History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf
county and admirable specimens of improved stock and horses. A grand tournament attracted a large concourse of people, after which some interesting trotting races took place. Among the cattle exhibited were beautiful selections from Durham, Devon, Ayrshire, and Alderney breeds. The exhibition of horses was worthy of careful inspection, the large majority of the animals having been raised by the enterprising farmers of Carroll County.
The following is a list of the officers of the society during each year, including 1881:
1870. — President, .John E. Smith; Vice-President, Jeremiah Rinehart: Secretary, Wm. A. McKellip; Treasurer, Richard Manning! Directors, David Fowble, Edward Lynch, H. Haines, W. G. Rinehart, Joseph H. Hoppe.
1871. — President, Augustus Shriver; Vice-President, Jeremiah Rinehart; Secretary, Wm. A. McKellip; Treasurer, Richard Manning; Directors, Edward Lynch, David H. Byers, Geo. W. Matthews, David Fowble, Josephus H. Hoppe.
1872. — President, Augustus Shriver; Vice-President, Jeremiah Rinehart; Secretary, Wm. A. McKellip; Treasurer, Richard Manning; Directors, David Fowble, Edward Lynch, H. E. Morelock, Joseph Shaeffer, Louis P. Slingluff.
1873. — President, Granville S. Haines; Vice-President, Jeremiah Rinehart; Secretary, Wm. A. McKellip; Treasurer, Richard Manning; Directors, Edward Lynch, David Fowble, Joseph Shaeffer, Dr. C. Billingslea, Noah Shaeffer, E. O. Grimes, Louis P. Slingluff, Lewis H. Cole.
1874. — President, Granville S. Haines; Vice-President, George W. Matthews; Secretary, C. V. Wantz; Treasurer, Richard Manning; Directors, F. H. Orendorff, H. E. Morelock, Joseph Hibberd, Thomas F. Shepherd, E. J. Crumrine.
1875.— President, Granville S. Haines; Vice-President, Joseph Shaeffer; Secretary, C. V. Wantz; Treasurer, Richard Manning; Directors, H. E. Morelock, F, H. Orendorff, David Fowble, Thos. F. Shepherd, Samuel Roop.
1876. — President, Jeremiah Rinehart; Vice-President, Noah Shaeffer; Secretary, George W. Matthews; Treasurer, Richard Manning; Directors, David H. Byers, Samuel Lawyer, Henry B. Albaugh, John Sellman, David Stoner.
1877.— President, Col. William A. McKellip; Vice-President, David Fowble; Secretary, G. W. Matthews; Treasurer, Richard Manning; Directors, Dr. Jacob Rinehart, Granville S. Haines, L. P. Slingluff, Edward Lynch, Orlando Reese.
1878.— (Same board.)
1879. — Same board, save Francis H. Orendorff, secretary, vice G. W. Matthews.
1880. — Same board; Assistant Secretary, Frank W. Shriver; Chief Marshal, Joseph W. Berret; Assistant Marshals, Robert M. Hewitt, Wesley A. Steele, G. Edwin Hoppe, William N. Sellman; Committee on Grounds and Side Shows, David Fowble, Granville S. Haines, Edward Lynch; Superintendents of Departments, Henry E. Morelock, Wm. J. Morelock, D. H. Byers, Thomas B. Gist, Elias Tingling, Charles N. Kuhn, Francis Sharrer, Lee McElroy, W. G. Rinehart; Vice-Presidents, Dr. Samuel Swope, Frank Brown, J. C. Brubaker, A. G. Houck, Emanuel Myers, Geo. W. Manro, P. H. L. Myers, John W. Murray, Solomon Shepherd, Lewis Dielman, Benj. Poole, David Rinehart; Committee of Reception, Hon. Charles B. Roberts, Hon. John E. Smith, Henry Gait, Thomas F. Shepherd, Samuel Cover, John H. Chew, E. J. Crumrine, R. D. Gorsuch. L. A. J. Lamotte, A. Augustus Roop, A. H. Steele, E. H. Clabaugh. The fair this year was held September 28th to October 1st, and in the trials for speed there were six trots, in which $775 were given as awards.
1881.— President, Col. William A. McKellip; Vice-President, David Fowble; Secretary, Francis H. Orendorff; Treasurer, Richard Manning; Directors, Edward Lynch, Dr. Jacob Rinehart, Jeremiah Rinehart, John B. Boyle, William J. Morelock.
