https://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/almost-30-years-ago-the-tri-state-was-captivated-by-the-trial-of-sam-the-chimp

Almost 30 years ago, the Tri-State was captivated by the trial of Sam the chimp.

Almost 30 years ago, the Tri-State was captivated by the trial of Sam the chimp around 1985

Warren County, chimp named Sam. Sam was in his mid-teens, weighed about 140 pounds and stood 4 feet in height.

Kenny Harris

Sam's owner was Kenny Harris. Harris died in 2013. bar called the Train Stop on Old 3C Highway in what was then known as Foster. Harris kept the chimp at the bar and Sam mingled at times with the customers. Sam also smoked and drank beer to the delight of the patrons.

Melody DeCarlo worked for Harris and knew him well. She has heard all the stories about Sam.

"Kenny always told me he won Sam in a poker game," she said.

The Humane Society of the United States was not amused, however. It accused Harris of animal cruelty and said he kept Sam in unsanitary conditions in a cage located outside but near the bar. Though DeCarlo noted that in the winter, Harris set Sam up in a downstairs location in the bar.

Harris denied all the charges.

In the meantime, the Society took Sam and put him in an animal facility at Ohio State University. A trial began in the early summer of 1987 in Lebanon. Harris hired attorney Jim Sheets, a former assistant county prosecutor, to defend him.

Jim Sheets

"Early one morning, Kenny Harris, whom I knew, called and said: 'Jim, they took my monkey.' And so it began," said Sheets, 75, who is retired now and living in Florida.

He believes runners and cyclists using the then-new Little Miami Scenic Trail near the bar probably turned Harris in to the Humane Society because Sam's cage could be seen clearly from the trail. And, with that, he said, Sam's habit of sometimes pleasuring himself in full view of the public.

"I once took a whole caravan to Columbus to check on (Sam's) welfare," Sheets said. "Susi, Sam's girlfriend, also came along, much to the delight of the assembled press and TV cameras."

Sam was returned to Harris and the bar.

"All cases depend on the facts," Sheets said. "In this case, the prosecution was taken in by the ‘do-gooders' of the Humane Society."

Sheets filed a $1.25 million countersuit. He accused the Society of malicious prosecution of Harris, according to published reports. The countersuit sought $250,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

In October 1987, the Society dropped its suit against Harris. But Sheets continued his suit, and the issue dragged on until February 1988, when both parties announced a settlement but no details.

"It turned out to be the most expensive chimpanzee ever to live in Warren County," Sheets said.

Sandy Rowland was the president of the Ohio chapter of the Humane Society of the United States in 1987-88. Rowland, who now sells real estate in Perrysburg, Ohio, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

But MaryAnn Swartzwalder, executive director of the Warren County Humane Society, did. She's been in charge of the county chapter for 45 years. And the case of Sam is a sad memory for her.

 "Most people just thought it was cute," she said. "They made it a big joke thing."

"It wasn't funny."

She recalls the Society's plan was to transfer Sam to a reserve in Texas and pair him up with a female. Swartzwalder added that the vets at OSU did find that Sam was "emotionally disturbed."

 We "complained bitterly about the atrocious living conditions of this solitary chimpanzee, who was kept inside a filthy, dismal small cage to amuse bar patrons by drinking and smoking," said Katie Arth, media assistant manager with PETA. "They are intelligent, social, thinking, and feeling beings who have never deserved to be used and abused for entertainment."

Mark Altemeier, the new owner of the Monkey Bar & Grille, intends to honor Sam with a plaque and statue at the bar once renovations are done in April 2018. He recalls as a kid that he and his mom saw Sam in his cage.

"And Kenny gave him a pop to drink. I remember the cage … was clean and Sam seemed very happy."

Donna Nicol, 71, is retired and living in Georgia. But back in the late 1980s she lived in West Chester and worked in Lebanon for the state auditor's office. She remembers Sam and the trial.

"There was really no right or wrong in my estimation," she said. "It was just 'a happening' in rural Warren County. Back then Warren County was less genteel. The Humane Society was just doing its job, or so they thought. Sam really did not need them to intervene."

In 1997, Harris took Sam away from the bar for good after Hamilton Township announced plans to turn his playground area -- it was on township land -- into public restrooms, according to published reports. Harris never publicly disclosed where he sent the 25-year-old chimp.

DeCarlo said she asked Harris many times what happened to Sam, but he would never tell her Sam's whereabouts, or if Sam were still alive.

