The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1949-03-17

McMillen climbed up on the judges
seat to try them.
Tapping was fined rs cents fol
four shirts and a pair of stockings
bought from soldier--two counts
Traverse, charged with having a pail
of overalls and a woolen army over,
coat, was let off; and Strong, ar
army captain himself, was cleared
He had right to his public proper
ty.
At later session the same year
the same court sentenced William
Henry Harrison, later President, to
"a hours Imprisonment for assault
and battery. Judge John Cleves
Symmes, owner of all the land be-
tween the two Miamis nearly up to
Xenia, was fined for illegally selling
whisky.
Tavern Serves as Jail
There was no jail in the settle
ment yet. Harrison was made to
serve his sentence in McHendry's
tavern, which he did "in the bar
room, surrounded by group of
convivial acquaintance" His father
in-law, Symmes, paid his 50-cent fine
and went back to North Bend to sell
more whisky to the Indians.
Because of the civil courts
activities and the army's contention
that it and not citizens group,
represented the law in Cincinnati, a
clash of authority followed.
John Bartle, Cincinnati's first and
then only storekeeper, incurred the
enmity Of Lieut.. Thomas Pasteur, of
the Ft. Washington garrison, was
decoyed under the pretext of trading,
alone into the fort and severely
beaten by the lieutenant in the
presence of his friends. Bartle had
Pasteur arrested. That was about
the first of February, 1892.
Picked up on the street by Con-
stables Woodward and Wheelan,
Lieutenant Pasteur was taken into
Judge Tapping's court, where under
a tongue lashing from Bartle's claw
yer" a young man named Blanchard,
he became angered and escaped back
to the garrison.
Settlers Battle Army
On February II, 1892, Pasteur
detailed a sergeant and 80 privates
to hunt up Blanchard and personally
chastise him and all who might
defend him in his cause" The de-
tail ran into William Mcmillan and
John Riddle, the towns first black
smith, before it got far and the fight
started. Mcmillan and Riddle were
Joined by is other citizens and the
battle of 18 settlers against the
army was on.
The fight was a severe one but the
soldiers were driven off and the af-
fair created a great deal of excite
ment on the frontier. Mcmillan was
injured SO severely in the fight that
he never recovered, soon afterwards
giving up his office downtown and
moving to the country, where he
died at the age of forty-two.
After an investigation by the army
Lieutenant Pasteur was "permitted'
to resign and the sergeant was
reduced to ranks. He would have
received more drastic punishment had
it not been proven that he had acted
under orders. Pasteur then was tried
in Judge Tapping's civil court on a
charge of assault and battery and
was fined three dollars.
So goes the factual little tale of
ohio's first court, organized in the
shade of Cincinnati's ''Lazy Elm"
The great tree was an institution
and for long a landmark in the city.
More than four feet through, it
leaned crazily in the corner on the
old Public Landing and its shelter
was trysting place for lovers and
the scene of most early mass meet
ings and public gatherings. From its
branches the martins flew away each
year after meeting and came back to
NEST again. Hit by lightning in
1907, the great tree rotted and sway
ed. 1t was cut down in the 1840's
in the interest of public safety.