100 Years Ago in Sabillasville

Submitted by Joab Bittner Fry

The following report of the shooting of Edward O. Smith is taken from the Waynesboro Herald, August 9, 1906.

Man Shot through the Heart

Bloody murder has spread its lurid mantle over the little, quiet region between the ranges of South Mountain, known as Harbaugh’s Valley. There in the mountain, about half past one o’clock yesterday afternoon, young Fred Debold, 11-year-old son of John Debold, a farmer of that region and formerly a citizen of Waynesboro, shot and instantly killed Edward O. Smith.

Smith had gone from his home in Hagerstown that morning for the purpose of picking blackberries.  He went to the home of his father, George Smith, living about a mile southeast of Sabillasville and whose farm joins that of John Debold, father of the murderer. Smith had picked his bucket full of berries and left it standing in the fence corner along the public road. 

Debold and his sons were working in a field close by, and whether as a result of any provocation or words of contention between Smith and the Debolds, Smith picked up a double handful of stones, scaled the fence, and ran over to where the Debolds were working. Debold, the father, warned him not to approach and to get off his land, but Smith persisted and the report says that he threw several stones at the Debolds. Seeing that Smith persisted in the assault, Debold dispatched his son Fred to the house for his gun. 

The son soon reappeared with the weapon, a double-barrel shotgun, and when Smith refused to leave the premises, he aimed directly at his heart and fired, the heavy charge taking effect and practically blowing Smith’s heart out. He fell on his face in the grass and never drew another breath.

It was after seven o’clock in the evening that Deputy Sheriff Hauver arrived on the scene. He at once arrested John Debold and his son Fred and took them hustling to Frederick, where they were locked in jail. The deputy sheriff also gave orders for the removal of Smith to his father’s home.

The victim of the tragedy lives in Hagerstown and was about 30 years old, has a wife and four children. It is said that he was heard remarking yesterday morning that he had come over to “do up the Debolds.”

More from Catoctin Clarion: Mechanicstown (now Thurmont), Maryland, August 16, 1906.

It seems that the Smiths and Debolds have been on very bad terms lately and had a lawsuit at Frederick, the Debolds charging that the Smiths had stolen a calf from them. It was this feud between their families that fired the younger Smith, and it is believed that he sought the quarrel in order to avenge the family grievance.

Young Fred Debold is remembered here as a tow-headed tot, much after the German pattern of his father. The family removed from here to the mountain farm below Sabillasville three years ago this spring. When here, Debold lived on South Fairview Avenue (Waynesboro), and operated a stone quarry on his land at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Fourth Street. It will be recalled that while putting off a blast one day, the charge prematurely exploded and shot him twenty feet in the air. 

He was a hardworking man but was constantly embroiled with his neighbor and had many suits before the local magistrates, pro and con.

That it was homicide is quite certain, but whether felonious or justifiable is for the jury. So far as the facts have been gathered, it is plain that Smith was a trespasser and had actually committed an assault with force and arms. Just whether the shooting was a necessary resort will be for the jury, but in the face of the facts, it ought not be difficult for the Debolds to secure an acquittal.

Funeral services were held on Friday afternoon at Sabillasville, Rev. G. I. Rider officiating.

Follow-up from The Citizen, Frederick, MD, Friday Morning, September 28, 1906

The trial of Frederick Debold and his father John Debold for the killing of Edward O. Smith of Hagerstown, which occurred on August 8th near Sabillasville, this county, began on Monday. The traversers were represented by Messrs. Harp and Etchison. They claimed that the shooting was in self-defense and no doubt the evidence tended to show something like that condition, for on Wednesday the jury acquitted the elder Debold and could not agree in the case of the son. The story of the shooting of Smith by Frederick Debold was told in The Citizen at the time. It is probable that a new trial of Frederick Debold will be held during the present term of court.