Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 32

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526

USA > Pennsylvania > Butler County > Butler > Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th > Part 32

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Michael became the additional law judge, and resided in New Castle.

THE ARREST OF COUNTERFEITERS.

During the latter part of the year 1887, and the beginning of 1888, a great deal of counterfeit money was placed in circula- tion in the northern part of Butler County. After considerable work on the part of the secret service officers, United States Mar- shall McSweeney and deputies acting on previous information, made a raid in the northern part of the county in February, 1888, and succeeded in capturing a num- ber of persons engaged in counterfeiting, with the appliances used in their illegal business. Several of those arrested were well-known residents of Butler County and the arrests were the sensation and talk of that year. The men were all taken to Pittsburg, where their trial took place and a number of them sent to United States prisons; others against whom there was no evidence to connect them with the crime, were discharged.

THE HARBISON-MONKS BABY CASE.

The celebrated baby case got into the courts of Butler County in 1887 and was not closed until the following year. Rob- ert Harbison and his wife were residents of the southeastern section of the county and connected with prominent families. Following the birth of their child trouble arose between the two, the matter coming into the court in August, 1887. On the or- der of Judge Hazen, who was on the bench at that time, the child was placed in the father's care. A few days later, however, Mrs. Harbison succeeded in abducting her child and fled with him to Kansas. She was assisted in getting away by her 'brothers, Martin and John Monks, and Wendell Hickey. The abduction was fol- lowed by the arrest of the two Monks boys and Hickey for contempt of court, but they were released on bail so that they could

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produce the child in court. On the 12th of May, 1888, they produced both the in- fant and the mother.

The legal battle that followed was one of the most interesting witnessed in the courts of Butler County in the last quar- ter of the century. The father was repre- sented by Hon. Charles McCandless and Col. John M. Thompson, while ex-Judge E. McJunkin, James M. Galbreath, and S. F. Bowser represented the mother, infant and young men. After a hearing Judge Hazen discharged the writ of habeas cor- pus and remanded the defendants to the sheriff's custody, except the infant, which was ordered to be placed in the keeping of its father. At this point the mother de- clared she would never surrender the child, which she was holding in her arms at the time, and the judge ordered Sheriff O. C. Redic to enforce the order. He ac- cordingly went to Mrs. Harbison and de- manded the child, which she refused to surrender. Not wishing to get into a struggle with the woman in the courtroom, Sheriff Redic refused to proceed further, and the court then authorized him to depu- tize some one to carry out its orders. Act- ing on this suggestion, Sheriff Redic sum- moned the child's father. Having this power conferred upon him, Harbison at- tempted to grasp the infant from its mother's arms, but the frantic mother held on stoutly, and he was unable to carry out his purpose. At this point in the proceed- ings the scene in the courtroom was verg- ing on a riot. Public sympathy was with the mother and infant, and a sentiment was growing among the large crowd of men as- sembled in the courtroom that boded no good for the court and the officials who at- tempted to carry out the inhumane order. Strong men left the court in tears, pitying the law that could countenance such bar- barity, and even the lawyers for the prose- cution became abashed and asked the court to direct Mrs. Harbison's brothers to take the babe from their sister. Luckily the

judge did not respond to this request, and for a little while there was calm in the ' courtroom. Another writ was issued or- dering the surrender of the child, but the brave mother defied the court and was or- dered to jail. Along with her they sent her two brothers and young Hickey. The case was taken up again on Saturday, May 14th, and when the plaintiff arrived in But- ler to continue the case against his wife, he met here a crowd of angry neighbors and a large crowd of determined citizens whose looks portended trouble of a serious nature if any attempt was made to force Mrs. Harbison to surrender her baby. The incarceration of the mother and baby in the local jail had been the talk of the streets for two days and the angry crowd that had assembled were on the verge of riot. Harbison's determination to obtain his child was somewhat shaken in the fore- noon, but his friends and counsel urged him on. Mrs. Harbison and her baby were again brought into court, and the deter- mined woman, hearing the rumor that was current that the sheriff would be compelled to take the child from her, had procured a chain and padlock, with which she secured the child to herself, declaring that if it was taken from her it would be over her dead body. When court adjourned at noon mother and baby were again returned to jail while the situation in the courtroom and on the streets was most critical. Open threats of violence were made and the an- gry mob were determined that if Harbison sent his wife and baby to prison again he would not get out of the town that night and that the woman and baby would not remain in prison over Sunday. Some of the cooler-headed friends of Harbison got hold of him at the noon hour and per- suaded him to dismiss his counsel, which he did, and later he became a client of John M. Greer. Mr. Greer became active in his endeavors to settle the case and when court called at two o'clock he asked that his client's petition and all rulings

