Century-old trees on Ohio historical site felled by thieves

By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ten hundred-year-old black walnut trees at a historical site in Barberton, Ohio, were cut down this week by would-be thieves apparently hoping to cash in on high prices for the precious lumber. The 50-foot-high (15-meter-high) trees graced the former estate of city founder, Ohio Columbus (O.C.) Barber, who made his fortune in matches and was known as America's Match King. Barberton Historical Society President Steve Kelleher said the illegal loggers, led by a man with a long white beard, cut down the trees in broad daylight on Monday. The crew left the logs and Kelleher believes they were aiming to come back for them, but a neighbor alerted the society. Barber's mansion about 38 miles (60 km) south of Cleveland was torn down in 1965 but a stone wishing well and the land with the surrounding walnut trees was purchased five years ago by the historical society for $60,000. Kelleher said the thieves cut all 10 of the property's black walnut trees into 20 separate 12-foot (3.6-meter) logs weighing about two tons each. He said the lumber is worth about $12,000 and that the historical society will sell it, albeit reluctantly. Barberton police are canvassing the area and the historical society is doing its own investigating as well. "We are pretty mad about this and we have people investigating lumber companies in the area," Kelleher said. "They really knew their trees," he said. "In the summertime you could identify black walnut by the leaves but there are no leaves now so they identified the trees by the bark." (Reporting by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Sandra Maler)