(Sep 29 2009, cont.) Before this ride I somehow had the impression that the monument for the Fall Creek hanging was on the south side of the creek. I was pleased when I spied it on the north side where it belonged, and that there was a bridge over the creek so I could get there. This photo is taken on the north side. Note how the bridge is set on bedrock. I’m guessing this outcropping of bedrock is what put the Falls in Falls Park.
It looked like one might need to wade through the stream just to get to the bridge during times of high water.
The marker is not far from the bridge, on the first terrace above the creek valley bottom. The maple tree had some branches that would have been good for a hanging. But as far as I know, nobody recorded what kind of tree was used in 1825.
I wish I knew when the monument was placed here, and who did it, to help me understand how the community viewed this part of its history.
There are some parallels between this event and the current controversy over whether Khalid Shaikh Mohammed should be tried in a civilian court or in the military system. Assurances have been given that he will be found guilty, which then calls into question the effect on our court system when sentences are sometimes pre-determined. “We’re going to give him a fair trial in which he is innocent until proved guilty, following which he will be sentenced and hanged.”
One of the local histories describes the situation:
The news of these Indian murders flew upon the wings of the wind. The settlers became greatly alarmed fearing the retaliatory vengeance of the tribes and especially of the other tribes of the Senecas. The facts reached Mr. John Johnston at the Indian Agency at Piqua, Ohio. An account of the murders was sent from the Agency to the War Department at Washington City. Colonel Johnston and William Conner visited all the Indian tribes and assured them that the Government would punish the offenders, and obtained the promises of the chiefs and warriors that they would wait and see what their “Great Father” would do before they took the matter into their own hands. This quieted the fears of the settlers, and preparation was commenced for the trials.
So the government and the settlers had a strong interest in ensuring a guilty verdict.
What happened next? You can read about it by going to the above link, beginning at page 766.
[...] was a hangman’s noose. John Bridge, Sr. was hanged at Pendleton for his part in the infamous Fall Creek massacre. John, Jr., who is buried here at Delphi, was also convicted of murder, but got a reprieve from the [...]
This monument is not in the location where the hangings actually took place. The actual location is northwest of this site; on the other side of Old In 9 and up the hill. Near the Zueblin house. The log cabin jail and courthouse were at the top of this hill where it flattens out to a Great Plain. The Gray Goose Inn was not the hotel during the trials as popular legend would have it. Mr. Thomas Pendleton did not subdivide his 2 quarter sections, sell and petition the State for a developed community until after all of the executions. The actual hotel was north of this monument and behind the veterinary clinic. The hotel was where the Tomato Canning Factory was. The Town Court is on part of this property now. The hotel was owned by a Mr. Long. The mound of dirt the monument is on is man made and did not exist until the early part of the 20th century. It’s main purpose was probably to act as a Dike, though it has never been needed for such a purpose. That tree in front of the monument was just a sapling in the early 1950′s. The ground that the veterinary clinic is on is fill dirt.