Rough and tumble Kossuth

L IMA — The 1900s did not begin 
well in Kossuth.

The village had high hopes at the end of the 1800s, voting to incorporate in 1897 and electing town officers like a clerk and councilmen.

It was trying to shake off its reputation, perhaps tiring of its being well known as a small place with a lot of saloons along the Miami-Erie Canal. But a murder spooked everyone once again.

The Delphos Herald reported Nov. 6, 1901, that hotel/saloon owner John Shivley was “shot down this morning at 4 o'clock while defending his property from thieves and died in a few minutes.”

The Lima Times-Democrat also had the story that same day. That report said he heard a ruckus from his family's quarters and came out to see what was afoot. He was confronted by the burglars.

“Mr. Barrett overheard one of the men say, ‘Stand back or I'll shoot,'” the story reported. Seconds later, “there was a fusilade and supposition was that Mr. Shively did not heed the order but crossed purposes with the men who made good their threat.”

The Auglaize Republican reported his wife ran out after hearing the shots, and the men cursed her and told her to get away or they'd shoot her too.

The men — perhaps two, perhaps four — grabbed liquor and cigars and made off in the direction of St. Marys. They stole another buggy and a fresh horse outside St. Marys, officers found, but then the trail went cold.

“John F. Shively was a man of large acquaintance, well liked by all who knew him, a staunch and liberal friend, always standing ready to lend a helping hand, and words of regret were heard on all sides. He was born in Auglaize County 45 years ago,” The Spencerville Journal-News reported. He was laid to rest at the German Methodist Episcopal Church, mourned by his wife and six children.

Authorities from all over the area took interest, eager to find the men who were capable of such bold violence. They quickly offered a $500 reward for the capture and conviction of the robbers.

Lima Police Chief Walter Mills supposed the men to be from Lima because the rig they rode into Kossuth with was stolen from the William H. Breese farm just south of Lima. A young man, employed by the farm, was briefly suspected but soon cleared.

“The men, if caught, will probably be lynched as excitement is very high,” a newspaper reported Nov. 8, 1901.

Later in November, a gang tried to rob the Citizen's Bank in Minster, attempting to blow the safe with nitroglycerin, but a night watchman fired his rifle upon them and soon had all kinds of backup from other citizens. The would-be robbers were driven out of town. Was this gang responsible for Shively's murder?

This same gang tried to rob a bank at Wilmington, and some of them were caught in that caper. Authorities suspected they were the murderers from Kossuth, but real evidence was nil — until one of their number gave a statement at the State Penitentiary in 1904.

On the night before the Kossuth killing, they were drinking on Lima's south side. They walked out into the country, stole the buggy from Breese, drove to Kossuth and killed Shively. They changed horses in Kossuth and drove to St. Marys, leaving the rig outside of town and walking in. Two of the men had lost their hats — a necessary item of clothing in those days — so one went into a clothing store and bought two caps. One boarded a passenger train headed to Lima. One walked to Lima through the countryside. One hid in the woods until dusk then stole a dinner pail, to pretend to be a laborer, and boarded a freight train for Lima. And on about their lives as ne'er-do-wells they went.

Authorities never were able to pin the crime on the men, but justice was done, in a sense.

Three men — Thomas Sweeney, James Price and John Henderson (among their many aliases) — were sentenced to the Ohio Pen for robbing a railroad depot at Wilmington. Sweeney and Price died in prison. Henderson served his time and was released.

A small news item published Aug. 24, 1934, reported Charles Henderson, alias John Jones, alias James Henderson — was found dead in a straw stack on the Herman DeLong farm near Cridersville. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation identified him through fingerprints.

The man, about 60 years old, had ended his own life by putting a revolver to the right side of his head.