The Agricultural Hall, for the productions requiring shelter, is eighty-five by forty feet, and two stories high. The pavilion seats over two thousand persons, and a music-stand, octagonal in form, is erected in the center of the track. This society has a capital of nearly thirty thousand dollars invested in its properties. The quality of horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, and mules in the county, as annually exhibited, is superb, and makes a good return in profits to the growers and owners. It is universally admitted that the generous rivalry in their exhibitions has stimulated the farmers to more active exertions, and the machinists have been aroused to the necessity of producing implements of superior quality.
As has been before observed in these pages, the inhabitants of Carroll County have always been a peaceful and law-abiding people. The records of the court have seldom been defaced by the more heinous offenses which sometimes mar the moral symmetry of other communities. There have been but two executions in the county since its creation in 1837. Rebecca McCormick, a colored woman, was tried at the April term of the Circuit Court for 1859 for the murder of a colored boy, fourteen years of age. She was convicted of murder in the first degree, and executed in the month of June following.
On the 5th of April, 1872, Abraham L. Lynn, a miller near Lynwood Station, was found dead in his grain-bin with his skull fractured in several places. It was at first supposed that he had accidentally fallen into the bin, but the suspicious movements of a young man named Joseph W. Davis, employed in the mill, attracted attention, and he was arrested and charged with the murder. Hamilton Shue, a shoemaker in the village, was also arrested as an accomplice. The trial of Davis before the Circuit Court of Carroll County, in June, 1872, resulted in a disagreement of the jury. His case was then removed to Washington County, where he was tried in September, 1872, and convicted of murder in the first degree. There succeeded a series of delays almost unexampled in the history of jurisprudence. The evidence was entirely circumstantial, and his counsel. Col. Maulsby and J. A. C. Bond, believed implicitly in his innocence.
The case was taken on a bill of exceptions to the Court of Appeals, and the decision of the lower court affirmed. Subsequently, in deference to the appeals of counsel, the case was reopened by the highest court in the State and reargued, with the same result as before. An appeal was now made to the Governor for pardon, and the case elaborately argued before him, but he declined to interfere. Again, on the supposed discovery of new evidence, it was argued before the Governor with a like result. Some mistakes were then discovered in the court papers, and a writ of error was sued out by the counsel of Davis, which was heard by the Court of Appeals, and decided adversely to Davis. As a last resort an application for interference was made to the Legislature, which was then in session, but while the proceedings were pending before this body Davis made a full confession, acknowledging his guilt and exonerating Shue, who had already been acquitted. Davis was executed in the jail-yard at Westminster, Feb. 6, 1874. A fearful storm of wind and snow prevailed during the day, but the case had become so generally known through the extraordinary efforts of counsel in his behalf, that thousands of people were drawn thither to witness the last act in the tragedy. He broke down utterly at the last, and had to be borne up the steps of the gallows. His confession was sold to the spectators while he was delivering his farewell to the populace, and appeared the next day in the morning papers.
The financial exhibit of Carroll County for the year ending June 30, 1881, was very gratifying to the taxpayers. There was a reduction of $10,641.61 in the public debt over the previous year, and an increase of $5172.41 in assets, making a general improvement of $15,787.02. The liabilities over assets were $12,532.82, which was about the actual debt of the county. The tax levied was fifty cents on a hundred dollars, the lowest in the State. The expenses of the Circuit Court for August and November, 1880, and for February and May, 1881, were $8303.46; for sundry attorneys, $121.33; for the Orphans' Court, $1573.81; for county commissioners, $1868.50; for county jail, $2390.59; for public schools, $21,000; for registers of voters, $825; for collection of taxes, $2635; for justices of the peace, $457.68; for constables, $464.79; for public printing, $722.83; for taxes refunded, $14.10; for State witnesses, $41.58; for laying out and opening public roads, $109; for inquests, $166.94; for sundry minor expenses, $970.55; for county roads, small bridges, and culverts, $9369.90; for bridges, $3732,88; for county indebtedness, $14,230.31; for judges and clerks of election, $286; for out-door pensioners, $2803; for special pensions by order, $619.60; for miscellaneous accounts, $2364.36; for the almshouse, $3822.70. The liabilities of the county on June 30, 1881, were given by Joseph A. Waesche, the treasurer, as follows: County certificates outstanding, $47,495; note due Union National Bank, $5000; Daniel Bush estate, $1200; George W. Armacort, $400; total, $54,095. The amount of liabilities June 30, 1880,