READS LIKE A ROMANCE REMARKABLE EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF THE LATE DORSEY W. VIERS. TRIED FOR MURDER 53 YEARS AGO--A NINE YEARS' SEARCH FOR HIS ALLEGED VICTIM (From Saturday's Daily Beacon March 19, 1884) The recent death of the venerable Dorsey W. Viers of Coventry, at the age of 94 years, recalls a most thrilling episode of his early life. In 1826, Viers then in the full vigor of his young manhood, was a stirring and enterprising (though not regarded as remarkable successful) half-farmer, half-contractor and half-speculator, citizen of Northfield, in what is now Summit County. His farm was located in the northwestern portion of the township and at that time supplied with the regulation log cabin, for the family, with log barn, outhouses, etc. Besides such rude cultivation of his farm as he was enabled to bestow, he did considerable jobbing upon the Ohio Canal, then being constructed: took contracts for bridges, barns, houses, etc: one of his contracts a few years later being the erection of the brick building on the corner of South Main and Exchange streets in this city, and now known as the Clarendon Hotel. His diversified occupation brought him into social contact with much of the wild and rollicking element of those wild and rollicking times and though by no means a dissipated man himself, he was, in consequence of his profuse liberality, regarded as a "hale-fellow-well-met" by a free and easy class by whom he was surrounded. Among his acquaintances was a young Englishman by the name of Rupert Charlesworth. Who had drifted into the neighborhood a year or two previous. This young Englishman had no visible business, but yet, as he always seemed to have plenty of money, his society was courted, and very few were the social or convivial gatherings of that vicinity in which he was not a participant. Between Charlesworth and Viers a warm friendship was at once formed, the former finally establishing himself as a regular boarder a the house of the latter. Thus time passed on until finally some time in July 1826, Charlesworth suddenly disappeared. As his absence was noted, inquiries were made, about which it was alleged Viers and his wife told contradictory stories. Among other things it was stated that one of the constables of the township having a warrant for the arrest of Charlesworth, going to the house of Viers, early in the morning to the arrest, not only did not find his man but did find Mrs. Viers vigorously scrubbing the floor: a very unusual proceeding at so early an hour. As time passed on, rumors increased. One person had distinctly heard the report of a gun in the direction of Viers' house, on the night of Charlesworth's disappearance; another, having occasion to visit the house soon afterwards, had noticed blood upon the bars between the house and the woods: the girl who was working in the family at the time, asserted that simultaneously with Charlesworth's disappearance a blanket was missing from the bed he had occupied, which was afterwards found under some rubbish, covered with dark spots resembling dried blood: while another party had discovered a human skeleton under a pile of logs and brush, a short distance back of the house, in the woods, and which, on afterwards returning with a companion to look at it, was found to have been removed. These and a hundred other similar rumors, were started, and reiterated with such persistence and apparent truthfulness that they finally came to be accepted as facts, and the excitement against Viers and the family grew and increased with each passing day, being greatly augmented by the alleged fact that Charlesworth was known to have a large amount of money in his possession while boarding with Viers, and that whereas Viers, before the disappearance of Charlesworth, was very short of money, he was, immediately afterwards, very flush, and was making expenditures in buildings and other improvements upon his farm, that his legitimate earnings and gains did not warrant. Finally, these rumors and reports, like the mountain avalanche, increasing in volume as that onward rolled, and gaining in velocity as they increased in size, culminated in January, 1831, four years and a half after the disappearance of Charlesworth, in the arrest and arraignment of Viers on the charge of murder. The affidavit was filed before, and the warrant was issued by George Y. Wallace, Esq. of Brandywine, then a Justice of the Peace for Northfield township and afterwards Sheriff of Portage County, a brother of our present venerable fellow-citizen, James W. Wallace Esq. of Macedonia. The trial proper, before the examining magistrate, lasted over a week, though some 17 or 18 days elapsed between the arrest and the conclusion of the trial. All of the above alleged "facts" were duly and solemnly sworn to, and many other damaging "circumstances" adduced on the trial, and it was supposed that a clear case of homicide had been established, when two witnesses from the western part of the State were brought forward by the defense, who swore positively that they knew Charlesworth well, and that they had seen him alive, subsequent to his disappearance from Northfield. This turned the scale in Viers favor, and he was discharged by the examining magistrate. The populace, however, were by no means satisfied with the result. True, there were many good citizens who did not believe him guilty of so heinous a crime: but the rumor-mongers, largely in the majority, thought otherwise, and if Lynch law had been in vogue in those days, so great was the excitement, it would undoubtedly have fared hard with him. It was, indeed, a terrible ordeal for both him and his family to pass through: the arrest and trial being even more endurable than the obloquy and humiliation which followed. But, though comparatively un learned, Dorsey W. Viers, in those days, had both the pluck and endurance of a bloodhound: while his faithful wife, greatly his superior in education and culture, rendered valuable aid in rescuing their good name from the disgrace that had come upon them. With the pen of a ready writer, Mrs. Viers wrote hundreds of letters to public officers and others, in all parts of the country, from whence it was supposed any information from the missing man could be obtained. While Mr. Viers himself commenced a vigorous personal search for him, Following up the clue obtained from the two witnesses, who came to his relief upon the trial, he followed him from point to point in the West, where he learned that Charlesworth had returned to England. To England we went, only to find that Charlesworth had again sailed for the United States, destined to New Orleans. Returning home after a brief sojourn, he went to New Orleans, and not finding his man there he visited all the principal river towns between that city and Cincinnati. Thus the search was kept up at intervals, both by letter and personal excursions, for nearly nine years, when nearly 14 years after his disappearance, he accidentally came across him in Detroit, both having stopped at the same hotel. They