BUTLER COUNTY COURT HOUSE OF 1853

BUTLER COUNTY COURT HOUSE OF 1877

COUNTRY CLUB HOUSE, BUTLER

BOYDSTOWN RESERVOIR OF THE BUTLER WATER CO., BUTLER

I. O. O. F. BUILDING, BUTLER

BUTLER COUNTY JAIL, BUTLER

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under it be set aside, and the mother and infant, the two Monks boys and young Hickey discharged from jail. It was a wel- come denouement for Judge Hazen and he did not neglect to express his gratifica- tion at the pleasant turn of affairs. The baby in this case is now a prominent farmer in Clinton Township.

THE LEE MURDER TRIAL.

The trial of Thomas E. Lee for the mur- der of John McCall at Evans City on the night of October 31, 1889, commenced in December following. The state was rep- resented by Hon. Charles McCandless and District Attorney Charles A. McPherrin, while Thompson and Son and W. A. For- quer appeared for the defendant. The evidence showed that McCall was killed while participating at a ball given by a secret order known as the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. Lee was found guilty of murder in the second de- gree and sentenced to a term of six and one-half years of solitary confinement in the penitentiary.

JAIL DELIVERY IN 1892.

A jail delivery occurred on the night of March 4, 1892, during the term of Sheriff William Brown, the escaping criminals be- ing James F. Mills, the murderer of Peter Dugan, with James Brittain and Joseph Gibson, colored, and Jesse Smith, T. J. Black and Charles Miller. Brittain was re- arrested at Callery and Black at Renfrew the day after, while Smith was caught on March 6th. The capture of Mills was af- fected about a week later after an exciting chase through the northern part of the state. Mills was returned to Butler where his trial took place on March 21st. The capture of the other criminals was also finally effected.

THE MILLS MURDER TRIAL.

Peter Dugan, who was a pumper on the Welsh farm in Connoquenessing Township, was killed on the evening of December 22,

1891, while sleeping in his boiler-house. Suspicion pointed to James F. Mills, who was a pumper on the adjoining lease and who had been seen with Dugan late that afternoon. The two men had been at Ren- frew and had been drinking. A ten-year old boy, who was sleeping in the boiler- house with Dugan at the time, was awak- ened by a noise and saw Mills leave the boiler-house. Dugan's head had been crushed by a blacksmith's hammer. Mills was arrested on the charge of murder and tried at the March term of court, 1892. The Commonwealth was represented by District Attorney Aaron E. Reiber and S. F. Bowser, while Forquer, McQuistion, Mc- Candless and Thompson defended the ac- cused. The last named lawyer protested that the court was not legally convened, raising the point that unless a case was in progress at the close of the second week of a quarter session's term, the term could not be extended beyond two weeks. In proof of this claim he presented a ruling that was made in 1850, when another mur- derer named Mills was brought to justice. Attorney Reiber and Judge Hazen opposed this logic, and the court ordered the jury to be impaneled. Two days were taken up in securing a jury, and several days more in the trial of the case. The counsel for the defense succeeded in saving the pris- oner's life, but they could not save him from the penitentiary, where he was sent for twelve years. Mills' plea in his own defense was, that he was drunk and had no knowledge of committing any crime, and his attorneys set up the plea of "acute al- coholic mania," which probably had some effect on the jury. Mills completed his sentence in the penitentiary and is still liv- ing.

THE MURDER OF MRS. HASLER.

The murder of Mrs. Hasler and her daughter Mrs. Flora Martin by Harper Whitmire took place near St. Joe Station December 5, 1893. Whitmire was a son-

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in-law of Mrs. Hasler, and the evening pre- vious to the murder had been visiting at the Hasler home. After committing the crime Whitmire walked to the residence of his brother near Greece City, where he told what he had done. He then went to the barn and committed suicide, thus relieving the county of the onus and cost of the prose- cution, the only legal action being taken by the coroner.

COURT ORDERS.

