History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 57

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The matter of location was discussed at some length during the first regular meeting of the society, and finally a resolution was adopted:

That we, the members of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, pledge ourselves to the erection of a monument to the memory of Major General James B. McPherson, to be placed over his remains at Clyde, Ohio.

CLYDE M'PHERSON MONUMENT SOCIETY.

On the 3d of August, 1866, McPherson Monument Society of Clyde was organized. Its officers were General R. P. Buckland, of Fremont, president, and Captain John M. Lemmon, of Clyde, secretary. The whole cost of the monument was to be eleven thousand dollars and the Clyde society pledged itself to raise three thousand dollars of the amount. This

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money was all subscribed and most of it paid in. Besides supplying three thousand dollars of the monument fund, the Clyde society has greatly beautified the cemetery wherein lie the remains of the fallen hero. Through the efforts of General Buckland and Captain John M. Lemmon, Congress had been induced to grant an appropriation of four iron cannon, four bronze cannon, one thousand muskets and twenty-five cannon balls, which have been placed in the cemetery by the side of the monument.

General James B. McPherson was born in a small frame house in the extreme northeastern limits of the city, and the cemetery wherein he now lies, with his father and two brothers, once formed a portion of the homestead of the McPherson family. His mother's neat, white cottage now stands just at the edge of the graveyard, and through a latticed window she gazes with tearful eyes upon the stately monument erected to the memory of her hero son.

The statue of General J. B. McPherson is pronounced a perfect piece of art. The. pedestal is of granite, nine feet in height and six and one-half feet at the base. The figure, which is also nine feet in height, and composed of bronze, represents the

commander in full military uniform, with sword, belt, and hat. The left hand holds a field-glass, while the right hand and arm are extended, as if pointing to where the battle rages fiercest.

The piece is from the Cincinnati art foundry of Rebisso, Mundhenk & Co., who are also the designers and sculptors of the equestrian statue of McPherson erected at Washington three years ago. The statue occupies a high knoll, the most commanding point in the beautiful little cemetery, just at the edge of the city, where it forms a most imposing central figure.

The unveiling ceremonies, July 22, 1881, were attended by about fifteen thousand people, a large number of military societies and distinguished military men. A procession more than a mile long was formed at 1 o'clock, and at 2 o'clock marched to the cemetery, where the assemblage was called to order by the president of the day, General R. B. Hayes. The statue was unveiled by General W. T. Sherman; General M. F. Force delivered the dedicatory oration. Formal addresses were delivered by General W. E. Strong and General W. T. Sherman, followed by short addresses by Generals Gibson, Ha- zen, Leggett, Belknapp, and Keifer.

CHAPTER XXIII.

COURT AND BAR OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

Notice of the First Court in the County-The First Grand Jury-Some of the Early Judges-Organization of the Court-The Lawyers of Early Times-Their Characteristics, Habits, Talents, etc .- Also, Notice of the Present and Former Members of the Bar.

I N the county clerk's office, carefully preserved, is a little book, six inches wide and about nine inches long, bound in pasteboard covering, without ruling for line or margin. It is, in fact, a very plain book, without any numerical paging. On the top of the first page written upon are the following words, in a fine handwriting: "May Term, 1820." The record in this book then goes on to state:

SANDUSKY COUNTY, May 8, 1820.

In pursuance of a law passed by the Legislature of the State of Ohio, the 12th day of February, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, organizing the County of Sandusky, the court was opened by the sheriff. Present, the Honorable George Tod, president. Willis E. Brown produced his commission as sheriff, and was sworn to office. Israel Harrington, David Harold, and Alexander Morrison produced their commissions as associate judges of the court of common pleas of the county of Sandusky, which were read by the clerk, and the said Israel Harrington, David Harold, and Alexander Morrison having taken the oaths required by law, took their seats as associate judges of said court. James Williams was appointed clerk pro tem. Whereupon the sheriff returned the venire for the grand jurors, and upon it appearing that the venire did not issue thirty days before the return, the array being challenged, the panel was quashed. Whereupon the sheriff was ordered to select a new jury from the bystanders, and the following, being legally called, appeared, to wit: Joshua Davis, Elijah W. Howland, Jonathan H. Jerome, William Morrison, Josiah Rumery, Nicholas Whitinger, William Andrews, Ruel Loomis, James Montgomery, Caleb Rice, Robert Harvey, Thomas Webb, Elijah Brayton, Charles B. Fitch, and Reuben Bristol ; whereupon Charles B. Fitch was appointed foreman and took the oath prescribed by law, and his fellow jurors, after having taken the same oath, received a solemn charge from the court and retired.

