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 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…
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…
What? You mean there's more to Gettysburg than just the Civil War battle?
I have a new e-book available on Kindle called Beyond the Battlefield: Stories from Gettysburg’s Rich History and it happens to be coming out around the same time I’m beginning a new history column for the Gettysburg Times with the same theme. Gettysburg is best-known for the epic Civil War battle that was fought there in 1863. It tends to overshadow many of the other interesting and important stories that have taken place in Gettysburg and the vicinity. Gettysburg was home to one of the first tank training camps in the country during World War I that was located on a portion of the Civil War battlefield. This also brought a young army officer to Gettysburg who would play a very important role in town but also the world. His name was Dwight David Eisenhower. Gettysburg was also home to 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…
Chambersburg's (Pa.) trolley days
At the turn of the 20th Century, automobiles were a rarity that few people could afford. If someone needed to get into Chambersburg from one of the nearby communities or get around town, he or she needed to ride a horse or walk. That changed in 1902 as preliminary work began on planning a trolley route to service Chambersburg, but not one that was pulled by horses. The Chambersburg and Gettysburg Street Railway Company would be independently powered trolleys that would run from Chambersburg to Gettysburg. The Public Opinion reported that, “Mr. Baumgardner declared it was so cold in December 1902 when surveying was done in the open country for the line that ‘we had to cut the ground with an ax before we could drive an iron pin in.’” The plan was eventually for the Read more…
For All the Baseball Fans Out There…
“Babe” Ruth was a baseball legend. You can find out why in When the Babe Came to Town. My new ebook shows how the Babe connected with the fans through his many exhibition and barnstorming games.When the Babe Came to Town is a collection of some of these stories highlighting games that Babe Ruth played in Emmitsburg, Maryland; York, Pennsylvania; Oakland, California and Cumberland, Maryland. It was big news when Babe Ruth came to town. Many residents of these smaller towns unused to seeing Major League baseball games in the days before television. They had only read about Babe Ruth’s talent in the newspapers or heard about it on the radio. The Babe came to town and showed them what they were missing as he hit home runs out of the park. There are a lot of these stories out Read more…
Patrick Gass: Explorer, Soldier, Patriot from Franklin County
Patrick Gass was a native son of Franklin County, but the impact of his life stretched far beyond the borders of the county and Commonwealth. “Before he died on April 2nd, 1870 at the age of almost 99 years, great cities had been built and untold wealth found in the land he had helped discover. During the War of 1812 he fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the campaign on the Canadian border, and at the age of 63, after a lifetime spent in the service of his country, he married a girl of 20, whom he survived many years. Born before the Revolution, he lived to see this country grow from the original thirteen colonies to 38 states; he voted at the election of 18 presidents from Washington to Grant who served during his lifetime. Four great Read more…
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