 Sam the Chimp

https://themonkeybarandgrille.com/sam-the-chimp

 Little Miami Railroad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Miami_Railroad

 Message to Jim Sheets sent via Facebook

Sent 9/25/2023

Jim, I research and create content under FishingLocalWaters.com. I recently completed and told the true story behind Harry Andrews of Loveland Castle. I started that episode at Foster Bridge, which led me to the Monkey Bar, that led me to Sam, that led me to you. As I research the trial(s), I became informed of your wit and brilliant legal maneuvers. Starting with the Susie move and setting the stage to force them to define “inhuman” or “inhumane”. The closing move of seizing their name and appointing “Sam” as president also made me smile. I would like to do the next episode talking about the Foster Hotel, the Monkey Bar, and tell the story of the trial through your moves. I normally don’t do more than 20 minutes. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a deep dive. Unless, you would prefer me not to put the focus on you and keep the story centered on Sam. Or you believe the story deserves more detail. I personally believe it has the making of a Hollywood Movie and Book.   

 Little Maimi Jim Sheet’s Great Monkey Caper

History of Foster https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohwarren/Bogan/bogan048.htm

More Train History https://www.railsandtrails.com/OHRRGuide1854/Morrow.html

Narrative

In the late 1980’s… Sam, an adult male chimpanzee, almost became, or did become, the sitting President of the Humane Society of the United States. What follows, is the amazing story on how Sam rose to this elevated position.

600 feet upstream from the Carl Rahe access sits the Monkey bar and grill. Today’s building looks nothing like the original structure that was first built in 1841 by James Foster. On this location, Mr Foster built a mill and harnessed the Little Miami River for power. A hotel and tavern were also built adjacent to the Little Miami Railway. The same railway that later became the Loveland bike trail.   The tavern was called the Twenty Two Mile Stand, and the Hotel was called the Foster’s Inn or Foster’s Hotel.  Originally the hotel had three stories with an addition on the back side, closer to the river.

The Foster Hotel was the perfect weekend getaway for Cincinnatians. In 1873 the pollution in the Cincinnati basin was so bad that the observatory and telescope, originally located on Mount Adams, had to be moved five miles out of town to Mount lookout, to get a clear view of the night sky.

Getting out of the city and spending a weekend in the fresh air of the countryside would have been in high demand.  Most guest would arrive on Thursdays or Fridays, after work and using the Little Miami Railroad. Most would leave on Sunday at 8pm to return back to the city.  There were 14 rooms for rent and Theresa Englert who ran the establishment had a reputation for setting a pretty good table and was known for her fried chicken, biscuits, and homemade pies. After dinner the tavern remained open, and a card game was always available. A few guests would remain for the week and the cycle would repeat itself the following weekend.

By 1868 Foster has a population of 180 townfolks, One hundred and five were German, fifty were American, and twenty-five were Irish. Possibly the most significant resident of this town was Governor Jeremiah Morrow. He served six years in the United States Senate; four years as Governor; and several years, towards the close of his life, as President of the Little Miami Railroad Company.

Around 1886 Augustine Hoppe purchased Foster Mill andThe land adjacent to the the millrace was called Hoppe's Island. This Island was equipted to entertain the “out of towners” and included swimming, canoe rental, picnicking, and dancing.

The place was busy and Mrs. Bernice Hallam, daughter of Edward Augustus Hoppe, recalled that on Sundays it was impossible for visitors to get a picnic table unless you arrived by 5 am, in the morning.

The locals knew each other, understood and embraced the local culture, and everyone else was referred to as out of towners. The locals were as tough as the Foster Hotel. In 1913, a flood rammed a log thru the building. The building burned in 1975, again 1979 and more recently in May of 2023. Each time the building was repaired and modified to adapt to the current business environment.

In 1934 the building changed hands and became known as The Blue Danube

By 1945 the Little Miami Railroad was beginning to decline. Freight only travels on the old rail line. The out of towners that once came to Foster were traveling by automobile to newer destinations.

On April 29, 1972, The Kings Island Amusement Park, which is located just three miles up the hill from Fosters opened and Fours year later on July 29, 1976 Penn Central officially abandons the Little Miami Railroad line.

The Old Foster Hotel was now called the Train Stop Inn and in 1979 Ken Harris purchase the bar from his brother Joe Roy Harris

In 1984 The old Miami Railroad line was being converted into the Loveland Bike trails and once again “out of towners” now dressed in spandex were coming back down the trail towards Foster. 

