Page 27 - Leisure Living Magazine May 2018

On Oct. 17, Coit and his troops managed to move Dolby from the jail to the courthouse for arraignment, although there was a skirmish along the way. By the time the court proceedings ended, the crowd had become an angry, deter- mined mob. It was impossible to move Dolby back to the jail. Sheriff Cook immediately wired Governor McKinley for more troops, declaring that he couldn’t handle the crowd with his pres- ent force.
Recounting the event several decades later for the Dayton Daily News, Howard Burba wrote that Colonel Coit “mounted the front steps and addressed the mob. He urged all those assembled to disperse, assuring them that there would be no delay in legal proceedings and that they could be sure that justice would be meted out to the pris- oner.” He warned that if the doors were breached, his men would fire. But his pleas went unheeded.
While Coit and his troops guarded the en- trances, deputy sheriffs and militiamen sur- rounded Dolby in the grand jury room, deter- mined to make their final stand there if the mob made it inside the courthouse.
Just after Coit finished speaking to the crowd, there was a forward surge, and soon the people were “grappling hand-to-hand” with the Nation- al Guard. “They were repelled. But they were not overpowered.”
Compelled by an irrational frenzy that over- takes a mob, there was another surge forward at the south entrance, those behind pushing the ones in front. Colonel Coit raised his hand and gave the command. The troops fired through the door.
A newspaper account written at the time re- ported that, “Immediately there was a deafening and continuous volley from two score of mus- kets. A pandemonium of yells and curses and a dense smoke filled the corridors.”
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Five men were killed; more than 20 others were wounded.
“Within an instant, the spirit and purpose of the mob had been changed,” Burba wrote.
“Where a moment before the volley it had sought” Dolby, now it clamored for Coit and his men. There were threats to dynamite the jail and courthouse, and vows that Coit wouldn’t leave town alive.
At around that time, Elmer Boyd – Mary Boyd’s son – pushed his way to the entrance and asked permission to speak. He begged the mob to disperse and let the courts mete out the proper punishment. “His pleas were met with hoots and jeers.”
Gradually, however, cooler heads prevailed. Governor McKinley arrived early in the morning, and more troops reinforced Coit’s beleaguered force. They managed to get Dolby on a train to Columbus. Coit made it to the depot too, under protection of his men.
Dolby was sentenced to 20 years in the state penitentiary. He was released after 13 years. A newspaper account reported that Dolby “celebrat- ed the event by procuring a license to wed Marie Ross.”
The paper noted that Dolby “has been a good prisoner. A tailor is making a fine suit of clothes. His sweetheart is patiently awaiting the day of his final discharge. She made his acquaintance be- hind the walls.”
Dolby’s “total capital after being released was 41 cents, besides the usual 5 dollar bill given to each inmate when discharged.”
It was a different story for Colonel Coit. Hav- ing been thrust into a volatile and difficult situa- tion, he was later indicted for manslaughter. But, after a trial, he was acquitted.
Governor McKinley was not apologetic. “The act speaks for itself,” he said.
“Troops were sent to act in aid of the civil au- thorities, who were powerless to quell a mob that was seeking to overthrow the law and its orderly administration. Lynching cannot be tolerated in Ohio.”
The south doors of the courthouse were never replaced or repaired, leaving the bullet holes as a reminder of a night where, as McKinley said, “the law was upheld as it should have been...but at fearful cost.”
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