Source:  Cincinnati Daily Gazette
Dated: November 20, 1867
From Preble County.  The Preble County "Varmint" - A Disgusting Rape Case.
Special Correspondence of the Cincinnati Gazette.
         WEST SONORA, O., November 17.
     Cities are the hot-beds of skepticism.  Simple faith in God and humanity flourishes as naturally in the rural districts as vines grow toward the sun.  It is not a difference of actual goodness nor yet intelligence, but the result of local influences, over which men, as individuals, have but little, if any, control.  In the city, the duplicity of human life is constantly set before you in all its phases.  In the country, the frankness of nature meets you on every hand.  As iron sharpeneth iron, so men become incredulous and cunning by frequent contact with each other; and, as the warmth of one sun gives life to all vegetation, so does the spirit that pervades diversified nature impel all hearts to faith in the Creator and confidence in His creature, man.  Let him who doubts this spend a week in the crowded metropolis and then slip out, Saturday night, to some quiet country home, or meek little village with its one or two white frame churches, to enjoy the Sabbath.  When he opens his eyes next morning the change is so marvelous that he can almost imagine himself in a spirit land, where the "busses" cease from rumbling and the weary are at rest.  The sun shines down through an atmosphere innocent of stone coal smoke, and the autumn winds do not moan through damp and covenous alleys, but, fur the child of nature, sing lullabys among the half clad branches of the trees.  An hour more, and the little church bell rings in the time of Sabbath school or meeting, and young and old turn out to honor as well as enjoy the happiest day of all the seven.  When the preacher tells them that the righteous  shall never be forsaken and their seed shall never beg bread, each one feels that he or she wears an amulet against which sickness and famine shall not prevail.  No subtle philosophy is needed here to interpret prophesy.  When the good man tells them that the righteous shall be clothed with wings as the angels in heaven, and that the wicked shall forever be tormented in a lake that burns with fire and brimstone, they accept the statement as a simple fact, and never dream of troubling their heads with such questions as whether angels' wings are callow or feathery, and where all the brimstone will come from which is to be used in smoking the wicked forever.
     But I am rambling from the real purpose of this letter.  What I started out to do was to give you the news from Preble county, on the border of which this little village is hanging.  Sonora is the half-way place on the Dayton & Western Railroad, between Dayton and Richmond.  Its trade is considerable for the size of the town, but is principally carried on by the two houses of Wm. Leas and John D. Niswonger & Son.  It has a telegraph office, two churches, a pocket saw mill and a bishop.  Its fine and commodious school house is yet in the breeches of a few thoughtful gentlemen whose lands do not lie adjoining the town.
     This town being about six or eight miles from the headquarters of the notorious Preble county "Varmint," I am enabled to give some additional facts concerning that wonderful beast.  That its size and color are variable is now a well established fact.  According to the evidence, its maximum size is that of a large panther, and its minimum that of a small wild cat.  Some believe it to be a panther, others a lynx, while not a few pronounce it the original whang-doodle which came down from the mountains of Hepaidam.  It feasts on mutton chops and stuffed veal.  One man testifies that it made a breakfast, not long sine, on a yearling heifer, after which it stuck its nose in the ground and howled for more.  It followed some children home from school, and after they had got there it reared up on its hind legs and looked in at them through a second story window.  As two young gentlemen were escorting their ladies home from singing school the varmint got after them and they became utterly demoralized, left their girls and ran for dear life.  The animal not feeling disposed to make a lunch on cold calico, allowed the young ladies to proceed unharmed.  It met another young man going out "sparking", and turned him back on the double-quick; and he has not gone to see his Betsey Jane since.  One Sunday it made its appearance, at maximum size, to a youth who was going over to a neighbor's to trade horses.  Reports say he is now under deep conviction, and will never break the Sabbath again.
     I have heard numerous other statements with regard to the nature and performances of this beast, but the above are the only ones which I regard as perfectly reliable.
     The most disgusting rape case that has ever disgraced the records of this county is at present being tried in the Common Pleas Court at Eaton.  The plaintiff is the daughter of a respectable miller, and the defendant is a farmer forty-five years of age, a man who has hitherto born an excellent character and has held several responsible offices in the county.  He is the father of six or seven children (the eldest being now grown), and has his second wife.  The case came up a year ago, but the jury hung, eight being for acquittal and four for conviction.  The defendant has already succeeded in establishing the fact that the girl's virtue was not very strongly fortified, and has, by testimony, so far removed the probability of rape that he will, no doubt, be acquitted.  It is a sad comment on manly virtue, however, when such acquittals must be secured by the confessions of a score or more of honorable (?) men (nearly all married) to a crime only less than the one with which the defendant in this case is charged.                        D. S.