In 1899 Judge Greer made an order changing the time of holding the June term of Quarter Sessions Court, from the 1st Monday of June to the 3rd Monday of May, and the time for the meeting of the grand jury and the holding of License Court was changed to correspond with the Quarter Sessions Court in May. Previous to this time the License Court had been held in March and the new arrangement caused the closing of the hotel bars in the county on the 1st of April to the 1st of July in that year. Under the new order the hotel licenses did not go into effect until the 1st of July. This order of court was effective until June 11, 1903, when Judge Galbreath made an order changing the time of hold- ing Quarter Sessions Court back to the 1st Monday of June, and the time for holding License Court to the March term.

THE JUDICIAL CONTEST OF 1893.

The death of Judge McMichael in 1892 caused a vacancy on that bench and Hon. Norman L. Martin of New Castle was ap- pointed assistant law judge to serve until the next succeeding election. At the elec- tion held in November of that year, Judge Martin was opposed by John M. Greer, of Butler and the latter was elected. In the following year, 1893, Butler County alone was designated as the Seventh Judicial Dis- trict, and Lawrence County as the Fifty- third District. Judge Greer thus became president judge of Butler County and . Judge Hazen returned to Lawrence County as president judge of that district.

THE ELECTION OF 1902.

In the spring of 1902 Judge Greer was candidate for the nomination of his party and was opposed by James M. Galbreath. The campaign will go down in history as one of the hardest primary election fights in the county. The Democratic nominee for judge was Hon. Levingstone McQuis- tion, who was opposed for the nomination by Everett L. Ralston and J. D. Marshall. At the election held in November James M. Galbreath was elected.

THE CATHERINE MILLER CASE.

For five years following the Mills case there were no murder trials in the courts of Butler County. On June 9, 1898, Mrs. Catherine Miller was indicted for the mur- der of her husband, John W. Miller, of Cen- ter Township. The case was called for trial on the 17th of June before Judge Greer and the defendant, through her at- torney, J. D. Marshall, entered a plea of guilty of murder in the second degree, which was accepted by the court. She was sentenced to twelve years in the peniten- tiary, but only lived about six months after her sentence. The circumstances of the case are as follows: John W. Miller was a farmer, about seventy years of age, and lived with his wife, who was a few years his junior, on a small farm in Center town- ship. One morning a neighbor called at the house on an errand and found Miller lying at the foot of the cellar stairs in a helpless condition, his head terribly cut and other marks of violence upon him. Miller died a few hours later from the effects of his injuries but before his death told that Mrs. Miller had pushed him down the cel- lar stairs. The arrest of Mrs. Miller fol- lowed and a court trial was avoided by the defendant entering a plea of guilty of mur- der in the second degree.

THE M'GRADY MURDER TRIAL.

A murder trial that attracted attention and created much sympathy for the defend-

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ant was that of James McGrady in 1902. McGrady, who was a policeman in Butler Borough, shot John Miller while attempt- ing to make an arrest in the Island district on the night of December 1, 1902. Miller, whose real name was John Bitte, died in the hospital the next day and McGrady was arrested on the charge of manslaughter. The case was called for trial December 10, 1902, and December 12th the jury returned a verdict of guilty. On account of exten- uating circumstances in the case Judge Gal- breath sentenced McGrady to serve two years imprisonment in the county jail.

THE HOFFMAN CASE.

One of the most peculiar cases ever tried in the county was that of Henry Hoffman, of Connoquenessing Borough, who was in- dicted on May 21, 1903, on the charge of manslaughter. Hoffman is a member of a religious sect which believes that disease can be cured by the laying on of hands and prayer, and that the services of doctors and the use of medicines are unnecessary. In May, 1903, several children in the Hoff- man family were taken ill with scarlet fever, and on the 18th of the month Myrl, a son, aged two and a half years, died, it was alleged, without medical attention, the father contenting himself with the laying on of hands and prayer. The matter was reported to the county authorities who had Hoffman indicted and the case was called for trial on the 16th of September. Dis- trict Attorney John R. Henninger repre- sented the commonwealth and S. F. Bowser the defendant. Judge James M. Galbreath was on the bench. The case was stubbornly contested on both sides, and on September 19th the jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter, as indicted, and recom- mended the defendant to the mercy of the court. The same day Mr. Bowser, for the defendant, made a motion for a new trial and the arrest of judgment, pending the hearing of the motion. Hoffman was re-

leased on bail, and on the 4th of August, 1904, Judge Galbreath handed down an opinion refusing the new trial. Hoffman has never been called into court for sen- tence and the case remains open on the docket.

