History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c., Part 54

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968

USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c. > Part 54

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).

The militia in this eounty were sent to a camp at Wooster in September, 1863, where the militia from this district were all eneamped about ten days, drilling and learning the man- ual of arms. Over eight thousand were in camp before it was abandoned. The militia regiment organized principally in this county was the Forty-eighth, recruited during the spring and summer, which met often for drill in Mansfield.

The eall for troops late in the fall of 1863 demanded another draft, but the county averted that by enlisting its quota of men.

In all parts of the Union, particularly in the large cities, sanitary fairs were organized, and great sums of money raised to aid the armies in the field. The subjeet was broached in the

city papers in Mansfield in the fall of 1863 and early part of the winter of 1864, and received good encouragement from all quarters. Dona- tions of money and articles were solicited in all parts of the county, committees appointed to take charge, and soon Sturges Hall was an active place. A soldiers' wood-pile was started, among other things. Farmers brought wood to a designated place, which a compe- tent person received and distributed among the needy families of those whose husbands or brothers were in the army. The fair began in Miller's Hall, commencing February 8, and continuing about ten days. Several thousand dollars were raised by the effort, in addition to the articles distributed among the soldiers' families and what was sent to the field.

Early in 1864, the President issued another call for 500,000 men. The prospect, on the part of the North, was encouraging, and it was determined to push the rebellion to the wall. Ohio's quota of the required number was twenty regiments. A strong appeal was issued by the Governor for the State to raise that number and avoid a draft. The Ohio National Guard, an organization raised in the State for home defense and not destined for foreign work, was called by the Governor to volunteer to go to the front. Though not required by the terms of their enlistment to do this, yet the Guard responded nobly to the call and went out as regular soldiers. This act and the enlistments in the State furnished the requisite number of men, and thus again the draft was avoided.

Of the Ohio National Guard, but one regi- ment, the Forty-eighth, was raised chiefly in this county. It was attached, with several battalions, to the One Hundred and Sixty-third Regiment Ohio National Guard, which all com- posed. Along with all the other regiments of this kind, it cheerfully complied with the requests of the Governor, and went to the front. Its history there is here appended. Its

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

roster shows the following officers from this county :

Rank.

Name.

Mustered In.

Colonel

Hiram Miller

May 13, 1864.

Lieut. Colonel ... John Dempsey

May 13, 1864.

Major

Aaron S. Campbell

May 13, 1864.

Surgeon

Alex. Sutherland

May 13, 1864.

Asst. Surgeon ...

James O. Carter May 13, 1864.

Asst. Surgeon

David C. McMillen May 13, 1864.

Adjutant

Andrew M. Burns May 13, 1864.

Quartermaster

Samuel L. Nash May 13, 1864.

Captain

Rufus L. Avery. May 12, 1864.

Captain

Thomas 'H. Logan

May 12, 1864.

Captain

William W. Cockley May 12, 1864.

Captain

Jacob M. Leedy May 12, 1864.

Captain

William F. Curtis May 12, 1864.

Captain

John Saltsgaber

May 12, 1864.

Captain

Wells Rogers May 12, 1864.

First Lieut.

William B. Niman

May 12, 1864.

First Lieut.

Joseph Craycraft. May 12, 1864.

First Lieut ..

Milo E. Stearns May 12, 1864.

First Lieut.

Joseph H. Brown May 12, 1864.

Second Lieut. John Kern.

May 12, 1864.

Second Lieut

David P. Miller

May 12, 1864.

Second Lieut ... John Spade.

May 12, 1864.

Second Lieut. H. C. McClure

May 12, 1864.

Second Lieut .... Peter Starrett May 12, 1864.

Second Lieut ...

Frederick Dennis

May 12, 1864.

Second Lieut ...

James M. Ferst.

May 12, 1864.

This regiment was composed of the Forty- eighth Ohio National Guard, of Richland County; the Seventy-second Battalion, Ohio National Guard, of Henry County ; the Ninety- sixth Battalion, Ohio National Guard, of Ashland County, and the Ninety-ninth Bat- talion, Ohio National Guard, of Stark County.

The Forty-eighth was organized in the spring of 1864, and was composed of Company A, from Mansfield, Capt. Avery (when he died, in July, 1864, William B. Niman was appointed Captain) ; Capt. William F. Curtis' company, raised in Weller Township ; Capt. Jacob M. Leedy's company, raised in Belleville ; Capt. William F. Cockley's, in Lucas ; Capt. John Saltsgaber's, in Shelby, and Capt. Wells Rog- ers'. in Plymouth, the five companies compris- prising about four hundred men.

