History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 58

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 58

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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 Croghan- ville, 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 Feb- ruary, 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 'Jere- miah Everett were the judges composing the court. Picket Lattimer was ap- pointed prosecuting attorney for the county, to hold the office during the pleas- ure 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 jur- ors, 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 pannel the court ordered the sheriff to fill it up to the num- ber 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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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

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 pre- sided 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 ad- vanced 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 navi- gable rivers in Ohio, and which declared as the laws of the State that such owner- ship 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 suc- cession 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 govern- ment 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. Thev 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 com- mon 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 es- tates of deceased persons and all guardian- ships. 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 es- tates, and the records of their proceedings became part of the records of the court of common pleas. There were also jus- tices 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 plead- ing 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, reorgan- ized the judicial department of the State government, and made verv 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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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

were defined and punished by legislative enactment and not according to the com- mon 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 coun- ty, 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 remarka- ble 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 (Ger- man) 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 happi- ness. Sperry always had been a hard-working, in- dustrious man, and in course of time had succeeded in gaining a comfortable home for himself and fami- ly. In the fall of 1841 he concluded to build hin)- self a better and more comfortable dwelling-house, for which purpose he entered into a contract with a certain young and skilful carpenter, who, aside from having a ratlier 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 carpen- ter had begun the work on Sperry's new house, and from casual observations, Sperry mistrusted that there might be good cause for these rnmors; 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 flat- iron, 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 tlie entire basis of his defense. He ran at once for a neighbor, informing him of a fear- ful 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 in- quest.

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 bv 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. C'ulver, 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 be- lief that there had been no murder committed at all, and that Mrs. Sperrv had been the victim of a most unfortunate and Terrible accident. Prosecuting At- torney 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 un- done to have sperry convicted. The defence per- sistently 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 de- tailed 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 sub- jected 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 proscuting attroney, 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 gentle- men, to-wit: Messrs. Warren H. Stevens, John Houts, Hugh Overmeier, Hugh Bowland, Michael Fought, Joshua B. Chapel, David Engler, Stephen Tenny, 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 assist- ants, 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 assist- ant. 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 McGormley, 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 prosecu- tion had no direct proofs, but the very strongest kind of circumstantial evidence, proving by their wit- nesses (especially the Drs. D. Tilden, L. Q. Rawson, and Anderson) that the theory of accident had abso- lutely no foundation whatever, and came not even within the reach of possibility. The defence had substantially nothing else to counterbalance this tes- timonv 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 vi- cinity shortly after the trial. The trial lasted five days, and on the 20th day of September, 1842, the jury returned a verdict of guilty in the first de- gree. 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, No- vember 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

made several attempts to take his own life, but was frustrated in this by the constant vigilance of Sheriff Strohl and Deputy Sheriff Burgoon, but it was des- tined that he should succeed after all. It was on Sunday, October 30, (he was to be hung on the following Wednesday) when Sperry's children, Jefferson and Mary Ann (a boy seven years, and a girl eight years old), were brought into his cell to take a final parting of their father. The children were too young to comprehend the situation, and their father was too reluctant and hardened to give way to any emotional feelings whatever, and so of course their conversation was turned entirely upon minor affairs. Sperry, who had noticed a small pen- knife in the boy's hands, asked to look at it, and then returned it again with a part of the blade broken oft, but which was not noticed by the boy at that time. After taking leave of their father, the children were then taken to what is now called the Kessler House, where for the first time the boy noticed the broken blade. This soon became known, and the sheriff made a most thorough search for the missing part of the blade, but all in vain, since Sperry had concealed it in tlie lining of his coat. This broken off blade it was which cheated the gallows of its prey, for that very night Sperry cut open some main arteries, and was found dead in his cell the next morning. But we are told that his death was a dreadful one, and in the presence of such a fiend as George Thompson, whom he had begged repeatedly to kill himn, so as to end the agony of nis sufferings, but which Thompson refused to do, and answered only with mocking laugh- ter. When Thompson was asked why he had not tried to prevent Sperry from killing himself, Thomp- son (who also was an Englishman) answered, with the air of a bravado, "I rather see a countryman of mine kill himself than see him hung." Thus ended the life of a once good and industrious man, and it goes to show that the terrible fangs of jealousy will sometimes nettle around the best of human kind, and drag them down to the lowest degradation.

THOMPSON MURDER IN BELLEVUE, 1842.

Almost daily we read accounts of some brutal mur- der, when the motive was nothing else but an unhap- py love affair. Thirty-eight years have rolled by since this murder took place at Bellevue. We have under- taken to acquaint the public with the facts of these two murders, that appear like two dark and ominous spots in the history of our county. It was on the 30th day of May, 1842, when the inhabitants of Bellevue were thrown into a fearful state of excitement by the news that a murder had been committed right in their midst.

The victim was a Pennsylvania German girl, by the name of Catharine Hamler, and the murderer was an Englishman by the name of George Thomp- son. Both parties were in the employ of Robert O. Pier, who at that time kept the Exchange Hotel in Bellevue (built by Chapman & Amsden). This

