C&O Canal murder mystery has surprising solution
One of the oft-told stories of the C&O Canal is that of Lockkeeper Joe Davis. “Lock tender Joe Davis and his wife were murdered here by shooting in 1934,” Thomas Hahn wrote in his Towpath Guide. He expanded on the story in The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Lock-Houses & Lock-Keepers writing that Davis took care of Lock 61 in the last decades of the canal’s operation. Hahn wrote that the bodies of Davis and his wife were burned after the murder to try and cover up the murder. George “Hooper” Wolfe told a similar story in I Drove Mules on the C and O Canal. He did not name the lockkeeper and made no mention of his wife. He also wrote that the lockkeeper was murdered to steal his rare coin collection and that the murderer was later caught in Read more…
Carroll County, Md.,'s Hidden History
During its 174 years, Carroll County has been the scene of war, growth, disaster, betrayal and more. Much of its history has faded into obscurity, but some pieces remain, just waiting to be rediscovered. Here are a few: Railroad Ties The Western Maryland Railway Historical Society works to preserve the records and artifacts of the WMRR, which began as the Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick Railway in 1852. In the Union Bridge building that had for many years served as the main offices for the Western Maryland Railway, you can tour a free museum maintained by the society. On view are bells, lanterns, pictures, model train layouts and more. “The scale-model layout we have represents the Western Maryland route from Union Bridge to the high bridges just west of Thurmont,” said Society President Dennis Wertz. The second floor of the building Read more…
Lincoln’s Last Visit to Harrisburg, Pa.
On April 21, 1865, a locomotive slowly pulled out of the depot in Washington D.C. carrying about 300 people. Those who saw the train generally bowed their heads. Many of them cried. The train was carrying the remains of President Abraham Lincoln who had been assassinated a week earlier and Willie Lincoln who had died in 1862 back to Springfield, IL. The Lincoln Special The train consisted of the funeral car, baggage cars and coaches and the engine, which had a photo of Lincoln mounted on the front of the train over the cowcatcher. The funeral car was decorated with black garland and silver tassels and had a U.S. coat of arms painted on the side of it. “With sixteen wheels for a smoother ride, rounded monitor ends, fine woodwork, upholstered walls, [and] etched glass windows” this funeral car surely Read more…
The last person born in the 19th Century dies
The oldest man in the world died at age 116. His name was Jiroemon Kimura of Japan. Not only did it catch my attention because he died on my birthday, June 12, but when you think about it, he would have also been the last person alive who was born in the 19th Century. Kimura was born in 1897. He was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living person last December. This was after an older American woman died. Then, on December 28, he became the oldest living man ever at age 115 years and 253 days. His life spanned three centuries before he passed away from natural causes. Here’s an article about Kimura.
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: Cop killer attempts prison escape, caught and executed
Philip Hartman knew he needed to pay for his crime and that he would have to pay the ultimate price. “Fight the case? No, I am guilty of the charges. I made my mistake. I am sorry,” the 24-year-old Hartman told reporters after he was arrested for murder and bank robbery. After robbing the Abbottstown State Bank on October 14, 1924, Hartman had shot Private Francis Haley of the Pennsylvania State Police shortly thereafter. Haley had died almost instantly on the highway where he had fallen from his motorcycle, becoming the 11th state trooper to die in the line of duty. Following an intensive two-day manhunt, Hartman surrendered to police in Reading and was returned to the Adams County Jail to await his trial. Hartman spoke to reporters, “In broken phrases, like a man repenting a wrong deed, struggling in 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…
The Pennsylvanian Who Invented Bubble Gum
When an idea blows up in an inventor’s face, the inventor usually isn’t too happy. Not so with Walter E. Diemer. In 1928, Diemer was a 23-year-old accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia. But on his lunch hour and after work, he was an inventor. Diemer’s office in the Fleer Company was near the chewing gum production machines. When Gilbert Mustin, who ran the company at the time, tried to create a bubble gum, he put the small vat for mixing his recipes in a corner next to Diemer. “He said to me, ‘Watch that, will you?’” Diemer recalled in a 1992 interview. “After awhile, I was not only watching it, I was doing it.” Diemer experimented with recipes for a gum base and hit on success in September of 1928 when he 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…
The Unstoppable Thurmont Sluggers
Baseball has always been a popular pastime in Frederick County. The county has had professional, semi-professional, and amateur teams, often engaged in fierce competition for the title of league champion. In the 1920s, Thurmont had an amateur baseball team that played in an eight-team county league, along with teams from Mt. Airy, Emmitsburg, Point of Rocks, New Market, Woodsboro, Middletown, and Brunswick. Woodsboro emerged at the top of the heap at the end of the 1922 season. And when the 1923 season started, it was expected that they would again reign victorious. They met with a problem, though. It was Thurmont’s baseball team. Near the end of July 1923, Woodsboro and Thurmont met at the Woodsboro baseball field for their first game against each other during the season. It was one of the largest crowds ever to Read more…
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