History of Crawford County and Ohio, Part 36

Author: Perrin, William Henry, [from old catalog] comp; Battle, J. H., [from old catalog] comp; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852- [from old catalog] comp; Baskin & Battey, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1034


USA > Ohio > Crawford County > History of Crawford County and Ohio > Part 36


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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* Bartley, in the Mansfield Shield and Banner.


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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.


CHAPTER IV.


THE PROFESSIONS-RESIDENT LAWYERS-THE PRESENT BAR-EARLY PRACTICE OF MEDICINE- DIFFERENT SYSTEMS-THE MODERN PHYSICIANS.


THE professions exert a wide influence in a community, and the history of Crawford County would be incomplete without a history of the legal and medical professions. The fol- lowing sketch of the bar of the county is by Franklin Adams, Esq., and was prepared at our special request for this work :


Crawford County was erected and attached to Delaware County April 1, 1820. In Febru- ary, 1824, the northern tier of townships was attached to Seneca County for judicial pur- poses, and on May 1, 1824, the remainder to Marion County. The county was organized April 1, 1826, and soon after Bucyrus was selected as the county seat.


The general surface of the county was a clay soil, covered with rich vegetable mold, and so level that the fallen and decaying timber of the forests and the grasses and rank growths of the prairies were sufficient to obstruct drainage, and present, upon a large proportion of the ter- ritory, a series of swails, marshes and sluggish water-courses. Bridges and culverts were few, and mostly of the corduroy style. The houses and barns were constructed of logs, and in the most economical manner. The property of the inhabitants consisted of their lands, and scarcely anything else. Until after the public lands in this part of the country were taken up, the mar- ket value of unimproved land was $1.25 per acre, the Government price.


The Wyandot and the Cherokee Boy reser- vations, containing about 147,000 acres, were within the original limits of Crawford, and were occupied by the aboriginal inhabitants, about 700 in number, until July, 1843. Thirty-eight thousand four hundred acres of these lands were ceded to the General Government in 1836. The


Indian title to the balance was extinguished by a treaty made at Upper Sandusky, March 17, 1842.


The first term of the Common Pleas Court of the county was held at Bucyrus, in the dwelling- house of Lewis Cary, on the south bank of Sandusky River, at the site of the present resi- dence of C. H. Shonert. Ebenezer Lane, of Norwalk, was Presiding Judge. He was ap- pointed in 1824, his circuit including all the northwestern part of the State. Upon its organ- ization, Crawford County was attached to it. He continued to discharge the duties of Com- mon Pleas Judge until the fall of 1830. He was then appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, a position he held until the close of the session of the Court in Banc, in the winter of 1844-45, when he resigned.


Judge Lane was born at Northampton, Mass., September 17, 1793, and died at Sandusky, Ohio, June 12, 1866. He graduated at Harvard Uni- versity in 1811. He studied law with Judge Matthew Griswold, at Lyme, Conn., and in 1814 was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice at Norwich, Conn. In March, 1817, he came to Elyria, Ohio. In May, 1819, he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of Huron County, and in October of the same year re- moved to Norwalk. After his resignation as Judge of the Supreme Court, he accepted the presidency of the Mad River & Lake Erie Rail- road Company, and devoted the next ten years to the management of railroads in Ohio. In November, 1855, he was appointed counsel and resident director of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, a position he held, with his residence at Chicago, until March 16, 1859, when he resigned and retired to private life. He was a


Y


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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.


close student of law, science and general litera- ture, and was prompt and indefatigable in meeting every engagement and discharging every duty. On the circuit, he would patronize the most retired and orderly hotel within a mile or two of the court house, and devote all his leisure time to reading and study. He possessed in an eminent degree the confidence and esteem of the bar and the people. His opinions con- tained in the Ohio Supreme Court Reports are monuments of his scholarship, integrity and abilities.


