 Bristol Public Library
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History of Farmington, Ohio
Murder Most Foul by Dorothy Sloan Anthony ******* It was a pleasant day in May--the 29th--in 1897. Two men stopped at the Theodore Davidson home in Oakfield and purchased a loaf of bread. The taller of the men complained about the money. "Ten cents," said Mrs. Davidson, "take it or leave it--that's my price." The short stocky man wanted some eggs to cook 'for me and some others.' They had a fire 'down in the woods'. The men had stopped earlier at Emma Marlowe's house in Bristol and four or five men had been prowling around the village during the day. They were seen walking north on the railroad, separating at the station, and going to various houses to buy food. Nobody really cared, but speculation was that the group was from Warren and had followed the railroad to a point due east of the Hill farm. This house was set back 40 rods from the town road in overgrown field with no other dwelling within a mile. Isaac Hill, 46, lived here with his aging mother, Rachel, recently moved from Cleveland. The homestead was on the northeast corner of Farmington Township on a lot formerly owned by Plympton Wildman, grandson of Eden Wildman, first settler in East Farmington. Two of the men received a ride in a buggy with a passerby, C. H. Cannon who lived at the crossroads between Hill's and the railroad. They inquired about Hill whom they had heard was a rich farmer and they were looking for work. Strangers weren't common but events started to fall in place Sunday morning when it was learned a gruesome crime had occurred the preceding night. Criminals entered the Hill house at midnight after Isaac and his mother retired. Both were hard of hearing. The feeble 78-year old Mrs. Hill, sleeping on the first floor, was bound and her head swathed in the bedding before the intruders sneaked upstairs to her son's bedroom. He kept two revolvers beside the bed and apparently fired once before being clubbed with a gas pipe torch and shot in the heart causing instant death. His hands and feet were tied with binder twine. Later Hill's brother Hiram, who lived in Newark, said one bullet in one gun was spent and there was blood on the floor and bloody dragging stains on the walk indicating one man was injured. Mrs. Hill worked herself loose and got nearly a mile on her hands and knees when a neighbor boy, George Cowdry, met her and helped her to the Lysander Wood home. The coroner and the sheriff were called as well as C. H. Kelso, a shrewd detective from Cleveland, who helped with the investigation and later testified at the trials. The kitchen door was broken down from outside and both panes and the lock were shattered. Farmers turned out and searched the countryside, and from the description provided by Mrs. Hill and others who had seen the strangers on Saturday, four men were traced to Warren, arrested and jailed. Mrs. Hill identified two.... Louis Yura who had a scar beneath one eye and Charles Fenton, but insisted there was a third person. Both Yura and Fenton were held in the lock-up from July 1 until the trail date in December. Rachel HIll died July 11, 897, little more than a month after her ordeal when her son was murdered. Louis Yura was an Italian living on South St. in Warren. He was indicted for murder in the first degree, as was Charles Fenton. Jury selection began December 6 from a pool of 36. Mrs. Yura, a small pleasant faced woman, was in the courtroom each day and carried on a whispered conversation with her husband. She was later called as a witness to testify that her husband had not left Warren on the day of the crime. She gave her age as 19 and said they had been married three years. Defense attorneys were State Senator John J. Sullivan, Charles Fillius and C.M. Wilkins, assigned by the trial judge. The prosecutor E. E. Roberts was assisted by court appointed Atty. T. H. Gilmer, representing the state. A jury was selected which included Z. F. Cramer, a Warren barber; C. C. Raymond, postmaster at Greensburg (Greene); Frank Alling, farmer from Johnston; James Stewart, druggist; Charles McCombs, Champion farmer; William P. Osborn, Howland carpenter; L. S. Cline, Niles undertaker; W. C. Allison, Niles lumber dealer; Charles H. Curtiss, roofing and iron manufacturer; Drayton J. Finney, Niles druggist; and Charles W. Butler, Niles grocer. In Atty. Gilmer's statement to the jury he said that Yura had confessed to this murder along with other recent 'jobs' in the vicinity. One hundred and twenty-four witnesses were called. Though defense tried to prove that Yura had been in Warren all day Saturday there were enough people in Farmington and Bristol who had seen the 'strangers' Saturday and identified them as those who were being held in jail. Supposedly the 'confession;' was made to one of Yura's 'drinking buddies', Tom Welch, being held in jail on another charge. Welch said it was a boast made at Burns saloon at the old Austin House in Warren while being entertained by Welch using 'money furnished by the prosecutor'. Welch received $50 for inveigling him into making the 'confession'. He was referred to as the 'so-called ex-convict' and known to have been in and out of prison through the years on many petty charges. He said Yura had admitted he had shot Hill and returned to make sure he was dead for 'dead men tell no tales'. He said he had gotten nothing, but he would