USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 114
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The facts leading up to the lynching may be briefly told. A negro by the name of Charles W. Mitchell had been arrested on May 28th charged
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with assault on a prominent woman of the city. The attack had been made on Thursday morning, May 27, while she was in her own home and attending to her household duties. The negro had concealed himself in the house and when he made the assault had his face covered with a shawl. He was defeated in his nefarious attempt and his victim, escaping his clutches, rushed out of the house to the home of one of her neighbors. In the mean- time the negro escaped. He was captured the next morning and was at once lodged in the city prison, where he was given his hearing on Wednesday morning, June 2, before Mayor Ganson. He waived examination and was bound over to court to await the action of the grand jury. His victim readily recognized him as the man who had assaulted her.
On Wednesday evening the prisoner was removed from the city prison to the county jail. All during the day, there had been frequent threats made against the life of the prisoner and it became apparent during the after- noon of this day that an attempt would be made the same night to take him out of the city prison and hang him. Fearing that the jail might be attacked on Wednesday night, Sheriff McLain ordered out the local militia company to defend the jail and about twenty members of the company remained on guard around the jail during the night.
Wednesday passed without any outbreak, but it became more apparent on Thursday morning that the temper of the people would brook no delay in the exacting of justice. At this juncture Judge Heiserman felt that he should convene the grand jury at once and he ordered it summoned on Thursday afternoon. It met and indicted the prisoner, who was at once arraigned. Mitchell plead guilty and Judge Heiserman immediately sent- enced him to twenty years in the penitentiary.
While this rapid course of justice was in progress the jail and court house were both locked and guarded by the troops and no one was admitted to either building except the officers, attorneys and newspaper reporters. With the prisoner sentenced, the next question was how to get him out of the city and to the penitentiary.
Thursday night, June 3, was probably the most exciting night the city has ever experienced. All night long there was a great crowd around the court house and jail and shortly after midnight it became increasingly evi- dent that it was going to be next to impossible to keep the mob from break- ing in the jail and taking the prisoner out. The crisis came about 2:30 Fri- day morning. By that time the mob had become so large and threatening that the soldiers on duty retired within the jail and closed the doors. Then something happened. It will probably never be known who gave the com-
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mand to fire, but suddenly twenty rifles were fired from the jail into the mob. These twenty bullets found twelve victims: Two men were instantly killed and ten others received more or less dangerous wounds. The two who were instantly killed were Harry Bell, the top of whose head was blown off, his brains being spattered on the court house wall, and Upton Baker, who was standing on the steps leading to the side door of the jail. A bul- let passed through his body killing him instantly. The ten people struck with bullets were Dennis Graney, John Wank, Ray Dickerson,, Wesley Bowen, Dr. Charles Thompson, George Elliott, William McClure, Augustus Weiser, John McKeever and Sherman S. Deaton.
Immediately after the shooting the sheriff telegraphed Governor Bush- nell for more troops and the colored company from Springfield was ordered to Urbana. When Sheriff McLain heard that negro troops were being sent to the city he at once advised the governor that in view of the exist- ing circumstances it would be very unwise to send colored troops. Accord- ingly a white company, thirty-six in number, came up from Springfield on Friday morning and marched from the station to the jail where they were received by the mob with hoots and jeers. In fact, the temper of the peo- ple was such that after counselling with a number of the prominent citizens of Urbana, Captain Bradbury withdrew his company and they returned at once to Springfield.
The withdrawal of the Springfield company was followed by a confer- ence between Mayor Ganson and Sheriff McLain and it was agreed that there would be no more shooting by the local militia. The local militia boys then laid down their guns and were undoubtedly relieved to feel that they were freed from further responsibility. Just as soon as the mob on the outside understood that there was to be no more firing they made a rush for the jail and within a few minutes they were inside and in front of the cell where the wretched negro lay. The story will never be told of the next few minutes; it was done so quickly and with such confusion that the sequence of events cannot be followed.
