Thomas Donaldson Death
In his first published article, Donaldson established a literary style he would use through his career. His writing was descriptive, a bit verbose in accordance with the time, and flowery, sometimes to the detriment of the message’s efficacy. It often included literary references, a reflection of his trade as a literature teacher. His article was published in the Perrysburg Journal on November 29, 1867, while Hiram Donaldson’s defense was attempting to get a change of venue. The quote is the 9th stanza of ‘The Battlefield’ by William Cullen Bryant, published 1840.
A CARD.
Perrysburg, O., November 23, 1867.
To the People of Wood County:
Since the occurrence of the dreadful tragedy, which resulted in the death of Thomas Donaldson, by the hand of his father, in August last, a great deal has been published in the two journals of this county in reference to the crime and characteristics of the accused. The intelligent reader knows what these statements were, and knows what was the result of their publication in the formation and control of public opinion and sentiment. These opinions were impartial and correct, or ex-parte and erroneous, in as much as they conformed to, or deviated from, the facts of the case. True premises are always essential to correct conclusions. Therefore, it was to be hoped that when the truth was elicited by a judicial investigation, it would be laid before the public. Such an investigation has been concluded before his Honor, Probate Judge Edwin Tuller, of this county, but by an order issued from his Honorable Court, the publication of the testimony in the Perrysburg Journal has been prohibited. The freedom of the press in Toledo, not being thus abridged, the editor of the Blade was pleased to publish the same interdicted testimony.
The testimony, before going into the hands of the printer, was carefully collated with the notes of counsel for both the prosecution and defense, and is believed to be full and impartial in all respects.
I have procured and circulated in this county a few extra copies of the Blade containing this testimony. In doing this, it is not my desire to create prejudice, or form opinions, or prevent the impanneling of a jury, but it is simply to correct opinions and disabuse of prejudice by an exhibition of the truth – heretofore by partially known, and now suppressed.
“Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers:
But Error, writhing, lies in pain,
And dies amid her worshipers.”
Respectfully, A. B. DONALDSON,
Brother of accused.
Perrysburg Journal – August 23, 1867
REVOLTING MURDER NEAR BOWLING GREEN
A FATHER KILLS HIS OWN SON!
Particulars of the Terrible Crime.
Excitement of the People.
COOL INDIFFERENCE EXHIBITED BY THE MURDERER.
His Arrest and Lodgment in Jail.
Perhaps, at no period in the history of our county has crime of the most revolting character prevailed to so great as extent as at the present. The daily press teems with accounts of murders and outrages of every grade of fiendish atrocity, more frightful at times than the imagination can believe. Theft, defalcation, robbery and arson, rape, murder and assassination, brazen-faced and God-defiant, stalk through the city’s crowded thoroughfare and along the country’s public highway alike, in the broad glare of day as well as in the dark hours of the night. It seems as though outrage and murder have become epidemical in their character, and scarcely a neighborhood can boast of its safety from the polluted tough of the one, or the bloody grasp of the other. The use of the bludgeon, the knife and the pistol is becoming too frequent, and the hand of Justice seems to be slow and inefficient for the arrest of the evil. This mania for crime is confined to no special locality, but extends itself everywhere, and the question as to what will be the most effective remedy to arrest its progress and restore to society a healthier tone of ethics, is one that will call inro requisition the highest skill and wisdom of the moralist and philanthropist to solve.
Hitherto our own county has been comparatively free from the darker crimes that paralyze the heart with horror, but it now falls within our province to place on record the particulars of a high-handed murder, which, for fiendish atrocity and deliberate purpose, has but few parallels – the murder of a son by his father. Almost every one with whom we have conversed has given a different version of the tragic deed and its attendant circumstances, but the reported facts, as reliably correct as we are enabled to ascertain, are about as follows:
On Wednesday evening, August 14, 1867, between 8 and 9 o’clock, Hiram A. Donaldson murdered his own son, Thomas Donaldson, by stabbing him to the heart with a sharp jack-knife. The murder occurred in front of the residence of Donaldson on the Plank Road, about 1¾ miles north of Bowling Green. The murdered is a man of 45 or 50 years of age, sandy hair and complexion, and is represented, by those who have known him for years, to be a man of most ungovernable passions, quarrelsome, vicious and malevolent in his disposition, brutish and tyrannical in his family.
