Some Short Articles
…from the Past
Submitted by Joan Bittner Fry
1889
The Board of School Commissioners of Frederick County, Maryland, Frederick County School No. 4, Election District No. 5. (1889)
To use books and stationery for three pupils fall term ending November 18, 1889 at .75 x 2 + .50 cents total of $2.00. Each pupil shall, without regard to the time of entering school, pay a sum per term for the use of Books and Stationery, unless exempted from such payment by the Board of District Trustees. The fee is in all cases payable in advance. It is due on the day of entrance and if not paid within one week after that day, the delinquent pupil will not be entitled to, nor permitted to have the use of Books and Stationery belonging to the School.
1895
The News, Frederick, MD (21 Sept 1895)
HIS HORSE FELL – Mr. J. W. Dutrow’s Unfortunate Accident – Leg Broken
On Monday evening, returning from the store of his son, J. N. Dutrow, Mr. Jacob Dutrow, an esteemed farmer residing near Myersville was returning from Pleasant Walk when he met with an accident. When near the residence of Mr. Charles Shank, a rain came up. When he attempted to hurry up, the horse he was riding stumbled and fell, throwing Mr. Dutrow over its head, scattering his purchases over the road. The horse then blundered forward and fell with its hip on Mr. Dutrow’s leg, breaking both of the bones below the knee at two different places.
Mr. William H. Shank, who was in the vicinity of the accident, heard Mr. Dutrow’s calls for help and procured a wheelbarrow and removed him to the shelter of a shed of Mr. Charles Shank. Capt. Jacob Koogle then removed Mr. Dutrow to his home and Shank went to Boonsboro for Dr. S. S. Davis who adjusted the fracture. From last reports Mr. Dutrow is doing as well as can be expected.
1906
he Citizen, Frederick, MD, Friday, (Sept. 28, 1906)
Dr. Fahrney Badly Hurt in an Automobile Accident
Last Sunday afternoon, while traveling towards Waynesboro, Pennsylvania in Dr. Fahrney’s automobile, Dr. Morris A. Birely of (Thurmont) and Dr. Fahrney met with an accident in which they had a narrow escape from being killed as they were descending a steep hill about two miles above Thurmont.
Dr. Fahrney had cut off the engine and the machine was running by gravity at the rate of twelve or fifteen miles an hour when it struck a deep gutter which crosses the turnpike at a point where the road makes a sharp turn to the right. The jolt broke the steering bar of the automobile which veered suddenly to the right and overturned at the side of the road. Dr. Fahrney was pinned to the ground with one side of the machine, which weighs over 1,500 pounds, resting on his breast. Dr. Birely, although imprisoned beneath the machine, was in such a position that no part of it rested heavily upon him.
Fortunately, several men happened to be close by and went to their assistance and succeeded in releasing them. Dr. Fahrney, who was the most seriously hurt, was brought home in Dr. Birely’s automobile. He suffered from a severe compression of the chest. The automobile was badly damaged.
Dr. Morris A. Birely was the last of five children. He was born in 1872. After public school in Thurmont, he graduated from Cumberland Valley State Normal School in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania in 1890, then from the medical school at University of Maryland in 1894. Immediately after graduation, Morris returned to Thurmont to serve his neighbors. His medical practice thrived. He married Bertha Bushey in 1900 and the union produced one son, Franklin.
Dr. Birely earned esteem in the community and the county. Among many positions, he served as physician for St. Joseph’s College, Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, and the Western Maryland Railroad in Thurmont. He died in 1947, having served his neighbors and community for over 50 years.
His son, Franklin Birely, also became a doctor and returned to Thurmont from New Jersey in May of 1941 to practice medicine with his father. The Birely’s lived next to St. John’s Lutheran Church at 19 North Church Street. After Franklin died, the home was sold to the Guardian Hose Company and was torn down to expand the footprint for its building and parking area. Franklin is buried with his parents in Blue Ridge Cemetery.
1929
The Beginning of Camp Cozy
As auto tourists began to tire of camping in open fields, a new sort of lodging establishment emerged aimed at motorists – the motel. In 1929, Wilbur Freeze erected three simple cabins and opened the Cozy Inn in Thurmont. Advertising a “home for the night for a tourist.” Within two years, the camp grew to fifteen cabins and a store to serve lodgers. An aggressive promoter, Freeze painted his cabins bright colors and made sure that flowers were always in bloom in the gardens. He also built see-saws and other playground equipment for children. The largest cabin, named “Betty Lou,” featured two bedrooms and a kitchen.
1948
Jan. 22, 1948, Article from The Record Herald, Waynesboro, PA.
Fire Sweeps Center of Sabillasville, MD.
Fire swept the business district early today in the community of Sabillasville, Maryland, destroying a garage and damaging a general store, a dwelling, and two other buildings. Owners estimated the total damage at $20,000.
Arthur E. (“Poke”) Moorehead, owner of the one-story frame garage, estimated his loss at $10,000 and damage to the Earl Eby & Son general store was placed at $7,000 with the remaining $3,000 damage distributed among owners of the other properties.
Fire companies from Blue Ridge Summit and Fountaindale in Pennsylvania, and Thurmont, Camp Ritchie, and Emmitsburg in Maryland pumped water from a nearby stream in fighting the blaze. The origin was undetermined.
No Date
The Big Apple
The Hagerstown Daily Mail recounts the story of a motorist who went to jail for six months and was fined $100 for drunken driving after a crash on a mountain road last month.
The man, according to a 19-year-old woman passenger who testified from a hospital bed, plunged down a rocky 35-foot embankment.
He had been swerving his car from one side of the road to the other while descending the hilly slope at a rapid pace. This, the woman explained to the court, was known as “doing the big apple.”