The One Hundred and Sixty-third Regiment was mustered into the United States service at Camp Chase, Ohio, on the 12th of May, 1864,

and, on the 13th, proceeded to Washington City, under orders from Gen. Heintzelman, commanding the Department of Ohio. Upon its arrival at Washington, the regiment was as- signed to the First Brigade, First Division, Twenty-second Army Corps, with headquarters at Fort Reno, District of Columbia. It re- mained here on duty until the 8th of June, when it was ordered to the front, and pro- ceeded in transports to White House, Va., and thence to Bermuda Hundred. It reported to Gen. Butler, at Point of Rocks, Va., on the 12th of June, and, on the 14th, took part (with Gen. Turner's division) in a reconnaissance on the Petersburg & Richmond Railroad. Two hundred and fifty of the men were engaged in a severe skirmish on the 15th, and were highly complimented by the brigade commander, who said : "They comported themselves like vet- erans." On the 16th, the regiment proceeded to Wilson's Landing, and from that point made several reconnaissances to the west side of the James. It also assisted in building a large portion of the works known as Fort Poca- hontas. On the 29th of August, the regiment was released from duty, and proceeded to Co- lumbus, Ohio, where it was mustered out Sep- tember 10, 1864.

The regiment's return home brought them a warm welcome and a great dinner. This was the common greeting to all, and was beginning to be an every-day affair, as many soldiers were returning from the war. To those that were in the field, supplies were being sent through re- lief committees, who were organized and at work in nearly every township in the county. This work went on through the summer and autumn months of 1864.

Late in the fall, a final call for 300,000 men was made by the President, and an income tax of 8 per cent on all incomes exceeding $600 ordered. It was intended to speedily crush out the rebellion, now drawing to a close. More men went to the front, while in the spring of

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

365

1865, in March, a draft was ordered in Frank- lin, Blooming Grove, Mifflin, Butler, Worth- ington, Jefferson and Cass Townships, to fill out their quotas. Seventy-eight men were drafted in these townships, but were not needed, as, April 9, Lee surrendered, and the war practically closed.

The surrender of Lee's army caused great rejoicing in all parts of the Union. Drafting and recruiting at once stopped. Friday, April 14, an immense jollification meeting was held in Miller's Hall, and at night, huge bonfires and the display of rockets and fireworks illumi- nated the city. The rejoicing was, however, soon turned to mourning by the assassination of the great and good man who had been at the helm of the nation through all its strug- gles for existence. The nation was cast into deep mourning by this dastardly deed, emanating from the old slaveholding spirit, which had seen its own downfall.

May 6, Hon. John Sherman delivered a mas- terly oration on Mr. Lincoln's life and services to the citizens of Mansfield.

This same summer, the steamer Sultana blew up, carrying to a watery grave, in the depths of the Mississippi, 172 of Richland

County's soldiers, members of the One Hun- dred and Second, Sixty-fourth, Eighty-second, Sixty-fifth and the Fifteenth. This cast a gloom over the county, as the lost soldiers were all residents and were soon expected home.

Returned soldiers began coming home by July 4, and on that day a great concourse of people assembled at Mansfield, where a dinner was served to all veterans, and a great celebra- tion of the day held.

July 9, the One Hundred and Second re- turned, and received a welcome similar to its predecessors. Along through the summer and fall, others returned, and early in the year 1866, the Sixty-fourth, the regiment that had seen so much service, came home, and the war was beginning to be one of the things of the past.

Richland County, through the whole conflict, had done nobly. She had furnished in all about three thousand men, who had been an ornament to her and the State. Many of them lay in Southern burial fields ; others, on South- ern battle-fields ; others, in the waters of the rivers ; while many were brought home and buried in the cemeteries in the county.

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

A CHAPTER OF TRAGEDIES.

MURDER AT MILLSBOROUGH-JOHN WELCH KILLS HIS WIFE-THE BOWLAND-BARKER AFFAIR-A NEGRO KILLED- RETURN J. M. WARD- THE MURDER OF HALL AND THE PEDDLER-WARD'S CONFESSION-THIE STEIN- GRAVER MURDER-KILLING OF MOCK BY POOL-MURDER OF MRS. LUNSFORD-A BOY KILLS HIS BROTHER -MURDER OF WILLIAM S. FINNEY-THE KILLING OF ALFRED PALM-HOW MANSFIELD TREATED HER THIEVES AND BLACKLEGS.

