Sandy Rowland was the president of the Ohio chapter of the Humane Society of the United States in 1987-88. "It turned out to be the most expensive chimpanzee ever to live in Warren County," Sheets said. But Sheets continued his suit, and the issue dragged on until February 1988, when both parties announced a settlement but no details. In October 1987, the Society dropped its suit against Harris. The countersuit sought $250,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. He accused the Society of malicious prosecution of Harris, according to published reports. Sheets filed a $1.25 million countersuit.
But the Society was not finished, and a civil suit was filed to get the chimp back from Harris. In fact, Sheets said, the beer-drinking aspect was overplayed, because Sam's favorite drink was grape soda.
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Sheets presented OSU records at the trial showing that the chimp had not been mistreated and was in good health. "In this case, the prosecution was taken in by the ‘do-gooders' of the Humane Society." "All cases depend on the facts," Sheets said. The jury agreed with him and found Harris not guilty. He played the case for what he thought it was - an overreach by the Society.
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"Susi, Sam's girlfriend, also came along, much to the delight of the assembled press and TV cameras."Įveryone agreed Sheets was a smart attorney. "I once took a whole caravan to Columbus to check on (Sam's) welfare," Sheets said. The trial garnered lots of media attention.
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And, with that, he said, Sam's habit of sometimes pleasuring himself in full view of the public. 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. "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. Harris hired attorney Jim Sheets, a former assistant county prosecutor, to defend him. A trial began in the early summer of 1987 in Lebanon. In the meantime, the Society took Sam and put him in an animal facility at Ohio State University. A car travels west on Old Highway 3C above the cage. A wooden fence covers the area where bars once were fixed. Though DeCarlo noted that in the winter, Harris set Sam up in a downstairs location in the bar.Ī close-up look at the cage that housed Sam the chimp. It accused Harris of animal cruelty and said he kept Sam in unsanitary conditions in a cage located outside but near the bar.
The Humane Society of the United States was not amused, however. The regulars told her that Sam would take three puffs of a cigarette and then drop it, DeCarlo said. "Kenny always told me he won Sam in a poker game," she said.
Melody DeCarlo worked for Harris and knew him well. Sam also smoked and drank beer to the delight of the patrons. Harris kept the chimp at the bar and Sam mingled at times with the customers. But back then he was the proprietor of a bar called the Train Stop on Old 3C Highway in what was then known as Foster. Sam was in his mid-teens, weighed about 140 pounds and stood 4 feet in height. HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio - It is almost 30 years ago this month that one of the strangest court cases this area ever had seen came to an end.
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