Goes Mad in County Jail

The Marietta Daily Times, September 30, 1908

Reported that Nellie Kelley's Mind Has Become Unbalanced.

Woman Is Awaiting Hearing On Charge of Grave Character.

Is Nellie Kelley, in the county jail awaiting the sitting of the grand jury on a charge of harboring in a house of ill-fame a girl of tender years, insane, or is she feigning madness in an effort to escape a term in the Ohio penitentiary?

That is a question the courts will probably be called on to answer.

The woman has been in the prison for the past five or six weeks. She was arrested when a fifteen-years-old girl, Lena Freeman of Parkersburg, it is alleged, was found in her house on Ohio Street. When arraigned the evidence was found sufficient to warrant her being held for further investigation. Being unable to give bond in the sum of $1,000, she was sent to jail.

At first there was nothing unusual in her appearance or actions. Now, it is alleged, she gives evidence of being of unsound mind. At times she seems to have little recollection of where she is or why she is being held there. She talks incoherently and disconnectedly, and sometimes raves like a person who is violently insane.

The matter has been brought to the attention of her attorneys and the probability is that an effort will be made to secure her release on the ground that she has become insane through the confinement to which she has been subjected.

If the woman is found guilty of the crime with which she is charged, and the evidence is said to be very strong against her, she will get a term in the penitentiary. She is aware of that fact and this gives rise to the question of whether she is really insane or whether she has adopted this as a means of securing her release and possibly escaping the penalty for her alleged wrong doing.

The girl who was taken from the Kelley house was found guilty of incorrigibility and sentenced to the girls' industrial school at Delaware. She was taken there a few days ago and has begun her time at that institution. 

The condition of the Kelley woman has been noted only recently and her lawyers became aware of the change in her condition today. It is believed that they will take some action in the case within a day or two.

So far as there is any evidence the woman is really out of her mind, there having been no intimation that she is feigning insanity.

Richards Drug Store Is Sold to John O. Rose

The Marietta Daily Times, September 29, 1943

John O. Rose of Strecker Hill, pharmacist at Richards Drug Store, has purchased the merchandise stock and fixtures of the store at 104 Front Street from Miss Anna Richards, administrator of the estate of the late Edward T. Richards, who died last February.

The store building, which has housed the drug store since before the turn of the century, is a part of the estate of the late Albert J. Richards, father of Miss Anna Richards and founder of one of Marietta's oldest business institutions which has remained in the Richards family since it was established by "Al" Richards in 1876.

The Richards Drug Store was first housed on Greene Street near Second. A disastrous fire there resulted in the store being moved to a new building at 104 Front Street in the late 1890s, built by the late A. J. Richards. The late Ed T. Richards, who was in the drug business in Chicago for many years, returned to Marietta in 1916 and became associated with his brother under the firm name Richards Bros. Following the death of A. J. Richards, Ed T. Richards became proprietor of the store.

John O. Rose, son of Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Rose of Seventh Street, has been pharmacist at the store during the past four years. He graduated from Marietta High School and from Cincinnati College of Pharmacy. He was employed with the Abbott Laboratories in Chicago before returning to Marietta as pharmacist at the Richards store. John Chorpenning will remain as a clerk and George Corner as book-keeper.

 

Wooster vs. Worcester and Other Spelling Questions

 The Marietta Register, September 8, 1870:

We don't know how many times the Register has stated the fact that the street next above Scammel in Marietta, running back from the Muskingum, is named Wooster Street, and not Worcester, yet the latter appears sometimes, even in official proceedings.

*  *  *

The Marietta Register, September 22, 1870:

Some discussion in town since the Register of the 8th inst. about the spelling of the name of the street running from the Muskingum, next above Scammel. The Register has always had it Wooster and not Worcester.

All admit that the streets running back from the Muskingum were named for officers of the Revolutionary Army, beginning at the Ohio River: Wayne, Hart, Greene, Butler, Putnam, Scammel, Wooster or Worcester, Washington, Warren, Montgomery.

For whom was the street - Wooster or Worcester - named? We suppose for General David Wooster, killed at Ridgefield, Connecticut, April 1777, at the time of the British Tryon's expedition against Danbury. Does anyone doubt this or known of any Revolutionary officer named "Worcester," for whom the street was probably named? If so, point him out. No one will claim that any history spells the name of the Connecticut General in any other way than Wooster.

But on the original plat of Marietta in the Ohio Company's records, the street is designated "Worcester." Lawyers can judge from this what is the legal title. The law, it may be said, is not a precisely accurate speller, but is governed by the manifest meaning, and either Wooster or Worcester would stand law, according to the circumstances of the case.

Our belief is that on the original plat the spelling should have been Wooster, as General David Wooster spelled his name; and this the more, since the person who drew the plat did not know how to spell. He has on his plat, "Lue," instead of lien; "Harmer," in place of Harmar; "Gardins," for Gardens; and "Capatolium," for Capitolium. And as the town of Worcester, Massachusetts, is pronounced Wooster, what more likely than that this inaccurate speller (who was from the same part of the country as Worcester, Massachusetts) should have spelled General Wooster's name incorrectly as Worcester. The record, let us remark, is attested by General "Rufus Putnam, Surveyor Gen'l," in his own handwriting, yet the plat is not his own work, but that of some Clerk or Secretary.

