Flickers, Clackers & Bingles: Hunting Coal Company Coins
It might surprise you to know that even into the 1940’s, some American coal miners weren’t paid in cash or with a paycheck. They worked for flickers, clackers, lightweights and bingles. They were a form of currency generally known as coal scrip. Coal Scrip Scrip was a private currency issued by a coal company that was generally good only a businesses owned by the coal company like the company store. It allowed the coal company to make an additional profit supplying needed household goods and food to their workers. Other businesses might accept the currency, but if they did, they did so at a discounted value. This eventually led to many states requiring that the coal mining scrip be accepted at its face value. “It was extremely rare to find in Maryland to begin with because the state Read more…
1949: Tracking the Underground Pony Express
Herds of ponies once roamed Maryland, though they were rarely seen my most people. They were mining ponies whose job it was to haul the coal from Maryland’s coal mines. In one instance, Ray O’Rourke wrote for the Baltimore Sunday Sun Magazine, “Twenty-odd ponies that haul coal from under some 2,000 acres of Maryland territory are never seen in this State, and never breathe the air over it.” These ponies hauled coal for the Stanley Coal Company in Crellin, Maryland. Though the mine was under Maryland, the entrance was in nearby West Virginia. Miners had to walk from Crellin across the state line and then backtrack once they were in the mine. The mine’s location also created some political headaches with Maryland and West Virginia governments fighting for the tax revenue from the mine. Eventually a compromise was reached where Read more…
Has part of Amelia Earhart's plane been found?
It’s been nearly 76 years since Amelia Earhart disappeared without a trace…except now some possible traces are beginning to emerge. Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic for which she received the Distinguised Flying Cross. She set a number of other flying records until she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937 during an attempt to fly around the world. Before her Lockheed Model 10 Electra disappeared, she was heading toward Howaland Island. No trace of her was found and her fate remains one of the great historical mysteries. Last year, five pieces of glass that fit together to form a small jar that resembled the ones that held Dr. Berry’s Freckle Ointment were found on the island of Nikularoro. The ointment was used to fade freckles in the 1930’s. Earhart had freckles Read more…
1924: Pennsylvania State Police mount largest manhunt in history of Pennsylvania for cop killer
“Today, a bank-bandit and murderer, believed to be one and the same man, sulks in the shadows of whatever he may find to shield him; a criminal hunted like a beast, while more than 100 Troopers seek to avenge the death of one of their comrades,” the Gettysburg Times reported on October 16, 1924. Two days earlier, Pennsylvania State Trooper Francis Haley had been murdered when he tried to stop a car that he suspected might have been involved in a bank robbery. He had died on Lincoln Highway just inside the Adams County near Michaux State Forest. Haley was the 11th state trooper to be killed in the line of duty and Pennsylvania State Police had turned out in force to hunt down the killer. The killer’s car had been found the day after Haley had been killed. The Read more…
Embarrassed wife has doctor killed in 1851
It’s been said that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Such fury cost Oakland, Md., its first doctor. When Dr. John Conn stepped off the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train in 1851, he was a pioneer. Oakland hadn’t yet been incorporated as a town and the region was still frontier for Maryland. The town only had a few hundred citizens and they needed a doctor. The next-closest doctor was Dr. John H. Patterson in Grantsville, Md. To get there and back to Oakland would have taken a full day. Conn set up his office at Second and Oak streets where it quickly flourished. “In the days before the convenience of a well-stocked pharmacy, it was said that the ‘young doctor’ either had on hand the correct medication, or could prescribe a suitable home remedy Read more…
Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon!
The October winds gusted through Gettysburg in 1842, sending loose hats flying into the air. John Wise considered it good news. It would help him take flight for the 39th time in his hot air balloon. He stoked the fire that generated the heat that was slowly inflating the enormous balloon. Then he moved on to stowing his ballast and grappling hook in the basket. At last the moment came to launch himself into the heavens. As he prepared to step into the basket that hung below the balloon, John McClellan, a young man in his early thirties stepped forward. McClellan wanted to know whether two men could go up at once in the balloon. “On receiving a negative reply, Mr. McClellan seeming much disappointed-said he was determined to have a ride: and inquired the price at which Mr. Wise Read more…
Mystery of the Hindenburg fire solved
When the Hindenburg burst into flames over Lakehurst, N.J., on May 6, 1937, so did the dreams of large-scale air travel by dirigible. A recent article in the UK Guardian called the Hindenburg “the Concorde of its day – able to cross the Atlantic in about three days, twice as fast as going by sea.” Since then, the Hindenburg has become nearly as famous as the Titanic, in part because of the mystery that surrounds the cause of the fire and also because of the pictures and movie clips that exist of the disaster. People are still curious about it even 76 years later. My 11-year-old was even talking to me about it recently. Now a group of researchers have said that they know how the Hindenburg caught fire. Jem Stansfield, a British aeronautical engineer at the South West Research Read more…
"Looking Back" newspaper column now in 4 newspapers
I’ve posted many of my history articles to this blog. Many of them come from my newspaper column, “Looking Back.” Beginning in the middle of next month, I’ll be adding the Gettysburg Times to the newspapers to the ones that run my column. It will be the fourth newspaper that runs my column. The others are: The Cumberland Times-News in Maryland, the Chambersburg Public Opinion in Pennsylvania and the Catoctin Banner in Maryland. Though “Looking Back” is a column in multiple newspapers, it isn’t syndicated. It is unique to the newspaper in which it runs. I get to dig through old newspapers and find forgotten or little-known stories in Maryland and Pennsylvania. I find them interesting whether they are simple slice-of-life or a murder mystery. So pretty soon you’ll be able read about some of the interesting goings-on in Adams Read more…
New artifact changes the story of the Hunley
I’m not a big fan of revisionist history, but sometimes things change not because the social standards of today change but because new facts come to light. Over the decades, the story of the Confederate submarine Hunley sinking a Union blockade ship with a spar-mounted torpedo. Scientists discovered a piece of the Hunley’s torpedo that was still attached to the spar. It was a piece of the copper torpedo shell peeled backwards. Conservators discovered when restoring the 20-foot-long spar. This piece of historical evidence contradicts eyewitness accounts that the Hunley had been about 100 feet away from the explosion that sunk the Union ship in 1864. The finding of the torpedo piece suggests that the Hunley was more likely less than 20 feet away from the explosion. “The torpedo was bolted to the spar, contradicting the conventional wisdom that the Read more…
Take a look at the oldest known baseball card
I’ve been working on a couple articles about the Blue Ridge Class D Baseball League and I came across this story while doing research. Baseball has its origins in America to the 18th Century. The earliest mention that has been found so far is a 1791 ordinance in Pittsfield, MA. As the game gathered fans, people sought ways to capitalize on the popularity. One of those ways was baseball cards. The first dated baseball card, according to the Library of Congress is an 1865 team photo of the Brooklyn Atlantics. Unlike baseball cards of today, this one is an original picture mounted on a card. “None of the players (or the skipper) have been identified by individual name. The Brooklyn team created the card as a promotional stunt and because it was a frequent league champion,” David Brown wrote in Read more…
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