In the winter of 1830-31, Judge Lane was succeeded in the Common Pleas Court by David Higgins, of Norwalk, who held the office of President Judge seven years-a full term. His last appearance on the bench in Crawford County was at the September term, 1837. He was a dignified gentleman, of good abilities and intentions, and of fine personal appearance. He was, however, rather unfortunate in securing the deference to which he was entitled, and in comprehending the motives of others, and in making his own properly understood. This led to frequent unpleasant collisions with members of the bar. Upon the whole, his term was a stormy one, at the close of which he retired to private life. In the winter of 1837-38, Judge Higgins was succeeded by Ozias Bowen, of Marion, who held the office of President Judge for two terms-fourteen years-until the judi- cial system under the Constitution of 1802 was superseded by that of the Constitution of 1831.


Judge Bowen possessed much shrewdness and ability, and excelled as a chancellor. IIe dis- charged his duties honestly and faithfully and to the general satisfaction of the public and the bar. He was born at Augusta, Oneida Co., N. Y., July 1, 1805, and died at Marion, Ohio, September 26, 1871. Ile studied law with Gregory Powers at Canton, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar, at that place, September 23, 1828, and soon after com- menced practice at Marion. In 1856, he was, by


Gov. Chase, appointed a Judge of the State Su- preme Court, to fill a vacancy caused by the resig- nation of Judge C. C. Converse, and, in October of the same year, was elected to fill the un- expired term. In 1860, he was one of the Ohio Electors for President of the United States.


From the organization of the county until February, 1852, the offices of Associate Judges of the Common Pleas Court have been filled by the following persons : John Cary, Enoch B. Meriman, John B. French, Jacob Smith, Abel Cary, Josiah Robertson, George Poe, Hugh Welch, Samuel Knisely, Andrew Failor, Robert W. Musgrave, Robert Lee and James Stewart. These were all gentlemen of character and standing in the community, and discharged their duties well and conscientiously. The earlier records and files of the courts are lost. Once they were partially destroyed by fire; at a later date, the most that remained were taken away in the night by parties against whom in- dictments were pending. There are no records or files extant of an earlier date than 1831. The Common Pleas journal opens with the March term, 1834.


The first resident members of the bar being young men, without experience or confidence in themselves, the most important business of the courts was conducted by older and more experienced lawyers, residing in neighboring counties, and accustomed to following the cir- cuit, sometimes on foot and sometimes on horse- back, with about the regularity of the Judges. Among those of this class whose names appear most frequently marked as counsel upon the earlier court dockets are Andrew Coffinberry, James Purdy and John M. May, of Mansfield ; Orris Parrish, of Delaware; Ozias Bowen and James H. Godman, of Marion ; and Charles L. Boalt, of Norwalk. All of them were earnest, active men, and distinguished nisi prius lawyers.


John II. Morrison resided at Bucyrus, and was engaged in the practice of law at the organ-


Frank ~ adams


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ization of the county, in 1826, and was the first County Treasurer elected. He was considered a brilliant man, but lacking in the steadiness and perseverance necessary for success and distinction in his profession. He removed to Findlay, Ohio, in 1837, where he died a few years ago. Isaac H. Allen, M. Flick and a Mr. Stan- berg located at Bucyrus and practiced law between the years 1826 and 1830. Allen died here in 1828. The others left the place prior to 1830.


Josiah Scott was born in Washington County, Penn., December 1, 1803, and died at Bucyrus, Ohio, June 15, 1879. He graduated with high honors at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1821, taught a classical school at Richmond, Va., and became a tutor at Jefferson College and studied law and was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania. He located at Bucyrus and commenced the practice of law in 1829. He represented Crawford, Marion and Delaware Counties in the Ohio Legislature in 1840. In 1850, he removed to Hamilton, Butler Co., Ohio, and continued practice. In 1856, he was appointed by Gov. Chase a Judge of the Su- preme Court, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge Ranney, and in October of the same year was elected to a full term of five years, and was re-elected in 1861 and 1866. His services as Judge commenced at December term, 1856, and ended February 9, 1872. He removed to Bucyrus in 1870, and at the close of his last term resumed practice. In 1876, he was appointed, by Gov. Hayes, upon the Supreme Court Commission, a body of five members, created in 1875, by Amend- atory Section 22, Article 4, of the Constitution of Ohio, to dispose of a part of the business then on the dockets of the Supreme Court, with the same jurisdiction and power in respect to such business as the Supreme Court. Upon the organization of the Commission, February 2, 1876, he was elected, by his associates, Chief Judge for one year thereafter. He con-


