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Vevay Reveille Feb. 5, 1876

A Scrap of Early Switzerland County History

MORE ABOUT THE LEVI’S.
Some weeks since, there appeared in the Daily Cincinnati Enquirer, a letter from a correspondent in Osgood, Ind., which gave what purported to be a history of the Levi family, which made some statements in regard to the same family Which were not entirely correct-

About the year 1818 or ‘19, Isaac Levi, sr., settled on a farm about four miles from Vevay, on Plum Creek.— The family consisted of the father, his wife, and three sons, Abram, Isaac and Martin, and one John Ewing, who was a son-in-law of the old man Levi. The old man, it appeared, had served a term of years in the Ohio State Penitentiary, or which he was, or appeared to be, proud; for he exhibited a certificate of the keeper of that institution, for his good behavior while there. The family had not been in this county long before they were suspected of horse stealing, and other larceny.

At the February term. 1821, of the Switzerland Circuit court, the Grand Jury returned an Indictment against Abram Levi, Isaac Levi and John Ewing, for larceny- At the June term, 1821, of said Court, a return of the capias [Transcriber’s note from the original. Maybe meaning habeas corpus?] was made by the Sheriff, of found as to Abram, and not found as to Isaac, and John Ewing. At the September term, 1821, of said Court, Abram Levi and Isaac Levi were put upon trial; (Ewing not found.) The jury returned a verdict of “not guilty” as to Isaac Levi, and guilty as to Abram Levi, and he was sentenced to pay a fine of seventy dollars, be imprisoned for one day, and receive forty, lashes on his bare back.

The sentence was executed, and Abram Levi was tied to the corner post of the Estray pen at the Western corner of the public square and the forty stripes were well applied to the bare back, by Israel R. Whitehead, the then Sheriff of Switzerland County.

At the June term, 1822, the prosecution as to John Ewing was “nollied” [presumably meaning nullified] by the Prosecuting. Attorney, Jeremiah Sullivan, who prosecuted the case from the commencement to its termination.

At the August term, 1830, of the Switzerland Circuit Court Isaac Levi, sen., was found guilty of larceny, fined fifty dollars, and to be imprisoned for thirty days, and disfranchised. At the September term, 1831, of the same Court, Isaac Levi, sen., was tried for larceny and acquitted. About this time the whole of the Levi family left Switzerland county and removed to Ripley county, and settled between Versailles and Napoleon.

Whether Isaac Levi, Jr., was ever sold, as the Osgood correspondent asserts, is very doubtful, as no law authorizing such sale was in force in this State after 1831. During the hard cider campaign of 1840, Isaac Levi sen. was riding at the, head of a procession of Whigs, marching through the streets of Vevay, shouting, “General Harrison is expected here to-day. Striking on his breast he said, “Here he is,” to the great merriment of the crowd.

At the head of the Democratic procession, on the same day, was John Gabriel Land, who had been found guilty of perjury and sent to the penitentiary, and the judgment against him reversed by the Supreme Court. So in that respect the parties were equal.

John Ewing was nominated in 1810 by the Whigs of Ripley county as a candidate for Sheriff’ of that county. During the canvass the Democrats about Versailles sent to Vevay and obtained a copy of the indictment and proceedings against the Levi’s and Ewing which they used in such a manner as to induce the Whigs to withdraw him and place another person on the ticket in his stead.
Vevay Jan. 28