Shameful Treatment of an Old Man, a Pioneer of This County.
The Sunday Capital of Columbus has the following pitiable story about an old resident of Marietta:
On Tuesday there was released from the City Prison a patriarchal looking old gentleman, ninety years of age, named Thomas Porter [1800-1891, son of Amos Porter, one of Marietta's first 48 pioneers]. He had been locked up since the previous Friday night. The old man had committed no crime, but had simply been received for safe-keeping, and was taken away in charge of his granddaughter, Mrs. Congdon [Hettie Congdon Nussel, daughter of Buell Congdon] of Montgomery Street, who came to his rescue as soon as she learned of his imprisonment.
The old man, in spite of his years, except for a deficit in hearing and sight, appears to be in possession of his faculties. The story he and his granddaughter told a Capital representative was truly heartrending and furnishes an example of cruelty almost past belief.
Mr. Porter stated that he had been living in Columbus for some five years past, having come here with his daughter [May D. Smith, also called Mary] and her husband, Mr. John Smith [John Ezra Smith], who is a carpenter and has charge of a gang of men at the Panhandle shops. His daughter and her husband had previously lived with him [1870 and 1880 census in Belpre, Washington County, Ohio], in fact they had always been together since her marriage, some sixteen years before [Wood County, WV, 12 Oct 1873] .
The old gentleman was worth some property at the time, the proceeds of which afterwards going to the son-in-law and his family, it being the tacit understanding that they were to care for him the rest of his days, in return for which they were to receive all he had. Mr. Porter says he had never been an idle man and up until a short time ago contributed his full share and even more to their joint support and never refusing them money out of his past savings when they needed it.
Some time ago he states they bought a lot in partnership at 393 Denmead Avenue, he paying $320 and Smith $180. The latter he claimed had the deed made out in his own name. Finally the old gentleman becoming too feeble to work except to tend his garden, in which he took great pride, and Smith having possession of all his money, as he and the granddaughter state, they began to grow tired of him and to mistreat him in many ways, feeding him refuse crusts and giving him to understand that he was a burden upon them. The old man said, "I have sometimes been compelled to satisfy my hunger by taking broken victuals from the slop fed to the cow and have taken the bones fed to the dog and cut the meat off of them."
The climax was reached some ten days ago when Smith's son [Don Carlos Smith] took the garden hose and began to despoil some of his grandfather's vegetables. The latter protested and young Smith turned the hose upon the old man. A bitter altercation ensued between the two when the boy's father interfered in his son's behalf. A scuffle ensued in which all three took part, and Mr. Porter says that in the melee he was thrown against a fence and his arm badly hurt. That member, as show to the reporter, was a mass of scabs on one side from the wrist to the elbow.
The old gentleman was thereupon refused admission to the house, and he spent a number of nights in the cow shed, sleeping on some old chests and subsisting as best he might. Friday night Smith had him taken to the station house for safekeeping, stating to the officer that he was out of his mind and was liable to wander away. He remained there without knowing the cause of his arrest, helpless and without any knowledge as to when he would be relieved until his granddaughter accidentally heard of it by the merest accident.
That lady was very much incensed at the treatment given her aged relative. She said they were trying to get the old man in the poor house, but that he should not go as she would care for him. He has a married daughter in Marietta who is well-to-do. She was as yet ignorant of the affair, but would make a home for him when she learned of the situation.
Mr. Porter is a man of excellent character, a member of the Methodist church of many years standing and enjoys the distinction of being the oldest temperance man in the country, having helped to organize a total abstinence society in Washington County, this state, which anti-dated the famous Washingtonian movement into which it was finally merged. The question of priority was disputed by a Massachusetts society, but was finally settled in favor of the Ohio organization. All the members are dead except Mr. Porter.
Suit is to be brought against Smith for assault and battery, also for the recovery of the old gentleman's interest in the Denmead Avenue property.
This is the story as related by the old gentleman and his granddaughter.
A reporter called at the Smith residence to ascertain what the man upon whom this cruelty was charged had to say in his defense. Mr. Smith was not at his home, but his wife, upon being interviewed, denied that there had been any assault upon Porter. On the contrary, she stated they had always treated him kindly and had cared for him without compensation for a number of years. She said that he lost about all the little property he possessed in the Ohio River flood of 1884, while they were living in Marietta, having but $300 left. She furthermore said that she was not his daughter, but his granddaughter. She said the old man was childish and would not remain with them, often wandering away, and that he was locked up for safe-keeping upon advice of the mayor and police. He was welcome to a home with them, she stated, whenever he would return. It was learned that the daughter referred to, Mrs. Cox [Harriet Porter Cox, wife of Joseph], is in the city and will probably take the old gentleman home to live with her.
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See also:
http://historicalmarietta.blogspot.com/2007/03/thomas-porter.html
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17612630
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