tinued a member of the Commission until Feb- ruary 1, 1879, the close of its term.


His active business life covers a period of fifty years, the greater portion of which was spent in this community. Nearly all the wit- nesses of his earlier efforts passed away before him, leaving a succeeding generation the spec- tators of his later and more mature labors. He was endowed by nature with a fine presence, a genial disposition and sparkling wit, and intellectual faculties and powers of analysis of a very high order. He was thoroughly hon- est and upright in his dealings and intercourse with others ; a Christian gentleman, a scholar, excelling specially in mathematics and the classics ; an eloquent advocate and an able and learned lawyer and jurist. No man was ever more thoroughly understood and appreciated at home, and few, indeed, have been so de- serving.


George Sweney was born near Gettysburg, Penn., November 1, 1796, and died at Bucyrus, Ohio, October 10, 1877. He graduated at Dick- inson College, Pennsylvania; studied law and was admitted to the bar. About the year 1820, he commenced practice at Gettysburg and con- tinued it for ten years. The Gettysburg bar was then distinguished for the abilities and brilliance of its members. In 1830, he removed to Bucyrus and continued practice. While holding the office of Prosecuting Attorney of Crawford County, in 1838, he was elected a member of Congress from the Fourteenth Ohio District, and was re-elected in 1840. In 1853, he removed to Geneseo, Ill., but returned to Bucyrus in 1836, and, after serving another term as Prosecuting Attorney, retired from the bar. He was of fine personal appearance. intellectual, dignified, engaging in manners, a good public speaker, amiable, honorable and upright, and plain and domestic in his habits. His cases at bar were well managed, but the practice was distasteful to him. He was an excellent scholar and close student of science,


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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.


and always preferred the retirement and comforts of home, and a life of literary ease, to the turmoil and controversies of politics and active practice at the bar.


John M. Armstrong was educated at Nor- walk Seminary, read law with Judge James Stewart, of Mansfield, was admitted to the bar, and located in practice at Bucyrus in 1838. In 1843, he moved west with the Wyandot In- dians, at the junction of the Kaw and Missouri Rivers, where the town of Wyandotte, Kan., now stands. He died several years afterward, at Mansfield, on his way home from a visit at Washington on business connected with the af- fairs of the Wyandot Indians. Robert Arm- strong, his father, had been taken prisoner by the Indians, and lived among them and married a half-blood Wyandot woman, and acquired a a tract of land at Fort Ball by the treaty of 1817. John M. Armstrong, the son, was mar- ried to a daughter of Rev. Russell Bigelow, a distinguished preacher. He had good business capacities, and was well educated and accom- plished.


Ebenezer A. Wood removed from Norton, Ohio, to Bucyrus, in the spring of 1841, and entered upon the practice of law. After re- maining about two years, he went to Missouri.


William Fisher, of Marion County, came to Bucyrus in June 1841, and went into practice in partnership with Josiah Scott. He returned to Marion in a year, and continued practice there until his death.


