In 1884, a widowed mother, who lived in Hamilton Ohio, traveled to Darrtown to visit her son and his family.
Until November, 2015, this website did not include any mention of a murder near Darrtown in 1884 and the subsequent trial of Johann George Schneider (1852-1885).
As indicated by the following graphic, several individuals helped bring this story to the Darrtown website.
Additionally, the book titled, "Where's Your Mother, George?" is central to the information that appears here.
Below the following graphic, you will find:
1. A synopsis of the story about the George Schneider murder case.
2. Information about the Darrtown connections to this story.
3. Information about the author and how you may purchase a copy of "Where's Your Mother, George?"
Below:
Author Richard O. Jones
ABOVE: This synopsis of the story "Where's Your Mother, George?" was taken from the back cover of the book written by author, Richard O. Jones.
The True Crime Historian website, mentioned in the column at the right is hosted by Richard O Jones. It provides a comprehensive history of murder in and around Hamilton, Ohio. Several hundred vodcasts are included. Click the following link to access the TrueCrimeHistorian website.
Reviewing Catherine's Schneider's intended route
On the day of her disappearance, October 31, 1884, Catherine Schneider rode north, in a horse-drawn buggy, from her residence in Hamilton (Ohio) [1] to Darrtown (Ohio) [2]. She then walked about two and one half miles to the residence of her son, George [3], located on the east side of Lane's Mill Road, just south of the bridge that crosses the Four Mile Creek. She planned to return to her home in Hamilton, after her visit with her son and his family, by having George deliver her to McGonigle Station (Ohio) [4] where she would ride a traction car back to Hamilton. We now know that Catherine Schneider did not live to complete her planned trip.
The map image (above) is a section of an 1875 Butler County map.
The location of George Schneider's farm is not specified in the novella, "Where's Your Mother, George?" However, the farm's location has been deduced by considering the following facts reported in the novella.
• Shollenbarger Road had to have been the road that Catherine Schneider walked, after being dropped off in Darrtown - as it is the only road that leads west from Darrtown and winds up two and one-half miles later, near a creekside. (NOTE: On December 2, 2015, Rick Martin, a Darrtown resident, drove from the beginning of Shollenbarger Road in Darrtown to the believed location of the Schneider farm on Lanes Mill Road and reported that the distance measured 2.4 miles.)
• In the novella, the distance between the Schneider farm and the McGonigle Station railroad stop is reported to be approximately two miles - which is also factual.
The following image illustrates the findings that are presented above.
Locating George Schneider's farm
MEMORY OF LUTHER MCVICKER CORROBORATES THE SCHNEIDER FARM LOCATION
Rick Martin shared a memory from his boyhood when he was riding in a car with his father and Luther McVicker, along Lanes Mill Road.
Just south of the bridge over Four Mile Creek, Luther pointed out a gravel lane on the east side of the road and remarked the last man ever sentenced by a Butler County jury to hang until dead had lived back that driveway.
George Schneider was the last man sentenced to hang by a jury in Butler County, Ohio.
RIGHT:
Rick Martin provided this hand-drawn map to clarify his account of Luther's story.
A SECOND PUBLISHED ACCOUNT OF THE SCHNEIDER MURDER CASE IS FOUND
On February 18, 2019, Marvin Russell submitted the following information about a book that devotes two pages to the Schneider murder of 1864. Authored by Kerry Seagrave and printed in 2009, the book is titled "Parracide in the United States, 1840-1899,"
Images of the book cover and the text from the two pages appear below. The book is available for purchase at: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/Parricide-in-the-United-States-1840-1899/
WEBMASTER NOTES:
> On February, 18, 2019, Marvin Russell pointed out that the above resource cites two different ages for George Schneider. The opening sentence lists George as being age 40. The final sentence lists him as age 33. More research needed...
> On October 02, 2019, Kurt Landherr, via email, requested access to the Darrtown Family Tree, as he is a descendant of the Schneider family.
Subsequently, Kim Johnson researched Ancestry.com for info on the Schneider family. His findings revealed the following:
1. George Schneider was born January 7, 1852, in Winschberg, Rhinelind-Palatinate, Germany, to Johann Heinrich "Henry" Schneider and Catharina Swarz.
2. George's given name was Johann Georg Schneider ("Georg" - without the "e" at the end, is pronounced Ga-org, in Germany).
3. The 1860 U.S. Census reported that George lived in Millville, Ohio.
4. George Schneider was executed (by hanging) on June 19, 1885; thus, he was 32 years, 5 months, and 12 days old when he died.
BELOW: This is an image of the front cover of the book written by Richard O. Jones.
A NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT OF THE SCHNEIDER MURDER IS LOCATED
Click these links to access items further down this page.
The contention that the Schneider farm was located on Lanes Mill Road (site #2 in the above image) was bolstered on December 2, 2015, when Rick Martin shared the following anecdote.
