The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-12-06
A Elalher Peculiar Lawsuit In ohio.

A FATHER Peculiar Lawsuit In Ohio.
A somewhat remarkable lawsuit, which
has been pending in the Oldham and Shelby
circuit courts for three years, was termina-
ted last week. The details as given by the
Courier Journal are as follows Two men
first cousins, named Sam Ellis and Zach
Head, owned adjoined farms near the
boundary line between Shelby and Oldham
counties. They are both men of means and
of good standing in the community. Head
owned fine bluegrass farm lying near
Ellis place, which he used for a meadow.
In the year of S7S he noticed that consid-
cradle of the grass of this field was being
eaten up. He could account for 1t in no
manner, as there was high rail fence all
around It, In riding over the field one day
he noticed in the corner, lying near Ellis
place, number of cattle tracks. He no.
ticed further that some one had been in the
habit of laying down the fence at that point
He determined to watch that night and see
if he could discover the manner in which
his grass had been eaten up. In company
with another man, both being armed with
shotguns lie lay down in fence corner
that night and kept watch.
About midnight they were rewarded by
seeing two men coming up the road on
horseback, driving a large drove of cattle
before them. They halted the cattle near
the corner of the fence, aud one of the men
dismounted aud began TO let it down.
Head could SEQ by the light of the moon
that it was his cousin, Sam Ellis. He kept
quiet until the fence had been let down to
the ground aud the cattle driven into the
field. The two men then started to ride
stopping, they whipped up their horses and
galloped off. Head raised his gun and
fired two shots after them without however
doing any damage. At the next session of
the grand jury an indictment was found
against Ellis, and in October, 1878, the
case came up in the Lagrange circuit court.
The jury found Ellis guilty, and fined him
$475. He carried the case to the court of
appeals, and the decision was there revers-
ed on account of some flaw in the indict-
Shelby court, and there tried for the third
time. The case was again decided against
Ellis, and he was fined $3.50. The case
was taken to the Court of appeals second
time, and there affirmed. While the case
was going on, an attempt was made to
poison William Allen and his son, two of
the principal witnesses against Ellis, by
putting drachm of strychnine in a bucket
of water. Luckily, when Allen went to
take drink he tasted the water first, and
noticing the bitter taste, examined the
bucket and found strychnine in the bottom.
A negro named Sam Jones was arrested for
attempting to poison them at the instiga-
tion of Ellis, to prevent their testifying
against him. When the case came up be-
fore the grand jury man named George
Olderfed was brought in by Ellis to con-
tradct two witnesses, and was arrested for
perjury.
He was tried last December before the
Shelby court for perjury and sent up for
year. At the last trial of the original case
man named Frank Howard was put on the
stand and swore that he was the one who
turned the cattle into Heads field. He
was indicted for perjury, but made his
escape and has not been seen since. The
case against Jones for attempting to poi
son the two Aliens was tried for the last
time on last Friday, and he was sent to the
the penitentiary for five years. Four dis
tinct cases grew out of the original one,
and it is expected that several more indict-
ments for perjury and civil suit will be
filed at the next meeting of the court. The
case is one of the most remarkable ones
ever tried in that district, and it has been
watched with breathless interest through
out. Both men were very wealthy, and
had number of friends who fought it hotly
on both sides.