Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-05

Cain.
We have received authentic, official in
formation that there has never been but one
execution in this county for the murder of
a party within the limits Of the county, and
that this case occurred on the 26th Of June,
1872. When an antiquarian fit was on the
other day we made, through the kind per-
mission of the gentlemen of the Office of the
Clerk Of the Common Pleas court, & search
Of the records, and having found a queer
document which proves to be the first re-
cord Of q trial for murder in this county,
We propose to shake it out in the light Of
common day and let the air blow frop- sne
page, wherein it is entered, the Iust gain
cred during nearly two generations OF men,
Butfor the right paderstanding oil tue re-
cord by se4le of our readers, we must
make the preliminary statement hat cuya-
hoga county in 1917 was not the contracted
area we now see cramped down on the maps;
but it lay around in a loose, careless kind OF
fashion, reaching beyond sandusky on the
west and stretched far enough east TO m
brace the present county of Geauga- It
was not, therefore, at the time we write of,
the "pent up Utica" known to the yrang
geographers Of our city schools IT To-day
Gin reading the document 'Se discover 'ne
name Of our venorabl@ 'ownsmAn' MI Lew
, Johnson. on the nst Of jurymen, being the
last su-virr of that number. We made
h.,ts - hnd him, and ask that the grave of
b. memory give up its dead. He accord
ingly went over the affair, and we jot down
rAe facts az they fell from his lips.
In the early spring of 1872 two men
b~aed Michael Gibbs and Daniel Buel went
rom TIM place 70 the townseip IF Wheats-
boro', and built a rsde cabin on Pipe creek,
q small stream about fourteen miles in
length, which empties into the bay near
the present: city of Sandusky, which was
then small affair in the way of a SETTLE
ment. They were trappers, and owned sew
sral OF the best rides and traps then manu-.
featured. 1t seems that two Indians of the
Chippewa tribe, named John Omick, or
John the son of omick, alias Beaver. and
Semo, coveted these implements, and mot
having the fear of God before their eyes,"
and "seduced by the i~nstisstiOn of the
| devil" az the document reads, determined
TO possess themselves Of them. They so-
oordingly went to the cabin and in a friend
ly manner asked to stay over night. The
request was granted. During the night the
"dsvil7 began to "operate," as the phySi-
clans say of pills, and John the sen Of
omiek arose and despatched Buel with q
tomahaWk. How cireumstantial the docu-
menti 1t tells what kind Of ha elve the
tomahawk had, the stuff the tommy" was
made of, and3the cost. Semo shot Gibbs
with a pistol, and the pale faces persisted
unawares.
A Mr.. Nash was living in Sandusky at
the time, and early in the morning after the
murder his two sens, Abel and Joel, went
back into the woods with an OK team to get
some timber. On their return they discov-
cred smoke a little way of, and thinking it
strange went to the cabin of these trappers,
and found it burning. With difficulty they
rescued the bodies of the men from the
flames, and then made haste to the settle
ment and gave the alarm. The event ere
ated q great stir, of course, and the friendly
Indians whereabouts became greatly alarm
ed, and finally agreed to hunt out the Of
tenders and deliver them up. They were
readily discovered, as they had the guns,
traps and fur still in their possession. John,
the son of omick, was arrested and deliv-
cred up to the authorities Of the people of a
little settlement at Huron, who passed him
along to this place. semO, finding the
fagots kindled shout him were proving hot,
and conscious that he would be taken, shot
himself, and SO saved the authorities OF
Cuyahoga county the trouble of trying and
hanging him.
Omiok was chained TO an iron stRple
driven In the floor of q room in what was
then known as Carriers building, the site Of
which is immediately in the rear of Mr..
George worthington's hardware store, corner
of Superior and Water streets
The trial was primitive. 1t lasted but
one day, and was held in the open air under
a large cherry tree on the spot nov occupied
by Mr.. George Worthington's store. The
Indictment and the general record read as
followsi
TIE STATE OF ONO, CuYAHoeA County, Ss.
suPREME COURT, April Term, 1872.
The State of ohiol
"a.