The next business of the court, after sending out

the first grand jury, was the granting of a license to Israel Harrington to keep a tavern at his dwelling house in Sandusky township, for one year, and fixing the price of the license at fifteen dollars.

The court then, on application, ordered the election of two justices of the peace in the township of Thompson. The election was to be held on the first Monday in June, 1820, at the house of Joseph Parmeter.

This Mr. Joseph Parmeter then resided in what is now Green Creek township, on the east side of Green Creek, where the road from Fremont to Green Spring now crosses the creek. He afterwards erected-a mill there, and his son,. Julius W. Parmeter, occupied the premises for many years after the father died.

Upon application, David Gallagher was then ap- pointed county inspector. Mr. Gallagher then entered into bond, according to law, and assumed the duties, which were to see that barrels and packages of pork, whiskey, fish, flour, etc., were of proper quality and of prescribed weight.

Then the court appointed Philip R. Hopkins clerk of the court for the time being, who entered into bond, as required, and was sworn into office after taking the oath of office in open court.

This completed the first day's work of the first common pleas court ever held in Sandusky county.

TUESDAY, May 9, 1820. The court convened, and there were present the same judges as on the day previous. Letters of administration were then granted as follows:

To West Barney, on the estate of John Orr. The sureties for Barney were David Gallagher and George Halloway; bond, two hundred dollars; appraisers, Caleb Rice, Anson Gray, and John Eaton.

To Josette Vellard, on the estate of Gabriel Vellard; bond, five hundred dollars; sureties, Joseph Mominy and Charles Bibo; appraisers, Asa B. Gavit, Halsey Forgerson, and Thomas Forgerson.

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To Moses Nichols, on the estate of Aaron T. Kerr; bond, two hundred dollars; sureties, David Gallagher and Jeremiah Everett.

License was, on this second day of the court, May 9, 1820, granted to Morris A. Newman to keep a tavern at his dwelling in Croghansville, for one year, for the price of fifteen dollars.

The court on the same day ordered two justices of the peace to be elected in the township of Seneca, on the first Monday in June, 1820, the election to be held at the dwelling house of West Barney, in said township.

License to William Andrews to keep a tavern at his dwelling house in Sandusky township, for one year, for the price of fifteen dollars.

License also to Samuel Cochran to keep a tavern for one year at his dwelling house in Sandusky township, for six dollars.

Thereupon the grand jury came into and presented a bill of indictment against Almeron Sands, for assault and battery on the body of Calvin Leezen.

To lawyers and to others who are fond of old-fashioned things, the record of the plea of Sands and the disposition made of it, will be interesting, not only for the matter of the record and the terms used, but as the first judgment of a court in the county. We give the proceeding, therefore, verbatim as found in the record, the indictment being indorsed, "A True Bill, by Charles B. Pitch, foreman of the Grand Jury:"

Almeron Sands being arraigned at the Bar, and it being demanded of him how he would acquit himself of the charge in the Indictment contained and set forth, Pleads and says he is guilty thereof and puts himself upon the mercy of the court. There-upon it is considered ordered and adjudged by the court that the said Almeron Sands be fined in the sum of fifteen dollars, to be paid into the treasury of Sandusky county, and also all the costs of this prosecution, and that execution issue therefore.

The Indians at that time, 1820, were quite numerous in and about Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), as well as in other parts of Ohio. The red man, as well as the white, was almost sure to have his fighting proclivities waked into action by whiskey. After many sad tragedies resulting from the drunkenness of the aborigines, the State Legislature made it a penal offence to sell intoxicating liquors to Ind-

ians. The untutored child of the forest loved whiskey as well as the white man, and every licensed tavern keeper could, at that time, sell intoxicating liquor to the white man by the drink or larger quantity, but he was prohibited from selling to the Indian. True, the white man then, as now, was more likely to fight when under the influence of liquor, but he was not so free in the use of deadly weapons when in that condition as the Indian, who always carried his butcher-knife and tomahawk about his person, hence the discrimination in the law in the penalty between selling whiskey to the white man and the red.

Whiskey plenty for the white man, Not a drop for the red.

The Indian must keep sober

While the whites lay drunk in bed.

