History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 59

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 59

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We now proceed to acquaint our readers with the final capture of George Thompson. It was in the fall of 1843 when a certain stage-driver left this vicinity in order to take mail matter to the far West. In the fore part of October this stage-driver came to Ottawa, county seat of La Salle county, Illinois, and stopped, with some of his passengers, at the same hotel where at that time George Thompson was employed as hostler. As chance would have it, one of the passengers had a conversation with the stage-driver about what time they intended to go back home. George Thompson, who happened to stand near by, became an attentive listener to their conversation from the fact that he heard the names of Bellevue and Lower Sandusky mentioned. The stage-driver, although acquainted in Ottawa, still did not know Thompson personally, and when he . noticed the sudden change in Thompson's face from a living red to a deathly pallor, he exclaimed, "Well! what is the matter with you?" Thompson, finding it hard to control his emotion, begged the stage- driver not to betray hin, telling him at the same time that he was the murderer of Catharine Hamler. The stage-driver, astonished over the discovery he

had made, immediately sent this information to Sheriff Strohl, who, after receiving the same com- municated it to Prosecuting Attorney W. W. Culver. In consequence of this, the county commissioners, Messrs. Paul Tew, Jones Smith and James Rose, (A. Coles was auditor at that time,) on the 8th day of December, 1843, ordered the sum of one hundred dollars paid to Sheriff Strohl to enable him to go and get Thompson. In the ineantime the necessary papers of requisition had been made out by Gov- ernor Thomas W. Bartley, whereupon Thompson had been imprisoned in Ottawa until the arrival of Sheriff Strohl, who finally returned with his prisoner in the fore part of March, 1844. His trial com menced in June before a jury composed of the follow- ing persons, to-wit: Joseph Reed, James P. Berry, Benjamin Inman, Archibald Rice, James A. Fisher, William Boyles, Abraham Gems, Washington No- ble, Michael McBride, Stephen Lee, John Weeks, and Amos K. Hammond. Thompson was defended by Brice J. Bartlett (father of Colonel Joseph R. Bart- lett) and Cooper K. Watson. The State was rep- resented by W. W. Culver and L. B. Otis. The presiding judge was Ozias Bowen, assisted by the Messrs. Isaac Knapp, Alplieus McIntyre, and George Overmeier. During the trial the counsel for the defendant tried their best to show that Thompson, at the committal of the murder, was not in his own mind and not capable of distinguishing right from wrong. This was corroborated by the testimony of a young Irishman, who said that he and Thompson had once been employed together as sailors upon the same ship, and upon landing on a British isle in the West Indies, Thompson there had had a severe case of sunstroke, the effects of which, in his opinion, Thompson never could have overcome. The theory of temporary insanity was prepared and skilfully worked upon by the able coun- sel for the defense. The State, on the contrary, proved by sufficient testimony, that during his stay in Bellevue Thompson never had shown the least signs of insanity, and had not only talked good common sense but had proved himself an upright and industrious man. Mr. Robert O. Pier, the keeper of the Exchange Hotel in Bellevue, testified that while in his employ Thompson had behaved admir- ably, and had fulfilled promptly all duties required of him, and that in his opinion Thompson knew perfectly well to tell right from wrong. After the arguments on both sides were concluded Judge . Bowen instructed the jury, who then retired about noon. They remained out about four hours, and at their first ballot the jury stood ten for guilty in the first degree; one, William Boyles, for acquittal, and Michael McBride for guilty in the second degree. Boyles kept hanging back for several hours but finally consented, and shortly after three o'clock on the 20th day of June, the jury brought in their verdict of guilty in the first degree. The defense filed a mo-