Lawrence W. Hall came to Bucyrus from Cuyahoga County in the spring of 1844 and commenced the practice of law. He held the office of prosecuting attorney of Crawford County, by successive elections, from October, 1845, to October 1851. At the fall election of 1851, the first under the present constitution, he was elected a Judge of the Common Pleas Court, which he held until February, 1857. In 1856, he was elected a member of the House of Rep- resentatives of the Thirty-fifth Congress, for the


term closing in March, 1857, and continued practice until his death, which occurred at Bu- cyrus, Jannary 18, 1863. He was kind and genial in disposition, popular in manners, able and successful as a practioner, and a model of urbanity on the bench, and was more a politi- cian and partisan leader than lawyer. The op- position to the war of the rebellion, developed in this locality, attracted the attention of the Government, and, in 1862, Judge Hall was ar- rested and nominally held for several weeks a political prisoner, at Camp Mansfield, and final- ly discharged without further action. In con- sequence of ill health, he was on parole, and re- quired to report, only as it suited his conven- ience.


Josiah S. Plants was born in Pennsylvania in 1820, and died in Bucyrus, August 23, 1863, of wounds received by the accidental discharge of a gun. He was educated at Ashland Acad- emy, studied law under instruction of Judge Josiah Scott, and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Bucyrus, in 1844. In the fall of 1858, he was elected a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for a five years' term, commencing in February, 1859. He was dis- tinguished for industry, honesty of purpose, de- votion to his friends, fidelity to his clients and earnestness and force as a public speaker. His career at the bar and on the bench, was such as to justify the highest expectations of his friends had his life been prolonged.


Joseph E. Jewett came from Wayne County, opened a law office at Bucyrus, in 1844, and continued in practice until the fall of 1848, when he removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he has since died.


John Clark, from Richland County, com- menced practice at the bar in Bucyrus, in the the spring of 1845. He removed to Ashland in 1846, and afterward to Iowa City, where he died.


Enoch W. Meriman was born in Bucyrus, November 17, 1830, and died at Grafton, W.


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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.


Va., August 12, 1861. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, and continued in practice until the spring of 1861. He volunteered un- der the President's first call for troops, was elected First Lieutenant of his company and died in camp before the expiration of his enlistment.


Henry C. Rowse was born in Bucyrus in 1835, and died at Rockford, Ill., October 17, 1862. He was admitted to the bar and com- menced practice at Bucyrus in 1857, and con- tinued in business about three years. At the time of his death, he held an appointment as clerk in the Interior Department at Washing- ton.


Burr Morris was born September 9, 1829, in Stark County, and died in November, 1866, at Albany, Linn Co., Oreg. He went with his par- ents to Hancock County in 1834, and was edu- cated in the Common Schools and at Findlay Academy. He read law with Henry Brown, of Findlay, and graduated at Cincinnati Law School in 1855. In 1856, he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Bucyrus. In October, 1861, he was elected Prosecuting At- torney of Crawford County, and re-elected in 1863. In April, 1864, he resigned and removed to Albany, Or., and commenced the prac- tice of law. In June, 1866, he was elected County Judge of Linn County, and died while in office.


William S. Fitzsimmons was born in Craw- ford County March 8, 1841, and died at Bucy- rus, July 11, 1870. He read law with D. W. Swigart, at Bucyrus, and was admitted to the bar March 16, 1868. In March, 1861, he en- listed in Company C, Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and went into active service. He was in many skirmishes and engagements, including the first battle of Winchester, Va., and the bat- tle of Antietam, Md. He was severely wounded at Antietam, and finally died from the effects of his wounds.


Samuel J. Elliott was admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Bucyrus in August,


1857. In August, 1858, he was appointed by the Governor Probate Judge of Crawford County to the vacancy occasioned by the resig- nation of Patterson S. Marshall, and held the of fice until October 18, 1858, when his successor was elected and qualified. In 1859, he removed to Wapakoneta, where he has since died.


William M. Beer studied law with his brother, Judge Beer, and was admitted to the bar about 1866. He had enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and First Ohio Volunteer Infan- try, serving during the war, and by regular gradation rising to the rank of Captain. Af- ter graduating in the law, he engaged for a time in the book business, but finally removed to Humboldt, Iowa, where he practiced law, un- til his death in 1874.