On the second day of the term, May 9, 1820, the grand jury returned six more in- dictments, three of which were for selling intoxicating liquor to Indians. One against Calvin Leezen, a tavern keeper, one against George G. Olmsted, a merchant, and one against Ora Bellows, a trader; one for nuisance against John Kirkendale and Guy Dudley, and one for same offence against Augustus Fexier; and one for riot against John Holbrook and others. The court then adjourned until May 10, 1820, at 10 o'clock A. M.

The court journal for each of these two days is regularly signed by the presiding judge, George Tod. Judge Tod doubtless left the place after signing the journal of that day, for on the next morning court was opened and conducted by Associate Judges Morrison, Harrington, and Harold, who transacted the business of the day and adjourned the court without day. Amongst other things done by the associate judges, after judge Tod left, was the order fixing the charges for ferrying across the Sandusky River:

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For a footman 6 1/4 cents.

For a man and a horse 12 1/2 cents.

For a wagon and one horse 25 cents.

For a wagon and two horses 37 1/2 cents.

For a wagon and four horses 50 cents.

Thus we see that at that early day, although at the usual stage of water the trav- ellers forded the river above the mill at the rapids, ferrying was resorted to in order to cross when the river was high. This ferry was located where the new iron bridge now crosses the stream.

Philip R. Hopkins, at the above term, on the last day appointed Dennis L. Rathbone deputy clerk, and he was duly approved and sworn into office as such. And thus closed the first term of the court held in Sandusky county.

The record does not show whether this first term was held on the east or west side of the river, nor at what house it was held. Tradition, however, places it at the house of Morris A. Newman, who then kept a tavern in Croghansville.

THE OCTOBER TERM, 1820.

The record of the next term, however, which was held October 9, 1820, does show that the court was held in Croghanville, on the east side of the river. The same judges were then present as at the May term next preceding.

Charles B. Fitch and Jeremiah Everett, at a special term, held on the 17th of February, 1821, were severally sworn into office and took their seats, with Israel Harrington, as associate judges. Judge Tod was not present at this term. The law then authorized the three associate judges to hold court and transact business.

At this special term Philip R. Hopkins resigned the office of clerk and the judges appointed Alexander Morrison to fill the office.

At this special term Elsey Harris was appointed administratrix of the estate of Joseph Harris, deceased. Joseph Harris

was living on Portage River in 1818, and may have been there before that time. His cabin was near the east end of the bridge across the river at Elmore, and he was then the only settler between Lower Sandusky and Fort Meigs or Perrysburg, and travellers were entertained as at a tavern. Elsey Harris was the daughter of Morris A. Newman, an early settler in Lower Sandusky. She, after the decease of Harris, married Isaac Knapp, who is mentioned in this history.

The next term commenced on the 7th day of May, 1821. George Tod, Israel Harrington, Charles B. Fitch, and Jeremiah Everett were the judges composing the court. Picket Lattimer was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county, to hold the office during the pleasure of the court. Mr. Lattimer was a resident of Huron county. The court also at this term appointed "McKinzey Murray inspector of flour, meals, biscuit, pot and pearl ashes, beef, pork, butter, lard and fish."

At this May term, 1821, the grand jurors, George Shannon, Daniel Brainard, Silas Dewey, Ebenezer Ransom, John G. Thayer, Seth Cochran, Joseph Keeler, and Ezra Williams, were regularly summoned, but not being a full panel the court ordered the sheriff to fill it up to the number of fifteen, which he did by bringing into court the following talesmen, to wit: Josiah Rumery, Hugh Knox, Nicholas Whitinger, David Gallagher, Asa B. Gavit, Caleb Rice, and Abraham Townsend. Josiah Rumery was appointed foreman, and the grand jury charged and sent.

These names and proceedings are noted and placed in our history for two reasons: first, to show that at that early day the forms of law were well observed, second, to show that the men named were residing in the county at the time, and active par- ticipants in the affairs of society.

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Judge George Tod was father of David Tod, who was elected Governor of Ohio in 1859, and who proved to be a true patriot. judge George Tod regularly presided over the court until the close of the October term, 1823.

Judge Ebenezer Lane first presided in the county at the May term, 1824, which term commenced on the third day of the month. Judge Lane was afterwards advanced to the bench of the supreme court of the State, and is admitted to have been a pure, honest man, and a superior jurist. It was a decision announced by judge Lane, from the supreme bench of the State, which first established the rights of the owners of property bounded by navigable rivers in Ohio, and which declared as the laws of the State that such ownership extended to the centre of the stream, subject to the right of the public to pass and repass. This decision may be found in the Thirteenth Ohio Report, in the case of the administrators of Gavit vs. David Chambers. The principle declared by judge Lane in this case has been since contended against, but the court, as late as 1880, has held the decision sound, and enforced it as a rule of property.