R ICHLAND COUNTY has not been free from murders and crimes of every de- scription, and though it is an unpleasant task to record these and equally unpleasant, perhaps, to read them, yet they are matters of record, and fall properly within the province of the historian. They will be hastily reviewed with- out regard to minutiæ, and are collected into a chapter, that those who care not to read of these things may pass on.

In an early day, the frontier was infested (as it is to-day) with a class of "roughs " and crim- inals, who had perhaps escaped the clutches of the law in the older settlements and come to the wilds of the West for greater safety. This fact, together with the fact that whisky was in general use in those days, rendered the border rather unsafe ; fighting was frequent and killing occasional. The taking of life in this way was not always, indeed seldom, considered as mur- der. A few only of the most prominent of these crimes are here considered. One of the earliest murders occurring in the county, caused by whisky, was that of Samuel Crispin, who killed a man named Lintholm in a drunken brawl in Millsborough, in Springfield Township. Crispin, who was a powerful man, struck Lin- tholm with his fist, killing him almost instantly. Crispin was cleared.

The Bowland-Barker affair occurred about 1846. People generally were surprised when Robert Bowland stepped up to Frank Barker

on the street, in the broad light of day, and stabbed him to death, though, to the immediate friends of the parties, it was not, perhaps, unex- pected. The trouble grew out of remarks con- tinually made by Barker derogatory to the character of Bowland's wife. The two meu were brothers-in-law, young, and full of the fire of life. It was a premeditated murder, for Bow- land put a dagger in his pocket before leaving home, and started out in quest of his victim, while yet his brain was in a whirl of passion, and when in this condition the deed was done. He found Barker talking to a friend on the street, and stepping up to him he touched him on the shoulder to call his attention, and, with- out a word, plunged the fatal dagger into his heart.

He was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to be hanged, but the sen- tence was commuted to imprisonment for life, and, after a few years in the penitentiary, he was pardoned. He went West and there died.

In 1848, a murder was committed in front of the North American Hotel. The trouble origin- ated with two colored employes of the hotel- cause, jealousy. A mulatto, named Broadwell, loved the wife of John Brown, not wisely but too well ; and, if the latter did not premeditate murder, he at least sought revenge. Broad- well was rather a stylish darkey, better look- ing, perhaps, than Brown, which fact served to increase the admiration of Mrs. Brown and the

367

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

jealousy of Mr. Brown. Broadwell, in order to make his manly form symmetrical, wore a very tight belt, which proved the cause of his death. The two met one day on the pavement, when an explosion took place, and Brown struck Broad- well with a cane on the tight belt, causing the rupture of a blood-vessel, and death followed.

Brown was tried and sentenced to the peni- tentiary. but, after serving out part of his sen- tence, was pardoned, and disappeared from this vicinity.

In 1851 or 1852, John Welch was convicted of killing his wife. It was proved on the trial that he threw her into a well ; the jury found a ver- dict of murder in the first degree and Welch was sentenced to be hanged. A motion for a new trial, however, prevailed, but the case was put off for some reason from year to year, mean- while the prisoner lying in jail. Before the case could again be brought to trial, the pris- oner died in jail. The murder occurred in Jackson Township.

One of the most terrible of the early mur- derers lived in Planktown, a small village, at present within the limits of Cass Township.

The name of one of its citizens, about and before the year 1850, was Return J. M. Ward. It is a well-remembered name by the older cit- izens. This Ward was a tailor by trade, but seems to have engaged in keeping a hotel called the Eagle House, in Planktown. Just when he came or where he came from has not been ascertained, and matters little. He was a liv- ing personification of the ogres of the fairy tales-being a large, broad-shouldered man, bald, with a little ring of black, wiry hair around his head ; thick neck, broad, high, fore- head ; clean shaven, except a large goatee ; and a sinister, forbidding countenance.

