over the head with a railroad coupling-pin, took his money, shoes, and some articles of personal clothing. The old man was found shortly thereafter, unconscious, and he died from the injuries inflicted. The defendants were apprehended, jointly indicted by a grand jury of the county, separately tried, and convicted of murder in the first degree. Hon. Robert S. Shields, prosecuting attorney of the county, was assisted in the trial of both cases, by William A. Lynch and William R. Day. The defendant, Gustave Ohr, was represented by James Amerman and Joseph J. Parker, both eminent lawyers of Alliance; and the defendant, George Mann, was represented by Hon. Geo. E. Baldwin and Judson D. Lewis, of Alliance.

John Sammet resided in Massillon, where he shot a young man, Christian Spuhler, who had been called to testify in some minor criminal matter against Sammet. He was indicted by a grand jury of the county, on January 24, 1880, was placed on trial and was convicted of murder in the first degree on February 11, 1880, the state being represented by Hon. Henry W. Harter, prosecuting attorney, William A. Lynch and Wm. R. Day. The defendant, Sammet, was represented by Hon. Geo. E. Baldwin, and James Amerman.

George McMillan was executed in the present county jail, July 20, 1883, having been convicted by a jury of his peers, March 2, 1883, under an indictment for the murder of his wife, Augustine McMillan. by shooting her with a pistol through the head. McMillan and his wife lived in Cherry street, Canton, now Cherry street S.E. The defendant, just before being executed, maintained his innocence, naming a very close relative whom he claimed was the guilty person. The prosecution of George McMillan was conducted by Hon. Henry W. Harter as prosecuting attorney, assisted by Joseph J. Parker; and the defendant was represented by Hon. Geo. E. Baldwin, and Hon. Robert S. Shields.

The first prisoner from Stark county to be executed in the Ohio penitentiary was Henry Popp, executed on December 19, 1890, for the murder of Moritz Grether, by cutting and stabbing him in the throat.

The murder taak place in daylight on East Tuscarawas street, close to the P. Ft. W. & C. R. R., the victim having ejected the defendant out of his place of business. The defendant, after making some preparation, again appeared and, when ordered out, struck with a sharpened knife, entting the throat of Grether, who died very shortly thereafter.

The prosecution was conducted by Hon. John C. Welty, as prosecutor: the defendant's counsel were A. L. Jones and J. S. Hudson.

The first Stark county prisoner convicted of murder in the first degree to pay the penalty by electrocution in the state penitentiary. was James W. Cornelius, executed June 28, 1907, for the murder of his wife, Estella Cornelius, on September 17, 1906.

County Prosecutor C. C. Upham, assisted by R. C. McCulloch, represented the state in the Cornelius case, and the defendant's counsel were John C. Welty and John W. Albaugh.

On the night of April 6, 1910, one Cletus Willaman, who was stopping for the night with Warren E. Koons and family, consisting of Mr. Koons, his wife and a small boy about ten years of age, murdered both Mr. Koons and his wife by shooting and by beating them with a brick.

The boy was beaten and evidently left for dead by the murderer, but about ten o'clock of the next forenoon he regained consciousness, made his way down stairs in his night clothes, reached the house of the next neighbor and informed him of what had taken place. The murder was one of the most brutal that ever took place in the county, as well as the most skilfully and cunningly planned.

Mr. Koons and his wife, who lived in Canton, had partially raised the wife of Willaman, and shortly before the murder Willaman and his wife resided in Jackson township. Willaman had become interested in some land venture in Montana, and was in need of money. He had given out that he was going to Montana to take up his land, and had made arrangements to leave on the morning of April 6, 1910. After bidding his wife good-bye, he was driven to Massillon where he purchased a ticket for Montana, and took the west bound train for Chicago. It developed upon investigation that instead of using his through ticket purchased at Massillon, he paid a cash fare to Crestline, where he left the train. The same evening he took a train eastward, reaching Canton about nine o'clock, and he immediately went to the Koons home where he was given his supper and bed for the night. After the commission of the deeds, he went to the west end of the city to a grove where he attempted to remove the blood stains from his garments. About day-break he took the early street car back into the city, going immediately to the Pennsylvania depot and taking the westbound Chicago train. It being daylight by this time, he was recognized by one or two persons in the car, but who at that time, of course, knew nothing about the murders.

