Sandusky County, Ohio - Chapter 23: Court and Bar of Sandusky County, 1882 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 23: Court and Bar of Sandusky County

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

IN the county clerk's office, carefully preserved, is a little book, six inches wide and about nine inches long, bound in pasteboard covering, without ruling for line or margin. It is, in fact, a very plain book, without any numerical paging. On the top of the first page written upon are j the following words, in a fine handwriting:

In pursuance of a law passed by the Legislature of the State of Ohio, the 12th day of February, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, organizing the oun ty of Sandusky, the court was opened by the sheriff. Present, the Honorable George Tod, president. Willis E. Brown produced his commission as sheriff, and was sworn to office. Israel Harrington, David Harold, and Alexander Morrison produced their commissions as associate judges of the court of common pleas of the county of Sandusky, which 1 were read by the clerk, and the said Israel Harring- j ton, David Harold, and Alexander Morrison having j taken the oaths required by law, took their seats as ! associate judges of said court. James Williams was : appointed clerk pro tern. Whereupon the sheriff returned the venire for the grand jurors, and upon it appearing that the venire did not issue thirty days before the return, the array being challenged, the pannel was quashed. Whereupon the sherifi was ordered to select a new jury from the bystanders, and the following, being legally called, appeared, to-wit: Joshua Davis, Elijah W. Howland, Jonathan H. Jerome, William Morrison, [osiah Rumerv, Nicholas Whitinger, William Andrews, Ruel Loomis, James Montgomery, Caleb Rice, Robert Harvey, Thomas Webb, Elijah Brayton, Charles B. Fitch, and Reuben Bristol ; whereupon Charles B. Fitch was appointed foreman and took the oath prescribed by law, and his fellow jurors, after having taken the same oath, received a solemn charge from the court and retired. The next business of the court, after sending out 1 the first grand jury, was the granting of a license to Israel Harrington to keep a tavern at his dwelling house in Sandusky township, for one year, and fixing the price of the license at fifteen dollars.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The October Term, 1 820

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

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

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

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

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

These names and proceedings are noted ^nd 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 participants in the affairs of society.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The associate judges, or a majority of them, could be called together at any time to hear the proof of the execution of wills, or grant letters of administration or guardianship, and to settle the accounts of such and order sales of real estate when necessary, in the settlement of estates, and the records of their proceedings became part of the records of the court of common pleas. There were also justices of the peace, one, at least, sometimes three, in each township.

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

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

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

Noteworthy Trials

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

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

The Murder Of Mrs. Sperry

The year was 1842; the place was the farm of Joseph Sperry, an Englishman by birth, and it was situated between Green Spring and Clyde, Sandusky county, about one and one-half miles northeast of Green Spring, on the road leading to Clyde. Here Joseph Sperry lived, together with his wife, Cathaiine Sperry, and two small children (a boy and a girl}, seemingly in the best kind of harmonv and happiness. Sperrv always had been a hard-working, industrious man, and in course of time had succeeded in gaining a comfortable home for himself and family. In the fall of 1841 he concluded to build himself a better and more comfortable dwelling-house, for which purpose he entered into a contract with a certain young and skilful carpenter, who, aside from having a rather prepossessing appearance, and being a captain of a militia company, was also counted as one of the prominent young men in that vicinity. Mrs. Sperry, the farmer's wife, was very industrious, and also a good looking woman. In March, 1842, certain rumors with regard to criminal intercourse between Mrs. Sperry and this young carpenter gained considerable publicity, and finally reached the ears of Mr. Sperry. At that time, the young carpenter had begun the work on Sperry's new house, and from casual observations, Sperry mistrusted that there might be good causa 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 flatiron, with which he inflicted a fearful wound about two inches long and one inch deep upon the head of Mrs. Sperry, near the temple, from which she died almost instantly. This bloody deed took place in the kitchen of the old house, near an old-fashioned fireplace; near by stood a ladder, leading up to the garret. Gazing upon the dead body of his wife, and casting his eyes upon that fireplace and the ladder close by, this picture must have become transfixed in his mind like a flash of lightning, for it was in that moment in which he formed the combination of what afterward proved the entire basis of his defense. He ran at once for a neighbor, informing him of a fearful accident that had befallen his wife, and which had resulted in her death. His story was, that she had fallen off the ladder, and struck her head against the corner stone of the fireplace, and had died from the effects. The news of Sperry's wife's death spread like wildfire through the vicinity, and the next day the coroner of Sandusky county, who then lived in Lower Sandusky, convened a jury and held an inj 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 Sperrv was indicted for murder in the first degree, but the prosecuting attorney, Mr. W. W. Culver, effected Sperry's release upon a bail of two thousand dollars for his appearance at the next term of court. Sperry s counsel, the Messrs. Homer Everett and Bishop Eddy, tried their utmost to circulate the belief that there had been no murder committed at all, and that Mrs. Sperrv had been the victim of a most unfortunate and terrible accident. Prosecuting Attorney W. W. Culver and his assistant, Mr. Cooper K. Watson (afterw ards Judge of Common Pleas for the counties of Erie and Ottawa) were satisfied that it was a cool-blooded murder, and left nothing undone to have Sperry convicted. The defence persistently kept up the theory of accident just as it had come from the lips of the accused at first. The cor- oner's jury had neglected to give an exact and detailed description of the wound, and the prosecuting attorney, in order to avoid any doubt whatever, caused the body of Mrs. Sperry to be taken from the grave and brought to Fremont, where it was subjected to a medical examination by Drs. Rawson and Anderson. Dr. Rawson's office at that time was near the old Dickinson dwelling (northwest corner Arch and State streets). Said physicians made a thorough examination and returns to the proscuiing 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 gentlemen, to-wit: Messrs. Warren H. Stevens, John Houts, Hugh Overmeier, Hugh Bowland, Michael Fought, J oshua 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 assistants, Alpheus Mclntire, Isaac Knapp, and George Overmeier. Dr. L. Q. Rawson at that time held the position of clerk, with B. F. Fletcher as his assistant. Mr. JohnStrohl 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 McGorinley, Joseph Kelley, Lewis E. Marsh, Levi Marsh, and Samuel Skinner, was duly sworn, and upon the defendant s plea of "Not guilty" the trial commenced. The prosecution had no direct proofs, but the very strongest kind of circumstantial evidence, proving by their witnesses (especially the Drs. D. Tilden, L. Q. Rawson, and Anderson) that the theory of accident had absolutely no foundation whatever, and came not even within the reach of possibility. The defence had substantially nothing else to counterbalance this testimony but the defendants good character; and, strange as it may appear, the question of jealousy was raised on neither side. Certain, however, is the fact that the young Adonis of a carpenter left the vicinity shortly after the trial. The trial lasted five days, and on the 20th day of September, 1842, the jury returned a verdict of guilty in the first degree. A motion on the part of the defence for a new trial was overruled by Judge Bowen, who thereupon sentenced Sperry to be hung on Wednesday, November 2, 1842. Sperry received his sentence with perfect calmness, and Sheriff Strohl took him to jail, into a cell already occupied by George Thompson, also a murderer. The jail at that time was where now stands Rev. Mr. Lang's house, and here Sperry was given ample time to brood over his crime and repent, but all to no good, since he rejected all religious consolation, and remained the hard-hearted man he was up to the time of his death. Sperry had 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 destined 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 intp 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 penknife 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 Sp erry had .concealed it in the 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 him, so as to end the agony of nis sufferings, but wnich Thompson refused to do, and answ ered only with mocking laughter. When Thompson was asked why he had not tried to prevent Sperry from killing himself, Thompson (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 murder, when the motive was nothing else but an unhappy love affair. Thirty-eight years have rolled by since this murder took place at Bellevue. We have undertaken 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 Thompson. 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