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tion for a new trial, but the judges overruled said motion, whereupon the accused was asked to arise, and when questioned whether he had anything to say why judgment should not be passed upon him, Thompson answered that he had nothing more to say. Then Judge Bowen addressed the prisoner as follows: "George Thompson, you have been ac- cused, tried, and found guilty of the greatest crime known in the annals of the law in this State. You have been tried by a jury of twelve men, chosen by yourself; you have had a decidedly impartial trial; you have been defended by the most able counsel, who have tried the utmost on their part to withhold a verdict of guilty; you have tried to show that you were afflicted with temporary insanity, but for the sake of humanity, it has been clearly proven that on the 30th day of May, 1842, you wilfully, maliciously and knowingly killed Catharine Hamler. The laws of this State for the crime of which you have been found guilty punish with a dishonorable death on the scaf- told; but the law in this is more merciful than you have been toward your victim, and gives you ample time to repent of your terrible crime. Do not resort to any vain hopes of pardon but use your short time for repenting, for which purpose you may have the religious consolation of a minister of your own free choice. And now there remains nothing else for me to do but to pronounce sentence upon you ac- cording to the laws of our cominonwealth. Thus reads the sentence: 'That you George Thompson, prisoner before the bar, be taken back to jail, whence you came, and there remain under close confinement until. Friday, the 12th day of July, 1844, on which day, between the hours of 10 o'clock A. M. and 2 o'clock P. M., you shall be taken to the place of exe- cution, and there hung by your neck until you are dead, and may God have mercy upon your soul.'"

Thompson, who was quite overcome with emo- tion by the reading of his death warrant, was then taken back to jail. What a change had taken place in this man, for it was but two years pre- vious, that this very George Thompson had shown and proved himself such a perfect brute, deprived of all human affection, at the time of John Sperry's suicide, and henceforth he became an entirely changed and repentant man. There were many persons who visited him during his last confinement, to whom he talked and conversed freely about the inurder and its victim, poor Catharine Hamler, who, he said, was constantly before his eyes and troubled his mind considerably. Once upon being asked by Mr. David Betts whether he sincerely repented of his terrible deed, he answered: "I have loved this Catharine Hamler more than any other person in the world, and since she rejected my love I concluded to make certain that no other person should have her.'

Thompson was a member of the English Protest- ant Episcopal church, but he refused to see any

Protestant minister and demanded a Catholic priest. His wish was complied with and he received occa- sional visits from a French priest by the name of Josephus Projectus Macheboeuf, the present apos- tolic vicar at Denver, Colorado, and also from Father McNamee, of Tiffin. Rev. Macheboeuf at that time had charge of several parishes, as Peru, Sandusky, and several other places. At the begin- ning of the year 1880 he was in Rome, where he had an interview with Pope Leo XIII., who, accord- ing to the London Tablet, is said to have expressed very favorable comments on the ministerial efforts of this Rev. Macheboeuf. The day of execution drew near, and Sheriff Strohl made the necessary preparations for the same. Mr. John Sendelbach took the measure and made the coffin, and Mrs. Sarah Barkimer, nee Parish, who still resides here in Fremont on Elliott Street, on the east side of the river, made a white shroud, to which a white cap was attached. Thompson was hung in this very shroud: Sheriff Strohl, who himself was a carpen- ter by trade, erected the gallows, enclosing the space (twenty by thirty feet) with a board fence, twelve feet high.

The day before the execution Rev. Macheboeuf held holy mass in the prisoner's cell, on which oc- casion Mr. Ambrose Ochs assisted, who at that time was learning the wagonmaker's trade with Mr. Balt. Keefer. Thompson expressed great fear that after the execution his body might come under the eager hands and knives of science-hungry physicians, and he therefore begged of Rev. J. McNamee, who lived at Tiffin, to see to it that his body was laid in consecrated earth, which was solemnly pledged to him. The 12th day of July, 1844, the day set for the execution, had finally come. The prisoner awoke early and after partaking of a light breakfast was visited by Rev. J. McNamee, who administered the holy sacrament, after which Thompson put on the white shroud, of which we have spoken already.

In the mean time a great crowd of people had con- gregated around the outside enclosure (the very place where now stands the new addition of the court-house) and some desperate fellows, eager to become eyewitnesses of this sad spectacle, tried their best to break down the enclosure. Sheriff Strohl, after having become aware of these facts, concluded to have the prisoner executed in the morning instead of in the afternoon, as had been his first intention. Shortly after 11 o'clock he led Thompson, accom- panied by the priest, out of his cell to the fatal plat- form of the gallows. All at once some one cried :. "He is coming!" and at that moment, Mr J. R. Fran- cisco, from Ballville, who was stationed inside the enclosure as a custodian and armed with a gun. ob- served that some one was trying to cut a hole through the board fence, and before he could prevent it, one of the boards had been torn off, and in less than no

