SHOUTS AND PRAISE!


“In such scenes of animosity and contention were engendered those dark and malignant passions, which terminated in the blackest crime that human depravity can commit.”- The Report of the Trials of the Murderers of Richard Jennings
     
      Even the carpenters in the family have had their share of danger, excitement, and minor glories. At the raising of the post and beam Methodist church in Oak Hill, Greene County, NY in 1859, something went horribly wrong, and an Osterhout stepped up to save the day. The local paper reported on the drama: 

   “One of the chains had been put on the wrong way and tightened instead of loosened as the bent went up…..The whole weight of the bent rested on these two poles. It was a fearful crisis. To let the bent come back was thought to be impossible without endangering many lives.
   “There was an awful suspense for a few moments, when one of the builders, Stephen Osterhout, seized a sharp narrow ax, and ran up the post to the binding chain with the dexterity of a cat, and stood there and swung the ax, blow by blow, until he severed the cold iron links, which were more than half an inch thick. When Mr. Selleck saw that daring deed, he felt cold shudders passing over him, as doubtless the others did also; but when the builder came down unharmed, such was the joy of the multitude at his almost miraculous escape from falling and death, and such their admiration of his coolness and skill, as well as daring, that they cheered him, and made the air ring with shouts and praise.” 

     My brother Rick, and his son Isaac Allerton Osterhout of Maine, are expert post and beam timber framers that any client would be happy to have in charge of lifting their bents, or saving their ass if things went bad. About a month ago, Isaac, while taking down an old barn, also had something go bad; and the whole place came crashing down on top of him. A large beam cracked him on his head. He should be dead. Instead of splitting his skull, the force reverberated down his back, crushing a vertebrae in his spine. Rushed to a hospital in Boston, the doctors pieced the young, strong, Isaac Allerton Osterhout back together with stainless steel rods, that he’ll carry for the rest of his life. Walking out of the hospital a few days later, Isaac A. Osterhout is a testament to our family’s luck, and an Osterhout’s inherited thick skull. The air is ringing with shouts and praise!   

Noble Howell sworn
By the D.A.:

Q. Were you in the company of gentlemen who searched for the deceased on the morning of 28th Dec. last?
A. I was. I discovered a gun lock and some broken pieces of a gun stock near a quantity of blood, a few feet from the body. It appeared that he had been knocked down and beat there, and had crawled a short distance before he died.

By M. Van Buren:

Q. If you have the lock and pieces of the gunstock, you will please produce them to the court and jury?
A. I have them.

Mr. Fisk cross:

Q. How was the weather when the body was found?
A. It was quite cold and the body was frozen hard. There was snow on the ground, but not covered; it had snowed 10 or 12 days before.
Q. How was the deceased dressed?
A. In blue pantaloons and a dark colored great coat.
Q. How was the spot situated?
A. On a small knoll on the edge of the wood, in plain sight of the highway. The nearest house was Coe Teed’s, within a quarter mile and in plain view.

By the Atty. Gen M. Van Buren:

Q. You say there was snow on the ground that had fallen since the deceased was missing; did not you discover any track in the snow?
A. I observed tracks of one person in the snow near the body, going south towards Seely road. As there was but little snow I could not trace them any distance. I however went to the fence on Seely road and discovered two sets of tracks near each other, going from the road towards where the body was found.

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