After the advancement of Judge Lane to the supreme court, there was a succession of able common pleas judges who presided at the court of the county with the associate judges until 1851, when the new constitution changed the organization of the court of common pleas, abolished the office of the associate judges, and left a single man to adjudicate and administer the law in the court of common pleas.

The successors to the first two common pleas judges of the court above named will be found in our chapter on the civil history of the county.

From the time the State was admitted into the Union, in 1802, until the present Constitution was adopted, in 1851, the

judicial department of the State government consisted of a supreme court, with three supreme judges for the whole State. These supreme judges held a circuit, at which one judge heard and decided causes. This circuit court was held once a year in each county. They also held a court at Columbus, at which all three were present, and heard and decided causes reserved from the circuit court and cases in error.

Next in order came the court of common pleas, presided over by one common pleas judge assisted by three associate judges, in each county. This court had jurisdiction over all settlements of the estates of deceased persons and all guardianships. Under the constitution of 1802 there was no separate probate court.

The associate judges, or a majority of them, could be called together at any time to hear the proof of the execution of wills, or grant letters of

administration or guardianship, and to settle the accounts of such and order sales of real estate when necessary, in the settlement of estates, and the records of their proceedings became part of the records of the court of common pleas. There were also justices of the peace, one, at least, sometimes three, in each township.

The forms of pleading and practice, with a few exceptions where varied by statute law, were according to the English or common law, and this system of pleading and practice continued in all our courts of record until the enactment of the code of civil procedure, in 1853.

The new Constitution of 1851, and the code of civil procedure of 1853, reorganized the judicial department of the State government, and made very marked changes in the system of pleading and practice.

However, under the new, as well As the old Constitution, crimes and offenses

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were defined and punished by legislative enactment and not according to the common law.

The Constitution of 1851 organized a probate court for each county, and took away from the court of common pleas jurisdiction over guardians, wills, and all testamentary matters, and conferred them exclusively on the probate court, except that petitions to sell real estate of deceased persons may be filed either in the common pleas or probate court, and appeals are provided for from the decisions of the probate, in some instances, to the court of common pleas.

NOTEWORTHY TRIALS.

There have been many interesting scenes and trials in the courts of the county, and many displays of logical power and eloquence, as is the case in almost every county in the State. But our readers will not expect all these to be placed in history. We select, however, two remarkable trials which took place in the county, and the incidents attending them, which

are rather extraordinary and interesting.

The accounts of these murders were published in the Fremont Courier (German) and translated by Mr. L. von Schloenbach for publication in the Fremont journal, from which they are compiled:

THE MURDER OF MRS. SPERRY.

The year was 1842; the place was the farm of Joseph Sperry, an Englishman by birth, and it was situated between Green Spring and Clyde, Sandusky county, about one and one-half miles northeast of Green Spring, on the road leading to Clyde. Here Joseph Sperry lived, together with his wife, Catharine Sperry, and two small children (a boy and a girl), seemingly in the best kind of harmony and happiness. Sperry always had been a hard- working, industrious man, and in course of time had succeeded in gaining a comfortable home for himself and family. In the fall of 1841 he concluded to build himself a better and more comfortable dwellinghouse, for which purpose he entered into a contract with a certain young and skilful carpenter, who, aside front having a rather prepossessing appearance, and being a captain of a militia company, was also counted. as

one of the prominent young men in that vicinity. Mrs. Sperry, the farmer's wife, was very industrious, and also a good-looking woman. In March, 1842, certain rumors with regard to criminal intercourse between Mrs. Sperry and this young carpenter gained considerable publicity, and finally reached the ears of Mr. Sperry. At that time, the young carpenter had begun the work on Sperry's new house, and from casual observations, Sperry mistrusted that there might be good cause for these rumors; from doubting his wife, he began to suspect her, and this led to very frequent family quarrels, which from that time on became an almost daily occurrence. These quarrels, inspired by the ominous poison of jealousy and misplaced confidence, reached their climax on the 9th of April, 1842, when Sperry took up a flatiron, with which he inflicted a fearful wound about two inches long and one inch deep upon the head of Mrs. Sperry, near the temple, from which she died almost instantly. This bloody deed took place in the kitchen of the old house, near an old-fashioned fireplace; near by stood a ladder, leading up to the garret. Gazing upon the dead body of his wife, and casting his eyes upon that fireplace and the ladder close by, this picture must have become transfixed in his mind like a flash of lightning, for it was in that moment in which he formed the combination of what afterward proved the entire basis of his defense. He ran at once for a neighbor, informing him of a fearful accident that had befallen his wife, and which had resulted in her death. His story was, that she had fallen off the ladder, and struck her head against the corner stone of the fireplace, and had died from the effects. The news of Sperry's wife's death spread like wildfire through the vicinity, and the next day the coroner of Sandusky county, who then lived in Lower Sandusky, convened a jury and held an inquest.