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time at all, other boards followed until finally the whole fence had disappeared, thereby exposing the sad spectacle to the entire public. After prayer by Rev. McNamee, he was asked by Sheriff Strohl whether he had anything more to say, to which Thompson simply shook his head. His arms and legs were then tied, tlie fatal noose laid around his , neck, the white cap drawn over his face, and upon a given signal the trap was sprung and Thompson dangled in the air between heaven and earth. Thomp- son's neck was not broken but he died of strangula- tion, the knot of the noose having slipped under the chin. He still breathed after a lapse of fifteen min- utes, and the moving of the muscles of the different parts of the body gave sufficient proof of the dread- ful death agony that was taking place in that man. In twenty minutes Thompson was pronounced dead by Drs. L. Q. Rawsonand Peter Beaugrand, and fifteen minutes before 12 o'clock the body was taken from the gallows, put into the coffin, and given in charge of Rev. J. McNamee, who had it taken to Tiffin and buried in the Catholic cemetery, thus keeping the solemn pledge he had given to Thompson. It is said that after the crowd had dispersed certain rumors went afloat that Thompson had not been dead at the time he was cut down, and that on the way to Tiffin Father McNamee had made successful attempts at bringing Thompson back to life again. These rumors found their culminative point in the statement that Thompson had been seen near Fort Seneca. Of course these were only rumors, based upon the stupidity and sickly imagination of some foolish people, and certainly must have added greatly to the amusement of the above-named and certainly well-learned and skilful physicians.

In the early history of the practitioners at the bar we find a peculiar class of men, of which the present day does not furnish a correct likeness. From the date of the or- ganization of the county in the year 1820 until as late as 1840, or thereabouts, the larger portion of the litigated cases in the courts of the county were conducted by law- yers from other and sometimes remote lo- calities. They were chiefly men who had at- tained a wide reputation for talent and abil- ity in the profession, and whenever plaintiff or defendant retained one of such a repu- tation the other side was sure to employ another of similar acquirements and ability to match him. The early local lawyers were poor, and there were in fact no law libraries worth noticing, and they of course

could not refer to authorities on many questions which arose. But attorneys from older towns and cities had access to law books and could therefore make a better display in arguing cases to court or jury; hence they were preferred by liti- gants in the early times of the jurispru- dence of the county. For such reasons, at every term of the earlier courts there came to attend court such men as Picket Lattimer, Ebenezer Lane, Phillip R. Hopkins, Ebenezer Andrews, of Huron county, and later, Charles L. Boalt, and Samuel T. Worcester, Cortland Lattimer, Thaddeus B. Sturges, Francis D. Parrish, John R. Osborn, E. B. Saddler, and Joseph M. Root, of the same county. Though F. D. Parrish and E. B. Saddler were resi- dents of Sandusky and placed outside of Huron county by the erection of Erie county, they were, at the time spoken of, within the limits of Huron county. There were, at every term of the court, John M. May, of Mansfield, Richland county, Orris Parrish, of Columbus, Ohio, Andrew Coffinberry and John C. Spink, of Wood county, Ohio, and occasionally such men as Thomas Ewing and Willis Silliman were found in the court-room, though not often in this, to them, remote part of the State. Excepting Ewing and Silliman, in their early practice here, all travelled on horseback with the common pleas judge from county seat to county seat, and during their stay made a home at the best tavern at the county seat. They all travelled in company on horseback and carried copies of pleadings, briefs, and a change of shirts in saddle-bags or valise. When on the road or off duty at the tav- ern they were a social, often a convivial collection of talented men away from home. In court they were as earnest and talented on behalf of their clients as any lawyers of the present day can be. Cards, whiskey, story telling, and dancing and

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singing songs were the alternate amuse- ments, and the whole tavern was kept happy where they stopped.

After charging and sending out the grand jury, the presiding judge would next take the docket and call the cases for trial in the same order as they stood upon the docket, and every case was disposed of, for that time at least. The cases were con- tinued, tried or dismissed when called. This practice compelled attorneys and clients to be ready for trial at all times during the term. Therefore all clients and witnesses attended constantly until their cases were disposed of. The attend- ance upon court, therefore, was much greater than at present. In fact, for a few days after opening court there was usually a large gathering of country people, some- thing like what we now see when a men- agerie or circus is on exhibition. Woe to the attorney who was not prepared to try his case. He usually found no indulgence from the court. There was in the earlier courts far more prompt and rapid disposal of cases than there is at present by the court.