THE GROUND HOG CASE.

What is known as the Ground Hog Case in the criminal courts of the county orig- inated in Venango Township. Newton Tannehill, Howard Rumbaugh and Fred Hall were out in the fields shooting at a mark with a rifle. Tannehill saw an ob- ject moving behind some bushes at a long range, which had the appearance of a ground hog, and fired at it. When the party went to look for their quarry, they found that the object they had seen was an Italian named Ajanto Isabella, and that he was fatally wounded. The shooting took place on the 5th of September, 1904, and the Italian died the same day. On the 9th of September the grand jury returned a true bill against the hunters on the charge of murder, and the case was called for trial on the 16th. It became apparent early in the trial that the shooting was purely acci- dental, and a verdict of acquittal was ren- dered.

A BRUTAL MURDER.

The murder of Mary Kreditch by her husband, Max Kreditch, was one of the most brutal crimes ever committed in But- ler County. Mrs. Kreditch kept a board- ing house in Lyndora and her husband spent his time drinking. On the night of December 20th, 1906, Kreditch became en- raged because his wife reproved him for drinking and struck her a terrible blow on the head, killing her almost instantly. He displayed the greatest indifference when arrested and told the officers that the woman was his wife, and that he could do as he pleased with her. Kreditch was placed on trial March 16th, 1907, before

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Judge Galbreath, and the same day the jury returned a verdict of guilty of mur- der in the second degree. The case for the commonwealth was conducted by District Attorney Samuel Walker and the defend- ant was represented by William H. Mar- tin, Harry L. Graham and Howard I. Painter, who were appointed by the court. The attorneys for the defendant in this case received a fee of fifty dollars each from the county, which was the first fee of the kind paid by the county under the act of Assembly, which provided that the com- monwealth shall pay a fee of one hundred and fifty dollars to the attorneys for the defendant in a murder trial, where the de- fendant has no means to provide private counsel, and the court is obliged to appoint counsel to defend the prisoner. Since the trial of the Kreditch case the supreme court has declared the act unconstitutional. Kreditch was sentenced sixteen years to the penitentiary and received his sentence with the same stolid indifference that he displayed at his trial.

THE M'LAUGHLIN-HEMPHILL TRAGEDY.

The trial of John B. Mclaughlin for the murder of William J. Hemphill in 1905 was one of the real tragedies of Butler County. The two men resided in Clinton Township on adjoining farms and were close neighbors. Both were prosperous farmers, useful citizens, and respected by the community in which they lived. Hemp- hill's farm buildings were separated from one of McLaughlin's fields by a public road, and it appears that the latter was greatly annoyed by his neighbor's chick- ens making a running ground of his field. On the morning of May 5th, 1905, Mc- Laughlin went to the field and shot several of his neighbor's chickens that he found there. Hemphill was employed with sev- eral men repairing his house at the time, and when his attention was called to the shooting of his chickens, he left his work, crossed the public road into the field where

Mclaughlin was. There were no eye-wit- nesses to the tragedy that followed. The men employed at the Hemphill house heard a shot fired, and looking toward the men, saw Hemphill lying on the ground and MeLaughlin walking away, carrying a shotgun in his hand. Hemphill was car- ried to his home, where he died in a few hours from the effects of his wounds. Mc- Laughlin did not wait to see the results of the shooting, but came directly to Butler and surrendered himself to Sheriff M. L. Gibson. The fact that both men were married and had families of small chil- dren made the tragedy the more deplor- able.

Mclaughlin was indicted on the charge of murder and on June 7th the grand jury returned a true bill. The trial of the case was postponed to the September term and on the 18th of September it was taken up before Judge Galbreath. The Common- wealth was represented by District Attor- ney Samuel Walker, S. F. Bowser and Levi M. Wise, and the defendant's coun- sel were Hon. John M. Greer, William Z. Murrin and Joseph B. Bredin. Every step of the trial was bitterly contested and not since the trial of Mills did a murder case attract so much public attention in the county. Two days were taken up in the selection of a jury and three days in the trial of the case. On September 24th the jury returned a verdict of guilty of mur- der in the second degree and Mclaughlin was sentenced to fourteen years in the pen- itentiary. The terrible ordeal he had gone through and the nervous strain he was sub- jected to during his trial, impaired Mc- Laughlin's health and he died in prison within a year after his sentence.