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 marriage, but was refused by the girl, who emphatically told him that she entertained nothing but friendship toward him. Instead of taking this hint, Thompson kept up his love proposals in a still more persistent 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 courage 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 arrived 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. Thompson was immediately arrested and brought to Fremont, 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 Lindsey, found an indictment against Thompson for murder in the first degree. Shortly afterward Thompson made his escape from jail, but was retaken in Woodville township 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 bv 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 follows:

"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 admission, he was met at the door by Mr. Stephen Brown, of Woodville, who at that time was a boarder at Elderkin's. Thompson then told Mr. Brown that he was hungry, and would like to get something to eat,

J the murderer, and at the same time expressing himself as lacking in hope in the prospect of making good his escape; in consequence of which he requested 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 anybody else. After listening to this conversation, Brown remarked that he was only a boarder at said house, (Elderkin being absent at the time,) therefore ! 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, when at the village, to have Mr. Wood return the prisoner to jail, which he accordingly 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 succeeded 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 accelerate 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 i 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. Nuhfer 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 escape continued, otherwise successfully, until the stage-driver informed on him. The chain and handcuffs, 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 fir>t place, having the same remodeled into a complete chain by the blacksmith. This idea was carried out and Nuhfer did the work of iemodeling."

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 remembers distinctly that Thompson had been seen close to an old oak tree, about half a mile north of Woodville. Seaman savs that he and Amos E. Wood had taken the prisoner to the jail in Fremont. A week later Thompson again came back to Woodvilie, 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 Seaman 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 eatables and other necessaries, he went on his journey. A part of the distance from Woodville to Perrysburg he made in a sleigh. From Perrysburg he travelled west until he reached Ottawa, Illinois. Mr. Seaman is of the opinion that the name of the stagedriver who finally discovered Thompson, was Jackson. 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, had he chosen to do so, could have escaped 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.

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 stagedriver not to betray him, telling him at the same time that he was the murderer of Catharine Hamler. The stage-driver, astonished over the discovery he bad made, immediately sent this information to Sheriff Strohl, who, after receiving the same communicated it to Piosecuting 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 meantime the necessary papers of requisition had been made out by Governor 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 following persons, to-wdt: Joseph Reed, James P. Berry, Benjamin Inman, Archibald Rice, James A. Fisher, William Boyles, Abraham Gems, Washington Noble, Michael McBride, Stephen Lee, John Weeks, and Amos K. Hammond. Thompson was defended by Brice J. Bartlett (father of Colonel Joseph R. Bartlett) and Cooper K. Watson. The State was represented by W. W. Culver and L. B. Otis. The presiding judge was Ozias Bowen, assisted by the Messrs. Isaac Knapp. Alpheus McIntyre, and George Overmeier. During the trial the counsel for the defendant tried theii 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 counsel 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 admirably, 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 j noon. They remained out about four hours, and at j 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- 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 accused, 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 scaffold; 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 according to the laws of our commonwealth. 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 execution, and there himg by your neck until you are dead, and may God have mercy upon your soul. ' "

Thompson, who was quite overcome with emotion 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 previous, 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 murder 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."

