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100 Years Ago This Month

October 1919

October 3

Romance Blasted

A wedding romance of a trifle over three months has been blasted following the application of Mrs. Mary Horner in Frederick court for the divorce from her husband Dr. Arnold Horner, a prominent druggist of Emmitsburg. The couple was married after a brief courtship and lived together until September eleventh.

Mrs. Horner states in her filing that on one occasion her husband choked her, and on another threatened her with bodily harm. She declares that he has, conservatively estimated, an income of $3,000 a year and that she is without support. She asked counsel fees and funds to defray the expense of divorce proceedings. In reply, Dr. Horner denies the ill treatment charge and says that Mrs. Horner left him and returned to her home in Germantown, despite his pleadings. He makes counter charges of various conduct, on her part, but does not specify them. He asks a reduction in counsel fees, charging his income has been grossly over estimated.

Boozer’s Rocked Romance

The membership of the Former-Former Boozers association were rocked by the revelation that Jack "Stinky" Deatheridge has been in a secret romance with one of Emmitsburg’s new lady farmerettes. When confronted by his fellow Boozers, Deatheridge defended the illicit romance by stating that he was simply following his natural God given duty by providing the farmerette what every woman needed – a man to "cook and clean up after." "For without that," Deatheridge said, "women folk waste their limited mental capacity thinking up useless things like prohibition and suffrage." Deatheridge went on to blame the success of the prohibition movement on men who picked up after themselves as opposed to letting their womenfolk do it.

October 10

Community Show For Emmitsburg

On Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November 1, Emmitsburg will hold a community show. Entries of livestock, grain, fruit, poultry, cured meats, preserves, marmalades, jellies, canned and dried fruits and vegetables - in fact, anything possible to raise on a farm or in a garden - will be displayed. In the home economics department there will be shows of needlework, woven rugs, baskets and the like.

The merchants in Emmitsburg and many individuals have offered prizes for the best entries and decided enthusiasm is being shown throughout the community. Farmers, merchants and town people throughout the entire district are manifesting the keenest interest in what promises to be the banner event in Emmitsburg.

The public school house will be the show place for the undercover entries, and the Firemans’ field, on which there is already a large pavilion, will be the scene of the livestock judging. Stalls and pens will be erected within the enclosure and the different entries judged on the diamond.

Newsboy Beating Article Incorrect

Conspicuous articles appearing in local newspapers last month stated that Lawrence Porter, of Emmitsburg, had attacked and beaten Richard Ervin, an Emmitsburg newsboy, are absolutely incorrect according to a statement made by Mr. Porter. "How they managed to get my name connected with that affair I cannot understand," said Mr. Porter. "I was in Gettysburg and Fairfield on Monday afternoon and was never in Emmitsburg. Through the carelessness of some newspaper reporter I have received criticism for an act I never committed."

Driver’s Hard Luck

Hard luck came in quantities for Joseph Lynn of Harney, driver of a six-ton truck, Tuesday afternoon. The climax came when the heavy truck broke through the bridge over Plum Run on the Taneytown Road just outside of Harney. Lynn started from Baltimore on Monday with a load of metal, but hard luck overcame him quickly. First he had engine trouble and then the drive chains broke. While repairing the engine his coat became saturated with gasoline and later became ignited and severely burned his right arm. He continued to drive until he came to the Plum Run Bridge where the weight of the truck resulted in him breaking through the decking. It took hours for a large gang of men to extract the truck from the bridge and repair the decking.

October 17

Former County Commissioner Dies

David Rhodes, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Emmitsburg, died Friday at the age of 83 years old. He was born in Freedom Township. He resided in Pennsylvania until March 1915, since which time he lived in Emmitsburg. He served as an Adams County Commissioner for many years and owned and operated the Middle Creek Flowering Mill, which had been in ownership of the Rhodes family for more than a century. He was a member of the Reformed Church in Emmitsburg and served as an Elder in the congregation for many years.

Motor Company Loses Suit

A verdict of $400 was returned by jury in a suit by Charles Sanders against the Emmitsburg Motor Company. The case is a result of a mishap of a year ago. The accident occurred on the public road leading from Emmitsburg to Gettysburg. According to Sanders, he was driving a horse attached to a buggy when an agent of the motor company, operating an automobile, struck his team, throwing him out and injuring him and the team.

October 24

Murder At Thurmont

The authorities are on the lookout for an escaped murderer who shot and instantly killed Leo Creager, age 35, a lumber and coal dealer of Thurmont, when the latter, with a small band of men, attempted to close in on him in a peach orchard just outside of the town on Saturday.

Creager and his companions have been notified to be on the lookout for two young men who had fled in that direction after dynamiting safes in the offices of Marshall & Ford and the wholesale establishment of George Kehne in Frederick, earlier that day. The men arrived in Thurmont on the trolley car and were arrested upon their arrival. As they were being escorted to the lockup, one of them upset the Deputy Sheriff and both darted away. One got on the Western Maryland Railroad train but was recaptured a little later. The other made for the open country and took a stand in a peach orchard.

The fugitive was pursued for ten minutes until he was a mile from the railroad station and entered the peach orchard. Two of the posse had made a detour and it was beginning to look to the fugitive as if it was time for his gun-work or to surrender peacefully. The latter, however, was apparently far from his mind, for he whipped out a long, blue steel service revolver and shot Creager, who had started in to tackle the man barehanded

The murderer then disappeared. It is supposed that he is trying to reach Baltimore. The murderer is described as a 25-years old, white man, with a dark shallow complexion, weighing 175 pounds. He is 5’ 2" tall and was wearing a dark green felt hat and a dark green suit; the trousers are torn. $1,000 reward has been offered by the County Commissioners in Frederick County for the murderer, dead or alive.

Sheriff Klipp stated that the search for the murderer has been exhaustive. The Sheriff has deputized practically every farmer in the Thurmont, Detour and Rocky Ridge area and plans to patrol the Western Maryland Railroad and guard all the turnpikes and public roads.

The murderer had an hour head start on the main body of searchers on the account of tending to Creager. Reports continued to come in all weekend of an unidentified man in the woods, but when the posse showed up, no trace of the fugitive could be found.

While no excitement exists, calm indignation prevails all over the northern part of the county and it is felt that the fugitive will be dealt with on the spot when captured. The opinion has been freely expressed that officers will have a hard time getting the man to surrender in the event he is caught and the citizens can save the courts a lot of time by simply killing him on the spot.

Many in the community, however, believe that the murderer has successfully escaped. They are of the opinion that the posse and bloodhounds would have closed in on him by now. A number of officials are of the opinion that the murderer received some assistance. They believe mountaineers gave him food and information through fear, knowing that he was heavily armed and that he had killed another to make his escape.

Sherriff Klipp, however, thinks the murderer is still holding up in the heavy woodlands adjoining the Thurmont, Rocky Ridge and Detour railroad right of way. He believes the man will eventually hop a train and escape to Baltimore unless the citizens are able to apprehend and kill him locally.

October 31

Autobus Wrecked

The Thurmont and Emmitsburg bus crashed into a fence along the Pike in the vicinity of Dr. Fredman’s home near Thurmont Tuesday evening. While the driver and the four passengers escaped injuries, the machine was damaged considerably. The driver was attempting to pass a calf in the road; the action that caused the accident. The wayward calf was struck, but not hurt.

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