About three weeks since, he assaulted his wife and one of his sons, beating the latter with a bootjack. He likewise beat his wife most unmercifully, and her screams attracted the entire neighborhood. The bruises she received were very severe, and the altercation ended in his driving his entire family away from his place. Since that time his wife and six children – five boys and one girl – had resided in Bowling Green, none of them daring to return to their home, even for their clothing, on account of the vicious husband and father who instead of being their protector, had threatened their lives. Mrs. Donaldson immediately commenced suit for divorce and alimony, and also secured a peace-warrant against her husband, placing him under bonds to the amount of $500. The sons sympathized with and took the part of their mother, and this fact seemed to have enraged the father to such an extent that he threatened to take the lives of his wife and one of his sons. Mrs. Donaldson desired to commence housekeeping in Bowling Green, and for this purpose it was necessary that she should secure some of her furniture, housekeeping utensils and provisions. But she was in constant fear of her husband’s violence.
On Wednesday afternoon, of last week, Mrs. Donaldson, learning that her husband had taken a load of grain to Haskin’s Station, regarded it as a favorable opportunity to secure a portion of her household goods, and went to the house, accompanied by two of her sones, and loaded upon a wagon a feather-bed, a parlor-stove, a rain-water barrel, a bushel of shelled corn and some side-meat. These goods were loaded, and the boys were about to start with the load for Bowling Green, when Donaldson drove up with his team in great haste, having evidently learned what was transpiring before he reached the house. On the wagon was Mrs. Donaldson and her two sons, Thomas and Harley.
When Donaldson came opposite the wagon, he peremptorily ordered Thomas to unload the goods, and not attempt to drive away with them. The young man firmly declined, stating that his mother must have something to keep house with. “Then, I will fix you,” was the reply of the unrelenting father, uttered with the most impurtabable coolness and significance. He instantly sprang from his wagon and caught hold of the heads of the horses his son was driving, and commenced unbuckling the gearing so as to let the tongue down. Thomas thereupon jumped down and endeavored to prevent his father from unhitching the team, by remonstrating with him and by trying to push him away. Then commenced the affray which ended in the death of Thomas Donaldson, and stamped upon the brow of the father the red brand of “Murder.” Donaldson, with a sharp jack-knife, stabbed his son in the back and once in the arm, when the victim cried out, “He is stabbing me! he is stabbing me!” At this juncture, George Ross – who, in company with Irwin Walker, had driven to the scene of the fray, in a buggy – ran up to Donaldson, and struck him a blow with his fist, which caused the murdered to make a thrust with his knife at Ross, without relinquishing his hold upon young Donaldson. A split in his coat-sleeve was the only damage Ross received. Ross sprang back to the buggy, got the buggy whip, and commenced striking Donaldson over the head with the butt end of it. Before Ross [ ] however, Thomas struck at this father with the neck-yoke, one end being still fastened to one of the horses. Donaldson all the while had his boy tightly grasped by the right shoulder with his left hand, and, exclaiming “I will kill you; I will put an end to you!” twice more stabbed him. In all, the young man received four wounds, one in each arm, one in the left side of the back, and the fatal thrust penetrating the heart to the depth of an inch or more.
Ross struck the murderer with the whip until he was compelled to release his victim. Donaldson then jumped upon his wagon and drove furiously to Bowling Green, where the villain, who had imbrued his hands in the life-blood of his son had the imprudence to commence the process of obtaining a warrant against his son and Ross for assault. While thus engaged, word arrived that Thomas Donaldson t\was dead, and the murderer was immediately arrested, and his knife and some other articles taken from him. He refused to believe, at first, that his son was dead, but remarked, “If it is so, that,” pointing to the knife, “is what killed him.”
The news of the horrid deed spread through the quiet village with startling rapidity, and as excited and indignant crowd soon assembled outside the building in which the murderer was under charge of the officers. On being asked if he did not feel sorry for what he had done, his reply was that he was sorry that Tom was dead, for he would rather have killed three or four of the others than him. The murmurs of indignation increased through the crowd, as the story of the horrid deed passed from mouth to mouth, and it was only by the most earnest appeals and remonstrances from leading citizens that the guilty wretch did not receive immediate and condign punishment from those assembled. Upon witnessing these foreboding manifestations, the criminal remarked with he most stoical indifference, that he did not care how they disposed of him.
