Trial transcript coming soon but for now....

  Eric Thompson seems to tell the story best when he wrote this for the Falls News Press and the River Front Runner in September 3, 1984:

William Beatson, by birth an Englishman sold his farm and went to Ohio City to ask his brother-in-law, Jim Parks to make a business trip with him by train to Pittsburgh.  It took much persuading but at the last minute Jim agreed to go with him and they took off.

Beatson had provided himself with a bottle of whiskey and started to drink as soon as the train started.

On arriving at Hudson, someone called out a change of cars.  Beatson and Parks were both dozing near the stove, and seeing the people crowding towards the door, they did so too.  They were all hurried on board the other cars and neither knew of their mistake until the conductor looked at their tickets on arrival in Cuyahoga Falls.

Since they were on the wrong train, they got off at the Falls depot.  Beatson wished  to return at once to Hudson by walking up the railroad tracks but Parks wanted to inquire about the distance and find out which way would be the best.

They found their way to Hall's Tavern and both ordered drinks.  Parks asked if they could stay overnight and was answered in the affirmative.  Mr. Hall took Beatson's topcoat and hung it up, but Beatson made it plain that he would not stay overnight. Parks argued he would not walk to Hudson at this time of night. Beatson ordered another drink but the tavern owner refused to serve him, saying he was too drunk.

Mr.. Hall then put both out to lock up for the night, as it was eleven o'clock. Beatson vulgarly told Hall off and the two men headed for the railroad tracks and to walk back to Hudson. 

According  to the reports they started up the tracks but slipped and partly fell on the ties so they walked arm-in-arm until they arrived at the stone bridge where they unlocked arms and walked single file,  with Beatson going first.

Not far after crossing the bridge Parks fell down heavily and knocked his breath out and his nose began to bleed.

The whiskey bottle he had taken away from Beatson was in his pocket and when he put his hand in his pocket he cut it badly.

Parks laid there for some time, hardly able to breathe. His head rang and he was dizzy. When he came to his senses sufficiently to speak he called for Beatson but there was no answer.

He started looking for Beatson and spotted him lying over the embankment on his right under the railroad where the road crosses Gaylord Grove bridge (now Bailey Road). Parks went down the embankment and felt for a pulse, but there was not even a throb and his head was smashed.

This gave Parks strange feelings - mingled excitement, fear and sorrow. He had he had quick reflections as to what people might think. He had argued with Beatson in the presence of many people. His past record was bad; he had served seven years in the English prison for poaching and four years in a Rhode Island prison for breaking into and robbing a tomb.

Thus on coming to Cleveland he hoped to start with a clean slate by changing his name from James Dickinson to Jim Parks and forget the past, but it was sure to come up now! With such a past he felt sure people would not believe his story about Beatsons fate, so he decided he must hide Beatsons identity.

He first threw Beatson's boots into the river and then tore off his clothes, went through his pockets and took out everything including money and a large gardener's pocket knife.

He tore up the clothes and threw them into the river.

He took the knife and by using a rock he found by the side of the road he drove it through Beatson's neck and finally succeeded in cutting off his head. He then threw the body into the river.

Parks then took off across the bridge and up the road carrying the head until he came to the Ohio-Penn canal (now the B&O railroad bed) where he threw the head into the canal and sat down to rest.

When a canal boat came along he got on and rode to Old Forge (in north Akron). Parks tried to clean the blood off his clothes and when questioned about the blood spots he said he had a bad fall and had gotten a bloody nose.

At Old Forge he left the boat and took off across country to Bath Township where he hired Hiram Corey to drive him to Ohio City. He told Corey had did not take a train or canal boat because he was interested in buying a farm and wished to look over the countryside.

When he got home he told his wife he had  decided to go back to England and take care of some unfinished buisness.

When he picked up the Cleveland Plain Dealer he saw a story about the supposed murder in Cuyahoga Falls which included a description of him. It read as follows: 

The discovery of the body occurred when, on the morning of April 14, Mrs. Eunice Gaylord, who lived on the north side of Bailey Road and the east end of the bridge contacted the Summit County Sheriff to tell him there was a pool of blood on the bridge roadway and the bridge rail. She reported she was home the night before when she heard noise on the bridge and looking out she saw what looked like two men tussling in the dark.

Sheriff Dudley Seward found Beatson's headless body floating on the river when he answered Mrs. Gaylord's call and soon put together much of the story.

parks left Ohio City on the 18th of April, heading for England. When he got to Buffalo, N.Y. he was picked up by the law and brought back to Akron.

On the 14th day of his trial Judge Humphreville passed judgment as follows:

After his execution, Mrs. Parks came to the court requesting the money that was taken from Parks upon his arrest, but the prosecuting attorney, Sydney Edgerton ruled the money Parks had in his pocket when arrested was taken by Parks from Beatson and thus Mrs. Parks received nothing.

What do you think?