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Town Gets Name From Murder of Post BoyTravelers through Post Boy (road to the east passing into old seldom remember anymore that-OxforJ township, of Tuscar-iwas they are passing neai the place! county, by way of Westchester where one of the most famous!Said our m September 1804, to murders in early Ohio history! Freeport and Wheeling, took place. ! Over this road the east andIt was Sept 2. 1825 that the1 west mail was earned by a post carrier, William Cartmell. vouth named William Cartmel)ftwas murdered by a squatter, who lived in Coshocton and rode John Funston. Post Boy got its back and forth to Cadiz That name from this incident ’riding was of little or no con-Here is the complete story: ; sequence to John Funston aIncreasing population, cnlarg ! large. strong man of 25 years,mg fields and multiplying herd‘d, who bved with his father’s fam augmenting needs and expand jjjy op a • squatter’s claim” on ing desires brought wider trade,lot 29 near the north and south and larger commerce The ex line between Oxford and Salem ports were limited to wiia1 townships, and probably nevercould float anti what could walk There was no other way to dis pose of grain other than to boa1ent nor received a letterFor even in those da vs ofmuch vaunted equality, the chiefit down the river or feed it loj(,is{inction of a squat,*, * who stock that could be d r i v e n|moved m without wap ant and across the country. [went away without -egrets torAfter while it was found thafujie going. Was an absence of a gram crop could be condens-!^] reCogmtion. W tn little ed into barrels filled with ei- training in the difference better port or whisky vvhich]twepn -mine and thiM .. Johncould be so concentrated that .Funston s{jjj bac) sorne ambition one flatboat would hold the prod {Q lhe poWer of moneyuct of a township, which went:j_je accordinglv gave so much with the current until a purchas-j beed to }he return of a droverer_'vas ^und* .named Smelfter, who was saidThen the trader down theibringing much monev river would have a dangerousithat he hufby road on thetrip homeward with the tempt- morning of Sept. 9 i825, with riing cash. The return of the drover from the sale of his stock was more hazardous, for his journeys were more freqent and better known. The money, as most things of that day was in convenient. The exchange was only a degree better than the barter with the Indians. Silver, the best method of exchange. was a much less bulky and a little less weighty than the best of the furs.Each one had to take personal charge of his cash, and in coming from the distant market any considerable quantity had to be carried in saddlebags which were the rider's constant care and the robber's ceaseless craving.Some localitites of the westthrough which the return ing,trader had to travel were soi infested with highwaymen that the evil fame still blights theirreputations.Initiation of such crime was rudely checked in Tuscarawas county by the stern punishment of a bungling crime.Upon the organization of Coshocton county April 1. 1811. from the territory furnish e d mostly by Musklhgum and part ly by Old Tuscarawas counties the town of Coshocton became an important point with its chiefTown Hard HitHe in hand and fired on the postman's back with a deadly aim.After killing the wrong man, the murderer quickly looted the mail pouch. Cartmell’s body was soon found by his chance companion, William John son, !who had stopped for a drink from a spring near the road and who went forward on hearing the report of the gun.While Johnson was contemplating the scene, a man came up and roughly asked with $ curse, “Do you say I kililed him?” Johnson replied. “No. I don’t know who did it.” After some parley, it was decided that one would go on and the other back for help. Johnson re-turned with a party, but when the other did not come, his unsupported story was doubted, and he was arrested and put in the old log jail.The air of the man, the possibility of the truth of his story when coolly considered and the assertion that he would know the man who had tricked him, prompted officials to give Johnson a chance to test his claims. The writ of “posse comitatus”cc “The power of the county,”Civil WarThe start of the Civil War and the call to arms fell especi-i ally hard on little Newcomers- One after another passed with-which compels the personal at tendance of every one was applied as never before or since in Tuscarawas.At the first summons, the men of Oxford township lined up on Broadway in front of the jail and the nearly completed new courthouse. Each one was made to appear before the prisoner who was brought out in fettersexecution.On the nigbt