In looking for the causes for this change in the transaction of business, two facts appear: First, under the Constitution of 1802 all the judges were elected in joint ballot of the General Assembly, and not by popular vote of the same people to whom he must administer justice. The popular and widely influential attorney had no ter- rors for him, because he looked to the General Assembly for his re-election if he desired it. Second, under the common law system of pleading almost every case was narrowed down to a single issue of fact or law, and the scope of the jury's enquiry was much less than the scope under the present system. Another cause may have had some influence. Then there were fewer judges to do the work, and a rapid dispatch of the business in each county in

short terms was an absolute necessity. EARLY RESIDENT MEMBERS OF THE BAR.

BENJAMIN F. DRAKE was the first law- yer who settled in Lower Sandusky. He came there in 1817, and was for a time clerk of the court of common pleas, but resigned his office and removed to Dela- ware county, probably in 1823. Nothing further of his history or fate can now be obtained for record.

HARVEY J. HARMON was the second law- yer who settled in Lower Sandusky. Mr. Harmon was a well educated man and a good lawyer, and at one time had consid- erable practice. He loved political dis- cussion, however, and during the latter years of his life gave most of his time and efforts in that direction. He was an ar- dent Jackson Democrat in the election of 1828, and afterward received the appoint- ment of postmaster at Lower Sandusky. Mr. Harmon was father of one daughter, nowl iving, who is the wife of our esteemed citizen, Colonel William E. Haynes. This daughter was a small child when her father died. He died in August, 1834, of Asiatic cholera, in Lower Sandusky. The way he contracted the contagious and fatal disease reflects much credit on his character as a man and a Mason. There had been no case of cholera in Lower Sandusky, and no thought that it would stray from the great thoroughfare to attack the people of as small a village as Lower Sandusky. A small steamboat then ply- ing between Sandusky City and Lower Sandusky, about the 4th of August, 1834, brought a number of passengers and landed them about three-quarters of a mile north of where the court-house now stands. Among the passengers were two or three families of German emigrants, who had recently arrived in the United States. These people camped out near the landing and did not enter the town. A very respectable stranger in appearance

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came from the landing in the evening and took lodgings in the Western House, then the best hotel in the country and kept by a Mr. Marsh. In the early part of the night this stranger was taken sick, and was in need of help; he inquired of the landlord if there were any Free Masons in the place, and was told that Mr. Harmon was reputed to be a member of the order. A messenger was sent to give ·word and returned with Mr. Harmon, who recog- nized the stranger as a brother in the order. Mr. Harmon stayed with and ministered to him through the night, and until the stranger died early the next day. Harmon was taken with the dread disease the following day and died in about twenty-four hours after the attack.

INCREASE GRAVES came to Lower San- dusky and began the practice of the law as early as 1821, if not before. He married the daughter of Israel Harring, an early settler, and died after about three years of married life, leaving a widow and one child ..

RODOLPHUS DICKINSON was in order of time probably the fourth resident lawyer who settled in Lower Sandusky. There are better means at hand to furnish a history of Mr. Dickinson than of those who preceded him. From these sources of information we gather and place in this work the following facts concerning him and his career :

Rodolphus Dickinson was born in the State of Massachusetts, December 28, 1797. He graduated at Williams College and soon thereafter repaired to Columbus, Ohio, where he taught school for a time. He then entered upon the study of the law with Gustavus Swan, of that city. After completing his studies and after being admitted to the bar, Mr. Dickinson removed to Tiffin, the county seat of the then new county of Seneca. Here he commenced the practice of the legal pro- fession, and was appointed prosecut-