Foster remained a small river town, off the beaten path, where everyone knew each other, believed in the right of privacy, lent a hand when needed, but respected and expected self-reliance. The Blue Danube, now named the Train Stop Inn, catered to the local motorcycle clubs and other locals. The beer was cold and the fish sandwiches delicious. Private matters often got settled and when they didn’t the police were called, which no one wanted.  

In 1985, Ken Harris became the owner of a Chimpanzee named Sam. Some stories say that Sam was won in a poker game, other say he arrived via a local biker’s club (perhaps the Iron Horsemen), and others say that Sam was first owned by a local individual who rented canoes, and came to Ken after Sam bit the owner’s hand.

Most of the stories agree that Sam and another chimpanzee, named Rudy, originated from a carnival that went bankrupt and was abandoned in Boone County Kentucky. Rudy spent two years with another family in Foster and then found a home at a rescue organization named Primarily Primates. Sam remained with Ken Harris.  

Harris kept Sam at the bar and at times he mingled with the customers. Sam was known to smoke cigarettes and drink beer, which seemed to endear Sam to the patrons.

Sam did have an outdoor cage, beside the bar, and in clear view of the Loveland Bike trail, and as a primate, he did have a habit of pleasuring himself when the need occurred.

I can just imagine an out of towner, jogging the newly open Loveland Bike Trail and stumbling upon a local biker bar, and Sam smoking a cigarette after a day of fun in the sun.

Now it appears, the Humane Society of the United States did not see the humor in such antics. and In the Summer of 1987 they accused Ken Harris of animal cruelty and used the courts to sieve Sam and place him in an animal facility at Ohio State University. That’s when Jim Sheets a local attorney out of Lebanon Ohio, got a phone call. “Jim, they took my monkey”, Ken said. And that started the media circus that was about to unfold and launch Sam towards becoming President of the Humane Society of the United States.

In Eastern Kentucky, they have a question that is used more as a fore warning than a means to obtain information. When an outsider is about to wade into local matters, history or culture, a local will politely remind the individual that it is sometimes better to sit quietly and observe, then prematurely impart wisdom or advice that may not have merit, be needed, and/or wanted. The Question they use is;

Now  You Ain’t From Around These Parts… Are Ya?

There is even a book written about this very phase.

Now in these small towns, every local knows every other local and most often they are kin in some way. So they already know you’re a new comer and you aint from those parts. Most likely the grapevine has already informed them of who you are. As one person told me, you could sneeze on one side of this county and receive a god bless you from the other side in just a few seconds. If for some reason they really did want to know your orgin, they would look you over and shorten the question to “where ya from?  

This is why in every episode we say “when your fishing, you’re almost always fishing in someone’s local waters, so be courteous and polite and ask permission.

The Humane Society of the United States is not a government agency of the United States. It is a 501C3 non profit corporation headquartered in Washington DC. And it appears they didn’t take the history and local culture into consideration when they waded in and sieved Ken’s Monkey.

From the Humane Society’s viewpoint, this was an open and shut case of animal cruelty, and perhaps this blinded them from seeing the local viewpoints.

For many of the locals, this was more about, outsiders invading Ken’s privacy, stealing something he owned, and trying to inflict their righteous point of view into a culture the outsider’s knew little about. For if they did, the outsiders would have been courteous and polite and asked permission.

After meeting with Ken, one of Jim Sheets’ first moves was to get a court order to visit Sam. By this time the news media had picked up on Sam the cigarette smoking, beer drinking, biker bar chimp being held by the Humane Society. How could the media resist that story. Of course, standard veterinarian procedures may have mandated that Sam be held in quarantine, for observation, and before coming in contact with other primates.

Jim Sheets assemble his team to visit Sam in Columbus, Ken Harris took clean clothes for Sam and some of his favorite foods, another individual brought Susie a young female chimpanzee dressed to the T and who’s owner claimed she was Sams girlfriend. The press had a field day and now the reports were that Sam the cigarette smoking, beer drinking chimpanzee was taken away from his home at a biker’s bar and held naked and alone in solitary confinement by the Humane Society at the Ohio State University and was denied visitation privileges with his girlfriend.    

A defense fund was organized that include tip jars distributed around town that included a well-endowed lady and a caption that said, “Don’t Mess With My Monkey”.

Witnesses were identified to testify on behalf of Ken and Sam and included members of the local motorcycle clubs.

