Gilman's Turn in Court

Over a year after the killing of Israel Bensley in February 1880 at Waldo, Gilman Houseworth would get his "day in court"...not in Marion, but east of there in Hardin County, the City of Kenton....my Great-Great Uncle had managed to get a change of venue from the county of the murder......we will see how that would work out for him.

First though a little about Gilman, I confess that along with Maish(his and my cousin) Gilman was/is my favorite Houseworth to research....much information can be found on both, and they both indeed appear to have been "Characters"....among characters in the Houseworth family tree.

Born in Delaware, Ohio, on April 17, 1843, Gilman was the 5th born of 14 children of Fred and Ursula Houseworth....my Great-Grandmother Mary Ann was born 4th in that family....remember both of my Great Grandparent Houseworths were named Houseworth...cousins they were...making Gilman the 1st cousin of Nelson Houseworth.

Here is what I know about Gilman's early years:

Joined along with brother Henry and cousin Maish, the 26th Ohio Volunteer Infantry(Maish was booted out shortly thereafter for being underage, and would join the 174th later when he became of age), on June 15, 1861. As far as the military and pension records I have from the government, Gilman served with honor, was wounded on September 19, 1863, at the battle of Chickamagua, Georgia....near Lookout Mountain. the younger Houseworth, Henry, was killed in the same battle. Gilman spent 4 months on sick furlough after the battle, he rejoined the unit and was discharged honorably on July 25, 1864.

As many back in the day, Gilman was listed at various times in the census records as a farmer, laborer, and even as a "horse trader". Just over a year after discharge from the Union Army, Gilman would marry Mary Minerva Ward of Hardin County, in September 1865.....they would have a total of 7 children together between June 1866 and December 1976....Mary Minerva Houseworth would not recover from "Child Bed Fever" and die on January 22, 1877....this left Gilman(and his relatives) to raise 6 or 7 kids(William born on 12/24/1869 had died prior to 1898 but not sure of exact date)....without a mother.

Gilman would remarry, but not until his trial was completed. Even by those day's standards, Gilman was not a large man...listed on his discharge/pension papers as being 5' 4".

Gilman had been in scrapes with the law after his discharge and before the incident at Waldon on February 25, 1880....he was 36 years old when Israel Bensley was killed, he would be 37 years and 1 day old when his trial began in Kenton, Ohio, on April 18, 1881.

The Kenton Democrat

April 21, 1881__________

The paper reported that on Monday past(April 18th) the trial opened with The Honorable T.J. Porter as Judge.....sixty witnesses were packed into the courtroom. The list of State Prosecutors, Defense Attorneys, and the list of the jury, from towns such as Roundhead, Marion, Pleasant, and Jackson was presented.

The Democrat summed up the case this way................"We have not room for the evidence, neither had we had time to get it(honesty in the press?, now there's a concept rags like the New York Times, Washington Post, and morons like Keith Olberman could use), but that our readers have an idea of the charge, we make the following statement and facts we have gathered........................"

"On the 25th day of February, 1880, Enoch H. Young and Gilman Houseworth seem to have been on a big old drunk, in the town of Waldo, Marion County, where both resided. They are both well built men, and when under the influence of liquor inclined to be quarrelsome, and during that day proposed to have it understood that they were the best men, physically, in town. They were together, and had several skirmishes during the day, but in the evening, in the fatal fight, it seems they were not in direct company, though Houseworth was nearby. Young, while alone came across "Bully" Coleman, another "best man" of Waldo, with whom Young evidently intended to try strength and settle which of the two was "best man" then and there, as he pulled his coat, and after some parleying, at it they went. Young got the worst of this, for Coleman and his comrades gave him the best they had in the shop. He(Young) got out of the crowd finally, and swearing vengeance hurried to his home, (but a short distance, from where the fight had taken place) and arming himself with a short dirk knife returned to the scene of the row. As he turned the corner of the street, from west to north, he met Israel Bensley, who was in the fight they had just had, and said to him, "I'm the best man", or something to that import, Bensley replied "By God you are not the best man", when Young attacked him and stabbed him in the head three times and in the breast once. About a quarter of an inch of the point of the dirk was broken off in his skull, the other wounds in the head were scalp wounds merely, but the stab in the breast is what did the business. The knife penetrated between the second and third ribs and slit the sub-calivan artery about two inches, producing almost instant death. Young was at once arrested and Houseworth shortly after for aiding and abetting, and being accessory to the crime. Young was tried last year and found guilty of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to the Penitentiary for life. Houseworth was tried also, but the jury failed to agree, and on application he got a change of venue to this county(Hardin)".

{I have not been able to come across Gilman's Marion Court trial.....but have no reason to believe that he did have a trial and it ended in a hung jury.}

The Paper concluded, "The case will not be disposed of until to-morrow. What the verdict may be is beyond human ken."

The Kenton paper appeared to be a weekly....and by the next issue the trial and verdict had been disposed of.

The Kenton Democrat

April 28, 1881_________

The Houseworth Trial

Last Thursday evening the jury in the Houseworth Case retired, and not until about four o'clock Friday morning did they agree upon a verdict. At that hour the Court, lawyers, and prisoner were got up(remember writing it the way it was printed), and the verdict read. The prisoner was found "not guilty," and was discharged. He has been in jail for over fourteen months. He says he will drink no more. He ought to stick to it.

The defense was ably conducted by Messrs. Van Fleet, Payne, and Dougherty. The argument of Mr. Van Fleet was logical, well tempered, and very able, and did the gentleman credit............."

The paper went on the brag up the defense lawyers, especially Dougherty, calling him one of "The shining lights of the bar in Northwestern Ohio" The Democrat finished by telling all the cost of the trial was $994.91 and would come out of Marion County.

That is what I know of Gilman's trial.....not much else have I found written, but "not guilty" he was......however, that is not the end of the story....Enoch Young has family and friends fighting for his release, and Gilman is a free man, and ready to marry again......

Those stories continue next___________

{photos-Chickamauga Battlefield...this site I visited back in February 2004...the location photo is the ditch located in Viniard Field where the 26th OVI made is stand on September 19, 1863. (2) The ultimate book on the historic Battle of Chickamauga, "This Terrible Sound" written by Peter Cozzens...a must for Civil War history buffs.(3) The living children of Fred and Ursula Houseworth, photo taken in Payne(Paulding County), Ohio, around 1885...Gilman is the male on the top row, my Great-Grandmother Mary Ann Houseworth is bottom row, far left.}