Protestant minister and demanded a Catholic priest. His wish was complied with and he received occasional visits from a French priest by the name of Josephus Projectus Macheboeuf, the present apostolic vicar at Denver, Colorado, ana 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 beginning of the year 1880 he was in Rome, where he had an interview with Pope Leo XIII., who, according 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 carpenter 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 occasion 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 bocly 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 congregated 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 n o'clock he led Thompson, accompanied by the priest, out of his cell to the fatal platform of the gallows. All at once some one cried:- " He is coming!" and at that moment, Mr J. R. Francisco, from Ballville, who was stationed inside the enclosure as a custodian and armed with a gun, observed 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 time at all, other boards followed until finally the ; whole fence had disappeared, thereby exposing ! the sad spectacle to the entire public. After prayer j 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, the 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. Thompson's neck was not broken but he died of strangulation, the knot of the noose having slipped under the chin. He still breathed after a lapse of fifteen minutes, and the moving of the muscles of the different parts of the body gave sufficient proof of the dreadful death agony that was taking place in that man.

In twenty minutes Thompson was pronounced dead byDrs. 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 organization 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 lawyers from other and sometimes remote localities. They were chiefly men who had attained a wide reputation for talent and ability in the profession, and whenever plaintiff or defendant retained one of such a reputation 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 i could not refer to authorities on many | questions which arose. But attorneys j 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 litigants in the early times of the jurisprudence 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 residents 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, iVndrew Coffinberry and John C. Spink, of Wood county, Ohio, and occasionally such men as Thomas Ewing and Willis Sill i man 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 tavern they were a social, often a convivial collection of talepted 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

After charging and sending out the grand jury, the presiding judge would next j take the docket and call the cases for trial 1 in the same order as they stood upon the 1 docket, and every case was disposed of, for j that time at least. The cases were con- i tinued, tried or dismissed when called. I 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 attendance upon court, therefore, w^as much greater than at present. In fact, for a few days after opening court there was usually a large gathering of country people, some- j thing like what we now see when a men- i agerie or circus is on exhibition. Woe to I the attorney who was not prepared to try j his case. He usually found no indulgence ! from the court. There was in the earlier I courts far more prompt and rapid disposal j of cases than there is at present by the I court.

In looking for the causes for this change in the transaction of business, two facts j 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 terrors 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

Early Resident Members Of The Bar

Benjamin F. Drake was the first lawyer 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 Delaware county, probably in 1823. Nothing further of his history or fate can now be obtained for record.

Harvey J. Harmon was the second lawyer who settled in Lower Sandusky. Mr. Harmon was a well educated man and a good lawyer, and at one time had considerable practice. He loved political discussion, however, and during the latter years of his life gave most of his time and efforts in that direction. He was an ardent Jackson Democrat in the election of 1828, and afterward received the appointment 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, 1834,0! 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 w'ould stray from the great thoroughfare to attack the people of as small a village as Lower Sandusky. A small steamboat then plying 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 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 recognized 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 Sandusky 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 profession, and was appointed prosecuting attorney of that county at the first term of the court of common pleas held. In 1826 he removed to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont) and in the following year was married to Miss Margaret 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 eventually called into the arena of political and party contention. Here Mr. Dickinson displayed all the qualities necessary 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 Reserve road are monuments of his ability 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 influence with the Board of Fund Commissioners of the State and with the State Legislature was generally potential, and | during a series of years when the credit of j 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 depreciated ten or twelve per cent.), his prudent counsels contributed largely to 1 save the prosecution of the public works ! from indefinite suspension. In 1846 Mr.

I Dickinson was elected to Congress, and ; re-elected in 1848. He died in Washington city soon after his re-election, and on the 20th of March, 1849.

Hiram R. Pettibone was born in Granville, Connecticut, on the 20th of May, 1795. I^3o 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, " hen he removed to Wisconsin, where he still resides with his son Chauncy. While residing here Mr. Pettibone enjoyed the high esteem of the moral and intellectual portion of our people. 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 accomplished business man at an early age, and was at one time a partner in the mercantile 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 j son, Milo, and son William, were next in | order of age. Then a daughter, Jane, ; who married Dr. Kramer, of Sandusky j City; a son, Alfred, now residing in Ripon, ! Wisconsin. Dr. Sardis B. Taylor, now j

After or about the time Mr. Pettibone settled in the practice of the law at Lower Sandusky, came 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 unknown 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 birthplace, where he was educated, and where he studied his profession, are not at hand. Mr. Culver was prosecuting attorney for the county, being appointed first in 1839, and continued four successive years. In his addresses to a popular assembly, or to a jury, Mr. Culver exhibited 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 deductions from facts in the testimony of a cau:e, he was always listened to with interest and pleasure by all wlio heard him. Mr. Culver left the practice about 1847, and afterwards went to California where he taught school. He accumulated considerable 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, therefore but briefly sketch the life of this distinguished citizen in its connection with the practice of the law. He came to Lower Sandusky in the summer of 1837, and practicing medicine in Fremont, is grandson of Lower Sandusky's early ; commenced the practice of the law. He and able lawyer, Hiram R. Petti- has frequently told the writer that when bone. This venerable member of the he arrived at Lower Sandusky to com- Bar of Sandusky county is now eighty-six j mence the practice of his profession he years of age, and comfortably enjoying I w>as without means, and his only monetary the sunset of life with his oldest son, ! resources were seventy-five cents, which he brought with him in his pockets. His subsequent success, and the eminent character he achieved, stands as a monument to his industry and integrity, as well as an enduring encouragement to all young members of the profession that by imitating his noble and virtuous example they may succeed in life. We commend the life of General Buckland, as given in another chapter, to the reading and consid- | ation of all into whose hands this work may come. General Buckland is now engaged in practice in partnership with his son, Horace S. Buckland, and Wilbur Zeigler, and is the only lawyer now in practice who practiced in Fremont before 1840, and is also the oldest member of the bar in the county, both in years and in practice.