An inflatable rubber Ape or Apes were purchased and begin to appear around town on the back of given motorcycles.

And Sam’s cage was enlarged and now included a television, couch and…yes…a well stocked refrigerator.

The AP wire had picked up the story and Jim Sheets was getting calls from as far away as Austaira, Gary Burbank, a very popular 700 WLW radio host, invited Jim Sheets to his show to give updates on Sam and the trial. WLW air waves covered a large audience in multiple States and both Gary and Jim were quick wits and professionals who knew how to perform before an audience.

As the media circus grew, Jim Sheets stood in the middle conducting the show, much to the dismay and disgruntlement of the Human Society of the United States. I’m sure they felt a mockery was being made of their serious attempts to save Sam. And I’m pretty sure they still didn’t understand that self-proclaimed saviors, from the outside, sometimes insulted local community who prided themselves at being self-reliant and independent. Perhaps they just didn’t understand the meaning behind “Now  You Ain’t From Around These Parts… Are Ya”

Jim Sheets was winning the public opinion game and he had prepared a pretty good legal defense. However, he had one more Ace in his hand. While preparing for the trail, Jim proclaims, he discovered the Humane Society of the United States had allowed their corporate name to go beyond the annual renewal date. He immediately filed paperwork for the name and established his own incorporation using the now available Humane Society of the United States name, on which he placed Ken Harris on the board of directors and named Sam as the President. If the Humane Society of the United States wanted their name back, they were going to have to get permission from Ken Harris and Sam the chimp who was now president and in solidary confinement at Ohio State University. 

The trial was held on the Friday and Saturday. Following nine hours of testimony, the jury deliberated about 90 minutes late Saturday night and on June 13, 1987 they found Ken Harris not guilty of animal cruelty and mandated that Sam be returned. On July 11, 1987 Sam returned to his home in Foster Ohio. 

Suits and counter suits continued until February 1988, when both parties announced a settlement but no details. We are guessing that Sam did resign as President of the Humane Society of the United States. Jane Goodall who spent a lifetime studying chimpanzees visited the bar after the return of Sam and mentioned her observations in a book titled Visions of Caliban. In her account she refuses to mention Jim Sheets by name and only refers to him as “the lawyer”. 

In 1997, Ken Harris took Sam away from the bar and never publicly disclosed where he sent the 25-year-old chimp. Ken later passed 2013.

On April 22, 2020 Jim Sheets was interviewed by Cincy Shirts in a 58 minute podcast and gives more details behind the story.

I have included a link to this podcast in the description field below.

In closing let me thank you for watching another episode of fishing local waters .com. we look forward to seeing you soon, until then we ask that you remember

if your fishing your almost always fishing in someone’s local waters.

Jim Sheets the local lawyer, who knew everyone in the county, was about to remind them they were not from around those parts.

One the surface, this

I personally grew up in rural Kentucky and was taught that cattle, hogs, and chickens were eaten, horses were worked, and dogs lived outdoors, never fenced in, or placed on a leash, and it was your responsibility to shoot your dog if it killed your neighbor’s livestock. To some this sounds inhuman, to others it is simply reality of a rural cultural and existence. Fishing and Hunting, also has it’s supporters and critics. How animals should be treated is a complex subject and …

Tags

Sam, Sam the Chimp, Chimpanzee, President, Humane Society of the United States, Carl Rahe Access, Monkey Bar and Grill, Foster Mill, Foster Hotel, Little Miami Railroad, Theresa Englert, Governor Jeremiah Morrow, Augustine Hoppe, Hoppe Island, The Blue Danube, Kings Island Amusement Park, Penn Central, Train Stop Inn, Ken Harris, Joe Roy Harris, Loveland Bike Trail, Rudy, Jim Sheets,  Don’t Mess With My Monkey, 700 WLW, Gary Burbank, Jane Goodall, Visions of Caliban,

 Description

In the late 1980’s, Sam (an adult male chimpanzee) almost became, or did become, the sitting President of the Humane Society of the United States. What follows, is the amazing story on how Sam rose to this elevated position. We explore the history and culture of Foster, Ohio and try to understand the local perspective when outsiders arrive on their doorstep and sieve the property of Ken Harris. We follow the legal procedures used by a well-known local lawyer, Jim Sheets. Jim was interviewed by Cincy Shirts. That blog can be found at https://cincyshirts.com/blogs/news/the-cincy-shirts-podcast-episode-115-sam-the-chimps-lawyer