It was but the work of a few minutes for the mob to get a rope around Mitchell's neck and but few more to get him out of the building. Dragging him out with the rope around his neck the mob vented its fury upon the unfortunate wretch by jumping on him after the rope had slipped from his neck as he fell off the jail steps. Again placing the rope around his neck he was carried across the court house yard to the tree in the southeast corner of the yard and there the rope was thrown over a convenient limb. Hun- dreds of willing hands stretched the victim in midair and then tied the rope
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to a fence. For at least an hour the body was left dangling in the air before Mayor Ganson ordered it cut down.
The body was placed in an open pine box and was left in the court house yard until 2:30 in the afternoon when it was removed to Humphrey's under- taking establishment, where it was held until Saturday. An effort was made to sell it to a medical college at Columbus, but the college declined to take it. Mitchell's relatives likewise refused to take charge of the body and on Satur- day afternoon it was loaded onto a dray and carted away to the potter's field. And Urbana and Champaign county concluded its second lynching. It is not the purpose of this article to condemn or condone-only to tell the facts as near as they can be ascertained.
SENSATIONAL ESCAPE FROM COUNTY BASTILE.
On December 31, 1915, the county jail was the scene of a sensational dash for liberty by two dangerous highwaymen, Frank Martin and James Doyle. On the evening of November 27 of that year, these men held up and robbed David Ogg, and were confined in the county jail awaiting trial. The two men had a bad record, for Martin, under the name of O'Brien, had escaped from the southern Illinois penitentiary where he was serving a twelve year sentence. The local authorities, however, had refused to return him to Illinois until he had been tried on the robbery charge in this county. Martin had already entered a plea of guilty to carrying concealed weapons, which would have sent him to the penitentiary. He was also wanted in Del- aware, Bucyrus, Marion and other Ohio towns on charges of robbery. Doyle was also wanted in Columbus for a robbery committed in that city several years before. Both men had several aliases.
When Martin and Doyle were confined in the jail they were locked inside the inner corridor, not being allowed the privileges extended to the other prisoners; and every night they were locked in individual cells. The only access from the inner corridor to the main one, except through a heavy iron door that was always kept locked, was through an exit between the water pipes and bars. It had always been thought that a full-grown man could not crawl through this aperture, but Martin and Doyle undoubtedly gained access to the main corridor in this manner.
In accordance with his usual custom, Sheriff Faulkner went to lock the prisoners in their cells soon after nine o'clock on the evening of the escape. Mrs. Faulkner locking the big iron door to the jail behind her husband. With- out looking into the cells, the sheriff locked the cells with the assistance of
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Guy Ropp, one of the prisoners. When he reached the entrance he was seized suddenly in the vice-like grip of Martin and disarmed of his thirty-two calibre revolver. Mrs. Faulkner, who had started to open the big door, could not lock it again before Doyle had pushed it open, while with the revolver covered the sheriff, who had released himself from Martin's grip. Losing no time, the prisoners beat a hasty retreat out of the south entrance of the jail.
Sheriff Faulkner immediately notified the authorities, and the chase was begun. Men scoured the country in all directions until an early hour on New Years day, but they could find no trace of the robbers. In addition to these efforts, the authorities of the surrounding towns were notified, but they could give no clues. The birds had obviously flown. Since that time nothing has been heard from Martin. Doyle was later captured in Indiana, and was there convicted and sent to the penitentiary for twenty years.
SOME POSTOFFICE STATISTICS.
The maximum number of postoffices in the county was in the year 1890, when there were twenty-three offices in existence. The salaries of the post- masters at that time ranged from twenty-three hundred dollars in -Urbana to fifteen dollars at Lookout. Ten years later, with the introduction of rural free delivery, these postoffices began to disappear, and in 1917 there are only eleven left. It is interesting to submit in this connection a complete list of all the postoffices of the county in 1890, together with the postmasters and their respective salaries. T. C. Cain, who succeeded B. F. Conner at Carys- ville in 1890, was the first colored postmaster in the county and so far as known the only one who has ever held the position in the county. The list referred to follows:
Name of Office.
