USA > Ohio > Knox County > Past and present of Knox County, Ohio, Vol. I > Part 23
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hundred odd men who served in such service, the eighty above named were sent from Mt. Vernon to other points in Ohio and were termed "copperhead killers" by some, who knew their real mission. They were armed with squirrel rifles, hence the name. Their influence was certainly felt at home, as well as at distant places in Ohio for several months. The author regrets that no detailed account of their wanderings and doings can now be obtained for this history.
IN MEMORIAM.
Many of the brave soldiers who battled for the Union-many, yes very many-have "gone before," and they now wait on the threshold of Paradise for the coming of the loved ones left behind, when they, too, shall have exchanged the feeble pulses of a transitory existence for the ceaseless throb- bing of eternal life. Faithful and fearless, on the march. in the strife, at victory or defeat, they at last laid down at the mysterious frontier, leaving the exalted hope behind that, though the world was lost forever, there would be unfurled another realm of unimaginable glory, where they, and all whom they loved and cherished dear on earth, might realize the promise which the Great Ruler of the universe has made to the just.
It may be here stated that an even one hundred soldiers were buried in the Mt. Vernon cemetery alone, and their graves are remembered and appro- priately marked by sweet, fresh garlands of flowers with the return of each Decoration Day occasion.
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
In the center of the pretty public square at Mt. Vernon stands a magnif- icent monument to the soldier dead from this county. It was unveiled July 4, 1877, with impressive speeches, orations and other ceremonies. This was brought about by the formation of a society called "Young Ladies' Union League" in 1863, and which designed to raise fifteen thousand dollars for a large monument, but before the amount was raised the war ended and the matter was dropped until Centennial year, 1876, when it was revived and about five thousand dollars raised by subscription, etc., for the beautiful Vermont granite shaft on the square now. The corner-stone was laid July 4, 1876, with appropriate ceremonies, Hon. Henry B. Curtis delivering the ora- tion. When the finished monument was unveiled, July 4, 1877, Hon. Co- lumbus Delano delivered the address. Many articles lie tightly sealed from destroying elements within the base stone of this memorial to Knox county
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soldiers and sailors, including copies of newspapers, lodge officers, names, etc.
On the west side of the main base-stone is the inscription, "Erected by the Mount Vernon Ladies Monument Association, July 4, 1877."
On the east side is the inscription, "Our Country ! By that Dear Name We Wave the Sword on High and Swear for Her to Live, for Her to Die."
On the north side of the base is the lettering, "In honor of the Victories and Triumphs of the National Arms, in the War of the Great Rebellion and in Memory of the Noble Sons of Knox County, Ohio, Who Fought and Who Fell in that Conflict."
On the south side of the base is a long sentimental inscription. The high fluted shaft or column of this monument, probably forty feet high, is sur- mounted by a life-size figure of. a volunteer infantryman, with gun in hand and facing the Southland. The whole monument is enclosed within a tasty wrought-iron fence of unique panels.
The amount paid out of the county funds for the aid and support of indigent soldiers and sailors in Knox county for the year ending August 31, 1910, was three thousand three hundred and thirteen dollars.
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
This soldiers' society which 'is found represented in every loyal state in the Union. has been popular and strong in Knox county. With the passing of the years many of the veterans have fallen by the way, and are now rest- ing in graves within the county, yet most of the posts are still in existence. The one at Mt. Vernon is strong, having almost two hundred members left on its rolls. The following is an abridged account of the various posts of Knox county :
Joe Hooker Post No. 21, department of Ohio, was organized October 25, 1880. It has a membership at present of about two hundred. The fol- lowing are the 1911 officers: Commander, George S. Harter; senior vice- commander, James R. McElroy ; junior vice-commander, Dan C. Stone; sur- geon, Dr. George H. Heard; chaplain, M. M. Murphy; officer of the day, William C. Hoey ; quartermaster, Oramel G. Daniels ; adjutant, John V. V. Elder; officer of the guard, J. K. Butler; sergeant major, John McCrory; quartermaster sergeant. M. P. Martin; color sergeant, Horace G. Hildebrand; banner bearer, John Q. Worley ; picket, Alexander Cochran.
