It's a scene that's typical of a late night in Lock Haven on any Thursday, Friday or Saturday during the just-started LHU school year: A policeman approaches a group of boisterous, intoxicated young people and asks them to keep the noise to a minimum. If they oblige, and they usually do, they're often allowed to proceed home without further trouble.
If not, well, charges of disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace could always be levied, or even an overnight's incarceration called for.
That's the sort of scenario Renovo Police Chief Philip Paul confronted late on the evening of March 12, 1889 in the borough. But in this case the situation ended in hardly the typical fashion of tickets disbursed or drunks locked away for the evening. No, in this case, a wife was left widowed, a child orphaned, and a volatile young man had his life's course forever altered.
On that Tuesday night, Charles Cleary and a group of friends went out to do some drinking and carousing in downtown Renovo. Cleary was 18 and, in those days of lax alcohol enforcement, was already well lubricated when Paul approached him and his group of friends for the first time and asked them to quiet down and head inside, preferably to their own homes.
Paul then left the group and went about the remainder of his rounds, but Cleary and his pals continued their loud and boisterous ways.
Sometime later, Paul confronted the young men a second time. According to later witness testimony, he told the group, "I thought I told you boys to go home." That's when Cleary allegedly got mouthy with the policeman, and Paul grabbed him by the back of his coat collar and told him, "I'll show you. I'll take you to lockup."
While dragging the young man to the prison on Seventh Street, Cleary is alleged to have quipped to the Chief, "Don't choke a fellow!"
Arriving at "lockup," Paul pulled out his keys and turned his back on the prisoner to open the prison door. That's when Cleary pulled out a pistol, shot Chief Paul in the back of his head and made his escape. He ended up in Emporium, where local authorities quickly found him and held him until police from Lock Haven arrived to escort him to jail on Church Street in the city.
On Monday, May 14, 1889, Cleary faced trial in front of Judge Charles A. Mayer at the County Courthouse, represented by attorneys W.C. Kress and C.S. McCormick.
"The prisoner, who is about 18 years old, is rather fine-looking, and was neatly dressed in a brown suit and wore a stand up collar," the Clinton Democrat newspaper reported on the first day of testimony. "His face was slightly flushed, his eyes were red and he seemed to be a trifle nervous. His father, who, like his son, is a good-looking man, took his seat beside him and watched the details of the case closely."
Representing the commonwealth was District Attorney Aaron Brungard, assisted by future judge T.C. Hipple.
Court convened at 2:45 p.m. and Brungard "proceeded at once to open the case for the commonwealth." While Brungard was making is opening statement, the Chief's widow, identified only as "Mrs. Paul," made her entrance to the courtroom, along with the couple's unnamed child.
"The prisoner gave them once quick glance when they passed him, but did not leave his eyes rest long on the ones whom, if guilty, he has wronged so much by taking the life of their provider and protector, thus leaving them to fight life's battles alone."
If the media already seemed to be lining up against Cleary, the young man had other serious problems lying ahead of him in the courtroom. Brungard assembled an impressive list of witnesses that provided damning testimony against the rambunctious teenager.
There was Renovo resident Samuel Wilson, for example, who said he saw both Paul making his rounds and Cleary's group acting up on the streets of the borough, and warned the young men that the policeman would likely "come along directly and put them in lockup."
"I be damned if he would try that; he would be a dead man before morning," Cleary allegedly told Wilson.
A similar exchange allegedly took place between Cleary and one Robert Jarvis, who also warned the young men to "beware" or Paul would put them in lockup.
"We have done nothing and he cannot put us in the lock-up. I'll kill him first," Cleary allegedly replied.
And then there was Edward Tillman, who said he heard Cleary say he wished Paul would come along because he "would like to put a ball in him." He also said he then saw Cleary flash a revolver.
Forensic testimony was presented by Dr. William C. Weymouth, who said he'd been called to the home of another doctor - one Dr. Reese - at about 11:30 p.m. on the night of March 12. Paul had been carried to the Reese home by Renovo News publisher John Dwyer, who found the stricken officer in the moments after he was shot at about 11:15 p.m.
"Dr. Reese had probed the wound and probed it again, but as the wound was necessarily fatal we did not do anything else at that time," Weymouth said. "He (Paul) lived about two hours but did not regain consciousness."
Weymouth made a post-mortem examination and found a .32 caliber bullet lodged in the Chief's brain.
"The brain had been perforated from rear to front and a person getting such a wound would be unconscious at once and practically dead," Weymouth testified. "The bullet entered the back of the head about two inches from the left ear and lodged in the front part of the head in the back of the skull."
Cleary later said he was too drunk at the time to recall anything about the shooting of the police officer, but a relative - Cleary's Aunt Louisa McConnell -- disputed that in court, telling the jury that she could tell he was upset on the night of the shooting.
"What's the matter"? she allegedly asked him.
"Oh nothing," he replied.
"There must be something," McConnell said she told him, during the course of her testimony. "He then said he thought he shot Paul."
With that kind of evidence against him, about the best defense that could be mounted was one alleging Cleary was entirely too drunk to be in his right mind at the time the shooting occurred, and therefore could not be held responsible for his actions. Along those lines, Cleary friend and co-worker David Belford was called to the stand. He had been with Cleary on the night in question and provided a long - very long - list of bars and taverns the two frequented after work on March 12.
There was McVicker's Saloon and James' Saloon and the Revere House and Nicodemus Smith's Saloon and Spotts' Saloon and Ed Legacy's Saloon (Ed at least asked the two fellows how old they were before serving them) and Robert's place... the list went on and on.
The "drunk defense" did little to sway the jury, apparently, which rendered a verdict of murder in the first degree on May 17, three days after the start of the trial, after deliberating for just two hours. While his father wrang his hands over the news, Cleary himself remained stoic. He was given the death penalty and would soon face the gallows unless his lawyers could mount a successful appeal.
According to J. Milton Furey's "Past and Present of Clinton County," McCormick and Kress indeed requested a new trial, were refused, and took their case to the Supreme Court, which set aside the lower court judgment.
A second Cleary trial occurred in 1891, once again before Judge Charles Mayer at the Clinton County Courthouse, with Brungard representing the commonwealth. Once again, Cleary was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged.
Again, the case was brought before the Supreme Court, but this time the judgment of the lower court was sustained. It appeared that Cleary, now still just 20 or 21 years old, was about to meet his maker.
June 7, 1892 was the day set by Governor Robert Pattison for Cleary execution, but then the case was brought before the Board of Pardons. That body showed mercy on the young man, and sentenced him instead to imprisonment for life.
So Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh became Cleary's new home. It was a far cry from the streets of Renovo, where too much beer and whiskey, a sharp tongue and a borrowed revolver led to a night of infamy and the death of a good cop.
Thanks to Lou Bernard for research assistance on this column. Matt Connor can be reached at mbconnor4265@gmail.com. Two of the original Peek at the Past books are available for purchase at Ross Library.