Lucius B. Otis was born March n, 1820, at Montville, Connecticut, and was educated in Ohio at common schools in Berlin, Erie county, at Huron Insti- j tute, Milan, Ohio; the Norwalk Seminary, ! Norwalk, Ohio, and at Granville College, j Granville, Ohio. He commenced the study of law at Norwalk, Ohio, in August, 1839, in the law office of Hon. Thaddeus B. Sturgis and John Whitbeck, and during the fall and winter of 1840 and 1841 attended the law school of the Cincinnati College, at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he graduated in April, 1841. At the August term of the Supreme Court, heid in Huron county in 1841, he was duly admitted to 4he Bar as a practicing attorney. On September 1, 1841, he took up his : residence in Lower Sandusky, Sandusky county, Ohio. F01 the first year or two he practiced law in partnership with the late Brice J. Bartlett, and subsequently for several years with Hon. Homer Everett. He was married to Miss Lydia Ann Arnold, of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in January, 1844, and has seven children living, four married and well settled in life, and the three youngest living with their parents at the family home, No. 2011 Michigan avenue, Chicago. At the close of his term of office as judge of the court of common pleas in Ohio, in December, 1856, he removed to Chicago, Illinois, which is still his residence. He has never practiced his profession since he took his seat upon the bench as judge in Ohio, in February, 1852.

When he located in Lower Sandusky, in September, 1841, Mack Bump kept the old historic corner tavern, at which he boarded for a long time at two dollars and a half per week. It was a well kept hotel. He recalls the following names as fellow boarders at that time: Elisha W. Howland, Charles O. Tillotson, Dr. Thomas Stilwell, Clark Waggoner, C. G. McCulloch, John A. Johnson. That so many are still living after nearly forty years have elapsed is quite remarkable.

To show how Judge Otis succeeded in life after he left Fremont, we give the following from a correspondent of the Sandusky Register in Chicago, under date of January n, 1881, which details his life with more particularity :

Judge Lucius B. Olis is a typical Ohioan in physical proportions and mental acquirement. It is often said that sons of Ohio, paiticulariy Northern Onio, are men of large frame and fine physique; whether this is true or not I cannot say, but it certainly is true in this instance, and is true of the family, a numerous one. While L. B. Otis was born in Connecticut, he is essentially an Ohio man. having come to the State when two years of age. He comes of rare old New England stock, his father and mother possessing fine native abilities, rare attainments, force of character, integrity and many Christian virtues, which qualities were inherited by the subject of this mention in a marked degree. He was born in 1820, and his parents moved to Berlin, Erie county, Ohio, in 1822, which has been the home of the family since. Lucius attended the common schools of that place, dividing his time between study and farming, until eighteen years of age, when he attended the Huron Institute at Milan, later the Norwalk Institute and Granville College, when he commenced the study of law in Norwalk, with Sturgis & Whitbeck, and attended the law school at Cincinnati, returning to Norwalk in

1841, where he was admitted to the Bar by the supreme court. Soon after this he established himself in practice at Lower Sandusky, now Fremont; was elected prosecuting attorney in 1842, and re-elected each two years and served until 1850. In 1851, under the new Constitution, he was elected judge of the court of common pleas, his circuit comprising the counties of Huron, Erie, Sandusky, Ottawa, and Lucas, and involved a vast amount of work, often holding court 1 ten months of the year, besides sitting as one of the district judges. In 1850, with Sardis Birchard, he established the banking house of Birchard & Otis, at Fremont, which enterprise proved a decided success, and in 1864 developed into the First National Bank of Fremont. At the expiration of his judgeship, in 1856, having accumulated considerable means and beljeving Chicago was destined to become the great metropolis of the West, -he moved here in December of the same year, and at once began operating in real estate, buying, building, and renting; exercising that tact, sagacity, and judgment which had previously characterized his course, and have to this day, and he has become one of our largest real estate owners and among our most enterprising and successful business men. One of the finest and most conspicuous marble front blocks, known as the "Otis Block," is owned by him and his brother James.

He was a large property owner before the fire, and being in the burnt district, his property was nearly all destroyed, but, being well insured in responsible companies, he wras not as heavy a loser as many, and was able to rebuild and almost wholly replace his buildings with new ones of a much better class. He was president of the Grand Pacific Hotej I Company, and superintended the finances when it was rebuilt after the fire, and had a general super- j vision of its building. Among the many responsible ! positions he has been called upon to fill, financial and otherwise, is that of receiver of the insolvent State Savings Institution, which had a deposit account at the time of failure of over four million dollars, to the credit of poor people almost wholly. The court sought to protect this vast interest and save as large a per cent, as possible to the depositors, and to accomplish this object selected Judge L. B. Otis for receiver, knowing his eminent fitness for such duty. He has more than met the expectations of | both court and depositors. He has realized on the ! real estate assets a full quarter of a million dollars i more than almost any other man could have done, | and will be able to pay over forty per cent., in place of fifteen or twenty, which was only looked for, hardly expected. This is the result of his sagacious | management of the assets. His bond is two million dollars, signed by ten of the best men in the city. I instance this fact to indicate to his former friends and neighbors the kind of man Erie county has furnished Chicago. His name is identified with some of our

He is one of our most prominent citizens, and his fine and varied literary attainments and refined social qualities make him a most agreeable and edifying member of the social circle. He has a large library, filled with a choice collection of books. He is a lawyer of the highest standing in the profession; has not been an office seeker, though office has often sought him, but, being a Democrat, his friends have been unable to put him in high State positions (for which he was fitted) in this Republican stronghold. He supported Lincoln both terms, but has returned to his first love, no doubt being conscientious in his views and belief. In religion he is an Epiifcopalian, and a noble layman in the matter of expounding the laws and canons of that church.

