the morning of February ,14, 1839, taking with him three. of his own children and a 12-year-old daughter of Mr. William Hardy, he started to cross the river in his frail craft, which, from the turbulence of the current, owing to a recent freshet, was capsized in the middle of the stream, and all four of the children drowned, Mr. Washburn himself narrowly escaping a similar fate.

This sad bereavement cast a deep gloom over the minds of both Mr. and Mrs. Washburn, producing settled melancholy and despondency in both, though he continued to teach for many years in Bath and Richfield, where they afterwards lived, while Mrs. Washburn continued to minister faithfully to the care and comfort of their increasing and growing family.

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A PATRIOTIC SOLDIER.

VENDRUTH WASHBURN .- To mitigate the sorrow of the bereaved family for the loss of their little ones, other children were from time to time born to them, among the rest, on the 7th day of Janu- ary, 1845, a son, whom they christened Vendruth. This son grew vigorously, and being bright as a child, and sprightly as a lad, though not taking very readily to his books, his father gave him as good an education as his circumstances would admit of, at the same time requiring him, as he grew older, to aid in the support of the family, by performing such labor as could be found for such a boy to do among the farmers of the neighborhood.

THE BOY SOLDIER .- Thus matters stood at the breaking out of the war, in 1861. Though then but 16 years old, the heart of young Washburn was at once fired with patriotic ardor, and though considered rather too young to be received into the volun- teer service, yet, being robust of stature, by representing himself as 18 years of age, he secured enlistment in the regular army, with which he served three full years, afterwards going into the veteran volunteer service, in which, after serving about six months, he was taken prisoner, and being afterwards paroled returned home, but making a most faithful soldier throughout.

THAT MIDDLE INITIAL " D."-The reader will have noticed that the naine given to the boy in question, was "Vendruth," only. But, probably from the fact that the accent, in the pronunciation of the name, was placed upon the last syllable, on his enlisting in the army it was taken to be a double name, and he was accord- ingly entered upon the army rolls as " V. D. Washburn," and for the purpose of future identification as such honorably discharged soldier, should circumstances make such identification necessary,. these initials were adopted and retained.

HE TAKES TO HIMSELF A WIFE .- On the 5th day of October, 1865, the ex-soldier boy, then but little more than 21 years of age,. applied to Probate Judge Stephen H. Pitkin, for a marriage license for himself and Miss. Ellen Elizabeth Kelly, a resident of the town- ship of Boston, the marriage being solemnized the same day by . Justice Wm. L. Clarke, of Akron. The newly wedded couple estab- lished themselves in a small single-room cabin in the northwestern portion of Boston township, a short distance south of the residence of the mother of the bride, and about three-fourths of a mile east of the parents of the groom. Here they lived quietly and, so far as is known, happily, until the Summer of 1870, two little girls, then respectively four and two years old, having in the meantime been born to them; the husband comfortably supporting his little family by general labor among the neighboring farmers.

TROUBLE IN STORE FOR THEM .- Charles Peoples, a young sin- gle man of the neighborhood, and about the same age, or perhaps a little older, also an ex-soldier, was own cousin to Mrs. Washburn, and, working about from farm to farm, with no definite place of abode, made the house of his friend a sort of headquarters, his cousin, Mrs. Washburn, doing his washing and mending, and sometimes caring for him for days at a time when sick or unable to secure employment.

Thus matters stood on the first of July, 1870, soon after which, from certain developments, Washburn became cognizant of the fact that, taking advantage of his absence, and in spite of the rela- tionship existing between them, Peoples had criminally and

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

forcibly invaded the sanctity of his home. This knowledge very naturally aroused within him a very deep sense of indignation, and he determined to call the betrayer of his confidence, and the despoiler of his domestic happiness, to account, for the great wrong he had done to him and his.

Though Peoples had visited the house several times, nothing had been said to him by Washburn about the matter up to Satur- day, the 16th day of July, 1870. In the meantime, on Sunday, the 10th day of July, being already the owner of a revolver, he had pur- chased a supply of ammunition at the grocery store of Mr. Daniel Peck, in Peninsula, and returning home, had, in the presence of a neighbor by the name of John H. Johnson, cleaned and loaded the revolver therewith. This, it was afterwards claimed by Washburn, was done without any intention of using the weapon upon Peoples, himself, but for the purpose of enabling his wife to defend herself against the advances of her libidinous cousin, should he again attempt to criminally assault her.

THE FATAL DAY .- On Saturday morning, July 16, 1870, Wash- burn went to the farm of Mr. James W. Lockert, in the northeast part of Richfield, taking his oldest little girl along with him as far as the house of his parents, leaving her in the care of her grandmother Washburn, until his return. Working through the forenoon, and taking dinner at Mr. Lockert's, he started to return home between 1 and 2 o'clock.

