The Mary E. Hovey Perjury Case

The Marietta Register (Semi-Weekly), Tuesday, June 17, 1884:

The Mary E. Hovey perjury case has occupied court three days and long ones at that. Saturday evening court ran till midnight, and then back to 11 o'clock and went over the last hour again. Nearly one hundred witnesses were examined including many experts. The cost to the county will be well nigh $1,000. As we go to press the jury are out on the case.

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The Marietta Register (Semi-Weekly), Tuesday, June 17, 1884:

The Hovey perjury case will cost nearly $1,000. The expense will fall upon the county unless the jury returns a verdict of guilty. For unadulterated nastiness and spite, this case is without parallel in late years at the court house.

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The Marietta Register (Semi-Weekly), Friday, June 20, 1884:

Guilty

The trail of Mary E. Hovey which occupied the court almost night and day for four days on a charge of perjury resulted in a verdict of guilty. The penalty is imprisonment for a term of three to ten years. A new trial was asked for and the motion will be heard July 2d. The grounds are considered slight and the chances are that Mrs. Hovey will be the second woman sent from Washington county for perjury. Mrs. Hovey's crime consisted in swearing out a warrant for a woman by the name of Kauf, charging her with stealing a watch which at the time was pledged to another party to secure a board bill.

The circumstances occurred some two years ago and were related at the time in the Register.

The case called a great many witnesses into court and in some aspects was scandalous. The defendant is a woman who has flaunted a disgraceful life in the face of decent people in Marietta for many years. A great many, several of them women, were dragged into court by her attorney and felt contaminated by the atmosphere surrounding the case, because they knew nothing bearing upon it and nothing good of the defendant. The verdict was one expected by all who heard much of the trial.

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The Marietta Register (Semi-Weekly), Friday, June 20, 1884:

At the close of the Hovey perjury trial Monday evening, when the jury brought in its verdict of "Guilty," Judge Sibley ordered the Sheriff to commit Mrs. Hovey until time of sentence. The defendant shed a few tears and her counsel offered $500 bond for her safe appearance. But all to no avail, the Judge was immovable. "That's the way we do at Zanesville," said her attorney. "Well," said the Judge, "That may be the way they do in Zanesville, but it's not the way we do in Marietta." She was committed."

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The Marietta Weekly Leader, Tuesday, June 24, 1884:

Monday evening about ten o'clock the jury in the Hovey case brought in a verdict of guilty Mr. Beard, the defendant's attorney, entered notice of a motion for a new trial and sentence was not passed. Mrs. Hovey was committed to jail notwithstanding Beard's earnest petition to have her placed in his custody. 

Since her confinement in the jail, Mrs. Hovey has evinced a good deal of stubbornness. She has eaten scarcely anything for several days and steadily refuses nourishment. Considering that she is probably doomed to a term of imprisonment in the penitentiary she is taking a poor way to prepare herself for it.

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The Marietta Register (Semi-Weekly), Tuesday, July 15, 1884:

Court Proceedings

July 9th.

The State of Ohio vs. Mary E. Hovey. Motion for new trial heard; leave to file additional motion; both overruled; defendant excepts; sentenced to Penitentiary 4 years.

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The Marietta Register (Semi-Weekly), Friday, July 18, 1884:

Mrs. Hovey expressed herself that she hoped she would never get out alive as she entered the female ward of the Penitentiary.

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The Marietta Register, March 19, 1886:

Mrs. Hovey Pardoned.

Gov. Foraker pardoned Mrs. Mary E. Hovey, Monday, on the petition of Senator John O'Neill and other leading citizens, and because the officers and physicians at the penitentiary officially reported her to be in such bad health as to have been a constant care and burden to the state for the last twelve months, and that her health is continually growing worse, with no reasonable hope of recovery. She was released and joined her son, Milton Hovey, outside the prison walls. Mrs. Hovey went up for perjury in July 1884.

The Ohio State Journal of Tuesday prints portions of a poem said to have been written by her during her imprisonment as follows:

God pity the wretched prisoners

In their lonely cells this day,

Whatever the sin that tripped them,

God pity them still, I say.

Only a gleam of sunshine

Cleft by the rusty bars,

Only a scratch of azure,

Only a cluster of stars.

Only a barren future

To starve their hopes upon,

Only stinging memories

Of a past that's better gone.

Only a scorn from woman,

Only hate from man,

Only remorse to whisper

Of a life that might have been.

Once they were little children.

Perhaps their unstained feet

Were led by a gentle mother

Toward the Golden street.

Therefore, it in life's forest

They since have lost their way,

For the sake of her who bore them

"God pity them still," I say.

And ye who judge so harshly,

Are you sure the stumbling-stone

Which tripped the feet of others

May not have bruised your own?

Then pray for the wretches prisoners

All over the land this day,

That a holy hand of pity

Will wipe their sins away.

Note: Mary E. Koontz, born about 1841, was married to Franklin Hovey in Meigs County, Ohio, in 1861. On the 1880 Census, she was listed as a seamstress, living on Greene Street in Marietta with her 16-year-old son, Henry M. Hovey. Mary E. Hovey was committed to the Washington County, Ohio, jail on October 8, 1883, on the charge of perjury. According to a complaint made by Miss Callie Kauf, Mary "wickedly and maliciously devising and intending to vex and aggrieve" Daniel Kauf and Caroline Kauf and to subject them to the "punishment, pains and penalties" of law, had gone to William Glines, Justice of the Peace, on March 14, 1881, and "falsely and maliciously" swore to him that on March 7, 1881, Daniel, Caroline, and Callie Kauf had stolen money from her in the amount of $84 and a gold watch valued at $200. A transcript of the trial is found in Washington County Common Pleas Final Record, Volume 59, pages 263-338. It appears that Mary E. Hovey lived until 1891 and is buried in Zanesville's Greenwood Cemetery.

