Isaac Ridenour Charged with Perjury and Arrested!

From the 
Defiance Democrat, May 17, 1894

"A CRIMINAL CHARGE

Against an Old Soldier With Veteran Record.

THE ARMY RECORDS AT FAULT.

Circumstances Surrounding the Arrest of Isaac Ridenour - An Interesting Story of the War Concerning Defiance Men.







In a special to this paper from Sherwood Friday eve. was an announcement of the arrest of Isaac Ridenour, of Mark township, who was taken to Toledo last evening via the Mackinaw and Wabash railways in charge of Deputy U.S. Marshal Don Harmon.
Judge H. G. Baker, in response to a telegram from Mr. Ridenour, met the latter in Cecil that evening and as his attorney, accompanied him as far as Defiance.  In company with the officer, Mr. Ridenour went on to Toledo, and Mr. Baker, as his attorney, went down this morning to look after his interests.

The charge against Mr. Ridenour consists in substance of making a false affidavit through the U. S. Pension Department.  The circumstances are peculiar in their nature and the case has excited a great deal of interest in this city since the announcement of the arrest of Mr. Ridenour was made public by this paper.

A reporter started out this morning to gather up the scattered threads of gossip concerning the transaction, and get, as near as possible, a straight story.  The evidence obtained is substantially as follows:

Mr. Ridenour is charged with perjury for stating under oath that he was in company with Nimrod Bell, of this city, at the time the latter was wounded in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads, La. April 8th, 1864, and knew of the circumstances connected herewith.
That Mr. Bell was wounded in that battle and is still a sufferer from the wound received at that time, there is no question, but from the records of the War Department at Washington, it appears that Isaac Ridenour could not have participated in the engagement.

Mr. Bell, in whose behalf the affidavit was made by Mr. Ridenour, was seen.  He stated that his memory could not be depended upon to identify all the men who were in his company during his service; that Isaac Ridenour might have been there, but if so had no recollection of him and could not place him as a member of his company.
Mr. Nelson Grogg, who was in the regiment with Mr. Bell, was also seen.  He had no recollection of Mr. Ridenour being in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads, although Mr. Grogg was in the engagement, and remembers seeing Ridenour at a later date during his service.

Messrs. Cary & Richardson, who have been acting as agents in the matter of procuring a pension for Mr. Bell, were then seen.  Mr. Richardson stated that he had been acting for Mr. Bell for some time in the capacity of pension agent, in connection with his partner, Mr. Carey.  That the Ohio Soldiers Roster showed that Isaac Ridenour was in the same company with Mr Bell, and that knowing such to be the case, he had met Mr. Ridenour in this city September, 1889, and asked him if he had any recollection of Mr. Bell being wounded in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads.  In reply, Mr. Ridenour stated that he did remember distinctly the circumstances and before Mr. Ridenour left the city, he went to the office of Messrs. Cary & Richardson and voluntarily made an affidavit which has finally resulted in his arrest on the charge of perjury.

The Ohio Roster shows that both Isaac and Elias Ridenour enlisted in the service.  Opposite the name of Isaac Ridenour appears the following record: Enlisted Feb. 15, 1862, in Co. F., Reg. 48th O.V.I. for three years; age 19, transferred to Co. E, 83rd O.V.I. Jan. 16, 1865, veteran.

Mr. Bell's record shows that he enlisted in Co. F., 48th O.V.I. in Nov. 1861, age 23 years.  He was mustered out Jan. 6, 1865 at the same date Mr. Ridenour was transferred to the 83d regiment.

According to this record Mr. Ridenour must have been with Mr. Bell's regiment at the time of the engagement at Sabine Cross Roads on April 8, 1864, as stated in Mr. Ridenour's affidavit.  But there is a wide difference in the history of Mr. Ridenour's army service as shown by his record on file at the War Department and that given by the Ohio Soldier's Roster; for the former indicates that Mr. Ridenour was not with his regiment at all at the date of the battle in which Mr. Bell was wounded, while the Ohio Roster shows that he must have been there. The pension department at Washington has taken its records of Mr. Ridenour's service as a guide and has made an arrest on that basis.