In 1873 and 1874, with a portion of his family, he visited Great Britain and the Continent, making an extensive tour. He was married in 1844, and has had eight children, seven of whom are now living. His wife is an estimable lady. His sons are among our prominent business men, engaged in banking and other business. Ohio, and Erie county in particular, may point with pride to Judge L. B. Otis as one of her sons.

John L. Greene, sr., was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, July 16, 1806. In August, 1815, he moved with his father's family to Ohio, and located at Newburg, on the Western Reserve. He shortly after wrent to Plattsburg, New York, where he spent two years, and there began the study of the law, under the instruction of his uncle, John Lynde. He spent some time in the University of Burlington, Vermont, but was compelled to relinquish his course on account of ill health.

Returning to Ohio he was soon invited to take charge of an academy ajjCleveland, which position he accepted for a short time. While engaged in teaching he still pursued the study of the law, under the tuition of Leonard Case.

After the termination of his engagement in the academy, he gave himself more exclusively to the study of law, and while giving his days to that purpose, employed his evenings in keeping the books of the mercantile house of Irad Kelley.

On the 1 6th of July, 1828, he was married to Miss Julia L. Castle, of Cleveland. In this year he also engaged in various speculations, bv which he accumulated a handsome property.

In 1833 he came to Sandusky county and purchased some fourteen hundred acres of land, and in the spring of the following year moved with his family here. After a failure in mercantile business at Greensburg, a village named after him, in Scott township, which failure was caused by the financial crisis of 1836-37, Mr. Greene, in 1840, came to Lower Sandusky and commenced the practice of the law.

His earnings for the first year were fortyfive dollars. He had a wife and six children to provide for. At this juncture he received aid from an old Samaritan named Riverius Bidwell. The next year his earnings amounted to sixteen hundred and fifty dollars. From this time he had a successful practice until 1855, when he was elected Representative in the General Assembly, by the people. In 1861 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. Samuel T. Worcester, which position he held until February, 1864, at which time he resumed the practice of the law. He afterwards formed a partnership with his son, John L. Greene, jr., in which relation he continued until the time of his death.

He was the father of eight sons and four daughters. One of his peculiarities was a fondness for horses, and, at the bar, wherever he practiced, he was king of all attorneys where the value, or quality, or disease of horses were drawn into litigation. In social life, and as a citizen of good example, public spirit, and liberality, Judge Greene had few superiors in Fremont. The fact that Mr. Greene was chosen as a judge and elected to that position by the people of the subdivision

Cooper K. Watson came to Lower Sandusky to attend court occasionally as early as 1841. He had studied law in Marion, Ohio, and recently been admitted to the Bar. At that time he was a man of unusually clear and quick perception of legal principles and with great argumentative power. He assisted in the prosecution of Sperry for the murder of his wife, and his management of the case, and especially his argument to the jury, at once placed him in a high position in his profession, which he maintained through life. Of his birthplace, parentage, and early life,- we are not informed.

Mr. Watson served two successive terms in the House of Representatives in Congress, being first elected in 1856, and after he had become a resident of Tiffin, in Seneca county, having changed his residence about the year 1850. Subsequently he located and practiced his profession in Sandusky. After the death of Judge Lane, of Sandusky, he was appointed to fill# the vacancy in the judgeship of the court of common pleas, and was twice elected to the office, in which he continued until his death, in 1880. He was buried in the cemetery at Sandusky, and his funeral was attended by a large concourse of people, including judges and lawyers from various distant parts of the State, also a large concourse of Knights Templar, of which order he was a prominent member.

John A. Johnson was born in Canfield, Trumbull county at that time, but now in the county of Mahoning. After receiving a fair academic education he studied law' in the office of Judge Newton, in Canfield. He came to Lower Sandusky and commenced the practice of the law in the latter part of the year 1839. In 1842 he formed a partnership in practice with

Cooper K. Watson,, under the name of Watson & Johnson. This firm had the benefit of Mr. Watson's growing reputation, and for a time did a large legal business.

In 1842 Mr. Johnson married Almira B. Hafford. In 1849 he left his practice and his family, in Fremont, and, with several other citizens of the place, went, to hunt gold in California, and was absent about fifteen months. A few months after his return he sold his farm and residence near the town, and moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he died many years ago. His wife and four children - three sons and one daughter, are still living.

Mr. Johnson was in every way an exemplary tnan. While residing in Lower Sandusky he was a member of the Presbyterian church, and acted as its trustee in building the first brick house of worship for the society.

