Trip to Allen County Museum

Sunday I had the opportunity to spend time with dad and head over to Lima, Ohio to the Allen County Musuem, where they were holding their annual meeting.  As a guest speaker they had Mr. Steve Lucht, the curator of the Dayton History Musuem, who was giving a talk about John Dillinger and the connection between Dayton and Lima.

Having wanting to visit their museum, we headed over there and were able to not only hear a good talk, but take a stroll through a really nicely displayed museum of local history.  Of particular interest to us was the Sarber-Dillinger story - which told the tale of Sherriff Jess Sarber's murder by our "bad apple" cousin, Harry Pierpont, who broke John Dillinger out of the Lima jail.

The musuem has the original jail cell that held Dillinger, and includes items such as the desk that the sherriff sat at and other items from the period.  On the walls were photos of the principal members of Dillinger's gang and some biography about what happened to them after the jail-break.

Display of Sherrif Sarber and John Dillinger

Photo of Harry Pierpont after arrested and brought back to Lima, OH

Picture of Harry Pierpont at his trial with attorney

Another photo of Harry from the trial

Actual death warrant for Harry Pierpont

If you get a chance to get over to Lima, I would recommend visiting their musuem.