Soon after reaching his mother's, Peoples came along, traveling in the same direction. Washburn inquired of Peoples if he was going to his house, and being answered in the affirmative, the two men, with the little girl, soon started on together. It does not appear that their conversation, or their actions towards each other, were anything but cordial on the way, no hint whatever having been communicated to Peoples, by Washburn, in regard to his grievances.

A FEARFUL TRAGEDY .-- On arriving at the house, Peoples was greeted kindly by his cousin, Mrs. Washburn, and the two men seated themselves upon the lounge. Presently the nearest neigh- bor, Mr. John H. Johnson, returning from the spring with a pail of water, came in and setting his pail upon the table, picked up an accordion and, seating himself in the door, commenced playing ou it, the conversation becoming general; after a little all three tak- ing seats outside the house and entertaining each other with stories and incidents of the war.

A little later, Washburn requested Johnson to go home, as he wanted to have a private talk with Peoples, and Johnson, pleas- antly remarking that he would have gone before if he had told him to, took up his pail of water and started. He had gone but a short distance when Washburn called him back and requested him to take the children along, as had frequently been his custom; so again setting down his pail of water, he took the youngest child in his arms and the other by the hand and started for his own cabin, some fifteen or twenty rods distant.

On the departure of Johnson, Washburn and Peoples again seated themselves upon the lounge. After some general conversa- tion, Washburn accused Peoples of his perfidy and wrong doing, which accusation Peoples at first denied, but finally acknowledged, and to Washburn's inquiry as to what he (Peoples), would do were

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PLANNING HIS DEFENSE.

he in his (Washburn's), place, he replied that he would try and settle it if he could, so as not have the affair become public. Washburn then demanded, as his ultimatum for settlement, that Peoples should leave the country, and never return, to which Peoples demurred, and finally announcing, with an oath, that he would do as he had a inind to, started from the lounge, when Washburn raised his revolver, which he had previously taken from the nail where it was hanging behind the door, and fired. Peoples rushed from the house and fled into the woods, Washburn following and firing as they ran, both climbing over the fence in the rear of the house in their flight. About thirty or forty rods from the fence Peoples fell upon his face, and Washburn coming up placed the muzzle of the revolver against the back of his head and sent a bullet crashing through his .brain. The autopsy disclosed four wounds; a flesh wound in the left hand, a flesh wound in the right ear, a fatal wound in the left breast and a fatal wound in the back part of the head.

ANOTHER "MCFARLAND AFFAIR."-About a year previous to the events here written of, there had been enacted a domestic tragedy in the city of New York, which had created intense excite- ment, not only in that city, but through the entire country, the parties to which were a shyster-lawyer by the name of Daniel McFarland, his divorced wife (who, as Miss Abby Sage, had won success and popularity as a writer), and Mr. Albert Deane Richard- son, a writer on the New York Tribune, and who had been one of its most brilliant army correspondents in the War of the Rebellion, and after the war had written a very graphic and popular life of General Grant.

McFarland had become extremely jealous of the attentions bestowed upon his talented wife, by her many male admirers, and at length became so unkind and abusive that a separation was had, the oldest of their two children remaining with the father and the youngest with the mother. Temporarily migrating to Indiana, she had, under the then free and easy divorce laws of that State, secured a divorce from her husband, with the custody of the younger child confirmed to her, soon afterwards returning to New York and resuming her literary labors.

In these troubles she had been especially befriended by Mr. Richardson, who, after her return from New York, became very attentive to her, with a view to matrimony. This very greatly exasperated the ex-husband, McFarland, who, going to the Trib- une building on the 1st day of December, 1869, made a deadly assault upon the unarmed victim of his wrath, fatally shooting him as he was fleeing for his life. Richardson, after lingering a few hours, died from the effects of his wounds, but not until he had been married, by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, to the lady, for befriending whom, he had lost his life, and had executed a will endowing her with such property as he possessed. McFarland was, of course, arrested, but admitted to bail, and after a delay of many months, and with full opportunity, by himself and through his counsel and friends, for witness and jury mixing, was brought to trial with the anticipated result of a triumphant acquittal, on the ground that the murderous attack and fatal shooting were done under the influence of an "uncontrollable impulse," notwithstand- ing the evident preparation he had made to accomplish that result.

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On finding that he had probably killed his victim, Washburn called to his neighbor Johnson, who, though hearing the shots had no conception of their fatal import. Being busy reading, in his own cabin, he did not immediately respond to the call, when Washburn, in a louder tone, called again. On going to the door and inquiring what was wanted, Washburn replied, with an oath, "I have shot Charlie Peoples, and I want you to come over and help take care of him." On going with him to where Peoples lay, in the woods, some 40 or more rods from Washburn's house, and speaking to him, there was but a single gasp before life was extinct. Telling Johnson why he had killed Peoples, and request- ing him to get another neighbor, by the name of Sutton, to help take care of Peoples' body, said he was going to Peninsula to give himself up, at the same time telling Johnson to take care of the revolver, and not disturb the two remaining loads.

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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