1-24 Fayette County Courthouse

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Title, side A: Winchester's Camp No. 2
Title, side B: Preston Island
Sponsors: Defiance County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, National Society of the U.S. Daughters of 1812, City of Defiance, and The Ohio Historical Society
Address: Across the road from 1016 East River Drive
Defiance, 43512
Location: At a small pullout on the S side of the road
Latitude: 41.2897830
Longitude: -84.3466330
Subjects: Counties, Courthouses, Painters, Riots, Washington Court House

Title: Fayette County Courthouse
Caption: Rioting erupted at the Fayette County Ccourthouse following the trial of William Dolby, a biracial man accused of raping a white woman in Washington Court House. Dolby pleaded guilty and was sentenced to twenty years at the Ohio Penitentiary. The crowd, however, demanded that Dolby be lynched for the crime. Governor William McKinley, who later became president of the United States, sent out the National Guard to protect Dolby. On the morning of October 17, 1894, the National Guard troops, led by Colonel Alonzo B. Coit, ordered the crowd to disperse. The crowd continued to shout and began ramming the courthouse doors. Coit and his troops fired at the crowd through the doors of the courthouse, killing six men and wounding a dozen others. Bullet holes are still visible in the wooden doors of the courthouse (Om3120_002).

Remarkable Ohio