After Thompson Donaldson had received his death-wound, he got on the wagon and drove five or six rods, again got down and walked to the buggy and rested by the wheel. He remarked to Ross that he was bleeding to death. He then fell to the ground, and called for some water or liquor. Some wine was brought, which he drank, after which he was carried into the house of Esquire Noble, and laid upon a lounge, and died in about ten minutes thereafter. In all, he lived between fifteen and twenty minutes after receiving his wounds.
The Coroner’s inquest was held on the following morning, and the verdict of the jury was in accordance with the facts above narrated. The murderer was brought to this place on Thursday afternoon, by Sheriff Evers, where he is now in jail awaiting the result of his examination and trial by the Courts.
The remembrance of that terrible night is telling with fearful effect upon Mrs. Donaldson. She is well-nigh crazed. She was an eye-witness to the frightful tragedy. She saw her husband and father of their offspring dealing blow after blow with the murderous weapon, upon her devoted son. She testifies that she saw the blade glitter in the bright moonlight, at every sweep given it by that husband and father, now transformed into a vicious demon, intent upon the murder of those whom he most should have loved and protected. Since that fearful night reason has been tottering upon it through in the mind of that mother, and insanity or death may be the result. The funeral of Thomas Donaldson took place on Thursday afternoon. He was almost twenty-two years of age; was a quiet, peaceable young man, made a profession of religion, and was beloved and respected by all who knew him.
Since his incarceration in jail, the murderer exhibits a cool indifference utterly at variance with the natural impulses of the human heart. A malicious smile indicates the malevolence lurking within, and the entire visage of the criminal is forbidding, and causes an involuntary shudder. He refers to the horrid deed as he would to the most common-place occurrence, and seems more concerned as to the disposition of his property, than to that of his own wretched existence. He expresses a desire to be free but a short time, to accomplish a certain purpose – but what that purpose is, is left to the inference of those who know the man, and may be as easily guessed as though he had told it. Time and again, we are informed, that he has threatened to kill his wife and other members of his family, who are in constant dread notwithstanding the fact that he is now secured by prison walls.
The knife used by the murderer is an ordinary jack-knife, white handle, with a very sharp, strong blade, about four inches in length.
The deed will take rank among the most atrocious that have ever darkened the pages of crime.
THE EXAMINATION
In the Probate Court, was set for Wednesday last, but owing to the illness of the Probate Judge, it has been postponed.
Perrysburg Journal 1867 August 23, page 3 article on Thomas Donaldson death.
The Cincinnati Enquirer 1868 June 27, page 1 article on Thomas Donaldson death.
The Cincinnati Enquirer – June 27, 1868
[From the Tiffin (Ohio) Advertiser}
Trial of Hiram A. Donaldson for the Murder of His Son.
The greater portion of last week, in the Court of Common Pleas, was taken up with the trial of Hiram A. Donaldson, of Wood County, for the murder of his son, Thomas Donaldson, near Bowling Green, on the 14th of August, 1867. The trial created a great deal of interest, and the court room was densely crowded each day to witness this closing scene of a ‘drama in real life.’
We briefly present the history and outlines of this interesting case. The accused was a farmer, fifty-three years old, residing near Bowling Green, in the neighboring county of Wood, and we are told that owing to some domestic difficulties the wife had left the home of her husband, taking with her their small children, and was living with her brother, George Ross, In Bowling Green, and had commenced an action against her husband for divorce.
Mr. Donaldson endeavored to secure an adjustment of all misunderstandings, and the return of his wife with their children. She refused a settlement except on one condition, namely, that he should give her possession and control of all his property and the custody of the children, and he leave the country. The making of this extreme demand prevented all compromise or reconciliation. During Mr. Donalson’s absence from home she visited his farm-house repeatedly, and had taken away several wagon loads of goods, furniture and provisions, leaving the house almost entirely destitute. All this occurred after the 2d of August.