Quadranus or Quadranaou?

Let us say farther, that on the original plat, the square bounded by Warren, Third, Montgomery and Fourth streets, is "Quadranus," yet in the written records it is given as "Quadranaou." Here is a conflict in the original. Scholars can, if they choose, puzzle their heads in this matter.

Harmar or Harmer?

Some might say that as it is Harmer on the original plat (which gives Worcester), that ought to be the authority. And the late Dr. S. P. Hildreth so spells it in his historical works. Yet the spelling in common use is Harmar, and we believe correct. This - Harmar - is the spelling in Atwater's, Howe's and Taylor's Histories of Ohio; in Judge Burnet's Notes on the Northwestern Territory; in James H. Perkins' Annals of the West; in Timothy Flint's Geography and History of the Western States,1828; in Kilbourn's Ohio Gazetteer, 1821; and in Jedidiah Morse's American Gazetteer, 1798 - seventy-two years ago - we find: "Harmar, a well constructed fort in the N. W. Territory, at the mouth of the Muskingum. It has 5 bastions and 3 cannon mounted, and is garrisoned by 4 companies. It is conveniently situated to reinforce any of the posts up or down the river Ohio."

Besides, we have an autograph letter written to us by a son of General Harmar, who now lives in Philadelphia, who spells his name WILLIAM HARMAR.

Charles Devol - Obituary Notice

The Marietta Intelligencer, September 4, 1845

The subject of this notice, Charles Devol, Esq., was born at Tiverton, Rhode Island, at a place called Howland's Ferry, the 30th of June 1782. His father, Capt. Jonathan Devol, was born in that vicinity, where he had numerous connections. 

In the fall of the year 1788, the family emigrated to Marietta, then in the Territory N. W. of the river Ohio, when he was only six years old. A journey at that day was a serious and laborious affair, occupying from six to eight weeks of incessant toil, over roads that would now be called impassable. When the family arrived at Marietta, the whole region now called Ohio was one vast wilderness, excepting a few acres at the mouth of the river Muskingum.

In the spring of 1789, his father moved the family, in company with a number of others, and commenced the settlement of Belpre. By the time a few acres were cleared, and they had suffered much from a scarcity of food and other privations, the Indian War broke out, and for four years they were confined to the protecting walls of "Farmer's Castle," a strong garrison built by the settlers for their mutual defence. Near the close of the war, when only thirteen years old, he served as a soldier in Fort Harmar, performing his routine of duty and standing watch in the sentry box during the darkest nights, with the firmness of a man of thirty. When a youth he was noted for his courage and daring feats of hardihood. 

At the close of the war his father settled on a farm five miles from Marietta, on the Muskingum, where he erected a large mill, carried on ship building, with various other mechanical pursuits, in all which the subject of this memoir bore a part until he was twenty-one ears old. 

During the war of 1812 and 13, he commanded a company of cavalry on the frontiers, under General Harrison. At the close of that war he settled at the mouth of the Big Hocking on a farm and took upon himself the duties of a father of a family, as well as the duties we owe to society and the country, all which he performed with faithfulness. He served for several years as a magistrate, with the entire approbation of his constituents.

Mr. Devol was blessed with a lively, cheerful disposition, fine conversational powers, and superior personal appearance. His intelligent, sparkling eye caught the immediate notice of all strangers, while his affable manners won their lasting regard.

About five years since, while apparently in perfect health and enjoying all the comforts of an interesting family and the fruits of an independent, honestly earned estate, he was struck with paralysis of the left side of his body. When he had nearly recovered from this attack, about two years after, he was thrown from his carriage and disabled his right arm so seriously as to be useless to him and the source of unceasing pain till the time of his death, which took place on the 28th of August, while on a visit of business at Chancey, a few miles above Athens, by another and more violent paralytic stroke. For several years before his death, he had been a member of the Congregational Church, and died with a full hope of a blessed immortality. The loss of Mr. Devol has made a breach in the circle of surviving friends and relatives, which time can never fill.

 

Many Towns Named After Pioneer City

 Sunday Morning Observer, August 26, 1917

Name is a good one, but is cause of much trouble to postal clerks.

"Marietta" seems to be a most popular name for towns in the United States and at the present time, Uncle Sam has fifteen Marietta post offices, each located in a different state.

These post offices are as follows: 

Marietta, Ohio

Marietta, Oklahoma

Marietta, Alabama

Marietta, Georgia

Marietta, Florida

Marietta, Illinois

Marietta, Kansas

Marietta, Minnesota

Marietta, Mississippi

Marietta, New York

Marietta, North Carolina

Marietta, South Carolina

Marietta, Pennsylvania

Marietta, Texas

Marietta, Washington

Assistant Postmaster Asa McCoy, remarking about the many towns bearing the Pioneer City's name, said that not a day passes but the local post office clerks receive mail intended for a Marietta in some other state. He said the worst difficulty is experienced in sorting the mail when letters are found addressed either to Marietta, Ohio, or to Marietta, Okla. Both Ohio and Okla. contain four letters each and clerks taking the word at first glance cast the letter into a mail bag going West instead of the one coming East.

This causes a general mix-up and the letter will probably make its round of the different Marietta before it arrives at its right place.