Noah Hall was a resident of the town at the same time. He came in 1849, was a bachelor, boarded with Ward, and kept a store; carried a general stock, such as country stores were compelled to carry in those days. Hall went

East occasionally to buy goods, and was about making such a trip in March, 1851, when the little village was startled one morning by find- ing him dead in his storeroom, where he was in the habit of sleeping. He had been collecting money for some weeks, which he carried on his person ; but just what amount was not known. Two men, Myers and McGravy, brothers-in-law. Irishmen by birth, were suspected of being the murderers ; the grand jury found an indictment against them, and they were put on trial for the crime. The evidence was not sufficient and they were acquitted. The real murderer might have been suspected, but was never publicly charged with the crime, and continued to ply his avo- cation and live among the neighbors of the murdered man as if nothing had happened.

Some time after this, a peddler who had stopped at the Eagle House overnight, then kept by R. J. M. Ward and Thomas Griffith, disappeared suddenly and was never afterward heard from ; but as he had no friends, and as Ward had said that he went away early in the morning, nothing was thought of the matter ; it was not investigated, and if anybody sus- peeted the peddler had been murdered. they kept their own counsel. Among those who suspected Ward of murdering the peddler, was his (Ward's) wife, who worried over the crime so much that she became insane, and was sent to the asylum. Ward became so odious in Planktown, that he finally rented the hotel and went away. In February, 1857, R. J. M. Ward was arrested and tried for the murder of his wife (he seems to have married again), at Syl- vania, a little town west of Toledo. He was convicted of the murder and sentenced to be hanged. His Planktown murders were yet un- known to the public. but when he knew he must be hanged that there was no longer any hope of reprieve, he made a confession, of which the following is the substance :

" Of the crime of murdering Noah Hall, I alone am guilty. On the night of the

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

day of March, 1851, I entered his store se- cretly, by the door, while he was asleep, unseen by any human eye, and committed the deed. Knowing he was about starting for New York, to purchase goods, and that he had collected a' considerable sum of money, I laid my plans and resolved to take his life, as the only means of possessing myself of the coveted treasure. Before dark, on the previous day, I went to his store, and, in his absence, unfastened the back door, and left it in a condition to be opened easily. At midnight, I left my house, entered by this door and found Hall sleeping soundly. I was armed with a heavy iron poker, square and large at one end, and tapering to a rounded point at the other. Having carefully ascer- tained his position, I struck the point through his skull, on the left side, above the ear, and then gave him a violent blow with the heavy end of the poker, on top of the head. He then began to struggle, and I seized his pillow and held it tight over his mouth, to prevent any sound from escaping, and, with the other hand, grasped his windpipe strongly, and held him thus till he ceased to struggle and life was evi- dently extinct. It was a fearful struggle, and I felt a sad relief when it was over. There was no great flow of blood from the wound, and no stain on my clothes.

" When I was satisfied that he was dead, I dragged the body to the back part of the store and commenced my search for the expected treasure. On going to the money drawer, I found only a little change, and began to think my crime was to be without reward ; but, on searching the hammock where he slept, under the bolster, I discovered his pocket-book, which I found contained over $800 in bank bills. I immediately left the store and buried the pocket-book and contents in the back end of my lot, and they remained there, untouched, during the next six months.

" When the excitement about the murder died away, I dug up the pocket-book, and

used the money in small quantities, as I needed it.

" Before leaving the store the night of the murder, I locked the back door and left by the front door, which I locked after me, and buried the key, so as to create the impression that the business was done by regular burglars. I was among the foremost to charge the crime on Myers and McGravy.

" I used an old tin lantern, which I covered up with a towel, to prevent the light being seen. With the aid of this light, which I placed at the head of the sleeping man, I ac- complished my purpose."

At the same time, this monster made another confession, as follows :

" While Thomas Griffith and I were keeping tavern at Richland, an event took place which is vivid in my recollection, but which I wish I could forget. Griffith was away for the night, and was not expected home for several days. Toward evening, a peddler-I think his name was Lovejoy-arrived, on foot, with two large tin trunks full of goods ; said he wanted his supper, breakfast and bed for the night, if I would take the amount out in trade. I looked over his goods, and, finding he had such arti- cles as I could use in my family, I made a bar- gain with him, had his boxes taken care of and gave him his supper. After supper, he walked out for awhile, and when he returned, took a seat in the bar-room with me and we talked for a couple of hours. He complained of being very tired and much in need of sleep, as he had been walking all day. When ready to retire, I went with him to his room, which was on the second floor, in the corner of the house. At this time, I had no idea of injuring him, and went to bed wholly innocent of any intention of disturbing him.