Postmaster. Salary
Cable
. John Donovan $ 200
Carysville
B. F. Conner, T. C. Cain. 100
Christiansburg
Asa Brelsford 275
Crayon
E. J. Hanna 90
Eris
J. G. Sailor
100
Fountain Park R. A. Conner
150
Horr's
W. W. Kennedy
60
Kennard
WV. S. Woodruff
150
Kings Creek
James M. Watson 130
Lookout
David Mahan 15
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Name of Office.
Postmaster.
Salary.
Mechanicsburg
. Charles T. Baxter
1,300
Millerstown
.J. M. Abbott
140
Mingo
William Hoppock 250
Mutual
H. S. Preston 100
Nettleton
Mary B. Everett 27
North Lewisburg
William Hunter 600
Northville
Daniel Campbell 30
St. Paris
Aaron D. Riker
800
Spring Hills
Harriett A. Eby 100
Terre Haute
. James H. Ireland 65
Urbana
H. H. Williams
2,300
Westville
James E. Vincent
300
Woodstock
J. G. Hoisington
350
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.
The rural free delivery system was inaugurated in Champaign county on January 2, 1899. when two mail routes were established out of Urbana. Route No. I started from the postoffice, east to Scioto street, commencing delivery at the home of George M. Eicholberger ; east on the Urbana and Milford pike, to crossroad leading south from school house No. 7, thence south to Urbana and Mechanicsburg pike, thence east to school district No. 6, thence south on crossroads to Pisgah, thence north to Twitchell's corner, thence west to the Pretty Prairie school house No. 3, thence south to county line, thence west to school house No. 7, thence north to Hickory Grove, going west to Hickory Grove church, thence north to Springfield pike to postoffice. Length, 20.8 miles. William H. Henderson, carrier.
Route No. 2 started from the postoffice north to Light street, thence west to Urbana and Northville pike, delivery commencing at the home of Edward Jennings; thence to Northville postoffice, thence west to saw-mill of Thomas Houston, thence south to Concord church, thence east on the Erie pike to George Kizer's corner, thence west to the Concord and Arrowsmith pike, thence south to Adlard's mill, thence to the corporation line back to the Prbana postoffice. Distance. 21.33 miles. Carrier. Ralph Hunter. There are now nine rural mail routes out of Urbana.
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LIST OF PRESENT POSTOFFICES.
Between 1890 and 1899 there was at least one postoffice established, Hagenbuch being granted a postoffice in 1896, but losing it on January 31, 1902. Frank Bishop was postmaster from the day it was started until the day it was discontinued. Beginning in 1899 the smaller offices have been dis- continued, as rural delivery has been extended throughout the county. The year 1917 finds eleven postoffices in the county and the following postmas- ters : At Cable, J. M. Shaul; Christiansburg, M. T. Deaton; Mechanicsburg, J. D. Yocum; Mingo, Lela Callahan; North Lewisburg, Mrs. E. L. D. Tritt ; Rosewood, Oscar Birkhald; St. Paris, J. H. Biddle; Thackery, Elmer Smith; Urbana, W. A. Lowry; Westville, John Fanning; Woodstock, S. M. Over- field.
A WHIMSICAL MAYOR.
Mayor David M. Green ( 1912-1915) was known as the "stormy petrel" of Urbana politics. Mayor Green was unique in many things. The city never had a mayor like him. A man was brought before him charged with bootlegging. "Guilty?" asked the mayor. "Yes, your honor." "Fifty dol- lars," responded the mayor. The bootlegger did not have the money and did not want to go to jail, so he induced the mayor to accept his note for the amount of the fine. The city still holds the note.
At another time there was a question as to the kind of material to be used in street paving. The city council had one view of the matter and Mayor Green another. Mayor Green was nothing if not original. One evening as he sat in his office he had an idea. He went to the room in the station house where homeless tramps were sheltered in the winter time and queried them as to the relative merits of paving material as they had seen it in their travels over the United States. One globe trotter among the tatterdemalions bore the name of John Hoofeldegoof and he informed the mayor that any pave- ment except wood block would be all right. The mayor cross-questioned him, got his views, went back to his office and dictated an article based upon Hoof- eldegoof's observations. The Urbana newspapers were pleased to print the article and it is still regarded as a contribution to the municipal literature of Urbana.