The past post commanders have been: 1880, Harry G. Armstrong; 1881, Oramel G. Daniels ; 1882, Oramel G. Daniels; 1882, George J. Ingman; 1883, Marcena M. Murphy ; 1884, John J. Scribner ; 1885. Alexander Cassil ;
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1886, LeRoy G. Hunt; 1887, Henry P. Bennett; 1888, William J. Horner; 1889, George Wythe; 1890, Thomas H. Trimble; 1891, Charles F. Cochran; 1892, Marcena M. Murphy; 1893, William H. Whittington; 1894, Charles G. Smith: 1895, Marcena M. Murphy ; 1896, LeRoy G. Hunt; 1897, George S. Harter : 1898, Marcena M. Murphy ; 1899, T. Bent Cotton; 1900, William McFadden; 1901, Labynetus Stoner; 1902, William E. Sefton; 1903, Mar- cena M. Murphy ; 1904, Marcena M. Murphy; 1905, Marcena M. Murphy ; 1906, Marcena M. Murphy ; 1907, Marcena M. Murphy, 1908, Marcena M. Murphy ; 1909, Marcena M. Murphy; 1910, Marcena M. Murphy.
In other parts of the county the posts are: At Danville, LeRoy Baker Post No. 120, organized April 27, 1883. At Brandon, Fry Post No. 706, organized December 23, 1889. At Centerburg, Debolt Post No. 396, or- ganized May 23, 1887. At Martinsburg, Emmerson Updike Post No. 486, organized August 26, 1884. At Mt. Liberty there was a post, but it has long since surrendered its charter.
This county has been represented in the state department of Ohio by Senior Vice-Commander O. G. Daniels, who served under Commander David Pugh in 1898, when President Mckinley was the guest of Columbus at state fair time.
The citizens of Mt. Vernon aided liberally in the furnishing of the post rooms, to the amount of more than one thousand dollars.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
The Spanish-American war, of 1898, that occurred over the sinking of the American battleship "Maine," and which resulted in the liberating of Cuba from Spanish rule and the acquiring of our provinces in the far-away Pacific ocean, was supported by troops from Ohio to the number of ten regi- ments, made up largely from the National Guards of the state, who enlisted in the United States army. Under President William Mckinley's call for troops Knox county was represented in the Fourth Ohio Regiment by Com-, pany L as follows :
Captain, Fred M. French: first lieutenant, Charles E. Bigler; second lieutenant. Sherman E. Ward; first sergeant, Earl F. Thuma; quartermaster sergeant, Edwin J. Scott; sergeants, George D. Lewis, James H. Graff, Burr Wyant. Robert H. Westlake; corporals, C. R. Jackson, John J. Jacobs, J. Louis Ewalt, S. U. Kirby. Oscar Adams, Edwin J. Myers, William M. Ed- wards, E. L. Mendenhall, Jacob K. Davis, D. Horton White, Henry L. Thuma; musicians, Charles W. Wood, Lewis Herrod; artificer, William Gregory : wagoner, H. B. Jacobus.