"Negro Voting"

The Marietta Register, March 28, 1867

The suit of William D. Myers vs. William Devol, Alfred Marshall and John Gearhart, Trustees of Muskingum township, for rejecting plaintiff's vote at the last October Election on account of his color, went to the jury in our Common Pleas this week, who gave a verdict of $120 against Marshall and Gearhart.

The case of I. F. Norman against the same parties, for the same cause, was submitted to the Court and $25 given against all three of the Trustees.

The attorneys were Harte & Stafford, and Alban for plaintiffs; Oldham, Follett and Loomis for defendants.

It was proved that both Myers and Norman were legal voters, each having a majority of white blood - voters under the "Democratic" Constitution as construed by a "Democratic" Court. Why cannot Democrats stand up to their own laws?

Joe Garry, Well Known Actor, Is Here On A Visit

The Register-Leader, July 19, 1920

Joseph R. Garry of New York City, formerly of Marietta, who has won considerable fame as an actor, is in the city making a visit between seasons with his sisters, Mrs. E. S. Haley and Miss Ella Garry, and his brother, Will Garry. He will be here for about two weeks.

On his return to Gotham, Mr. Garry will prepare to take one of the prominent parts in a new play, "The Proper Spirit," a comedy drama, which will be presented under the direction of Mrs. Henry B. Harris at either the Fulton or Hudson theatre. Only last week the play was given a try-out in Atlantic City, where its success was assured.

Mr. Garry attained the height of popularity and fame in the role of Tim Donohue in "The 13th Chair." Theatre-goers of Marietta recall this character in "The 13th Chair," which played here at the Auditorium a season or two ago. The police inspector in this play will be recalled as a great character and combining this fact with the praise the critics accorded Mr. Garry in this role, one finds evidence aplenty of the former local man's ability as an actor.

The late George P. Goodale in the Detroit Free Press, speaking of Mr. Garry as Tim Donohue, had the following to say:

"Mr. Joseph R. Garry plays Detective Tim Donahue, who dominates the situation through two entire acts. It is a remarkable example of the power of earnest acting to rouse and sustain interest. Mr. Garry is a student, a thinker, who gives reason for his professional doings, and whose work, therefore, is entitled to the fullest examination and incidentally our warm admiration. There is a touch of grim yet whimsical humor in the detective's admission, or proclamation, after having exhausted the resources of his trade, that he is 'a damned fool.'"

Mr. Luchs, manager of the Auditorium theatre, at the time he booked "The 13th Chair" for Marietta, sought to bring Mr. Garry's company here, but was unable to get it at that time.

Joe Garry spent his boyhood days here and he is back renewing old acquaintances. He has been on the stage for about 18 years, playing in many big productions during this period. Mr. Garry played here in "The Clansman" a number of years ago. It was the only play in which he ever played in Marietta. Last season Mr. Garry played in the musical version of "Brewster's Millions," and also in "Polly With A Past," a comedy.

In "The Proper Spirit," Mr. Garry will play the part of a secret service man. The character is very similar to the one he interpreted in "The 13th Chair."

Joseph R. Garry (left) and Ernest Truex in "The Fall Guy,"
Source: "The Haberdasher," May 1925.

Note: Joseph Richard Garry, 1877-1954, was the son of Anthony and Maria Hennessy Garry, Irish immigrants who lived on Butler Street in Marietta. Joe Garry is buried in Marietta's old Saint Mary Cemetery.

Scotch Emigrants and Nahum Ward

American Friend & Marietta Gazette, June 26, 1823

It gave me much pleasure a few days since to notice the arrival of a company of Scotch Emigrants to this part of the state of Ohio, sent out by our enterprising townsman, Mr. Ward. From their appearance, I have no doubt that they will make valuable citizens.

Others are on the road, and will probably arrive in a few days.

The manner in which this business is conducted is such as to reflect much credit on Mr. Ward: and is really advantageous to the emigrants in a pecuniary point of view. Those emigrants who have come into the United States, without any acquaintance to direct or advise them, without a knowledge of the country, the mode of travelling, and the prices of such articles as they must necessarily purchase, have generally expended their little all by loitering in the cities and on the roads defrauded by almost every one with whom they have intercourse - and eventually purchasing land, unsuitable for them, at enormous prices. These emigrants, on the contrary, bargained for their land with Mr. Ward, paid one half the amount of the purchase in Scotland, and the remainder to be paid in three years. If the land, as regards soil, situation, &c. &c. has not been correctly described to them they are released from their contracts, and the amounts which may have been paid is refunded.

They come here under his direction, his friends and agents have the means of conveyance from place to place, in readiness for them immediately on the arrival, and at a price too much below what they themselves could have obtained them for; they do not tarry, are not liable to be defrauded in the purchase of every little article which they may want: and they travel with an expedition which is very unusual even for those well acquainted with the country. When they have arrived on their land they find in most instances, a comfortable house provided for them and above all they are acquainted with the character of every neighbor with whom they must come in contact.

Taken in this light, and this is a correct view of the business, they, in my opinion, are really gainers should they pay three or four times the price for land, to Mr. Ward, for which an intelligent person, long resident in this country, would purchase it.

P.