March 31, 1996
25 Years Ago
Action Viewed With Approval By Psychologists – MPA Executive Committee Supports State Board of Education’s Decision Outlawing Corporal Punishment – The Executive Council of the Maryland Psychological Association at a recent meeting, unanimously approved a resolution supporting the State Board of Education’s decision of January 27 outlawing corporal punishment as a means of influencing behavior of students in the schools, according to information released by Dr. Robert Vargas, Chairman of Public Information for the Association. Community Reporter, March 26, 1971.
50 Years Ago
1186 ACCIDENTS IN FEBRUARY – 25 Persons Killed And 603 Injured; 11 Crashes In Carroll County; Four Injured – There were 1,186 accidents investigated in Maryland during the month of February 1946, with 25 persons killed and 603 injured. Baltimore City Police reported 698 accidents with 6 persons killed and 324 injured, and the State, County and municipal Police Departments reported 488 accidents with 19 persons killed and 279 persons injured. Twenty-five persons killed during the month is the lowest since August 1944, and represents a 24 % reduction when compared with the same month a year ago. Both Baltimore City and the Counties shared in the reduction. The year’s total for fatalities is now 63 as compared to 66 for the same period last year — a reduction of 5 percent. Eleven of the twenty three counties Caroline, Carroll, Cecil Charles, Garrett, Kent, Queen Anne, St. Mary’s Somerset, Talbot and Worchester experienced a fatality free month. Democratic Advocate, March 29, 1946.
75 Years Ago
Keymar and Rocky Ridge Stations Robbed – Station thieves along the Western Maryland line got in a fair night’s work Tuesday, not so much in valuables lifted as in ground covered. Thieves
broke into the railroad station at Emmitsburg Junction, on the main line of the Western Maryland, pried open the door to the ticket office and ransacked the place. Papers and office furniture were turned upside down and all the drawers removed. A sack of 300 pennies was taken out of the money drawer and the station master’s overalls stolen. Not satisfied with the small loot the thieves robbed the chewing gum machine and got some loose change from it. They departed, possibly on a handcar, and smashed into the Western Maryland Station at Keymar. At this place both the Pennsylvania and the Western Maryland Stations are located in the same building. Both offices were opened and a total of about $8.38 taken. From the Western Maryland side of the office nothing was missing, but papers and books were scattered about the floor. Railroad police of both roads went to the scene of the robberies and investigated. Wednesday Clarence Reeseman, 24 years old, who is believed to be a member of a gang that broke into the Emmitsburg Station at Rocky Ridge and also the Keymar Station, Western Maryland Railroad, and who is supposed to be implicated in numerous robberies committed in the mountain beyond Thurmont during the past winter, was arrested by a railroad detective and committed to jail. The prisoner is a brother of Percy Reeseman and a son of David Reeseman, arrested several weeks ago charged with looting meat houses in the neighborhood of Thurmont. Union Bridge Pilot, March 25, 1921.
100 Years Ago
The Conductor was Right – In the Court of Appeals on Thursday, Judge Bricoe, delivered the opinion of the court in the case of the Western Maryland Railroad Company vs. George L.
Stocksdale. On Sunday, August, 1893, Stocksdale asked the ticket agent of the company at Westminster for a round-trip ticket to Emory Grove on Sunday, but that he could sell him one to Glyndon, which was only a quarter of a mile away. Stocksdale accepted the ticket. The return coupon required a stamp of the officers of the temperance camp, but it has closed on the 9th of August, and stamp had been taken away. On the day following Stocksdale boarded the train and attempted to go to Westminster on the ticket. He explained to the conductor why he could not get it stamped. The conductor refused to accept the unstamped ticket and demanded the regular fare of forty cents. Stocksdale had the money to pay his fare and a thousand mile ticket on the road. He refused to pay any other way than with the unstamped ticket and was expelled from the train. Stocksdale obtained a judgment in his favor below, but the Court of Appeals hold that the conductor was right in refusing to accept the unstamped ticket, and that Stocksdale’s remedy was suit against the company for breach of contract in selling him a defective ticket. Judgment reversed, with costs. American Sentinel, March 28, 1896.