On the 14th of August Mr. Donaldson took a load of corn to the nearest railroad station to market, distant nine miles, leaving his house locked. Mrs. Donaldson, learning of his absence, again procured a two-horse team and goes to his residence, accompanied by Thomas, the elder son, nearly twenty-one years old, a blacksmith by trade, a strong athletic man, and several of the younger boys, intending to strip the house of the small remainder of goods left after her previous forays. Her sailor brother George, and his friend, Mr. Walker, were out on the picket lines, watching, lest, peradventure, Mr. Donaldson return during the house-breaking and pillage. He did return, and found the wagon loaded with his good standing in the road in front of his house, in charge of Thomas; his wife and smaller boys being still inside the yard carrying out additional articles to augment the load.
He peaceably requested them to unload the goods, mildly reproved them for breaking open the house, begged them not to drive away with the goods. His reproofs and entreaties was disregarded, and Thomas started the team to drive away. Mr. Donaldson stepped to the head of the horses, loosed one breast strap and endeavored to cut the other loose with his pocket-knife. Just then Ross and Walker came up and Ross commenced a terrible assault upon him with whip and bludgeon. Thomas descended from the wagon and came around to participate in the affray, seized the neck-yoke and with it struck his father several stunning blows.
Mr. Donaldson, staggering, reeling, and almost stupefied under the terrible infliction, launched out his arms in every direction to parry, if possible, the deadly blows of his assailants, without thinking of the open knife in his hand, and said murder and called for John Nouse his nearest neighbor. He was driven from the team to the roadside and left there. No one suspected or thought then that Thomas was then hurt. Uncle, brother or mother never inquired whether he was hurt. He did not say that he was. His father had no idea that he was injured in the least. The horses were hitched up and he again mounted the wagon loaded with goods and drove rapidly away. His father started afterward and went to Bowling Green and procured warrants for the arrest of Ross and Thomas for assault and battery.
But alas! no pen can describe and no imagination can conceive of the consternation and grief which filled his soul when he learned that night that his son Thomas had bled to death from a wound accidentally and unknowingly inflicted by his own hand, and himself under arrest for murder.
He was hurried off to prison, where he has remained from that fateful day until the evening of the 19th inst. He and his God only can know how inconsolable his sorrow; how crushed his heart as the long and weary weeks and months of his imprisonment rolled by, thinking ever of that son who had never before disobeyed him, bus had been the idol of his heart, sleeping, sold and lone in the silent cemetery, and longing for the coming of that day when he too should rest – should sleep in the same deep repose!
His brothers, his sister, and his aged mother visited him while “sick and in prison.” They retained able counsel for his defense.
Counsel and friends endeavored to procure his release on bail. The Probate Judge of Wood County heard the case on the motion, heard all the testimony and in the face of law, facts, and justice, again ordered him to prison. Judge Latty of the Common Pleas refused to entertain a motion to admit to bail. The Probate Judge issued an order prohibiting the testimony, thereby suppress the truth and covering up the iniquity of his judgement, while the wildest publicity was given by the local press to the most distorted and false accounts of the whole transaction, and that too, with unrestricted license, if not with official approval. From such justice and such Judges, heaven save our land!
A new judge being elected , a change of venue was granted, and the case came to Tiffin for trial and was tried by a just and impartial jury upon the facts as detailed by the witnesses, free from the local prejudices which surrounded the case in Wood County, where so much effort had been made against the defendant by suppressing all publication of the facts and the circulation of false accounts of the affair.
The Court-house was crowded almost to suffocation during the trial, and when the case went to the jury there was an universal opinion among all the hundreds who had listened to the trial that the verdict should be “Not guilty.” This sentiment was soon confirmed by verdict of the jury, and a long and loud shout of approval from the whole multitude assembled in the Court-house once again thrilled the heart of the prisoner, who had it now established by a verdict of his peers, that for this sad misfortune he was not to blame. The case was argued for the State by J. M. Hord, of Perrysburg, John McCauley of Tiffin, and J. K. Hord, of Fremont; and for the defense by Messrs. Tyler and Cook, of Perrysburg, W. P. Noble of Tiffin, and Hon. Rufus P. Ranney, of Cleveland.