1833: The night the sky fell in Gettysburg
The old Adams County jail wasn’t the most secure of prisons. Early in the morning of November 12, 1833, a convicted murderer was so scared that he broke out of the prison, according to the History of Adams County published in 1886. Though the man was free from prison, he still wore shackles. He ran to the nearest blacksmith shop and filed them off. Then, “as he forgot to come back and give himself up to be hanged, it may be inferred he is still fleeing from the ‘stars’ that do not pursue,” according to the History of Adams County. Few people probably even noticed the killer’s escape that evening. Their eyes were turned to the heavens watching the reason the man had become scared enough to break out. “The whole heavens appeared to be illuminated by countless meteors, of Read more…
Thurmont’s “Cat Lady” lived in an old bus
Mae Carbaugh lived the quiet life of a hermit. She rarely left her home along Route 550 close to the Western Maryland Railway tracks near Thurmont. Yet, in the months before she died in 1974, her life was national news. Carbaugh wasn’t a native of Frederick County. She was born on a farm in Delaware in 1896. Deciding that the farming life wasn’t for her, Carbaugh left home at age 16. She wound up working as a hotel restaurant waitress in Emmitsburg until the hotel closed. She married Charles Carbaugh and the couple had a daughter. Charles was an alcoholic and didn’t work much so when he died in 1953, he left his wife with nothing. Mae found work as a housekeeper for an elderly bachelor, though. “When the old bachelor died, she continued, she had no place to live. 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…
1924: Pennsylvania state trooper murdered in Adams County
This is the first in a series of articles I wrote for the Gettysburg Times about the murder of Pennsylvania State Trooper Francis Haley and the hunt for his killer. With just five months with the Pennsylvania State Police and only two days at the substation in Chambersburg, Private Francis Haley could still feel a sense of newness and wonder with the job. It was a feeling he would lose all too soon. Around 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 14, 1924, the report came in to be on the lookout for a lone man in a touring car with New York plates who was wanted as a suspect in the robbery of the Abbottstown State Bank. Upon fleeing the scene, the bank robber had last been seen heading in the direction of Gettysburg along Lincoln Highway. Around 2 p.m. that day, 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…
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…
"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…
Hunting wolves in the Catoctin Mountains
While you would be lucky to find a wolf in Maryland nowadays, in the early 19th Century, Frederick County farmers kept their eyes peeled for lurking gray shapes stalking their livestock. In 1821, Captain Harman and his good friend Christian left Catoctin Furnace one morning with their hunting dogs. They hiked into the Catoctin Mountains hoping their dogs would catch the scent of a wolf. Wolves have been hunted for nearly 13,000 years for sport, their skins and to protect livestock. It’s uncertain as to whether the two men were hunting wolves for sport or to protect the livestock of farmers in the area. Harman and Christian had walked about four miles when the dogs returned with their back hair standing up and their tails erect, which was the sign that they had either caught the scent or found Read more…
The Man Who Made Personalized Movies
Sometimes even heroes need saving. Don Newland showed the country that everyone could be a movie star. One day a person might be driving a taxi, practicing law or simply a mother caring for her children and the next day Newland would have them in front of his movie camera saying lines and becoming a movie star. It was the classic “A Star is Born” discovery except that it wasn’t happening to Lana Turner who was discovered at a soda bar in Hollywood. It was happening to John Q. Public in Cumberland and dozens of other small cities across the country. Don Newland Newland was an “itinerant filmmaker,” which is a filmmaker who traveled from city to city shooting a film with local actors before moving on to the next city. He is known to have filmed dozens of Read more…
^