The army record of Mr. Bell is perfectly clear.  Mr. Jack Todd of this city was an ambulance driver and hauled Mr. Bell off the battle ground after his injuries.  Frederick Helmick of Sherwood, another comrade of Mr. Bell, has also made an affidavit to being present and well known to the fact that Mr. Bell was wounded in that battle.  But none of them can remember Mr. Ridenour's presence there at that time.  In that battle, nearly all the 48th regiment were taken prisoners.  Mr. Ridenour states that he was one of the few who escaped.  The only appearance of his guilt lies to the fact that according to the War Department records, he could not have been in that battle.

Ridenour was perfectly honest and conscientious in his statement and believed at the time that what he swore to was true, for Ridenour had not the least motive in favoring Mr. Bell. There was no way in which he could profit by making a false statement.  And none of the old soldiers here can account for Mr. Ridneourmaking a false affidavitif such should finally be provedagainst him. They are all more inclinded to believe that if his affidavit is false it was made under a faulty recollection and he must have go tthe circumstances and the battle of Sabine Cross Roads mixed up in his mind with some other engagement during the war, and that he also got Bell confused wit some other comrade in his recollection of names.

From all the facts which can be gleaned up to this time, we are inclined to sympathize with Mr. Ridenour in his present misfortune.  He may be found technically guilty, but in the absence of any motive to swear falsely, and with a standing dispute in the record of his service, Christian charity gives him at least the benefit of a grave doubt as to any intention of wrongdoing.  It has been a long time since 1864 and it would be no wonder if the recollection of the old soldier boys should have become clouded and confused at this late day."

And in the same paper...
"INHUMAN TREATMENT
Isaac Ridenour has a Sad Experience in Toledo

Isaac Ridenour, who was arrested for perjury Friday, returned to Defiance Saturday evening.  He will be requested to report at the next term of the U. S. court at Toledo.  
During Isaac's arrest and sojourn in Toledo, he has probably learned that professed friends will desert him in a trying hour.

When he was arrested, it was at a funeral of a relative.  He was not allowed to return home to see his family and had no money with him.  He was taken to Toledo, given his supper and left in the custody of an officer. 

He was accompanied to Toledo by several of his neighbors who were members of the same lodge of the Grand Army of the Republic.  Saturday morning Isaac had no breakfast as he had no money to purchase food.  Judge Baker appeared for him and the hearing, while an informed one convinced the Judge of the court that Isaac should report for trial at the next term and he required a bond of $500.  Mr. Ridenour's friends and comrades declined, for various reasons, to go on his bond and he bid fair to lay in jail until court convened.  
At this juncture, Judge Baker soundly scored those present. Finally Mr. Baker gave the court his professional word that Ridenour would return when wanted, and he was released.

Then a new dilemma presented itself.  Isaac had no money to pay his fare home and said so.  Those who had accompanied him had drawn their witness fees, bt they showed no disposition to assist their comrade to return to his family.  Judge Baker had purchased Ridenour his dinner and now threw himself into the breach, so to speak, and provided him a ticket to return home.  To say Mr. Baker was disgusted is drawing it mild.
It is thought Ridenour is not knowingly guilty of a violation of the law, but it is just possible he is more sinned against than sinning."

 (Read more of his life here.)

www.findagrave.com

 When a soldier applied for an increase in pension, especially, the pension examiner was diligent in finding any persons who could prove that a man deserved that increase, especially if it was based on a wound or disease suffered many years prior during the war.  Neighbors and fellow comrades would be questioned and asked to sign an oath that their answers were truthful.  The government took this seriously, especially by the 1890s because there was so much fraud in the pension system.  It sometimes took years for pension approval to be received.  It appeared that Isaac was eventually exonerated from the charges against him and he lived until 1922.  He is buried in Hicksville, Ohio, in the Forest Home Cemetery.