Samuel Bushong came from Pennsylvania in 1837, and purchased land -- thirty-five acres of Section 26. He paid $400 down, and secured the remaining $400 by giving a mortgage. He failed to meet the obligation, and, in the summer of 1840, a judgment was obtained against him and the Sheriff advertised the homestead for sale. Mr Bushong had made diligent efforts among his friends to procure money and have the property saved, but without success. On the 3d of October, 1840, he attended the election at Bellville, and no one noticed any peculiarity of conduct on his part.

Very early the next morning, the news spread through the neighborhood that Bushong had murdered his family, consisting of his wife and four children, the oldest, Mary, aged twenty-two years, the youngest, Susan, aged fifteen, and two sons. The neighbors soon gathered, and found Mrs Bushong lying on the hearth, before the fire, where she had been sitting in a chair, browning coffee in a skillet, with her head literally mashed by an ax, and a portion of her blood and brains were mingled with the coffee. The two girls were found in a room up- stairs. Mary had received a heavy blow with the poll of the ax on the front of her head, which glanced and left the skull unbroken. Susan was struck with the edge of the ax, making a deep wound the full length of the bit, one end of which was above the left eye and the other end below the right eye. Both were alive and in great agony. The sons were sleeping in a room adjoining that in which the girls were, and were partially awakened by the disturbance. The moon was shining through the window, and they soon observed the deadly ax descending toward the head of the younger brother, who lay next the wall.

He dodged, and both brothers caught the ax-handle and held to it, and were dragged out of bed on the floor, where a life-and-death struggle ensued between the sons and the father. They proved his superior in the fight, and finally wrenched the ax from his murderous hands. The oldest boy was severely wounded in the arm, and the younger was hit with the poll on the head. The murderer then seized his razor and renewed the attack; but the weapon was taken from him and cast away. Thereupon he started for the woods near by, and was soon after captured bty the neighbors. The scene in the house was most ghastly, and the murderer was carried through the house and compelled to view his horrible doings. His wife was lying in a pool of blood, mingled with her brains, and the daughters lay upon their bed, in the greatest agony.

Excitement ran high. Some said, "Kill him, and throw his body on the pile." Others said, "Hang him," and for a time it seemed that the man would be lynched; but a few negative words by Dr. Eels and a few other dispassionate persons calmed their vengeance. He was roughly handled and uncomfortably tied on his horse and escorted toward Bellville by twenty or more men. They were met about one mile from town by the Constable, R. Evarts, who unbound him and walked with him to town.

The preliminary trial was held before Esquire Heath, which ended by noon, and preparations were made to send him to jail. Bushong remonstrated against being tied, and pledged his honor and life that he would go quietly and civilly to jail, which was accepted, and the two started on their way, arm in arm, in a single buggy, and Horace Baker and Hugh Oldfield followed behind, as a precaution against his escape.

On the way to Mansfield, in answer to questions, he said he had been so troubled about his affairs that he did not sleep much for several weeks, and not any the last three nights. He said last night he and his wife talked about matters until after midnight -- he could sell out and pay the debt, but his wife would not sign the deed, and said she would never leave the place. Mary had caused him some trouble also.

He further said he had invested all his money in that place and now could not make the payments, and in a few days their home would be sold and they would be turned out as beggars --"we had better all be dead," he exclaimed. The day of the murder he intended to go to Mansfield, and he and his wife got up early, to make ready. The Constable inquired whether he remembered all the transaction, to which he answered, "It seems like a dream -- something I did while asleep."

About one mile south of Mansfield there is a deep depression near the road, which contained a dense thicket at that time. Here the prisoner made an effort to extricate his arm from the arm of the Constable and escape. The officer said to him, "It is your honor or your life. If you attempt to leave this buggy, I will kill you." He remained quiet, but moaned, as if in great distress.

His trial opened in the Common Pleas Court July 10, 1841, and lasted six days, Judge Parker presiding. Brinkerhoff and Stewart were Prosecuting Attorneys, and Bartley and Delano conducted the defense. The jurymen were Jonas Stought, James Drennan, Pascal Whiting, John McCool, George Bull, Uriah Johnston, John Harman, William Cadwell, Jacob Stinneman, Jonas Gerhart, David Robinson and William Boggs. The witnesses were numerous. There were several old acquaintances and relatives of his from Pennsylvania, and physicians who had made insanity a study, present. The physicians testified that they had before them a well-defined case of monomania. Insanity being the only issue, the pleas and the charge to the jury were short, and inside of twelve hours a verdict was returned of "Not guilty."