Robert M. Kelly was born in Lancaster. County, Penn., April 8, 1815, and came to Knox County, Ohio, in 1834. He was admitted to the bar July 1, 1842, and removed to Bucyrus and commenced practice August 1, 1842. In 1845, he received from President Polk the ap- pointment of Register of the Land Office at Upper Sandusky, and removed to that place in June of that year. He had charge of the sales of the lands of the Wyandot Reservation, and hield the office until its removal from Upper Sandusky. In 1832, he was appointed by Gov- ernor Wood, the first Probate Judge of Wyan- dot County, holding the office from January to October of that year. He was elected a Di- rector of the Ohio & Indiana Railroad Com- pany, in January, 1834, and was its President the last year of its separate organization. He originated in its Board of Directors the move- ment for the consolidation of the three com- panies owning the continnous line of railroad between Pittsburgh and Chicago, resulting in the organization of the Pittsburgh. Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Company. Ile was also, for several years, a Director, and Solicitor of the latter company. He was a member of the Ohio Senate for Crawford, Seneca and Wy-


6


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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.


andot Counties, from January 1, 1858, to Jan- uary 1, 1860.


Cyrus Linn removed from Cambridge, Ohio, to Bucyrus in 1853, and entered upon the practice of law. After continuing in practice about three years he returned to Cambridge.


James W. Smith came to Bucyrus from Ashland, in 1842, and after continuing in prac- tice at the bar about two years, returned to Ashland.


John D. Sears read law with Judge Josiah Scott, at Bucyrus. On his admission to the bar in 1844, he entered into partnership with his preceptor, and removed to Upper Sandusky in 1845, and continued the practice. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1873, for Wyandot County.


Abraham Summers, Jr., commenced the practice of law at Bucyrus, in 1850. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Crawford County in 1855, and re-elected in 1857. In 1860, he was elected Probate Judge of Craw- ford County, and re-elected in 1863. He re- moved to Hicksville, Ohio.


I. F. Price commenced the practice of law in Bucyrus in November, 1851, and after con- tinuing about two years, removed to Fremont, Ohio.


Conrad W. Butterfield commenced the prac- tice of law at Bucyrus, in 1853. In 1860, he removed to Lima, Ohio, and returned to Bucy- rus in 1863. In 1876, he removed to Madison, Wis. He is the author of a "History of Sen- eca County, Ohio;" a "History of Col. Craw- ford's Expedition against the Indians in 1782" (which has had a wide circulation), and some other works.


Abner M. Jackson was admitted to the bar in September, 1854, and commenced practice at Bucyrus. He was Auditor of Crawford County from March 3, 1851, to March 1, 1855, and was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Craw- ford County in October, 1859. In 1871, hie was elected a Judge of the Fourth Subdivision


of the Third District of the Common Pleas Court, composed of Crawford, Hancock, Mar- ion, Seneca, Wood and Wyandot Counties. He resigned in 1874, and went into practice at Cleveland, Ohio.


Cyrus Sears was born March 10, 1832, in Delaware County, N. Y., and came with his father's family, in January, 1836, to Crawford County, where he remained on a farm until of age. Ile graduated at the Cincinnati Law School April, 14, 1856, and, in June of the same year, was admitted to the bar at Upper Sandusky. He commenced practice at Bucy- rus, April 1, 1857, and continued until June 15, 1859, when he removed to Upper Sandusky and continued practice. August 12, 1861, he was enrolled a private, at Cincinnati, in the Eleventh Ohio Independent Battery of Light Artillery, and was promoted to Lieutenant October 12, 1861. He participated in the siege of New Madrid and Island No. 10, and com- manded the battery during the siege of Cor- inth, and also at the battle of Iuka, where his battery lost fifty-six men, and he was severely wounded. In his official order on this battle, Gen. Rosecrans states that "The Eleventh Ohio Battery, under Lieut. Sears, was served with unequaled bravery, under circumstances of danger and exposure, such as rarely, per- haps never, have fallen to the lot of a single battery during the war." In April, 1863, he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Eleventh Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers, afterward named the Forty-ninth U. S. Colored Infantry, and commanded this regiment at the battle of Milliken's Bend, June 7, 1863. In a letter to his superior officer, dated March 25, 1866, Col. Van E. Young, commanding the post of Vicksburg, says: "Lieut. Col. Sears was specially mentioned in official reports of the battle of Iuka, and recommended for pro- motion for gallant conduct, by Gens. Hamilton, Rosecrans and Grant. He was also conspic- uously gallant at the battle of Milliken's Bend,