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The privates were as follows : Vance L. Armstrong, Walter G. Ashton, Oscar Adams, Fred Barber, John S. Braddock, Anson Bishop, Ed. L. Baugh- man, Clyde L. Brentlinger, Charles K. Banbury, Arthur L. Bigler, Eugene F. Bigler, Cyrus Barnhart, George K. Bucher, Jesse B. Critchfield, William H. Clark, Michael F. Clark, Arthur Christman, Charles O. Cooper, Ward B. Cochran, Walter Cochran, William L. Daniles, William C. Dunlap, James F. Dickson, Jr., Joice J. Davis, Charles E. Davis, William I. Edwards, Henry L. Gingham, George Graff, Sherban J. Hersh, Walter M. Harris, Lewis F. Haule, William Harker, Charles Hutchinson, James M. Hayes, John L. Heddington, John L. Hessing, John D. Kinney, Dan V. Long, John S. Ma- gill, Philip J. Lambert, Frank B. Labock, Charles D. Lockwood, George M. Lane, John T. Lee, Jacob L Loose, Wilson G. Long, Ralph McMahon, Will- iam McConnell. Andrew J. Mckeown, Leon H. Mitchell, Ray C. Mory, Tim- othy G. Osborn, Charles Perrin, Ossin C. Porter, Byron D. Rowley, William Rowley, Williard Robinson; Ed. Simco, James A. Smalle, Edward Stoyle, Walter S. Shetler, Oliver S. Smith, Frank W. Sapp, A. Simpson, Rupert L. Sherman, William F. Tighe, Walter C. Vernon, Edgar J. White, Harry Williams, Fred F. Wagner, Ralph Waite, E. F. Waldruff, Frank D. Wright, Charles B Welshymer, William F. Weider, Fred W. Wolfe, Herbert C. Wood, William M. Whitney, Bruce M. Wade, Clinton Wright.
These all saw service in the Pacific ocean campaigns.
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CHAPTER XVII.
THE BENCH AND BAR OF KNOX COUNTY.
Regardless of whatever may have been said in times past, and at the present, by ignorant and thoughtless persons, against this, one of the great- est and most useful vocations in the world. the legal profession today stands higher than ever. It stands for all that is uplifting and dignified. It settles disputes and gains the rights of mankind for the just and innocent as against the unprincipled and unjust portions of all communities. The great- est characters in all American history have been members of the bar and successful attorneys at some time in their career.
The bar of Knox county has already furnished. one governor, two United States senators, ten members of the lower branch of Congress, a dozen state senators and as many, or more, representatives, a half dozen probate judges, one United States attorney, one commissioner of internal revenue. one secretary of the interior, one solicitor of the United States treasury, one clerk of the lower house of Congress, foreign ministers, two or three foreign consuls, one Indian superintendent, two major-generals in the army. one brigadier-general, one state marshal, three members of the state constitutional conventions. This bar has furnished men to fill almost every office below that of probate judge in Knox county, at one time or another in its history.
While volume two of this work will contain detailed and interesting biographical sketches of many of the members of the present bar, with numerous ones of the long departed attorneys, it will be the province of this chapter and volume to mention more briefly as many of the rank and file of the old lawyers as the present-day compiler of local annals can possibly se- cure. It will also treat some of the early courts and judges and pioneer ways of trying cases and sentencing prisoners convicted before the bar and courts of Knox county.
The records show that the first court held in this county convened May I, 1808, with Hon. William Wilson, of Licking county, presiding judge, and assisted by Charles Loffland, clerk pro tempore, and associate judges, John Mills and William Gass. The members of the first grand jury in Knox
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county were these : Matthew Merritt, foreman; John Herrod, Samuel H. Smith, James Walker, Jr., David Miller, Joseph Walker, Gilman Bryant, James Walker, Sr., William Douglass, Ziba Leonard, Stephen Chapman, Benjamin Butler, Jonathan Hunt and Ichabod Nye.
The first petit jury were as follows: James Loveridge, Henry Smith, Aaron Brown, James Smith, Benjamin Brown, John Beam, William Nash, Daniel Demick, Michael Brown, Peter Baxter, Archibald Gardner and Levi Herrod.