The information given by the boy upon regaining consciousness was that Willaman had been at the house during the night and had shot Mr. Koons and killed Mrs. Koons, and that he struck at him with a brick. The trail was immediately taken up and Willaman arrested about the middle of the afternoon on the train a short distance out of Chicago. His baggage on being opened revealed his bloody garments. The motive of his crimes was robbery, as the trunks and places of keeping valuables in the Koons' home were all gone through by the defendant in the hope of securing money, which it was supposed Mr. Koons had in the house.

The defendant, Willaman, was indicted for murder in the first degree, there being two indictments returned. He was tried upon the indictment for the murder of Warren E. Koons, convicted, and electrocuted on July 28, 1911.

The prosecution of the defendant, Willaman, was conducted by Charles Krichbaum, prosecuting attorney, and his assistant, Hubert C. Pontius; the defendant was represented by C. C. Upham and M. J. Braucher.

The last conviction in Stark county for murder in the first degree was that of Charles Burnetti, for the killing of one James O'Brien, at Brewster. Both Burnetti and O'Brien were persons known in criminal parlance as "yeggs." The murder took place at their camping place along the railroad, at night, the defendant striking his victim with a large board over the head, while he was asleep, killing him instantly. The defendant made little effort to excuse his act or secure conviction of a crime less than murder in the first degree. He was prosecuted by

Frank N. Sweitzer, representing the state, and was defended by M. J. Braucher.

The murder took place on June 19, 1917, and the defendant was electrocuted on February 1, 1918.

One of the more important murder cases tried before the courts of the county, was that of the State of Ohio vs. Amelia Richardson for the alleged murder of her husband, Edward Richardson, by shooting him with a pistol in the left temple, on the 16th day of January, 1876. The accused and her husband were residents of the city of Massillon. A special grand jury of the county returned an indictment against the accused and she was placed on trial November 28, 1876. The trial lasted until the 23rd day of December when a verdict of manslaughter was returned by the traverse jury. The state was represented by the prosecutor, Hon. Robert S. Shields, Wm. A. Lynch and Wm. R. Day; the defendant by Hon. John McSweeney, Hon. Seraphim Meyer, and Pease & Ricks, of Massillon. It was one of the most strenuously contested cases ever tried in the county court, much of the evidence being the testimony of medical experts.

Another important murder trial, and one that excited nation-wide interest, was that of the State of Ohio vs. Annie E. George, indicted for murder in the first degree, for the alleged shooting of George D Saxton in the early evening of October 7, 1898. The accused and the deceased had for a long time been having alleged questionable relations, resulting in a separation of the accused from her former husband, and out of which grew much litigation in the courts of the county.

The deceased on the evening of the homicide had gone to the home of a woman who resided in the west end of the city of Canton, riding there on a bicycle, when, after dismounting from his wheel and about to step from the sidewalk, he was shot down, several balls entering his body and death resulting instantly. There were no known eye wit nesses to the shooting. The accused was arrested the same evening of the murder, indicted for murder in the first degree, and placed on trial before a traverse jury of the county on April 3, 1899; the Hon. Isaac H. Taylor, presiding judge.

Owing to the prominence of the deceased, and his family relations, the trial was given wide publicity, all the great newspapers of the day were represented by the different press associations of the country. The trial lasted until the 28th day of April, when a verdict of "Not Guilty" was returned and the defendant discharged from custody.

The state was represented by Hon. Atlee Pomerene, prosecuting attorney, assisted by Hon. James J. Grant; the defendant's counsel being John C. Welty and James Sterling.

The arguments of counsel to the jury and the charge of the court consumed four days.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF
JEFFERSON COUNTY

W

BY JOSEPH B. DOYLE, Esq.

Law Librarian, Jefferson County, Ohio

WHILE Jefferson county can truthfully claim a few settlers as early as 1772, certain it is that when Congress on May 2, 1785, passed the act providing for the survey of lands northwest of the Ohio river there were several small settlements justly entitled to be called permanent, possessing what in those days was considered at least equal to title deeds-namely actual possession.

Virginia having ceded her interest in the territory northwest of the Ohio to the Confederate government, Congress, on May 20, 1785, passed an act providing for the survey of seven ranges northwest of the Ohio river, which was the beginning of the public land system of the United States. These ranges included what are now the counties of Jefferson, Columbiana, Carroll, Tuscarawas, Harrison, Guernsey, Belmont and part of Washington.