I awoke about midnight, and the thought struck me that the peddler might have money about him. and there was a good opportunity of getting possession of it. I knew there was

L.B.FOL GER.2C.CIN.

Mr. Elizabeth C. Baughman

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

371

no lock on the door, and it appeared to me I must, at any rate, go and see if he had thought to stick his knife over the latch so as to keep me out. Accordingly, I sprang from the bed, and, on going to the door, found it was not fast- ened, and I could open it without noise. So I opened it, went softly to the side of the bed, and, as I expected, found him fast asleep. The room was almost as light as day; the moon was shin- ing, and the windows had no curtains. Every- thing was so favorable, that the temptation seemed irresistible, and, leaving the door open, I went down into the bar-room and got an old ax that I knew was kept there, and went back to the peddler's room. He was still sound asleep, and lying in a favorable position; so I took hold of the ax with both hands, and dealt him a tremendous blow on the top of the head. I struck him only once ; he scarcely struggled, and in a few minutes he was dead. The blow caused but little flow of blood, which was mostly at the nose and mouth, and with a little care on my part, the bed was scarcely stained. He made no noise whatever, and all I had to do was to dispose of the body. This I had not sufficiently considered beforehand, and it pre- sented serious difficulties, but they were soon surmounted. I went down-stairs and got a dry- goods box, and, as the body could not be stowed in it whole, I unjointed the legs at the thighs and knees, and, after wrapping the various parts that were bloody in sheets and blankets, so as to prevent the blood from oozing out, I packed it all safely in the box, put on the cover, and took the box to my bedroom, where it remained that night, through the following day and the next night. Having disposed of the body, I commenced a search for the money, but found only about fifty dollars. I took such goods out of the trunks as would not be likely to expose me, left the rest in, and and put them also under my bed, covering them up with an old quilt, and left the bedroom, where the peddler had slept, but little deranged in conse-

quence of the dreadful scene that had just taken place.

" The next morning I arose as usual and took breakfast with the family. Some inquiries were made after the peddler at the table, and I said he was up and off by daylight, not choosing to wait for his breakfast, because he had a long way to travel. During the day I made up my mind how I would dispose of the body. I gave out that I was in need of some money, and that I would go to my father's, at Milan, and see if I could not get it of him, and that I believed I would take the wagon and start early on the following morning. So, before daybreak, I got up and harnessed the horse. No one was stirring about the house and I had ample time and opportunity to load the box and other things into the wagon without being observed. I traveled through the whole day, directing my course toward the residence of my father, and in the night, about 10 o'clock, reached the neighborhood of Huron River. When within about half a mile of the river, I turned off and went through a lot to the river, so that I might not be seen while unloading. I had previously filled the box with various irons in order to secure its sinking, and finally tumbled it into the river, about a mile and a half above Abbott's bridge. It sunk to the bottom, and, getting into the wagon, I returned homeward as rapidly as possible. I never heard that the box was found. I should have mentioned, that, on the night I killed the ped- dler, there were but few persons about my house, and no one in that part of the house where he slept. The whole proceeding was conducted very quietly, and there was no noise sufficient to awaken those who slept in the house, even if they had been much nearer to .his room. The blow sank into his head with no reverberation of sound, and, as I had taken the precaution to shut the door, it could scarcely have been heard in the next room. Indeed, I was surprised

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

that a life could be taken with so little disturb- ance."

Ward was hanged at Toledo June 12, 1857. July 4, 1851, a most foul murder was com- mitted by Charles Steingraver, in Ashland County. The victim was Clarinda Vantilburg, a blind girl, aged ten years, who had been left at home while her parents went to a Sunday- school celebration at Perrysburg. Steingraver, who had been in the employ of the Vantil- burgs, was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to be hanged. A motion for a new trial was heard but overruled, and the sentence ordered to be carried into execu- tion January 30, 1852. A large crowd of people collected on that day to see the hang- ing, it being the first case of hanging in Ash- land, which, until 1846, belonged to Richland County. Steingraver appeared to be a hard- ened criminal, and marched to the scaffold with a firm step and little apparent regard for his fate. When all was ready, and a moment be- fore the trap was sprung, the Sheriff asked him the question, "Steingraver, are you innocent of the crime of murder as charged against you?" With apparent earnestness he replied, "Sheriff, I am innocent." In another moment, his guilty or guiltless soul was launched into another world.

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Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 968

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968