This court convened almost one hundred and four years ago-three generations have come and gone since its deliberations were held in the in- terest of supposed justice-hence no one now lives who participated in or heard what was said and done, but fortunately, the graphic pen of that ever interesting and reliable local historian, Banning Norton, has left its well written description of that first court occasion in Knox county. He writes these words :
"On the first of May, 1808, the faces of old and young, great and small, of the male and female, upon Owl creek's stormy banks, were anxiously turned to the south to catch the first glimpse of that august personage, 'the court,' then expected to make a first visitation to Mount Vernon. Ben But- ler and Aunt Leah had their house all in 'apple pie order' for their grand reception. Jim Craig, at his house on the corner of Mulberry and Gambier streets, had laid in a fresh supply of whisky and other refreshments, and had got ready. Gilman Bryant had got a bran new horn for his customers, and had rubbed his little store up until the stock looked as bright as a dollar; and Sheriff Brown had caused the little wagon-maker's shop of Coyle & Son to be swept out and supplied with smooth, round logs for the comfort of the jurymen and others in attendance to sit on. Every man and boy who had been fortunate enough to kill his deer had buckskin leggings and his new hunting shirt, and every woman who had a wheel had spun and dyed and made herself and little ones a good home-spun garment. Some few who could stand the expense, had purchased of store calico three to five yards, at seventy-five cents a yard, and fitted themselves with a two or three breadth dress, the third breadth made into gores, so as to be wider at the bottom; for in those days there were no fashionable women to parade the streets with a fifteen or eighteen yard dress, and no disposition toward extravagant dis- plays of wearing apparel. The court itself traveled on horseback, handed the saddle-bags to 'Knuck Harris,' and after rest and refreshments, bright and early in the morning of the second day of May 'opened' and proceeded to business. The whole population-men, women and children-were out in their best rig, to witness this great event."
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FIRST JURY TRIAL.
The first jury case tried was entitled: State of Ohio vs. William Hed- rick. The following is the exact wording of the minutes made on the court's docket. in the case :
"Agreeable to an act of the General Assembly of the state of Ohio, passed on the thirteenth day of January, 1808, for establishing and organiz- ing the county of Knox.
"Be it therefore remembered and known, that we, William Wilson. president. John Mills and William Gass, associate judges for said county of Knox did on the day to-wit : Monday, the second day of May, in the year of our Lord 1808, meet at Mt. Vernon, the temporary seat of justice for the county aforesaid, and proceeded to the appointment of a clerk for the said county, whereupon it was declared by the court that Charles Loffland was duly elected clerk pro tempore, who came into court and was duly qualified as the law directs.
"Samuel H. Smith, Esq., was duly elected surveyor of Knox county.
"Present : William M. Farquhar, gentleman ; James Armstrong, James Dunlap and Isaac Cook. gentlemen. who were appointed by the Legislature on the ninth of February last for fixing the county seat for Knox county. made their report to the court of common pleas, for the county aforesaid that Mt. Vernon should be the seat of justice of said county.
"At this court four indictments were found against one William Hed- rick, as follows: For stealing a watch from William Bowen: for stealing a bay mare. property of William Wallace: for stealing one pair of overalls, the property of Joseph Cherry Holmes: for stealing one bell and collar, the property of William Wallace. On each indictment Hedrick was found guilty and judgment rendered against him as follows:
"First charge. fine five dollars, pay the owner, William Bowen, fifteen dollars, and be whipped on his naked back ten stripes, imprisoned one month, pay the cost. and stand committed until the sentence is complied with.
"Second charge, prisoner be whipped twenty lashes on his naked back. and pay a fine of twenty dollars, and be imprisoned one month, and pay the owner of the mare, pay cost, and stand committed, etc.
"Third charge, prisoner be whipped five stripes on his naked back, pay fine of two dollars, be imprisoned one month, pay the owner five dollars, double the value of the overalls, pay cost, and stand committed, etc.
"Fourth charge, prisoner to be whipped five stripes on his naked back, pay a fine of one dollar and a half. the value of the bell and collar, pay the costs, and stand committed, etc."
