Welsh of Harpers Ferry

Evidence Category: The Shepherdstown Register

  • The Canal Will Be Restored.

    In the Circuit Court at Hagerstown last Friday the trustees of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal bond-holders of 1844, Bradley S. Johnson, Joseph Bryan, Henry H. Keedy, Hugh L. Bond, Jr., and John K. Cowen, filed their bond in penalty of $600,000, with Miss Mary E. Garrett and John B. McDonald as sureties. They paid into court in cash $10,000 for costs, and produced $302,000 of the bonds of 1878 and $247,500 in legal tender currency to pay for the rest of the bonds in 1878. The trustees having thus compiled with the decree of the court, the clerk issued his certificate to them to that effect, which, under the decree, entitles them to possession of the canal property.

    Judge Alvey then signed an order declaring that the trustees had filed their bonds in the penalty of $600,000, which was approved by the court, and had produced a certified copy of the auxilliary decree of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, promising that the trustees should take possession of the District portion of the canal, and had complied with all the requirements of the decree of October 2, 1890. He therefore ordered Robert Bridges, Richard D. Johnson and Joseph D. Baker forth-with to deliver possession of the canal and all its property held by them as receivers to the trustees of the bonds of 1844.

    Last Monday the trustees turned $over 200,000 to a bank in Baltimore, which will be used to apy off the 1878 bonds in full with accrued interest. The trustees have appointed Mr. Bradley S. Johnson to have charge of the Hagerstown office; Mr. H. C. Winship, of Georgetown, to be general superintendent, and Mayor H. D. Whitcomb, of Richmond, Va., to be chief engineer. The canal will be repaired along its whole length by May 1st. The division from Cumberland to Williamsport will first receive attention, and it is hoped to have it in operation at an early day.

    The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad has furnished the money necessary for operation, will repair the canal and will operate it when repaired. This arrangement insures the success of the undertaking. The Baltimore & Ohio has the power to furnish the freight to repay the large sum that will be expended for repairs; to pay off the bonds of 1878, and to pay interest on the bonds of 1844. It will be obliged to do this, because if after a trail the work does not earn net revenue towards paying its debts, the court will order it to be sold, and it will cost the Baltimore & Ohio much more to purchase the property at a public sale than to operate it so as to pay its debts.

    The trade on the canal will gain from year to year. It will be used by the B. & O. as a double-tracked coal carrier and relieve its tracks from wear and tear and leave them open for general traffic. The prospects of the canal have never been as bright as at present, nor has its future prosperity been so well assured.

  • Struck Oil at Molers Crossroads

    Considerable excitement was created at Moler’s Cross Roads, three miles below Shepherdstown, the first of this week by the supposed discovery of coal oil on the farm of Mr. R. D. Lamar. Mr. Lamar was at the REGISTER office on Wednesday and gave an account of the matter. For the past month he had noticed a greasy skim on the surface of a small pool of water in a ravine in his woodland, but had paid no attention to it. Last Sunday, however, while out walking, he again looked at it, and subsequently made a closer investigation. He skimmed some of the oil from the surface f the water, a bottle of which may be seen at this office. It certainly is coal oil. It smells like it and tastes like it, and burns when a match is applied. Mr. Lamar says it seems to ooze from the ground, and the leaves on the ground in the locality are saturated with it. He will have an examination made by experts, with the view of ascertaining whether or not the greasy fluid is likely to be found in paying quantities.

    If Moler’s Cross Roads shall prove to be in a rich oil belt, we suppose they will get up the biggest sort of a boom down there.

  • Hog Statistics; Hog Committee

    The heaviest weight reported by the hog committee from Shepherdstown was the porker killed last week by Mr. Jep Wintermoyer, which weighed 415 pounds net. Mr. J. J. W. Johnson’s two big hogs betrayed the confidence that had been imposed in them, for while it was expected they would both go considerably over four hundred apiece they only ran up to 370 and 367. Williamsport, over in Maryland, is ahead up to the present time, and is likely to stay there. Mr. John Fuss, a resident of that place, butchered the boss hog last week. It weighed 534 pounds, dressed. Boonsboro is doing tolerably well. The Times says that James P. Ford killed six hogs that weighed 2,667 1/2 pounds, the largest weighing 516 1/2 pounds; M. Morrison slaughtered a 495 pounder; J. P. Houpt, a 465 pounder, and Edward Houpt one that weighed 393 1/2. Mr. James Flanagan’s porkers were not as big as they were a year or two ago. The biggest only weighed 302 and the five others averaged 244 pounds. Mr. John S. Grantham, of the Middleway neighborhood, killed two hogs that netted 1,021 pounds.

  • Indian Mound Opened; Moler

    Mr. B. F. Harrison and Mr. William Graham went down to Mr. J. S. Moler’s place last Thursday, and together with Mr. Moler opened up the Indian mound, or, more properly, cairn. It contained nothing but the skeletons of two Indians, that had been buried due east and west with their heads to the rising sun. They were both in the same grave, with flat stones set up on edge arranged as a sort of coffin. There was not a relic of any sort in the grave, not even an arrow head. Mr. J. D. Billmyer and Mr. Graham opened a similar cairn up the river a few days ago, but the only thing they found was a skeleton of an Indian.

  • Thomas, quarry superintendent, died.

    Mr. F. C. Thomas, superintendent of the Standard Lime and Stone Company’s works at Martinsburg, died at that place last Saturday evening. Mr. Thomas was from Buckeystown, Md. He had been sick and confined to his bed for some three weeks. He was the brother-in-law of Mr. Wm. Baker, of Buckeystown, Md.

  • Nannie V. Daniels; Pies

    Miss Nannie V. Daniels, who lives near Bakerton, knows how to make delicious pies, that’s certain. Aware of the fact that the printers have a sweet tooth, she sent them a lemon custard on Tuesday that was fit for a king. Our devil said that he wished he had a neck like a giraffe, so that the pie would taste good a long way down

  • Limestone Company Charter

    Secretary of State Ohley has granted a charter to the Limestone Company of Harper’s Ferry, which has a capital stock of $10,000. It has the privilege of buying land, building furnaces, mills, etc. Its stock which may be increased to $50,000, is held by New York and Washington capitalists.

  • Stouffer & Bowers, Antietam Creek Dynamite

    Charles Stouffer and Charles Bowers couldn’t catch fish fast enough last summer in the usual way, so they killed them wholesale with dynamite n Antietam creek. They paid for their violation of the law on Monday, when they were fined $50 and costs by the circuit court of Washington county.

  • Switches for Stone Crusher

    The railroad hands commenced work this week on the switches neceseary for the operation of the steam stone crusher at Shepherdstown.

  • Turkeys for Sale

    For Sale– Some full-bred mammoth bronze turkeys, imported from Bedford county, Pennsylvania. Terms moderate. Inquire of Mrs. D. M. Daniels, Bakerton, W. Va.