AN INHUMAN SON MURDERS HIS MOTHER
Hamilton, Ohio, December 6
- George Snyder, a farmer, aged 40, living near Darrtown, 16 miles away, was put in jail here, charged with the murder of his mother, Catherine Snyder, aged 75 years, who had been missing from her home in this city for four weeks. Mrs. Snyder had a mortgage on her son’s farm and went four weeks ago to collect the interest. He paid her 125 dollars. His story is, he started with her next day fo the railroad station, when two robbers demanded her money and, upon her refusal, killed her and made him promise, under penalty of death, to say nothing about it. He said they buried the body. It was disinterred and found in night-clothes. The supposition is that he killed her in his own house.
The following news item replicates a story published by the Sidney (OH) Morning Herald on January 6, 1885
WEBMASTER NOTES:
This newspaper uses the "Snyder" version of the family name. All other accounts indicate the name was spelled "Schneider."
It seems that this story was written somewhere other than Sidney, Ohio, because the first sentence states "16 miles from here." Sidney is nearly 80 miles from Darrtown, using today's roadways. Presumably, Sidney newspaper picked up the story from another source. Possible sources include newspapers in Middletown and Eaton which are both about 18-20 miles from Darrtown.
Interestlngly, the details of this account vary from those sourcess reported above.
This newspaper account was found at the Elephind website
The URL for this particular item is: https://elephind.com/?a=q&hs=1&r=1&results=1&txq=darrtown&txf=txINtxCO&o=10&dafyq=&dafmq=&dafdq=&datyq=&datmq=&datdq=&puqname=Search+all+titles...&puq=&lcq=&csq=&e=-------en-10--1--txt-txINtxCO----------
The following news item was published by the Post-Star newspaper of Glen Falls, New York , March 12, 1885.
A NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT OF GEORGE SCHNEIDER BEING SENTENCED TO HANG
After arriving in Darrtown, Catharina Schneider walked 2 ½ miles to her son’s Lane's Mill Road farm
She was never seen alive, again.
This page tells the story of Catharina Schneider’s disappearance and the subsequent trial that ended with her son, George Schneider, becoming the last man in Butler County Ohio to be sentenced, by a jury, to hang for his crime.
Click the link at the right to see a news acccount from the Columbus Dispatch.
George Schneider was sentenced to hang on June 19, 1885.
About four months later, the Cincinnati Post published a story that a news reporter wrote after interviewing George Schneider's wife. A transcription of that story appears below ... and a replication of the original story appears below the transcription.
The following article appeared in the Cincinnati Post, October 8, 1885, page 3.
==============================================================
A SOMBRE SHADOW
Pathetic sequel to the Darrtown murder
George Schneider's farm sold for debt – a devoted brother – unhappy prospects for the orphans
Hamilton, Ohio, October 8. [Special]
“I shall be glad to leave this place. It is sold by the sheriff,” said Mrs. George Schneider, wife of the Darrtown matricide, to your correspondent yesterday. Her recital was fearfully indicative of stolid despair – far more pathetic than hysteric grief. She continued, looking out the window, as if careless, whether the interviewer attended or not: “We have nothing and I don't know, I'm sure, what will become of the children.”
“Yes, Henry is very good. If it was not for him, I should be in a bad fix. We have to leave here in March. We go up to a farm I rented by Darrtown. The children and me can tend that, if Henry helps.”
Mrs. Schneider is a hard featured, illiterate woman, but by no means as heartless, as she was branded, during her husband's trial. And to watch the terrible haunted look that has found a permanent abiding place in her eyes is to certainly conclude that she was not as glad to get rid of her fiery tempered husband, as some of his jailers seemed to believe.
There are four children. The first, Willie, is of the widow's previous marriage, and is an uncommonly bright and interesting youth. It is he who insisted on remaining home to study, when George Schneider asked him to drive the querulous old grandmother to the railway station, which induced his stepfather to undertake the unwelcome task.
The Schneider farm is worth $8,500, and, at the time of George's crime and trial, was in encumbered by a $5,000 mortgage. Three weeks after the execution, it was sold by the Sheriff for a trifle more than the face of the mortgage and costs. The sum realized by the family, barely sufficed to pay the lawyers and bury their breadwinner, so that, now, they have nothing except a few household goods. Their troubles had allowed but small margin for getting in crops, so that their immediate prospect is desolate enough.
Since the excitement attending the crime has died out in the neighborhood, a spirit of leniency toward the dead man's faults has sprung up, and he is spoken of as “a good neighbor, but awful high tempered.” The general feeling is that George Schneider's life would have been spared. – in consideration of his violent temper – if he had confessed his crime at once.
Click the following links to see a three-part replication of the original newspaper article - titled "A Sombre Shadow."