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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.


commanding his regiment. The present very efficient condition of this regiment is largely attributable to Lieut. Col. Sears. I trust his services may be properly recognized by the Government."


Charles M. Dodson came to Bucyrus from Wheeling, Va., in 1880, and commenced the practice of law. In 1862, he returned to Vir- ginia.


Christopher Elliott was admitted to the bar at Bucyrus, August 31, 1858, and, after con- tinuing in practice for some years, removed to Mansfield.


Matthias Buchman read law with Judge A. M. Jackson, and was admitted to the bar in 1860. He was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of Crawford County, on the resignation of Burr Morris, in April, 1864, and held the office until October, 1865. He now resides in Cleveland, Ohio.


Archibald McGregor came to Bucyrus from Canton, Ohio, in 1858, and commenced the practice of law and the publication of the Craw- ford County Forum, and continued until April, 1860, when he returned to Canton.


J. A. Estill came to Bucyrus from Millers- burg, Ohio, and commenced the practice of law, in July, 1858, and discontinued practice the following year. He returned to Millersburg.


John B. Seroggs was admitted to the bar June 27, 1861, and commenced practice at Bucyrus. Ile continued in practice until April, 1863, when he removed to Wyandotte, Kan.


Stephen D. Young came to Bucyrus from New Haven, Huron County, in 1875, and prac- ticed law until 1877, when he removed to Nor- walk, Ohio.


Joseph R. Swigart was admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Bucyrus in 1859. He went into the army in 1861, and served on the staff of Gen. Milroy, and continued in the service until 1864. He removed to Toledo and served eight years as a Register in Bankruptcy


and Collector of Internal Revenue, and is now in practice at Bowling Green, Ohio.


Walter B. Richie was admitted to the bar in 1874, and commenced practice at Lima, Ohio, as junior member in the firm of Ballard, Richie & Richie. In October, 1876, he came to Buey- rus, and went into practice as a member of the firm of Richie & Eaton. In May, 1879, he re- turned to Lima.


Robert Lee was born April 20, 1805, in But- ler County, Penn. In 1823, he removed with his father's family to Richland, now a part of Crawford County, and located where Leesville is now situated. In the earlier part of his life, he was engaged in the business of farming, and was part owner of a steam flouring-mill, saw- mill, carding machine and fulling-mill, and was also a merchant. In 1836, he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature for Richland County, and was re-elected in 1837. In 1839, he was elected a Justice of the Peace, and held the office continuously for ten years. He was elected by the Legislature an Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Crawford in 1849, and held the office until February, 1852, when it was abolished by the present Constitu- tion of the State. In 1853, he was elected State Senator for Crawford, Seneca and Wyandot Counties, and was chosen President pro tem. of the Senate, May 1, 1854, and, as such, was pre- siding officer of that body during the illness of Lieut. Gov. Myers. On March 3, 1854, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Franklin County, and was for a term Mayor of Crestline. In 1869, he was elected Probate Judge of Crawford County, and re- elected in 1872. He is at present a member of the Board of Education of Bucyrus Union Schools. He has acquitted himself well and ably in every situation in which he has been placed, and now, with good health and unim- paired mental faculties, is enjoying the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens, and the fruits of an active, blameless and well-spent life.




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