have killed his father for a thousand dollars. During the trial another witness, Albert Hamilton, a prisoner in the jail awaiting trial for horse stealing while Welch was incarcerated, said Welch had confided that he had "been up there" at Hills that night and the part he had played would never be known. "I could get these two boys (Yura and Fenton) out or I could given them the 'button'". When asked why he didn't get them out Welch said he intended to give them the button, meaning the electric chair. Of course, Welch when called to the stand, denied making any such statement. The trial was recessed for a day to permit one juror to attend the funeral of his cousin, Mrs. Nancy McKinley. When it resumed on the following day the defense was having difficulty supplying an alibi for Yura so examined a large number of witnesses in an effort to establish an alibi for Fenton, his companion. Many verified they had seen him in Warren on May 9, but others contradicted the testimony by placing Fenton in different places at the same time. Gilmer described the conflicting evidence and testimonies in the 'not guilty' pleas of Yura and Fenton. The defense attorney detailed the alibi as genuine and trustworthy. After winding up the testimony, the case went to the jury at noon for deliberation which took 12 hours. It was Dec. 20 when a midnight session of the court was called for the report of the jury. They had agreed on a verdict which was believed to be the second time a man was convicted of first degree murder in Trumbull County. The first was the conviction of Ira Gardner of Gustavus more that 50 years earlier for killing his stepdaughter and he was executed by hanging. A new trial was requested but Sen. Sullivan was forced to withdraw as the defense lawyer because of the approaching session of the Ohio legislation. Judge E. B. Taylor replaced him at Sullivan's request. The case ran the gauntlet of all processes and delays common to such matters and no different evidence being offered the jury's discriminating judgment and conclusion didn't change. The Charles Fenton trial began March 24, 1898, with Judge Gillmer presiding. Fenton's mother sat behind the rail at all sessions. Many of the same witnesses and testimonies from the Yura trial were presented by the state and by the defense. The defense insisted the weight of evidence in the trials was insufficient to warrant the penalty of death. An important new witness was Charles E. Clark who knew Fenton on sight since he formerly lived in Warren before moving to Ashtabula County. He testified that on May 29, 1897, en route to Green and Mecca while traveling the road passing Oakfield Station, he saw Fenton and asked him for directions. His reply was that he didn't know as he was a stranger there. Clark said Fenton was with a shorter, stocky man. Canon, the man who testified at the Yura trial that he had given the two men a ride, appeared on the stand and reported the conversation he had with them in the afternoon. He said they questioned if Hill wee a wealthy farmer and stated they were from Warren. This they later corrected saying they lived 'near' Warren. Emory Cox of Bristol Township working in a nearby field said he saw Canon speaking to the men. The second trial duplicated the first trial in most points and both Yura and Fenton were given life sentences in the penitentiary for the murder of Isaac Hill. The complete text of the trial was typed in a 526 page volume, probably one of the largest and most complete of any case recorded for many years. Mrs. May Fenton, wife of Charles, died April 6, 1899 at the age of 35. She was insured for $98. In 1910 Fenton received a Christmas pardon and the following July 5, in 1911, Yura was pardoned after serving less that 13 years for his crime. The Hill house stood empty and abandoned for some time after the murder. The year was overgrown with weeds and briers. It looked bleak and lonely. ***** Lena Hanks raised her head. Yonder was home. The team clomped along the long, narrow lane. They'd made it all the way from Howland. She could drive a team as well as any. She'd moved right along and behind came Charley herding the stock. It would take him longer even with son Wallie to help. She pulled the team to a halt and as she got out, the children shoved and shouted, anxious to explore "Just wait", she admonished. "I'll see what has to be done and what shape things are in." She walked warily up the dilapidated steps and across the flimsy floor of the porch. As she opened the door a musty smell was everywhere. Her gaze fell on the wall--the floor. Stains of dried blood were everywhere. Lena rushed from the house to untie the binders on the load of household furnishings. From a packet of tools she took an ax, warning the children not to follow her. She used the blade to cut out many of the stains and scraped and gouged till there were no smudges left. Then and only then did she call the girls, "Mamie, Gertie, Margie, come help with the cleaning." The girls who were to become Mamie Hanks Hill, Gertrude Hanks Fnk and Marjorie Hanks Jones started carrying in the household goods in what was to be their home for a while till the folks found an available home in the village. The Hill house now would have a happy family and the bleak past would soon be erased. *******
Prepared by: The Bristol
Public Library Bristolville, Ohio 12/23/98
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