ing attorney of that county at the first term of the court of common pleas held. In 1826 he removed to Lower San- dusky (now Fremont) and in the fol- lowing year was married to Miss Mar- garet Beaugrand, daughter of John B. Beaugrand, one of the early settlers in Lower Sandusky. He was for a time prosecuting attorney for Sandusky, and soon gathered a profitable practice. He continued in practice for several years, but like many other lawyers was event- ually called into the arena of political and party contention. Here Mr. Dick- inson displayed all the qualities neces- sary to a politician without the sacrifice of integrity. In the schemes for the early public works. and finances of the State he became, and was for several years, the master mind. The Wabash & Erie Canal and the Maumee & Western Re- serve road are monuments of his abil- ity and energy. He was a member of the Board of Public Works of the State from the year 1836 to the year 1845, which dates include an era of financial embarassment the most severe ever known in the State. Mr. Dickinson's in- fluence with the Board of Fund Commis- sioners of the State and with the State Legislature was generally potential, and during a series of years when the credit of the State was so prostrated that the bonds sold as low as fifty cents on the dollar (the proceeds of sale being realized in the paper of suspended banks, which was de- preciated ten or twelve per cent.), his prudent counsels contributed largely to save the prosecution of the public works from indefinite suspension. In 1846 Mr. Dickinson was elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1848. He died in Washing- ton city soon after his re-election, and on the 20th of March, 1849.

Mr. Dickinson, for his private virtues and his public services, is still held in

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grateful remembrance by the people not only of Sandusky county but throughout Northwestern Ohio.

HIRAM R. PETTIBONE was born in Gran- ville, Connecticut, on the 20th of May, 1795. In 1830 he served one term in the Legislature of his native State. He studied law with Judge Fouscey, of great repute in that State as a jurist. He came to Lower Sandusky and entered the practice of the law in the year 1835, and was a popular and successful practitioner until 1849, when he removed to Wisconsin, where he still resides with his son Chauncy. While residing here Mr. Pet- tibone enjoyed the high esteem of the moral and intellectual portion of our peo- ple. In practice he was faithful to his clients, and was engaged in many of the important cases tried in the county. While practicing law in Lower Sandusky Mr. Pettibone and his wife reared and fitted for useful lives a family, consisting of Mr. Chauncy Pettibone, who was an accom- plished business man at an early age, and was at one time a partner in the mercan- tile business at Lower Sandusky with Mr. James Vallette. His eldest daughter, Delia, married Austin B. Taylor, one of our early. and successful merchants, and a man of ability in business circles. His second daughter, Harriet, was married to C. G. McCulloch, an early druggist of Lower Sandusky, but now of Chicago. A son, Milo, and son William, were next in order of age. Then a daughter, Jane, who married Dr. Kramer, of Sandusky City; a son, Alfred, now residing in Ripon, Wisconsin. Dr. Sardis B. Taylor, now practicing medicine in Fremont, is a grandson of Lower Sandusky's early and able lawyer, Hiram R. Petti- bone. This venerable member of the Bar of Sandusky county is now eighty-six years of age, and comfortably enjoying the sunset of life with his oldest son,

Chauncy, an active and successful mer- chant at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

After or about the time Mr. Pettibone settled in the practice of the law at Lower Sandusky, canıe Asa Calkins, Peter Yates, W. W. Culver, and William W. Ainger. Little of the history of these men can now be gathered. They are either long ago dead, or in other States, and in un- known locations, excepting William W. Culver, who, at last accounts, was still living and resides at Penn Yan, New York. But the means of giving his birth- place, where he was educated, and where he studied his profession, are not at hand. Mr. Culver was prosecuting at- torney for the county, being appointed first in 1839, and continued four succes- sive years. In his addresses to a popular assembly, or to a jury, Mr. Culver exhibi- ted wonderful brilliancy and acumen and always commanded the close attention of the jury and the court, and if not always . right in his views of the law, or his deduc- tions from facts in the testimony of a cause, he was always listened to with in- terest and pleasure by all who heard him. Mr. Culver left the practice about 1847, and afterwards went to California where he taught school. He accumulated consider- able property, and finally settled with a sister in Penn Yan, New York.

RALPH P. BUCKLAND'S history is so fully written in other parts of this work that our notice of him as a lawyer may be made brief without doing him injustice. We will, there- fore but briefly sketch the life of this distin- guished citizen in its connection with the practice of the law. He came to Lower Sandusky in the summer of 1837, and commenced the practice of the law. He has frequently told the writer that when he arrived at Lower Sandusky to com- mence the practice of his profession he was without means, and his only monetary resources were seventy-five cents, which

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 59

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