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EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series on our region's history coordinated by the Trumbull County Historical Society.
Charles Franklin Packard was born into one of Trumbull County's most prominent families in 1867.
Charlie's father, Benjamin Franklin Packard, was a partner in his brother Warren's prosperous lumber company. Charlie's maternal grandfather, Uriel Holmes Hutchins, a Vienna native, was a well-respected attorney, and his great-uncle, John Hutchins, served as Warren's mayor before being elected to Congress in 1858. Charlie was just a few years younger than his cousins W.D. and J.W. Packard, who founded the Packard Motor Car Co. in 1899.
When Charlie was 1, his father accepted a position with the Department of the Interior and moved the family to Washington, D.C. Charlie was a teenager when the family returned to Warren where his father resumed his duties at the Packard family's lumber business.
Charlie was 20 when he married his sweetheart, Jennie Bartlett, the daughter of Sidney Bartlett, a banker and carriage manufacturer who had also served as Trumbull County sheriff. A few years later, the young couple moved to Cleveland, where Charlie managed his father-in-law's business interests. Charlie appeared to be a hardworking, honest businessman and a devoted and attentive husband, but in truth, he was living a double life.
Charlie's duplicity was exposed by chance in 1894. That September, railroad executive James Caven was found shot to death in downtown Cleveland. It was rumored that Caven was having an affair with the wife of a prominent Cleveland businessman. After receiving a tip that a mysterious, elegantly dressed woman knew the identity of the murderer, detectives scrambled to find and interrogate that woman.
Grace Johnson, an attractive, elegantly dressed widow, fit the description, and the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office hauled her in for questioning. Vehemently denying she knew anything about the murder, Mrs. Johnson reluctantly confessed that she was maintained in her extravagant lifestyle by a married man named Charlie Packard.
Fate had it that a deputy coroner knew Charlie and confronted him with Mrs. Johnson's testimony. Charlie begged him to keep quiet, vowing he would end his illicit affair. Breaking that promise, Charlie resumed his double life, moving his mistress from one fancy apartment to another. Lying to his dutiful wife Jennie, Charlie explained away his frequent absences as business travel.
Adding insult to injury, while Jennie scrimped and saved to maintain her rather modest home, Charlie showered his mistress with expensive gifts, purchased with money he embezzled from his father-in-law. Charlie's treachery was uncovered when his father-in-law audited his books and discovered the missing money. After news of the scandal broke, Cleveland reporters compared Charlie to the notorious fictional characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
As one might imagine, Charlie Packard's story did not have a happy ending. Instead of confessing his sins and begging Jennie for forgiveness, Charlie ran off to California with Mrs. Johnson. His humiliated wife returned home to Warren and filed for divorce, taking back her maiden name. Apparently, Sidney Bartlett never pressed charges against his former son-in-law. Perhaps some of Charlie's wealthy relatives paid back the embezzled funds to avoid further scandal and embarrassment.
Unfortunately for Charlie, Mrs. Johnson ended the love affair as soon as his money ran out. But Charlie did not remain single for long. In 1896, he married a widow and settled in Chicago, where he lived, estranged from his family, for the rest of his life, until his death in 1936.