THE SCHMIDT MURDER.

One of the most brutal and uncalled for murders in the county was committed on March 6, 1902, near Cabot Station, in Win- field Township. Henry B. Schmidt and his wife were an aged couple that resided

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on a farm a short distance from the sta- tion. On the night mentioned, between the hours of ten and twelve o'clock, three masked men broke into the house, shot Mr. Schmidt in cold blood, bound and gagged Mrs. Schmidt, and ransacked the house for ' money. Mrs. Schmidt was found in a piti- able condition the next morning and while she was able to tell what had happened, she was unable to identify any of the mur- derers; though diligent search was made, the men who committed the crime have never been apprehended.

THE BENNET RIOT ..

The Jerry Bennet affair forms an inci- dent in the history of the county on ac- count of the nature of Bennet's crime, and the serious consequences that followed. On the night of September 13, 1902, Bennet, who had a bad previous reputation, com- mitted a criminal assault on the eight- year-old daughter of John H. Wagner of Butler. The scene of the crime was near the West Penn depot and the criminal was caught in the act. Cool-headed citizens prevented Wagner from killing Bennet on the spot, and with the aid of the police, Bennet was hurried to the county jail for safe keeping. The affair happened about eight o'clock in the evening, when there was a large crowd of people on the streets, who, fortunately for Bennet, did not know the nature of his crime. In a few minutes after Bennet was locked up an angry mob had surrounded the jail and gathered in the streets in front of the courthouse. Threats of lynching were made, and the leaders of the mob proposed battering down the doors of the prison, taking the prisoner out by force and hanging him to a lamp post.

Anticipating trouble, Sheriff Thomas R. Hoon prepared to resist the mob and pro- tect the prisoner. By ten o'clock the mob was beyond the control of the local police and an assault was made on the residence part of the jail. The front door was bat-

tered down with a piece of heavy timber, used as a battering-ram, and every win- dow in the front part of the building was broken by stones and brick-bats hurled by . the rioters. Sheriff Hoon, who was a phys- ical giant, displayed a courage.possessed by few men as he stood in the doorway, unarmed, vainly attempting to persuade the rioters to disperse. He was hit with stones and roughly handled, but held his ground, and the mob did not get beyond the street entrance. A shot fired by one of the jail guards had the effect of dispers- ing the crowd, and in a few minutes only the curious and a small body of the rioters remained about the county buildings.

The attack did not last twenty minutes, but in that time the residence part of the jail was wrecked and several members of the sheriff's family had narrow escapes from serious injury. Fearing that the leaders of the mob would return and at- tempt to carry out their threat to blow up the prison with dynamite, Sheriff Hoon se- cured rifles and ammunition from the local military company and placed a strong armed guard about the jail. The rioters did not return and at midnight the streets were quiet. The guard remained on duty at the jail all night and the following day (Sunday), but no further attempts at vio- lence were made:

Two days later, September 16th, Bennet went into court and entered a plea of nolle contendre to the charge made against him, and was sentenced to fifteen years in the penitentiary by Judge Samuel Miller, of Mercer, specially presiding.

THE BENCH.

Before the organization of Butler Coun- ty, when, as previously intimated, her ter- ritory. was attached to Allegheny County for judicial purposes, thus coming under the jurisdiction of the court of the latter county, the presiding judge of the District was the Hon. Alexander Addison, a native

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of Scotland, who, in 1794, aided the authori- ties in quelling the "Whiskey Insurrec- tion." In performing this service he made many enemies. Judge Addison was fear- less and determined and in 1802 refused to permit an associate judge to charge the jury after he had delivered his address. For this offense he was summoned before the higher courts which dismissed the com- plaint against him. His enemies were not content, however, with the decision of the court and the matter was carried to the leg- islature. He was impeached by the House of Representatives, tried by the Senate, found guilty as charged and sentenced to removal from office. His enemies secured ample revenge as he was disqualified from again filling any judicial position in Penn- sylvania. He died in Pittsburg November 27,1807.

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Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 32

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1526

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526