Mayor Green was criticised so vigorously in the summer of 1913 that he decided to "come out in the papers" with an announcement of what he proposed to do. He sent a letter to both of the daily papers, dated June 6,
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1913, addressed to the citizens and taxpayers of Urbana, Ohio, and notified them, individually and collectively, that he intended to "clean out" fron Aug- ust 5, 1913, to January 1, 1914. Let his letter tell the story.
June 6. 1913.
To the Citizens and Taxpayers of Urbana, Oblo:
From the 5th of August until January I intend to make a cleaning out of differ- ent departments. I find we have employees that are not doing their duty and are politicians not working for the city's welfare or the interest of the taxpayers. From the fifth of August until January the grafters and politicians cannot tie my hands and I intend to clean house. I am not tied to anybody and I will give some of them a chance to resign before August, and If not, look out, for I will throw a bomb.
Yours,
DAVID M. GREEN, Mayor.
THE HOUSE OF MANY NAMES.
There is a large building on North Main street in Urbana, adjoining the railroad tracks on the west, which has an interesting and eventful history. It was built in 1857-58 as a seminary for girls. A year later the school was made co-educational, and its first name, "U'rbana Female Seminary," was changed to "Urbana Collegiate Institute." The Presbyterian church first had charge of the school, but for various reasons the school was not a financial success, and it was forced to close its doors. The building then lay idle until 1864, when Edward Jennings purchased it and remodeled it for use as a dwelling. He lived in it for some years and owned it until 1880, when he sold it to the Catholic church of Urbana. The church used it as a parochial school building until the present parochial school was erected in 1905. In that year the old college building passed into the hands of a stock company which converted it into a sanitorium, first known as the "Champaign Sani- torium" and later as the "Niles Sanitorium," which passed from the posses- sion of the stock company into the hands of the Winfield Rowe estate and in 1915 M. W. Thomas became the owner. The Thomas estate sold the building in July, 1917, to the American Tool and Die Company, which at the time this volume went to press, had already started to remodel the building for use as a factory.
The building is located on a commanding site, one of the highest points in the city, and is an imposing brick building of three stories. The original cost was about $70,000, but the last time it was sold it brought only $5,000. The same building could not be built today for $100,000.
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SOME INTERESTING MEN AND WOMEN OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
More than one hundred thousand people have lived in Champaign county during the hundred years of its history. In other places there have been noticed men who have risen to more than local fame in various lines of activity, but a number of people of the county have done something which places their peculiar talents above those of their neighbors. The county has produced men who have made marks in scores of ways and here is set forth a brief account of some of them.
Some people have hobbies for collecting articles of various kinds and of these Champaign has a few. The most pronounced of these are Charles McDargh and W. H. McGown. McDargh has a fine collection of relics at his house in Urbana which represents the work of the past forty years. They include a little of everything and have to be seen to be appreciated. Being a veteran of the Civil War, he has made an effort to collect everything he could get touching that great struggle. McGown is a collector of autographs of famous people, particularly those of actors. He also has a fine collection of stage pictures, all taken by himself, and hundreds of play-bills. His col- lection is kept at his home on East Reynolds street. Mrs. Johnson, who lives near Mingo, has collected a log cabin full of pioneer relics of all kinds.
George McDargh, a son of Charles McDargh, is recognized as one of the champion marksmen of the world. He has been with Keith's vaudeville circuit for several seasons, where he is given a prominent place on the pro- gram. Another athlete of more than local renown is Robert Couchman, a baseball pitcher, who has seen service in some of the Southern leagues, and was with Richmond in the Interstate League during the season of 1917. The two sons of Fred Crawford have made great records as athletes at Miami University. One of the sons, Vivian, is now ( 1917) with the American Ambulance Corps in France. The greatest baseball man the county has ever produced is John Siengle, the present sheriff of Champaign county, who was a member of National League teams in the years gone by. His last playing in the National League was with the Cincinnati team, and it was only because of a serious injury to one of his legs that he did not finish out the season with Cincinnati. Later he managed minor league teams until he became deputy sheriff of Champaign county. His first professional baseball experience was with the Indianapolis team, with which he played prior to being drafted by Cincinnati. The present county surveyor, Harry B. Hull, is said to have been the fastest runner the county has ever produced.