of Dec. 28. Funs-toa attempted to hang himself with his suspenderi, which broke, causing a fall that severely hurt his head. After reviving. he made a full confes sion to Judge James Patrick of bis intention to rob the drover who was two or three hours later than expected.The next day every road and path for scores ol miles around brought a throng that stood in a cold constant rain for a sight of the condemned as he was taken from the jail and went with a wagon that held bis coffin. guarded by a full company of artillery, another of infantry and a third of cavalry, to the gallows that stood on a slope in the woods near the intersection of East High and Tenth streets id New Philadelphia.It is told that Sheriff Blake stood with watch and ax in hand as he called out the minutes to elapse before he cut the cord that held the platform on which the youthful slayer stood wait ing to plunge into eternity 3tid go down in the records as being the only person executed in Tuscarawas county during the first hundred years of its history.While the post boy perished in the innocent performance of his duty, the saddest part of ah the story is the melancholy fate of Johnson, the victim of the unjust accusation, who died shortly after his release, a broken-hearted mao.The scene of the murder is commemorated by the station. Post Boy, on the Cleveland and Marietta, railroadWe are apt to think that the fathers of long age were slow, but there was nothing tardy in their administration of punish-ment.The murder, committed on Friday, Sept. 9, was followed by-Johnson’s committal to jail on Friday the 16th, Nine days later on Sunday, Sept. 25, Funston was lodged in the adjoining ceil The court convened at the time appointed long before the crime was done, the machinery of the law delivered the verdict, andjudge pronounced the sentence that decreed the shortest death watch required by religion for the preparation of the doomedThe delay of modern law processes affords strange contrast to the brevity and simplicity of the well-preserved papers in the case of the State v. Funston. The bill to show costs due totown, which by i860 had a popu-ation of 577. At first no company was mustered in the town, but many volunteered at once and joined units in nearby towns. In the fall of 1861 Camp Meigs was established on Dover fairgrounds. Most of the enlisted troops of the county received early training there, which consisted of a few weeks of drilling and then off to the battle fronts.The 51st Regiment was organized at Fort Meigs and Company C of that regiment was made up of Newcomerstown men. Trainloads of troops passed through Newcomerstown, the men sitting or standing in open flat cars.The telegraph was used only for most important messages and the folks at homo could only wait for newspapers andifThis oldphotograph shows the tree which marks the spot where the post boy, William _ Cartmell,was slain by John Funston Sept. 9, 1825.each person is written on the back of the death warrant: “John B. Sappington for making and erecting gallows, $10.00 To same for furnishing 275 feei inch boards, S3.30. G. Ccydet to hauling three loads of hewn timber, one load of wood and all the timber and the coffin to the gallows, $2 6?Vi. Richard Cunning to making rodi for constables. 62Vu cents. David Miller.two topes, S1.62Ms. George Canfield to furnishing timl for gallows, S3 Mary Miller making shroud, pantaloons a cap, SI.25 T. Willard for m ing coffin, $6. David Miller standing guard 47 nights at cents per night, eommene. Nov. 17, 1825, and ending D 30, $23.50. Stiffler for stand, guard 34 nights at 37»,f per oij ending Dec. 30, 1825, $12.75.Congratulations NewcomerstownOn Your150th BIRTHDAYBRIDGE STREET CARRY-OUTLUKE'S TRUCK STOPout recognition until Funston came. Johnson hesitated in his agitation. It was a battle for a life. Then he said, “You arethe man’”Funston profanely said, “You are a liar!” “Now I am certain when I hear you talk,” said Hohn-son.Then it was told that Funston at first had refused to obey the sheriff, shrank from the line and grew nervous as his turn came to face Johnson. Other information accumulated in a mass that brought him to jail and secured an indictment for murder which came to a trial Wednesday, Nov. 16, 1825, and after three days resulted in a verdict of guilty. On Saturday, Nov. 19, Judge Alexander Harper pronounced the sentence of death and fixed Friday, Dec. 30, 1825, for the
Newspaper Details
Coshocton Times
Coshocton, Ohio, US
Sun, Aug 16, 1964
Page 19
Full Page
Clipped by
Gary W.
USA 13 Aug 2022
Other Publications Near Coshocton, Ohio
Coshocton Morning Tribune
Coshocton Daily Tribune
Coshocton Daily Times
Coshocton Daily Age
Coshocton County Democrat
