A Murder in Amish Ohio Society of Ohio Archivists mining towns reminiscent of the

mining towns reminiscent of the Wild West era

by Barbara Gregorich

please contact the State Historic Preservation Office at shpo@ohiohistory

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2000

her feat was overshadowed by the Vietnam War and other world events

A Murder in Amish Ohio Society of Ohio Archivists mining towns reminiscent of theIn the summer of 1957, a young Holmes County farmer was gunned down in cold blood. There was little to distinguish this slaying from hundreds of others throughout the United States that year except for one detail: Paul Coblentz was Amish. A committed pacifist, Coblentz would not raise a hand against his killers. As sensational crimes often do, the Amish murder opened a window into the private lives of the young man, his family and his communitya