In the Beginning...
Businesses
Churches
Citizens
City Services
Groups & Clubs
Parks & Recreation
Records &
Documents
Crimes, Deaths &
Disasters
Media &
Communications
Schools
Official
Networking Sites
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
History |
Murder on
the River
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
business. The next morning 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:
"Five
hundred dollars reward!
On the night of
the 13th of April, 1853, a man
supposed to be William Beatson, by
trade a butcher, was brutally murdered
near the village of Cuyahoga Falls,
Summit County, Ohio. The above reward
of $500 will be given for the
apprehension and confinement of the murderer,
in any jail of the United States or
Canada, so that he may be brought to
justice. The name of the murderer is
unknown but circumstances strongly
point to James Parks, alias Dickinson,
as the man. The following is the
description of the murderer: He is an
Englishman about 35 years old, about
five feet eight inches high, thick
set, high cheek bones, giving his face
a very broad appearance; brown hair,
whiskers slightly sandy. He has a scar
on his nose, and one or two of his
front teeth are gone. When last seen
he had on a dark cap, black sack
coat, lightish checked vest, a new
white and red woolen comforter, dark
pantaloons with blood on the left leg
from the knee down. Any information
may be addressed to Michael Gallagher,
City Marshal, Cleveland, Ohio, or to
the subscriber, Dudley Seward, Sheriff
of Summit County, Sheriff's Office,
Akron, Summit County, Ohio, April 16,
1853."
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:
James Parks, you have been indicted by
the Grand Jury of this County of
Summit, State of Ohio, of the murder
of William Beatson. You have had a
fair and impartial trial by an
intelligent and unbiased jury. They
have returned a verdict of guilty
against you, and with that verdict the
court is satisfied. You have willingly
and deliberately taken the life of a
fellow being and in so doing you have
forfeited your own. The penalty of the
law is death. The sentence of the court
is therefore, that you be removed
hence to the jail of this county and
there safely kept until the 26th day
of May, 1854, when you will be taken
from thence to the place of execution
where, at nine o'clock, you will be
hanged by the neck until you are dead.
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? |