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Banning Norton relates in his annals how this lot of sentences on the poor thief's bare back were put into execution by the sheriff, Silas Brown : "The judgment of castigation was executed upon the public square of Mt. Vernon, shortly after the adjournment of court, in the presence of all the people. Silas Brown was the sheriff, and it fell to his lot as such to serve the 'legal process' upon the body of William Hedrick. There was at that date a small leaning hickory tree upon the east side of the public square. a little south of where the old jail later stood, and this tree bent in such a way that a man could stand or walk around under it. To this delectable spot the culprit was taken, and his hands were stretched up over his head and tied to the tree, and the stripes were applied by the sheriff to his naked back. He was struck forty times with a heavy raw-hide whip.
"The first few blows with the raw-hide were across his kidneys. Mr. Bryant, one of the bystanders, at once called out to the sheriff to whip him elsewhere-that was no place to whip a man-he should strike higher up; and the rest of the lashes were applied across the shoulders.
"The criminal sobbed and cried piteously, and when released went off weeping and groaning. In many places the skin was cut to the bone, and the blood oozed out, making a pitiable spectacle. And yet such was the feeling against him that few seemed to sympathize with him. 'You should not blame me for this, for it was not my fault.' Bob Walker replied: 'No, you wouldn't have stood up and been whipped that way, if you could have helped it.' And at this prompt reply and retort to Hedrick and his explanation and apology, the crowd laughed uproariously."
The above account of the first and last public whipping in Knox county was given to Mr. Norton by members of the jury and others who witnessed the affair, when men were dealt with in a shocking manner as compared to the worst punishment in these days, aside from lynch law, which no respect- able person sanctions for a moment.
There being no attorney present at this the first term of court, the judge appointed Samuel Kratzer, a good citizen, to defend said Hedrick. To him the county paid the first attorney's fees, six dollars, ever paid in Knox county. When no other attorney was present, in the early courts, Kratzer officiated as prosecuting attorney.
Among the proceedings of the first term of court was the granting of a license to William Thrift, a Baptist minister, to solemnize marriages. Sam- uel Kratzer and Stephen Chapman were authorized to retail merchandise in Mt. Vernon, on payment of five dollars into the county treasury. Kratzer was also licensed to keep a house of entertainment in Mt. Vernon, on the payment of six dollars, and Daniel Ayers was licensed to keep one in Fred-
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ericktown, for five dollars. The last will and testament of William Leonard was proven.
The second term of court was held in September, 1808, and the first case on the docket was titled "State of Ohio vs. Samuel H. Smith," on a charge of selling merchandise without a license. The court fined Smith two and one-half dollars and costs of the prosecution. The defendant paid up and also put up ten dollars for a license allowing him to deal in merchandise and also took out a tavern license at five dollars.
The first session of the supreme court of Ohio, held in Knox county, was commenced August 3, 1810, by Honorables William W. Irwin and Ethan Allen Brown. James Smith was appointed clerk for seven years.
Prior to 1851, and the new Ohio code, the president judges who dis- pensed justice and punished crime in Knox county, aside from Judge Will- iam Wilson. above mentioned as the first judge, were George Todd, of Trumbull ; Alexander Harper, of Muskingum; Lane and Higgins, of Huron ; and Ezra Dean, of Wayne county, succeeded by the judges elected under a new judicial system which was prescribed by the new (present) state con- stitution.
The early bar of Knox county was composed entirely of visiting attor- neys of no little distinction, who were regular attendants for a number of years. Among these may be named such able men and learned barristers as Philomon Beecher, Charles R. Sherman, Thomas Ewing. Henry Stanberry, W. W. Irwin, Hocking H. Hunter, of Fairfield county; Edward Herrick, William Stanberry, Joshua Mathoitt, Israel Dille and George B. Smythe, of Licking county ; Wyllis Stillman, Samuel Harper, Charles C. Converse, C. W. Searle and George James, of Muskingum county; Orris Parish, of Franklin county, and David Spangler, of Coshocton county. All of these named were brainy men, who made a national mark for themselves and held national positions of honor and trust.