Among the jurymen (all residents of Fremont) we find Mr. Charles O. Tillotson and Judge Olmsted. The verdict of this jury was, that Mrs. Sperry came to her death by a wound caused by her husband, who had struck her with a flat-iron. Upon this Sperry was indicted for murder in the first degree, but the prosecuting attorney, Mr. W. W. Culver, effected Sperry's release upon a bail of two thousand dollars for his appearance at the next term of court. Sperry's counsel, the Messrs. Homer Everett and Bishop Eddy, tried their utmost to circulate the belief that there had been no murder committed at all, and that Mrs. Sperry had been the victim of a most unfortunate and terrible accident. Prosecuting Attorney W. W. Culver and his assistant, Mr. Cooper K. Watson (afterwards judge of Common-Pleas for the counties of Erie and Ottawa) were satisfied that it was a cool-blooded murder, and left nothing undone to have Sperry convicted. The defence persistently kept up the theory of accident just as it had come from the lips of the accused at first. The cor-

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oner's jury had neglected to give an exact and detailed description of the wound, and the prosecuting attorney, in order to avoid any doubt whatever, caused the body of Mrs. Sperry to be taken from the grave and brought to Fremont, where it was subjected to a medical examination by Drs, Rawson and Anderson. Dr. Rawson's office at that time was near the old Dickinson dwelling (northwest corner Arch and State streets). Said physicians made a thorough examination and returns to the prosecuting attorney, who could now explain and satisfy the jury of the utter impossibility of an accident. The grand jury, which at that time was composed of the following gentlemen, to wit: Messrs. Warren H. Stevens, John Houts, Hugh Overmeier, Hugh Bowland, Michael Fought, Joshua B. Chapel, David Engler, Stephen Teary, Orson Bement, Peter McNit, John Reed, George Donaldson, John Betts, Charles Lindsey, and Thomas Ogle, on the 14th day of September, 1842, found an indictment against Sperry for murder in the first degree, and on the next day the trial commenced before judge Ozias Bowen and his assistants, Alpheus McIntire, Isaac Knapp, and George Overmeier. Dr. L. Q. Rawson at that time held the position of clerk, with B. F. Fletcher as his assistant. Mr. John Strohl was sheriff, and Peter Burgoon deputy sheriff. A jury, composed of the Messrs. John Bell, Michael Reed, Henry Havens, Daniel. Tindall, Samuel Rose, David Chambers, Michael Overmeier, sr., William McGonnley, Joseph Kelley, Lewis E. Marsh, Levi Marsh, and Samuel Skinner, was duly sworn, and upon the defendant's plea of "Not guilty" the trial commenced. The prosecution had no direct proofs, but the very strongest kind of circumstantial evidence, proving by their witnesses (especially the Drs. D. Tilden, L. Q. Rawson, and Anderson) that the theory of accident had absolutely no foundation whatever, and came not even within the reach of possibility. The defence had substantially nothing else to counterbalance this testimony but the defendant's good character; and, strange as it may appear, . the question of jealousy was raised on neither side. Certain, however, is the fact that the young Adonis of a carpenter left the vicinity shortly after the trial. The trial lasted five days, and on the 20th day of September, 18A2, the jury returned a verdict of guilty in the first degree. A motion on the part of the defence for a new trial was overruled by judge Bowen, who *thereupon sentenced Sperry to be hung on Wednesday, November 2, 1842. Sperry received his sentence with perfect calmness, and Sheriff Strohl took him to jail, into a cell already occupied by George Thompson, also a murderer. The jail at that time was where now stands Rev, Mr. Lang's house, and here Sperry was given ample time to brood over his crime and repent, but all to no good, since he rejected all religious consolation, and remained the hard-hearted man he was-up to the time of his death. Sperry had

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 57

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