were both so changed that they did not at first recognize each other, but Charlesworth, hearing Viers inquiring for him of others, took him to one side, and disclosed his own identity. His story was substantially, that, having passed a counterfeit bill upon a citizen of one of the neighboring towns, and fearing arrest, he had secretly left the house of his friend, and gone west under an assumed name, still another name having been taken on his return from England, and under which having married, he was then living in one of the interior towns of Michigan. On learning of the dire trouble and disgrace which his clandestine departure from Northfield had brought to his old friend and family, he volunteered to come to Ohio, and exhibit himself to his old cronies and acquaintances, on condition that his then place of residence and cognomen, should be kept secret. Thus, in about the year 1840, Rupert Charlesworth, and his alleged murderer, together visited Northfield, Boston, Akron, and other points in this vicinity, where the former conversed freely with, and was fully recognized by a large number of persons who had known him well before his disappearance, and the mystery was fondly supposed, by its victims, to have been wholly cleared up. After a few days' sojourn in the neighborhood, Charlesworth again took his departure and returned to his family in Michigan. No sooner was he gone, however, than vile rumor and virulent gossip again came to the front in the shape of an intimation that the Rupert Charlesworth exhibited by Viers, was not the missing Rupert Charlesworth at all, but a cousin, bearing a strong resemblance to him, that Viers had hired to personate him, which it was held could easily be done by a little posting up from Viers. This theory was industriously promulgated by the enemies of Viers, and within a few months, the alleged imposture was pretty generally believed in, and the guilt of Viers double confirmed in the minds of quite a large proportion of the community. Under these circumstances, about two years later, Viers again visited Michigan, hunted up his man and again brought him to Ohio. This time he posted handbills in Northfield, Boston and adjoining Townships, stating that on a given day Rupert Charlesworth would exhibit himself at one of the churches at the center of Northfield, and inviting all persons who had known him while a resident of that neighborhood, to be present and make a thorough examination as to his identity. The meeting was largely attended, being regularly organized with a chairman, secretary, etc, and the entire day consumed in the investigation. Not only were his physical features and peculiarities closely scrutinized, but questions and cross-questions were plied in such a manner that no attempted imposture could possible have escaped attentions. Not only did he readily recognize and name persons that he had not seen during the intervening 16 years, but in reply to their various interrogatories, incidents and circumstances known only to himself and each individual questioner were promptly related. At the close of the examination, late in the afternoon, a vote was taken as to whether the man then present was, or was not, Rupert Charlesworth, the man whom Dorsey W. Viers was accused of murdering. The affirmative vote was overwhelmingly unanimous, only a single negative vote being given, and that from the brother of a man who four years previously, had been executed for the murder of another brothers wife, and in whose behalf secret efforts had been made to cast suspicion upon Viers, because of the cloud of oplequy which had so long rested upon him. From the date of that meeting and that examination, however, that cloud was raised, and the reputation of Dorsey W. Viers was fully vindicated. In the meantime Mr. Viers had disposed of his farm in Northfield, and established himself on a smaller farm on the west line of Coventry, in close proximity to the homes of his three sons, James McClintock, Elisha J. and Edward H. all highly respectable citizens of Norton Township, the latter, only, surviving his venerable father. The main items of the foregoing account were furnished the writer by Mr. Viers and his wife, nearly 30 years ago, with a view to their publication then, but before getting them into shape the notes were lost, and are now briefly reproduced from memory, aided, as to one or two of the earlier dates, by the brief mention of the affair by the late L. Bierce, as embodied in the history of Northfield township, in the history of Summit county, on page 373. As illustrative of the tenacity and purpose of the subject of the sketch, still latter incident of his remarkable history, may not be amiss. The large expenditures of money made in clearing up the mystery, as above narrated, together with some unprofitable building contracts in which he had been engaged, had thrown him into pecuniary embarrassments, from which he sough to relieve himself in the gold fields of California. In the Spring of 1850, the writer, in common with the forty or fifty other Akronians composing one of the wings of the Summit County division of the Grand Army which crossed the plains, that year, was surprised by the appearance in camp, on the eve of our departure from St. Joseph, MO., of the stalwart form of Dorsey W. Viers, then in the neighborhood of 60 years of age. He was mounted on a splendid horse, thoroughly caparisoned, his entire stock of supplies being packed in a huge pair of saddlebags, with his clothing, blankets, etc. in a snug roll, strapped to the rear of his saddle. Having provided himself with a supply of medicines then in common use, he announced himself as a doctor, and as intending, without attaching himself to any particular train, or mess, to go through on his own hook: relying upon his chances to buy from the emigrants any additional supplies as he might need while at the same time replenishing his purse by such medical services among the emigrants as he might be called upon to render. For several weeks he was more or less in company with our train, but we finally lost sight of him altogether. About the first of March, 1851, the writer again met him in San Francisco, en route for home. He stated that he not only made the entire journey across the plains and mountains without difficulty or serious suffering, but that through his medical practice, besides paying for the provisions purchased, he had arrived in the diggings with more money than he started with: a very remarkable financial feat indeed. In his six months' sojourn in California he divided his attention between mining and doctoring, with a reasonable degree of success, and was going back to his home in Summit County to enjoy himself the remainder of his life. Thus, briefly, is narrated facts and incidents in the life of this aged citizen, and neighbor, sufficient, if elaborately wrought out, to produce a large volume of intensely interesting reading: again illustrating the old adage that "truth is indeed stranger than fiction." L.
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