THE FIRST RESIDENT LAWYERS.
The first man to practice law in Knox county, as a resident attorney, was Samuel Mott, a native of Vermont, who came to Mt. Vernon in about 18IT. He had much to attend to in the early courts and legal affairs of this county. At one time he was also engaged in the mercantile business at Mt. Vernon.
William C. Enos was probably the first lawyer to be admitted to the bar in this county in about 1812-13. He was even at that early day called a "self-made man." He was an intelligent man and peacefully inclined-would rather settle a case than try it through legal channels.
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Hosmer Curtis was the second resident attorney. He was a native of Connecticut and came here in about 1815. For a long term of years he was called "the father of the Knox county bar." In 1816 he was appointed pros- ecuting attorney and in 1822 was elected to the state Legislature. In 1858 he moved to Iowa, and died in 1874, aged eighty-five years.
Henry Barnes Curtis came to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in 1817, read law with his brother. Hosmer; was admitted to the bar and later to the United States courts at Columbus, and supreme court at Washington, District of Columbia. In December, 1872, he retired from his active career as an attorney, having practiced a half century.
In the early days in this county Attorney J. C. Hall practiced here and later cast his fortunes in Iowa, where he was a congressman and held other offices, at the same time making his mark as a first class lawyer in his adopted commonwealth.
Of John W. Warden and Benjamin S. Brown all that can be traced of them is that they stood eminent as barristers before the Knox county bar in their day and generation.
John K. Miller also ranked high as a legal light and was mentioned in connection with many of the important cases in his day. He was known in Congress two terms from Knox county as being a painstaking man and rep- resented and not misrepresented his people at home. Later he was appointed as consul to one of the French ports. He died comparatively young, cutting short a thus far brilliant career.
Matthew H. Mitchell early in his career was a man of much superior tact and native ability in his chosen profession. Indeed we find a record saying, "he had no superior in the Knox county bar." It was he who in 1850 represented this county in the constitutional convention of Ohio that gave the present Ohio code, now about to be revised by another convention. He died late in the seventies or early in the eighties.
One of the capable, yet highly erratic, members of this bar was Major Hoey, a man of a superior education, a fine legal mind, but, socially, he left his dignified calling and commingled too much with the gay and trifling com- panions with whom he took pleasure in meeting, rather than those of his ability and scope of mind.
Of one member of the Knox county bar there cannot too much be said or written. Hon. Columbus Delano, a master mind and an honored citizen throughout his entire life. He was from the sturdy old Green Mountain state, and inherited its broad, free way of putting and doing things. He was admitted to the bar in 1831 having removed to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in about 1817. In 1844 he was representative from Ohio to Congress, serving on the committee on invalid pensioners. In 1847 he was candidate for governor of
(16)
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Ohio and only lacked two votes of winning out in the spirited contest. He was in public life many years. Was commissary-general early in the Civil war period, under Lincoln. Again in 1862 he lacked but two votes of being nominated United States senator from Ohio. He was delegate to the Balti- more convention and supported Lincoln and Johnson in the contest over Mc- Clellan in 1864. He was re-elected to a seat in the thirty-ninth Congress and was chairman of the committee on claims. He forsook his legal practice and engaged extensively in agricultural labors. Also became a leading banker; was delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalist convention in 1866, and in 1868 was again seated (after contest), over G. W. Morgan, in the fortieth Congress. After leaving Congress he was appointed commissioner of inter- nal revenue; also appointed secretary of the interior department in 1870, by U. S. Grant. Friday morning, October 23, 1896, amid the scenes hallowed by long associations, came the final summons to this one of nature's true noblemen Full of years and well earned honor, Columbus Delano passed from earth's shining circle to his eternal rest. He died of heart failure, superinduced by old age.
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