The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-01-17

From this marriage, in the year 1910,
Sheppard was born. In the year 1918,
when Shep was three years old, his ia
Their once more set out out ON his trav-
els, and finally settled on farm in
Perry County, about four miles from
the present town of Chapel Hill, and
midway between Athens and Zanes-
vile. The distance between these two
places is fifty miles. Here John erected
and opened a tavern for wayfarers which
has been known ever since as "Tink-
er's Tavern" but which long since lost
its hospitable character. thinker S Tav-
ern" was at that time the only build
ing between Athens and GAINESVILLE.
1t occupied the summit of one of the
innumerable hills that abound in Perry
County, from which "you could see, !"
as Shep says, "as far as the sky would
let you" Of the heyday of Shops
youth the village tradition does not
preserve any record. 1t is only known
that he was accounted a bright young
blade, intelligent but uncommonly
wild. Certain it is, however, that he
soon became the acknowledged leader
of set of young rascals who inhabited
the neighboring hills. This was the
nucleus around which Shep formed the
celebrated Tinker gang of horse thieves.
When Tinker was twenty years old a
horse was stolen from a man named
Flowers, at New Lexington, and Shep
was supposed to be the thief. No evil
dence, however, could be obtained
against him until one day while drunk
he boosted of having stolen the horse.
Upon this admission he was arrested
and sent to the penitentiary for six
years. 1t afterwards transpired that
on the night the horse was stolen Shep
had been some twenty-five miles away
and had in reality invented the story of
the theft. The joke, if joke it was, be-
came serious matter before the end.
When released from the penitentiary
he Immediately set to work in earnest
to steal horses. He organized band
of professional horse thieves, and was
so successful that in the year 1910 his
name was terror to the farmers of
Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Mem
bers of his gang were located in almost
every county in this State and in a
large portion of Indiana. The horses to
be stolen were always carefully Sc
lected. Dark nights were chosen for the
raids, and the horses were carried by
nightly stages into the wilderness of Per-
ry County, near "Shep's'' home, where
they were secreted. This country was
admirably adapted to the purpose, be-
ing very thinly settled and covered for
the most part with heavy growth of
timber. The principal "hold'' of the
band, however, was a patch of woods
situated on the county line between
Athens and Perry Counties, called
Beech Woods, and which to this day
contains four square miles of forest in
terspersed with ravines and rocky
places. Sooner or later it occurred to
Shep that counterfeiting might also be
profitable, and he turned his attention
to that branch ofrascality. But before
long the eye of suspicion was on him,
and one day, having come to Zanes-
vile with saddle-bag full of spurious
coin, the Sheriff arrested him and threw
him into Jail. Shep was accounted a
very handsome man, and succeeded in
making an impression on the Sheriff S
servant-girl, who, having stolen the
keys of the jail, released him. Shep
fled, and the Sheriff with posse of ten
men followed him for two weeks with
out success. Leaving his Lieutenant,
Henry Raynor (who by the way, after
wards signalized himself in the annals
of New York crime by stealing whole
herd of cattle in Orange County,, in
charge of the gang, Tinker set off
through the West. The news of his
travels from time to time reached
GAINESVILLE. He twas heard of as a
Methodist minister, as a political
stump-speaker, and later as resident
of the Iowa penitentiary. Still later it
was heard that he had become rich, and
was the owner of palatial residence
on the Iowa River, which far exceeded
anything in the State in point of rich
ness of appointment. At last he re-
turned, and freely admitting that he
had served terms in the penitentiaries
of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, called
upon the people to elect him as Justice
of the Peace, saying naively: 81 know
all about crime, so you couldn't do bet
teri
His proposition was not accepted, al
though he had distinctly announced
that he would either be Justice of the
Peace or highwayman, and told them
to take their choice. AS good as his
word, he waylaid County Judge and
a clergyman and robbed them of their
horses. For this exploit he was sent to
the Ohio penitentiary for ten years, but
was soon pardoned out. He at once
recommended his struggle for such
fame as is to be found in the office of a
Justice of the Peace, and in 1862 was
absolutely elected to that Office in Mon
roe County by his appreciative neigh
bors, defeating one of the wealthiest
men in the county, who was his politi-
cal opponent. 1t was, however, proved
that he was incapacitated for filling
Office by civil disabilities. The blow
seemed to break Shops iron heart. He
became penitent for his sins and re-
formed. He resides now near the oil d
tavern on the worst forty acres in Perry
County, or, as it was aptly called, the
most God-forsaken spot in Ohio" He
has been in the habit of voting here, but
at the last election the judges took it
into their heads to challenge his vote.
alleging that he had never received a