June 21, 2000
Tiffin as murder city?
By Michelle Reiter
Staff Writer
Like every other city, Tiffin's history is pocked by incidents of murder and mayhem that would make the city founders blush.
Richard Steinmetz, a retired Tiffin assistant fire chief, was doing research for a booklet for his fire department years ago when he found two separate incidents of high-profile murder cases that occurred right here in Tiffin.
One, a 1948 manhunt for two men on the run after slaughtering six people in four counties, was familiar to Steinmetz. His father, George, had been sheriff at the time.
The two killers, Columbus residents Robert Daniels and John West, were former inmates of the State Reformatory Farm at Mansfield. The first victim was Columbus restaurateur Earl Ambrose, slain July 10.
The next victims of their killing spree, on July 21, were a former superintendent of the Mansfield prison, John Niebel, his wife Nolanda and 22-year-old daughter Phyllis.
The next day, after a attending a play at Hedges-Boyer Park and having dinner at a local resturant, the fugitives carjacked and killed Seneca County farmer James Smith, whose body was later found north of Old Fort.
Later that day police found a body who they thought was Daniels at first, but later identified as out-of-town trucker Orville Taylor. Daniels later said Taylor was killed for his vehicle.
Police from Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania were called out to look for the killers in what The Advertiser-Tribune called "the biggest manhunt since John Dillinger and his gang rampaged through the area in 1934."
The spree came to an end at a roadblock in Van Wert County with a shootout that left West dead and one police officer injured and Daniels in custody..
The teen-aged Steinmetz took pictures of one of the murder scenes, pictures that would be printed in The Advertiser-Tribune.
The victim shown was the truck driver who was killed at a roadside park in Old Fort.
"I told my mother I was going out there," he said. "My dad said to go ahead and get pictures of the body and car to develop later. But there were reporters from newspapers all over and they said, 'We need these pictures.' I said I had to wait to get them developed, but they said, 'We can wet develop them. Let me show you.'"
After getting the OK from his dad, the pictures appeared on the front page of The Advertiser-Tribune on July 23. They also ran in other newspapers.
Steinmetz said he was suprised to find a $10 check in the mail for his photos from the Chicago Sun.
The case was so big that wire reporters and every newspaper within a reasonable distance were on hand to cover the case, he said.
While West's body was sent to his home town of Parkersburg, W.Va., for burial, Daniels lived to stand trial in Mansfield.
The murder case that surprised Steinmetz during his research occurred in 1895 in Tiffin. Even after spending four years of his childhood, while his father was sheriff, living in an annex of the county jail where the murders occurred, he had never heard the story.
Three different murders occurred that year in connection to one small dispute &emdash; over $1.95.
Two Seneca County men, Lee Martin and Joe Smith, pooled their money and bought a machine to saw wood. After using the machine for about a year, they decided to part ways and settle financially, disagreeing over a remaining balance of $1.95.
According to the Oct. 23, 1895, Advertiser, the two "quarreled about this for a month or more" until they took it to a judge &emdash; W. W. Jones &emdash; in Fort Seneca. The judge ordered Smith to pay Martin the sum in question, and all seemed settled.
In fact, for two years, everything was peaceful and Smith and Martin went about their separate ways.
Then, with apparently no provocation, Martin approached Smith who was working in his father-in-law's field. According to the Advertiser:
"The fodder being dry prevented him from hearing Martin, who was stealthily approaching him from the north. Martin threw a half-inch braided rope, which is fixed with a noose and used to draw up corn shocks while being tied, over Smith's head and drew it around his stomach tightly as to make breathing difficult. Smith looked up and, seeing Martin, inquired: 'What do you mean?'"
After an aggressive tussle, Smith wrestled free of the noose and ran for his father-in-law, Abraham Scheidler. Scheidler approached Martin and repeated his son-in-law's question: "What do you mean?"
Suddenly, Martin produced a revolver and threatened to kill both Martin and Scheidler if they took one step closer.
Finally, Smith and Scheidler were able to get away safely. The first thing they did is head towards town to fill out a warrant for Martin's arrest.
With the warrant, Marshal August Schultz and Policeman Patrick Sweeney went to Martin's home to confront him with the charges. Martin greeted them with a rifle in hand and the words, "Come on boys, I'll never be taken alive."
The officers spent over half an hour pleading with Martin &emdash; assisted by Martin's wife &emdash; to hand over his weapon. Meanwhile, Scheidler was lurking outside, peeping through a window. When officers finally grew impatient and lunged at Martin, Scheidler joined the fight.
While the three were able to wrest the rifle from Martin's hands, he produced a revolver immediately and shot it three times. One of the shots pierced Marshal Schultz .
He was able to rouse himself and walk to the vehicle, but later &emdash; after they had captured Martin, put him in the same carriage and were headed to town &emdash; that Schultz said, "Boys, lay me out along the road. I'm going to die. I'll never see my wife or four little children again; God will take care of me."
Although they didn't lay him out along the road, the marshal was dead by the time the carriage reached town. On the way they caught Martin reaching into his pocket again. Only then did they search him, discovering that he was a "veritable arsenal" &emdash; he was found holding 88 cartridges and a double-edged hunter's knife.
They put Martin in jail to await trial, then held an emormous, emotional funeral for Schultz.
The tragedy inspired such outrage from Tiffin residents at the time that after the funeral of their "beloved marshal," an angry mob of citizens formed with the intent to kill Martin themselves.
What happened instead was that two more Tiffin men were killed. As the mob approached the jail's semi-circular door that kept prisoners in a transitory cell, they began to pry its lock. Then the jail guards began to shoot.
Crist Matz and Henry Mutscheler were both shot and killed in the scuffle.
Matz was, in fact, well-trampled by his own angry mob after he was shot.
Their deaths inspired another outrage of Tiffin citizens, and Martin was moved to Fremont for his own safety.
Finally, Martin stood trial for his crimes and, although he was sentenced to death the following year, appealed his case and eventually got his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
As an exemplary prisoner, he was chosen for pardoning in 1913. On Independence Day, he was again a free man.
In a twist of fate noted with curiosity by Steinmetz, Martin became a contractor and house painter in Fostoria and died at the age of 70 after falling off a roof.
The family of Marshal Schultz, however, didn't fare as well. Mrs. Schultz died four years later, orphaning her children.
RuthAnn LeSavage, August Schultz' great niece, said the immediate family's fate is unknown but many Schultz descendents, including herself, still live in Tiffin.
"We heard the story growing up," she said. "But we didn't really know that much about it."
For the modern Schultzes, what information they do have is precious. "The story of the whole incident is very interesting," she said.
Steinmetz said that after living in that very jail, he was amazed to find he had never heard the story.
He copied old Advertiser stories and a small account was reproduced and passed around the Tiffin Police Department.
"I thought this might be interesting to the public. I don't think too many people have heard about it," he said.