Nathaniel B. Eddy, a native of the State of New York, came to Lower Sandusky and commenced the practice of the law sometime about the year 1839. Mr. Eddy was well educated and had thoroughly studied his profession. His brother, Azariah, had settled in Lower Sandusky previously, and at the time mentioned was, perhaps, the leading merchant of the town. His influence at once helped his young lawyer brother into practice and into social standing in the community. Mr. Eddy practiced successfully alone for about two years. Homer Everett had for some years been studying law at leisure times, and was then sheriff of the county. In December, 1842, Mr. Eddy persuaded Everett that he was qualified to be admitted to the Bar, ana proposed that if he wrould do so, he would accept him as a partner in the business on equal terms. Mr. Everett at once travelled to Columbus and was there, after due examination, found qualified, and admitted to practice in all the courts of the State. After returning from Columbus he at once resigned the office of sheriff, which had some months to run, and entered into partnership, under the firm name of Eddy & Everett. This firm continued a prosperous business until some time in 1844 or 1845, when Mr. Eddy was seized with a desire to become suddenly rich, and entered into mercantile business with Frederick Wilkes, his brother-in-law. The firm of Eddy & Wilkes occupied a store near the law office used by Eddy & Everett. On the retirement of Mr. Eddy from practice, Lucas B. Otis and Homer Everett formed a partnership, and did a successful business as lawyers until the close of the year 1847, when Mr. Everett retired from practice and settled on his farm on the Sandusky River, about five miles below town.

Mr. Eddy closed up his business a few years after, and moved to Madison, Wisconsin. There he was chosen county judge, and held the office many years, and died in the capital of his last adopted State.

Thus far we have mentioned only the lawyers who practiced in Lower Sandusky prior to the year 1842, who with the exception of General Buckland, are all dead or have removed from the State. However, while the ranks of the practicing lawyers of the olden time have been thinned by death and removal, the recruits have been abundant since, and the force not only kept up but largely increased from time to time by the settlement in the county from abroad, and by admissions to the Bar of those who lived and studied within its limits. Of those who came into practice in 1842, and since that time, we have to mention the following:

Green Spring. He was born in Richland county, Ohio, in 1836, and in 1838 removed with his parents to Lagrange county, Indiana, where he resided until 1864. He was educated at Ontario

Academy, Indiana, and Michigan Univer sity, at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mr. Cum- j mings studied law at Lagrange, Indiana, and was admitted to the Bar there in the year i860. He was elected to, and held the office of district prosecuting attorney for the five northeastern counties of the State ; was afterwards a candidate for circuit prosecuting attorney for the circuit composed of the ten counties in the northwestern part of the State. This candidacy was in 1864, and Mr. Cummings was not elected. In 1864 he went to Washington, and there held a position in the land office until 1866, when he left Washington and located at Toledo, Ohio, and resumed there the practice of the law. Here Mr. Cummings' merits and talents soon gave him prominence, and he held public office several terms. He in the meantime married a daughter of the late Robert Smith, of Green Spring, and | in 1876 retired from the practice of the j law and engaged in other business.

While Mr. Cummings was engaged in practice at Toledo he was frequently seen attending to business in the courts of Sandusky county. He always commanded the close attention of Court and Bar ! wherever he appeared. He was made ad- | ministrator of his father-in-law's estate, j and the large amount of property and the ! widely extended business thus thrown on j Mr. Cummings' care and management, to- j gether with the fact that he has a large ! share of this world's goods, will probably j prevent a good lawyer and admirable man from returning to the drudgery of practice.

Mr. Rhodes commenced the study of the law in the year i860, with O. D. Morrison, at Cardington, Ohio, and completed his study under the teaching of Homer Everett, of Fremont, Ohio, in the year 1870. At the April term of the district court of Sandusky county, he was admitted to practice and at once opened an office at Clyde, Ohio, where he has since done, and still is doing a good business.

Mr. Rhodes was married on the 28th day of December, 1867, in Brooklyn, New York, to Miss May Antoinette Brown, also a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University. They now have a happy family of three children.

Mr. Rhodes served a term as Representative of Morrow county in the General Assembly of Ohio. He had also served in the Union army in the War of the Rebellion, having volunteered.

In purity of life, in gentlemanly conduct and courtesy, and in pleasing manners, Colonel Rhodes has no superior in the Sandusky county bar. As a lawyer, he ranks well and is a good and faithful attorney.

Mr. Rhodes enlisted as a private in company B, of the Forty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1861. He served with his regiment through the entire war, being mustered out as lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted in obedience to the desire of the officers and men of his own regiment. After returning from his honorable service in the army, the people of Morrow county elected him to represent them in the General Assembly for the sessions of 1866-67. He filled the office with satisfaction to the people and credit to himself.

was born at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, on the 16th day of October, 1837. He was educated in the common schools and high school in Lancaster, Ohio. He became an approved and efficient school teacher, and spent some years in that profession in Marion county, Ohio, and perhaps in other counties. His brother Thomas P. Finefrock, had been in successful practice for a number of years at Fremont, and while he was a partner witl John L. Greene, sr., Mr. Henry R. Fine, frock studied law with them.

In 1862, Henry R. Finefrock was ad mitted to the Bar at Fremont, Ohio, at the April term of the district court. He. however, did not really commence prac tice as a lawyer until 1867, when he locat ed in the city of Fremont, for the purpose of entering into practice. Mr. Finefrock is highly esteemed among the members of the Bar, as an upright, moral man, and an attorney with excellent business qualifications. He has rendered good service to the county, and helped much to improve our schools, while acting as a member of the board of examiners of school teachers. For this position his ac. curate learning and his experience as a teacher, gave him good qualifications, and he exercised them happily in advancing the qualifications of our teachers. Mr. Finefrock is still in active practice at Fremont, in partnership with Colonel Joseph R. Bartlett.