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Of authors, the county has produced a few who have seen the creations of their mind in print. J. J. Ware has published at least three volumes which have been favorably received. He is now preparing for publication a history of Mechanicsburg. Dr. Caleb Jones has issued a treatise on the subject of alcoholic treatment. James Swisher wrote a volume several years ago deal- ing with his adventures in the West. Joseph E. Wing wrote a volume entitled "Alfalfa Farming in America" (1916), which is an authority on the subject.
HYMENEAL ASSOCIATIONS.
The ways of mankind are devious and hard to follow. Some wise man has said that there is such a fine line of demarcation between a sane man and an insane man that no alienist can ever be sure that a man in question is either the one or the other. The sane man of today may be the insane one of tonight. We are all "Dr. Jekylls and Mr. Hydes," or his wife. All of which is prefatory to what follows.
In the middle of the eighties there were three associations formed in Champaign county, the like of which had never before appeared here, have never appeared since and will probably never appear again. Whether the women of that day were any queerer than they are now or whether the men thought they were, or whether the men thought differently than they do today may be a matter of a difference of opinion. At any rate the young people of Urbana, matrimonially inclined, conceived the idea of organizing an asso- ciation to assist young persons in getting a start after their marriage. To this end there came into existence what the local papers of that date called the "Happy Home Marriage Association." Three such organizations were born: The Urbana Marriage Benefit Association, The Bee Hive Marriage Benefit Association, of St. Paris, and the United States Marriage Endow- ment Association. of North Lewisburg. The latter organization was evi- dently intended to be of a national scope, if one may judge by its compre- hensive title. These associations were legally organized, placed on record in the recorder's office at Urbana and according to their articles of incorpora- tion they were to last from ten to twenty years. The capital stock ranged from one hundred and twenty-five dollars to one hundred and fifty dollars. The constitution of each set forth briefly their aim: "To encourage matri- mony and teach economy to its members ; to secure for its members financial aid at the time of marriage and prevent speculation and rash marriages."
It has been impossible to secure definite data concerning the workings of these organizations, but since they dropped from newspaper notice, it seems that their efforts were largely expended in getting incorporated. It is
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presumed that once they were married the couples had plenty to do without concerning themselves with the affairs of the association which they had joined. In all seriousness, it would be interesting to know the idea back of this movement, but the originator of the idea has not been found. There is room for such an organization today and they exist, but not under these mari- tal designations. The building and loan associations of Urbana are as truly organized for the purpose of assisting young couples as those hymeneal asso- ciations of thirty years ago.
STAGE COACH VS. AUTOMOBILE VS. AEROPLANE.
One of the earliest business ventures in which several of Urbana citizens were interested was the Urbana Stage Company, organized about 1833. At that time the village of Urbana was isolated from the outside world and the mail facilities were of the poorest sort. In order to remedy these pioneer circumstances a stage line company was organized for the daily transporta- tion of mail and passengers between Cincinnati and Sandusky, Ohio. Sub- stantial and elegant coaches were secured and were drawn by four thorough- bred horses. For a time the company was prosperous, but not satisfied to let well enough alone ventured into uncertain fields. The stage line was extended from Springfield to Wheeling and thus entered into competition with an old and well-established company, known as Neil, Moore & Company. Business was good, but management poor and within a few years the Urbana Stage Company had fallen to staves with an enormous debt overhanging.
The men who financed the first stage line out of Urbana would be inter- ested in seeing the large automobile omnibus which now makes two daily round trips between Urbana and Mechanicsburg. This auto-bus line was established in 1915 and has been in continuous operation since that time. The trip is made in less than forty-five minutes and, if occasion demands, even better time can be made. The fare is fifty cents each way.
The historian who writes the account of transportation for the Cham- paign county history in 2017 no doubt will tell of the biplane which makes regular trips between the two places. The trip will consume not over ten minutes; fare, five cents.
PATRIOTIC DEMONSTRATION IN URBANA, MAY 5, 1917.
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