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

Thompson, who had paid considerable attention to the girl (who at that time was but eighteen years old), had finally approached her with a proposal of mar- riage, but was refused by the girl, who emphatically told him that she entertained nothing but friendship toward him. Instead of taking this hint, Thomp- son kept up his love proposals in a still more per- sistent manner, until finally, seeing all his efforts crushed to pieces, the thought of murdering this girl entered his mind. The 30th day of May, 1842 was destined to become reddened with the blood of his victim. On this day he took a gun, loaded it properly, and so armed, he proceeded to execute his terrible deed. In order to get up the proper cour- age and strengthen his nerves, he took several drinks of whiskey, and then went to the hotel, into a back room, close to the stairway leading to the cellar kitchen. Catherine Hamler, who was in this very room, busy with ironing, upon noticing Thompson with a gun in his hand, became frightened at once, ran out of the room and down the stairway. She was followed by Thompson, and before she had ar- rived at the last step of the stairs she received the unlucky discharge of Thompson's gun into her back, in the upper part of the shoulder blade, killing her instantly. The hotel keeper's wife, who had been busy in the cellar kitchen, hearing some one coming down stairs in such a hurry, ran out to learn the cause of it, and arrived just in time to catch the girl, who exclaiming: "I'm shot!" expired in her arms. The medical examination proved that the wound was half an inch wide and ten inches deep. We may well imagine what kind of an uproar and gen_ eral consternation this foul murder created. Thomp- son was immediately arrested and brought to Fre- mont, where he was taken to jail and locked in the same cell where Sperry was then awaiting his trial. This was in the summer of 1842, and in September of the same year the grand jury, whose foreman was Mr. Charles Lindsev, found an indictment against Thompson for murder in the first degree. Shortly afterward Thompson made his es- cape from jail, but was retaken in Woodville town- ship and brought back to jail.

He remained in jail until shortly after Sperry's suicide, when he and several other prisoners again made good their escape. Before we proceed any further, we will give our readers a detailed account of Thompson's escape, which was furnished us by Mr. Michael McBride, of Woodville, to whom, and also to Mr. Stephen Brown, of Woodville, we feel greatly indebted. Mr. McBride's letter to us reads as fol- lows:

"On the first occasion of Thompson's breaking jail, in his journeying to escape, he reached a house about a half-mile to the westward of my place, then owned and occupied by John P. Elderkin, sr., now a resident of Fremont, and, in knocking for admis- sion, he was met at the door by Mr. Stephen Brown,

of Woodville, who at that time was a boarder at El- derkin's. Thompson then told Mr. Brown that he was hungry, and would like to get something to eat, and then disclosed the fact that he was Thompson, the murderer, and at the same time expressing him- self as lacking in hope in the prospect of making good his escape; in consequence of which he re- quested Brown to be instrumental in returning him to jail, telling him at the same time that a reward, without doubt, would be- offered for his arrest, and therefore he might as well obtain the same as any- body else. After listening to this conversation, Brown remarked that he was only a boarder at said house, (Elderkin being absent at the time, ) theretore he had no rightful authority to give him anything to eat; 'but,' said he, 'I will accompany you to Woodville, and there you can obtain eatables, and the matter of your return to jail can be settled also. This proposition was accepted and carried out, and it was arranged, wlien at the village, to have Mr. Wood return the prisoner to jail, which he accord- ingly did. From the [reported] fact of Wood having expected a reward for the return, and failing in this, he was so chagrined that he told Thompson, upon separating from him in Fremont, that if he suc- ceeded in escaping again, he desired him to make for his (Wood's) home, and, if he reached it in safety, he would use his endeavor to further his escape by letting him have one of his horses in order to accel- erate the same. The two individuals then bade each other good-bye, Thompson at the same time telling Wood that he might expect him with him again just one week from that date, and this he fulfilled to the very day. So much for Mr. Stephen Brown's information, and now the thread of this story is followed still fur- ther by what I elicited from a conversation with Cap- tain Andrew Nuhfer, of Woodville, who says that Thompson, when making his second escape, arrived in Woodville in the night and entered a blacksmith shop belong to said Nuhfer, and there cut the fetters from his wrists by means of tools in the shop. Nuh- fer plainly discovered traces of some one having used his forge and tools when he entered his shop next morning. It seems that the prisoner, after having rid himself of his fetters, carried the same, with the connecting chain, and threw them behind a barn belonging to Wood, and soon after, having procured a horse from Mr. Wood, he set out on horseback to make good his escape. The horse, upon proving to lack endurance, was soon abandoned, and the es- cape continued, otherwise successfully, until the stage-driver informed on him. The chain and hand- cuffs, lying behind Wood's barn, were subsequently appropriated as the property of Mr. Wood, and Nuhfer says that Mr. Wood conceived the idea of putting the same to some use he had in view, by, in the first place, having the same remodeled into a complete chain by the blacksmith. This idea was carried out and Nuhfer did the work of remodeling."

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Mr. I. K. Seaman's information upon this subject coincides in the main with that of Mr. McBride. Mr. Seaman was, during the years of 1842 and 1843, toll-gate keeper near Woodville, and remeinbers distinctly that Thompson had been seen close to an old oak tree, about half a mile north of Wood- ville. Seaman says that he and Amos E. Wood had taken the prisoner to the jail in Fremont. A week later Thompson again came back to Woodville, where he met Wood and Seaman, whom he begged to stick to the promise they had made to him and further his escape. Mr. Wood told Thompson that his promise should be kept, whereupon he and Sea- man went with Thompson to Nuhfer's blacksmith shop, where Thompson got rid of his fetters. Thompson staid at Seaman's house over night, and the next morning, sufficiently provided for with eat- ables and other necessaries, he went on his journey. A part of the distance from Woodville to Perrys- burg he made in a sleigh. From Perrysburg he travelled west until he reached Ottawa, Illinois. Mr. Seaman is of the opinion that the nanie of the stage- driver who finally discovered Thompson, was Jack- son. He also says that Thompson after this last capture never attempted another escape. He had free access to Sheriff Strohl's yard, where he split wood and made himself generally useful, and that Thompson, liad he chosen to do so, could have es- caped very easily, especially where nearly all the farmers in the neighborhood rather sympathized and pitied him and would have furthered his escape; but Thompson was prepared to die, and continually thought of his victim, poor Catharine Hamler, whom he never could forget and whom he professed to love up to his death.

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 58

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040