M. B. Lemmon, now an active member of the Sandusky county Bar, located at Clyde, Ohio, was born August 7, 1847, in Townsend township, Sandusky county, and therefore "to the manor born.*' He is the youngest son of Uriah B. Lemmon, one of the pioneers of the county. The subject of this sketch was educated in early life in our common schools, and attended quite regularly until 1864, when he volunteered in the military service of his country a little before coming to the age of eighteen years. He enlisted as a private in company B of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served with this regiment until it was finally mustered out. On his return young Lemmon determined to obtain a better education and to that end promptly entered Hillsdale college at Hillsdale, Michigan, which he attended one year. After leaving Hillsdale, he taught school several terms, after which he began service as a railroad engineer, which he followed for a time, and then began reading law. He commenced the study with Stephen A. Powers, esq., at Fremont, in the State of Indiana, and was admitted to the Bar September 5, 1876, at Angola, Indiana, and at once went into practice. In March, 1877, he entered into partnership with his brother, John M. Lemmon, of Clyde, and remains an active member of the firm.

Wilbur G. Zeigler is the son of Henry Zeigler, formerly a prominent merchant and business man of Fremont, who, after the war, located in the South with his family, and returned a few years ago, bringing his son Wilbur with him to Fremont.

Wilbur G. was born at Fremont, Ohio. WThile in the South, he, though comparatively a young man, displayed unusual literary ability in his correspondence with various newspapers, which marked him for a literary career. For some time he read law with Henry McKinney, now judge, in j Cleveland, Ohio. However, he came back ! to Fremont, and finished his legal studies ! in the office of Ralph P. & Horace S.

Mr. Zeigler was educated in the public schools of Fremont, graduating in the high school in the class of 1876. On his admission to the Bar, Mr. Zeigler at once entered upon the practice of his profession and was received into partnership with the Bucklands, with whom he had finished his studies. He is unmarried, but his future career is full of promise whether he shall devote himself exclusively to his profession, or strike off into a literary career.

F. R. Fronizer was born October 15, 1852, at the city of Buffalo, New York, and emigrated to Ohio with his parents in the spring of 1853. He was educated in the common schools of Ohio. For some time Mr. Fronizer was a school teacher, and while so engaged, taught the high school at Woodville, Ohio.

He commenced reading law in the law office of John T. Garver in Fremont, in the fall of 1874, and was admitted to the Bar in Sandusky county in the fall of the year 1877. He has since been elected a justice of the peace for Ballville township, which he resigned, and is now engaged in practice at Fremont.

P. O'Farrell was born at Sandusky City, Erie county, Ohio, May 24, 1856. In the spring of i860 he moved with his parents, and settled in Scott township, Sandusky county, Ohio. Here young O'Farrell worked on the farm of his father, attending a district school in the winters until the spring of 1871, when he went to the Northwestern Normal School, then located at Republic, Seneca county, Ohio, to prepare himself for teaching. The ensuing winter he taught his first school for a term of four months in Montgomery township, Wood county, Ohio. At this time Mr. O'Farrell was not sixteen years old, yet he taught with good success, which indicates an aptness to acquire learning which is quite unusual. He continued to teach in the winter, and attend school in the summer until he commenced the study of the law, which was in the summer of 1876. He, however, taught the Hessville graded schools when studying, and there closed his career as a school teacher in April, 1880.

In June, 1880, Mr. O'Farrell passed examination under the new rules of the supreme court at Columbus, Ohio, and was there admitted to practice. He was elected a justice of the peace for Sandusky township in the spring of 1879, but resigned the office on the 16th of August, 1881. He was appointed a member of the board of county school examiners on the 3d day of July, 1881, which office he still creditably fills.

On the 24th day of May, 1881, Mr. O'Farrell married Miss Catharine O'Connor, daughter of Bryan O'Connor, who is now one of our most popular county commissioners.

Mr. O'Farrell has fine, natural gifts of perception, memory and language, which, if properly used, will make him a good advocate and lawyer.

Marcus D. Baldwin was born at Fremont, Ohio, on the 25th day of September, 1851. He received his early education at Toledo, Ohio, finishing a course at Oberlin, attending the latter institution about four years. He commenced reading law at Toledo, Ohio, borrowing the books he read from Messrs. Dunlap and M. R. Waite. He subsequently was located at Green Spring, Ohio, and while there read law under the tuition of Hon. T. P. Finefrock, of Fremont, Ohio. He was admitted to practice at Fremont by ' the district court on the 1st day of March, 1874, and began practice at Green Spring, May 1, 1874. He subsequently removed 1 to Fremont and opened a law office. He was chosen city solicitor for the city of Fremont soon after settling in the city, and satisfactorily discharged the duties of that office for several years. At this writing (May i, 1881,) Mr. Baldwin is still in practice, doing quite a successful business as an attorney, and dealing in real estate, but contemplates a removal to Shelby, Ohio. At one period Mr. Baldwin resided and taught school at Mitchell, Indiana. On the 31st day of October, 1874, he was married at Shelby, Ohio, to Sarah S. Rogers, by whom he has two living children, having lost one.

Thomas P. Dewey, now residing at Clyde, Ohio, -was born on the 27th day of December, 1852, in Crawford county, State of Pennsylvania, and was educated at the common schools, mainly at Kelloggsville, Ashtabula county, Ohio. He commenced reading law at Painesville, Ohio, with Tinker & Alvord in the spring of 1876, came to Clyde in the spring of 1877, and finished his course of legal study in the office of Lemmon, Finch & Lemmon at that place, reading there until j 1879. He was admitted to the Bar April ; 27, 1879, and commenced practice in Tiffin, Ohio, in September following. He, however, returned to Clyde, and is now practicing. Mr. Dewey was married on the 9th day of September, 1879, to Miss Jennie Stilwell. He is a young man of good faculties, and no doubt will in time make a successful lawyer.