In 1801 the surveys were extended northwardly to the 41st parallel, giving four additional townships in each range and continuing the survey to the southern boundary of the Connecticut Reserve. It had been the general impression that the original seven ranges extended to the 41st parallel, but researches by Prof. A. M. Dyer, curator of the Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland, proved that the northern boundary was originally 40 degrees, 38 minutes and 2 seconds, the line being afterwards changed as above stated.

The Indian danger was not over, and to protect the surveyors and others then in this section, a military expedition of three companies was sent out and placed under command of Captain Hamtramck, of the regular army. The troops rendezvoused at the old Mingo town on the Ohio river at the mouth of Cross creek, and were inspected by Major North, who had been aide to General Frederick von Steuben during the American revolution. That officer evidently considered the plateau on the right bank of the river three miles above Mingo as a better location. Accordingly the soldiers were transferred thither, and in September, 1786, the building of a fort was begun, and named. Steuben, after the major's former commander. The winter of 17861787 was a busy one in this locality as attested by the diaries of different persons, and this may justly be considered as the first permanent settlement in the now state of Ohio.

It was not, however, until July 29, 1797, that the Territorial government under General Arthur St. Clair, set off Jefferson as a separate county and definitely defined its boundaries. These boundaries as

described in Governor St. Clair's proclamation, began on the bank

of the Ohio river where the western boundary of Pennsylvania crosses it, and down said river to the southern boundary of the fourth township in the third range, and with said southern boundary west to the southwest corner of the sixth township of the fifth range; thence north along the western boundary of said fifth range to the termination thereof; thence due west to the Muskingum river and up the same to and with the portage between it and the Cuyahoga river; thence down the Cuyahoga to Lake Erie, thence easterly along the shores of the lake to the boundary of Pennsylvania and south with the same to the place of beginning.

This included besides the present Jefferson, the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, Portage, Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana, part of Cuyahoga, including most of what is now the city of Cleveland, with most of Summit, Stark, Carroll, Harrison and Belmont. The seventh judicial circuit, composed of the counties of Ashtabula, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Geauga, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Lake, Mahoning, Monroe, Noble, Portage and Trumbull, covers, with some variation, about the same territory as the original county of Jefferson.

In the meantime the town of Steubenville had succeeded Fort Steuben, and here the first court, called "The First General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the County of Jefferson in the Territory of the United States," was held, in pursuance of a proclamation by Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the territory, acting in the absence of Governor St. Clair. Court assembled on November 2, 1797, with Philip Cable, John Moody and George Humphrey as judges, and on the first day of the term John Rolfe, James Wallace and Solomon Sibley were admitted to the bar. David Vance became associate judge the following year, Thomas Fawcett at the August term in 1799, William Wells in 1800, and John Martin in 1801, this being the composition of the court until 1803, when Ohio became a state.

The first jury called was at the February term, 1798. It was composed of Philip Cahill, Shadrack Newark, Joseph Ross, Jr., K. Cahill, K. Pritchard, John Shrimplin, William Schritchfield, William Shrimplin, Thomas Harper, Aaron Hoagland, Robert Newell and Thomas Bendure. Its first case was John Jones, Jr., vs. James Hall, in which the plaintiff recovered $14.06 and costs.

The court seems to have first met out of doors before a log fire, then in a private house, but soon it utilized a log structure built on two lots at the northeast corner of Third and Market streets, which on the laying out of the town had been denominated Public Square. This building had two stories, the upper one being used for religious meetings and other gatherings. At the August term John Moody and John Ward were appointed commissioners to contract for and superintend the repairing of the court house and “gaol," making the same fit for public use, at an expense of $40.00. On the 15th of the same month a deed was procured from Bezaleel and Sarah Wells, of Brooke county, Virginia, transferring this tract, 120 x 180 feet, for a court house, jail and other public buildings, the consideration being $5.00.

On February 16th, John Kelley presented a petition asking the court to take testimony and make a statement to the U. S. secretary of the treasury concerning a forfeiture under the excise law. Kelley had brought two distilleries from Virginia to this county in 1795, and had distilled 11 bushels of rye without registering the stills. He claimed