Byron R. Dudrow was born in Adams township, Seneca county, Ohio, on the 1st day of March, 1855. He was educated at Baldwin University, Berea, Ohio, from which institution he received the degree | of Master of Arts. He commenced the study of law in the office of Basil Meek, at Clyde, Ohio, on the 18th day of June, ; 1877. On the 26th day of April, 1879, ! he was admitted to the Bar by the district ' court of the county. He did not, how- I ever, at once enter into active practice. He served as deputy county clerk from the time of his admission to the Bar until April 26, 1880, at which time he commenced practice in Fremont. On the 22d day of November, 1878, he was married to Miss Mary E. Meek, daughter of Basil Meek, who is now the popular clerk of Sandusky county. Mr. Dudrow is a promising young member of the Bar, and with his excellent habits and genial good manners will probably attain a high professional standing. He is now, by election, the city solicitor of the city of Fremont, and is to all appearance on the road to prosperity in his profession.

John B. Loveland was born in New Haven township, Huron county, Ohio, on the 20th day of February, 1827. At the age of nineteen years he left his father's farm for Oberlin College to supplement the education picked up in a pioneer district school on the classic Huron River. On the 2 2d day of August, 1850, he was married to Miss Martha Jane Watts, of New Haven, by whom he has had three children. In 1854 he removed to Fremont, Sandusky county, Ohio, to take a position as teacher in the Fremont graded schools. This position he held with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned for the term of ten years. From his position in the schools of Fremont he was called to the superintendency of the schools at Bellevue and Green Spring respectively, in which position he spent eight years. All | this time he was one of the reliable members of the board of county school examiners, in which position he well and faithfully discharged the duties of the office for the term of fourteen years. He commenced the study of the law while superintending the schools of Green Spring, with Marcus D. Baldwin, esq., and was admitted to the Bar by the district court of

Sandusky county at Fremont, Ohio, on the 20th of March, 1876, where he commenced the practice of law, and has continued to practice until the present time. Although a member of the legal profession Mr. Loveland does not make the practice of the law a specialty, preferring the retirement of his farm, situated one and a half miles southwest of the city. In solid scientific attainments, and in that practical common sense which is the result of learning and original thought, Mr. Loveland has few superiors. His father, Mr. John Loveland, one of the oldest pioneers of Huron county, is still in good health at the advanced age of eighty-three years.

In 1832 he removed with his parents to Wayne county, Indiana. In August, j 1841, with his parents, he went to Owen county, Indiana, and there resided until September, 1864, when he came to Ohio and settled at Clyde. His school education was that of the common schools. He was married to Cynthia A. Brown, in December, 1849, who died August 14, 1861, at Spencer, Owen county, Indiana. By this marriage he had four children, viz. : Minerva B., Mary E., Lenore Belle, and Flora B. Mary E., who is the wife of B.

R. Dudrow, esq., and Lenore Belle, only, are now living. He was married to Martha E. Anderson, September 30, 1862, by whom he has had two children, both living, viz.: Clara C. and Robert C. He served as clerk of thecourts of Owencounty, Indiana, continuously from February 20, 1854, to February 20, 1862. At the November term, 1861, of the Owen county circuit court, he was admitted to the Bar, and formed a law partnership with Hon. Samuel H. Buskirk, practicing at Spencer till his removal to Ohio. In 1871, at Clyde, he resumed the practice of law, continuing 1 in the practice until he entered the clerk's office of Sandusky county, February 10, 1879, t0 which office he was elected in October, 1878. He is at this time serving as such clerk, and was, at the October election, 1881, re-elected to said office.

T homas P. Finefrock was born at Franklin county, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1826. He came to Ohio and settled in Lancaster, where he studied law with Medill & Whitman. He was admitted to the Bar in August, 1851, and came to Fremont and began practice with Brice J. Bartlett in the following September. He soon became well known as a lawyer, and the firm became prominent in the legal business of j the county. Mr. Finefrock was chosen to the position of prosecuting attorney in 1853, and served two successive terms. In 1857 he was the Democratic candidate for representative in the General Assembly, his Republican opponent being Ozias L. Nims, a prominent merchant of Fremont. After a closely contested campaign, Mr. Finefrock was elected by a small majority. During the war he took an active interest in politics, being a leader of the ultra- Democratic party. In 1866 he received the Democratic nomination for Congress in the Tenth District, but was defeated by General R. P. Buckland, the Republican candidate. His practice from the time he located in the county was large and remunerative. In 1874 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas, on the Democratic ticket, and served for the full term of five years, when he again returned to the practice of law, entering into partnership with Charles H. Bell, under the firm name of Finefrock & Bell. The firm is now in full practice. He has j always maintained the reputation of a good jury lawyer. Mr. Finefrock was married in May, 1854, to Miss Emma E. Carter. They have raised a family of children, and reside east of the city.

Clyde, and graduated from the high school of that place in 1875. Just after graduating he went to California, where he spent about one year. Returning, he began the study of law in the office of Basil Meek, at Clyde, in the fall of 1876. He was admitted to the Bar by the supreme court at Columbus in the spring of 1879, and immediately opened an office at Clyde. In June, 1879, he formed a partnership with D. A. Heffner for the practice of the profession, which partnership still continues. Mr. Richards is a promising young member of the Bar.